Pondok Sari Wangi, Gadong branch

Having established for so many years, the Indonesian restaurant Pondok Sari Wangi is indeed a reputable restaurant in Brunei. To think, how does a business remain so firm with economic turmoil hitting again and again all these years especially in food and beverage industry?

No doubt, the secret to Pondok Sari Wangi's successful lies in its consistency in providing high quality food and service to each customers.

Over the years, Pondok Sari Wangi has managed to open up more and more branches in the country which currently they have a total of 7 branches! As we all know that to manage just a restaurant, it already requires lots of effort to ensure the business operations run smoothly daily and what's more Pondok Sari Wangi has 7 branches? For this, I really need to take my hat off to the management especially after having a chat with Ridwan, the person in charge of Pondok Sari Wangi, it made me realised how hard is it to manage chained restaurants. One of the most common issues which most chained restaurants found is to maintain the standard of food quality in each branch. Not only this, the management also has to considered bout the food supplies, staffs management & training and many more. It really ain't simple but Pondok Sari Wangi has achieved it :D

Being Ayam Penyet lover, I was surprised when I was told that this dish was firstly introduced by Pondok Sari Wangi to Brunei about decades ago. And for about 7 years, Pondok Sari Wangi had no changed their menu at all and only this year the management had decided to add more dishes to revamp the old menu. I mean, how can a restaurant remain so stable with potential number of customers visiting it over and over again all these years even though it had not introduced new menu? Except for the legendary Thien Thien Chicken Rice, this shall be another legend!

Frankly speaking, it was my very first visit to Pondok Sari Wangi's main branch located at Gadong (just above Mulaut BBQ/Grazie Mauri). I remembered when I was having food marathon with fellow coursemates, we did visit Serusop branch but we only managed to try out its ayam penyet and no other dish; thus this time, I aimed to find out more bout Indonesian food! *shakes shakes*

I was able to try out few newly introduced dishes and I really wanna say that;

"Belum cuba belum tau, sekali cuba, tiap-tiap hari mau!"

Ever since we tasted Pondok Sari wangi's satay, daging rendang, ayam bakar wang solo, iga penyet, we had been drooling over it daily, no bluffing! That's just how yummy it is! Being a beef lover, Ridwan ensures that the beef his restaurants use are at top quality with reasonable pricing and this goes the same to seafood. Thus, if you're a beef person, you must must must try out the Wagyu Beef satay at Pondok Sari Wangi!!! So is the Beef Rendang which the type of beef being used was also Wagyu Beef.

And you might not believe me if I tell you the pricing. Many people have always thought that it must be really expensive to have Wagyu beef but it is really not a problem in Pondok Sari Wangi. By paying merely $5 you can have 10 sticks of Satay Wagyu Beef! During our return visit, we even ordered 2 plates of satay; it's really is addictive and Pondok Sari Wangi is currently our favourite place to have satay haha

Cendol, this is a must try! The cendol is freshly made daily and the texture is so springy! But it was bit sweet thus you might wanna inform the staff to prepare it at your sugar level preference.


Avocado Juice, definitely an all time favourite drink other than Cendol!


Most Indonesian food are quite spicy thus always be prepared for the challenge!


Sauce for grilled fish


Ayam Bakar Wang Solo, one of the new dishes which is a must try!


Beef Rendang! As I mentioned earlier the type of beef being used is actually Wagyu Beef and it's very well marinated. We were told that many different types of spices were used as the marinating ingredients which added more flavour and fragrance to the dish and this marinating process freshly prepared daily. Because of the rendang paste, it had allowed this dish to stand out among other places that serve rendang and it had a milky taste which just lingered in our mouth and made us keep asking for more!


Sayur Pucuk Raja cooked with Belacan, my very first time having this vegie fried with belacan and it was surprisingly good!


Iga Penyet; another new dish which this is actually beef ribs. The type of beef used to prepare this dish was Australian Angus Beef.


This is Soft Shell Crabs and being seafood lover, Hubby had searched few places locally to find a place that serves really good soft shell crabs and now we finally found one! As pictured, we had the soft shell crab deep fried with salted eggs and you can have it prepared to your style of preference eg. Butter Cereal. It's indeed a must try ^^


Ikan Bakar Sunda; it's grilled fish prepared in Sundanese style


Beef Satay; I just couldn't stop picking up the satay one after another! As I mentioned, the meat used was Wagyu Beef thus the texture was so tender and juicy and really 'meaty'! And it's merely $5 for 10 sticks so it's really worth lar!


The satay is really something that one could die for!

Ever since our first visit to the restaurant, it has been listed in our favourite restaurants list and even before posting this entry up, we had actually made few revisits to the restaurant haha! In addition, Pondok Sari Wangi Gadong main branch does have VIP rooms for private function thus if you're interested in bringing your family and friends to try it out, feel free to contact the restaurant to make earlier reservation @ 2445043

Hunnie Signing Off~

The Lost Bladesman's World First Premiere - TODAY!

Still remember earlier this month I blogged an entry regarding a charity movie show?

Well, it is today! Yes, the world first premiere for Donnie Yen's latest action flick "The Lost Bladesman" is showing at 7.30pm tonight at The Mall Cinema!

When I went to LLCS office to grab some tickets for family and friends, I was so surprised to find out the tickets were almost sold out! But thank God, I was still able to grab few good seats. The secretary actually told me that people had been non-stop phoning him since the eve of ticket releasing. It's really good to see that there are so many people spending money for doing good cause and tonight, we shall all reward ourselves by enjoying the movie!

See ya'll tonight! :D

Hunnie Signing Off~

Twinine Restaurant (99 Canteen), Bengkurong

When Hubby and I first heard bout a restaurant serving pork chop rice at $3.50 per plate it really awed us! I mean... pork chop rice ler! Usually the price range is about $5 to $8 per plate and I thought SKY was joking when he told us bout this! And now it is said to be one of our favourite place for dinner cause of its cheap food.

It's located at Bengkurong (which is near to Super Concrete and Bayu Ilham) and is called a canteen. But the eatery is equipped with air cond as well as TV and it's actually quite spacious! Thus, I wouldn't really say it's a canteen cause it seems like a restaurant already. Not to forget, it even serves Chinese set dishes at $188 only and it consists of cold dishes, soup, few types of vegetables which is pretty much similar to what we usually have during Chinese dinner reception. Other than this, if you'd like to have Deer Meat or Wild Boar Meat, this is the place where you can find it :D

Ever since my first visit, I've already tried few dishes and my favourite of all are indeed the Pork Chop and Braised Duck! Below pics were taken during one of the particular nights when we had dinner at Twinine. We ordered 4 dishes and the total was only $30.10 which was considered quite cheap in our opinion and I highly recommend you guys to try it out! ^^

SKY feeling very excited as usual


Spareribs King


Cangkuk Manis


Ginger Onion Deer Meat


Braised Duck

Hunnie Signing Off~

Dim Sum Restaurant, Yong Siong Hai Complex

That night, I was complaining to Hubby how stressful I was in dealing with my incomplete assignments and other tasks. And I said I really needed some good food to make myself happier.

Without second thought, he agreed and brought me out for food hunting! We were indecisive between Big Mama and Dim Sum but still ended up with Dim Sum cause Hubby was having serious craving on Soft Shelled Crabs.

Other than Soft Shelled Crabs, we also ordered Roasted Duck as usual.. I mean, it's the signature dish of the restaurant and I will never miss out ordering it! *thinking bout it already makes me drool!*

And you might not believe it that every time when we visited Dim Sum Restaurant, we always ordered the Seafood Boneless Chicken Wing but every time also don't have =((((((

Although we predicted that the chances of availability for that dish was pretty low but nevertheless, we still decided to give it a try and ordered it. Surprisingly, it was available on that night! Thank God!!! Hubby had been craving for it for like months already and it always made me felt so curious bout the taste when he was describing it. Lucky us!!!

Another new dish which we tried on that night was Wasabi Salad Prawn. If you're a prawn lover and also a wasabi lover, this is a must try dish! Frankly speaking, I ain't the fan for both so it wasn't really my type but it was listed in Hubby's must-order-dish-list ever since he tried it once on that night. So I suggest you guys to give it a try! The wasabi isn't that strong, it's just mild amount so don't worry much ^^

Dim Sum is always my first choice for Roasted Duck! $10


WOOT!!!!


Wasabi Salad Prawn, a must try if you're a wasabi + prawn lover! $12


Soft shelled crabs, $12


Seafood Boneless Chicken Wings, another must try!!!!! $3.50 each


See! I'm not bluffing, it's really boneless!


Hubby couldn't wait for me to finish taking pictures haha!

Hunnie Signing Off~

Noalizah & Iskandar House of Curry, Berakas

About two weeks ago, Uncle Liang & Aunt Agnes invited us over to join their family as well as other cousins and family members to have dinner at House of Curry located at Berakas (same block as KFC and WYWY restaurant).

I bet it was really an experience for the members of the family like my mom and bro cause I bet they never had roti kosong for dinner before haha I mean if it's during breakfast or tea-time, it's normal. However, we were having roti kosong for dinner, this surely is something which my family had never tried before. Well, we are pretty much used to having rice for dinner and also, most of the restaurants that we usually go for their roti kosong, do not serve it during dinner time. Thus, we didn't have a chance to try it until my uncle & aunt's invitation.

There were like 15 of us and we had to split into few tables. Every time when a big family visit, I bet most waiters would be having headache especially during the food ordering time. But House of Curry's staffs handled it well except that when I requested for warm water, it only arrived after 2 or 3 calls.

It appeared that the children really love the roti kosong cause it's really crispy and thicker. Each of them could finish up at least 2 pieces of roti kosong easily.

Other than roti kosong, we also ordered 2 sets of Curry Fish Head and I had Nasi Lemak since their Nasi Briyani was sold out already.

The Curry Fish Head was indeed worth trying and it should be enough for a family of 4-5 per set. As for the Nasi Lemak, it came with sambal, pusu, egg and 2 pieces of fried chicken. The chicken tasted good but the sambal wasn't as good as I thought. Lack of fragrance. And the rice was too sticky in my opinion. Nevertheless, the fried chickens managed to help it gained back few points.

Maybe the restaurant owner should try to open up a branch in areas like Gadong or Kiulap for easier accessibility... I still find it's restaurant location is toooooo far

Menu


Both Eric and Ervin giving me blur look haha


Lamb Curry Gravy for Roti Kosong


Bro ordered 2 pieces of roti kosong


Mom's came with the condiments as she ordered set


Sambal of Nasi Lemak; lack of fragrance


The fried chicken was acceptable


Nasi Lemak~


Curry Fish Head

Hunnie Signing Off~

World's first premiere in Brunei! - The Lost Bladesman

If you are a big fan of Donnie Yen or someone who loves to watch classic Chinese Kung Fu flick, guess what? There is a new Chinese Kung Fu action movie airing soon at the end of this month!!!

This movie is named The Lost Bladesman (關雲長) which starred Donnie Yen (甄子丹) and of course other great actors such as Alex Fong (方中信).

"The Lost Bladesman" is a movie about Guan Yu who was a very important character in the ancient Chinese historical novel named "Romance of Three Kingdoms" and there are just so many great and noble stories regarding Guan Yu's successful in the war fields as well as moral disciplines. Even until now, these stories are still passing down from older generation to new generation. For extra information, Guan Yu is also one of the characters for the game called Dynasty Warriors so if you're a gamer, I'm pretty sure you'd have heard bout this person especially during the times when PS2 was still the 'in' thing haha!

This movie is airing soon globally on the 28th of April 2011. HOWEVER! Brunei is an exception because we are going to be the first country in world wide to air this movie on 27th of April 2011 at 7.30pm! Isn't that great? And for this show on that day, all of the money earned from tickets selling would be donated to our local charity society named Lotus Light Charity Society. The money collected will then be used to assist our local associations which are in need of help in raising fund such as SMARTER, PUSAT EHSAN and etc. The venue for the movie premiere will be at The Mall Cineplex.

Sounds good right? You get to enjoy watching the world's 1st premiere on such great movie yet you are still able to do charity!

To avoid disappointment, here is what you can do in order to make an early bird purchase on the tickets!

• Tickets selling starts on 15th of April 2011
• Location for purchasing tickets:- No: 2，Block C，2^nd Floor, Aman Complex，Jalan Muara，BC 3315, Brunei Darussalam (it is just above RBC Express Fast food located at Sg. Tilong)
• The ticket costs $10 each and will be airing at CINEMA 1.
  
• Merchandise such as Polo shirt will also be selling at $15 each (with different sizes to choose from).
  

If you are interested in buying the tickets, do contact Lotus Light Charity Society persons in charge for more details:- Mr. Yeo (7171213) or Mr. Peng (8751868) Mr. Guan (739122)

And here are two clips of the movie trailers ..

SEE YOU GUYS THERE ON THAT NIGHT!!!!!


Hunnie Signing Off~

Japanese Food Festival Buffet at Dynasty Restaurant

2 days ago, we just found out that Dynasty is currently holding a Japanese Food Festival event which not only there is buffet and ala carte for the authentic Japanese cuisine, cooking classes was also held every Friday.

When Hubby learnt bout this promotion, immediately he text me and said we were going to try it out. YaY to the good food! and BoO to the weight gaining part. But who cares so much when you have all good food presenting in front of you! So I'll say, "Eat first Think later!" *evil grins*

Overall, Hubby and I was pretty satisfied with the food especially the sushi selection! The sushi was so so good and the sashimi was really fresh!

The set up for Japanese Food Festival


This is the d.i.y salad station


Meat skewers! I'm so in love with the beef skewers!


Unsure what's this but it looks like some kind of Japanese healthy soup hehe


Japanese Curry


Fresh mussels and poached prawns. Our seats were nearby this seafood station which this had Hubby a happy man as he kept refilling the prawns on his plate non-stop :P


This is the Udon mee section, tempura and Japanese beef steak station


The texture of the beef is really tender and you might think it looks kinda dry from this picture but fret not, there were few types of sauces/gravy provided which added more flavour to the meat. I have quite a few slices of this!


Tempura


There is this small Japanese flag on every food stations :D


The Udon Noodles station, just choose the toppings you want and the chef would pour in the soup for you


Ta-da! Looks good right?

And how could this Japanese Food Festival buffet be completed if there is no sushi?!!

Here are the common appetizer that we often found in local Japanese restaurants; the seasoned squid and seaweed


Seasoned scallop


And here comes the assorted sushi! I swear the sashimi sushi is the best that I've ever had! From the looks of the sushi, it's easily tell that it was prepared by an experienced sushi chef. The size of the sushi was smaller thus one can easily stuff one whole sushi in his mouth which this was actually part of the etiquette.


Maki sushi


The raw sashimi was really fresh!


Kani Salad, one of my favourite!


At this station, you can find cooked dishes such as Teriyaki Chicken, Japanese Fried Kueh Teow, Stirred Fried French Beans, Cha wan mushi and many more.


Grilled fishes


Chicken livers


Japanese style Fried Kueh Teow


Teriyaki Chicken


Stirred Fried French Beans

Last but no least, DESSERTS~!


List of Japanese desserts available on that night


This is sorta like the 'Taro balls' we had during our Taiwan trip at Jioufen ^^


Daifuku Cakes; this is like "mochi"


Doraemon's all time favorite, Dorayaki!


Assorted cakes


Chocolate cakes


Chiffon cakes


Strawberry pudding


My desserts selection~


Macha Ice Cream

I'm regret to tell you guys that this promotion only lasts till 10th of April 2011. In other words, the last day to enjoy this buffet is tomorrow. It costs $32 per pax (for adult) but if you're a Baiduri credit cardholder, you would be entitled for discount. So if you guys are interested in trying out the authentic Japanese food in Brunei, be fast and act quick!


Hunnie Signing Off~