Fashionista's Review: Grill Wine Cafe (GWC)

The other night we were invited by our friends at Memoire Hornbill Hotel to try out their new eatery, Grill Wine Cafe (GWC) at Jalan Keretapi, Kuching. Obviously we were excited, as the cafe does not only serve western food, but Cambodian cuisine as well. Having visited Siem Reap a couple of years ago and Phnom Penh about four years ago, I absolutely love Cambodian food. The Cambodian beef are tender and juicy and their dishes are simply scrumptious!

Here's a photoblog of our visit:

The exterior of the cafe. It has a very distinctive masculine design, the whole ambience was quiet and very private. The setting is great for a quiet and romantic dinner for two.

The interior of the cafe. The chairs and tables were very comfortable, the servers were absolutely polite and they catered to our every need. 

The interior of the cafe. Love, love, love the decor and ceiling of this cafe. As Cambodian food is one of their specialty, we asked for Cambodian food and these are what we had...

Cambodian Beef Lok Lak. 

A famous Cambodian dish, it is served with steamed rice, salad and sunny side up fried egg. What I love about this dish is that, it's not too spicy (because Alexa had some as well), the beef was tender and juicy and I love the gravy. Yummy!

Cambodian Red Chicken Curry. 

I unfortunately had a sore throat, thus was not able to fully enjoy this dish. Hubs loved it, by the way. The curry was fabulous, it has just the right amount of consistency, wasn't too thick and slightly spicy with just the right amount of curry. 

Cambodian Amok Fish. 

I also wasn't able to enjoy this dish due to the sore throat unfortunately. Hubs however, proclaimed this as his favourite dish in the cafe. The dish is has a slightly spicy taste, with a rich and creamy consistency.

 Us with Mr Chanthy, Operations Manager of Memoire Hornbill Hotel. 

So, what can I say about the restaurant?

As someone who loves eating out, I love both the food and ambience of the restaurant. In terms of Cambodian food, we were hoping to try Lembu Naik Bukit (a Cambodian dish that we had in Siem Reap) but unfortunately they didn't have it on the menu. Although we were told, you can try to ask the chef nicely if he can accommodate your request, and you might just be lucky! Anyway, the food was awesome, ambience, even more so. The place is a perfect setting I suppose for either a date night with hubs or even a catching up session with my girlfriends (can't wait to bring them there!).

Do take note that, all food are sourced from halal sources, but, they do serve wine and alcohol.

The restaurant is located in the same building as McDonalds (3rd Mile), just walk along the pathway from McDonalds and you'll find the restaurant to your left.

To know more, do visit their website [here] or their Facebook page [here]. For reservations, you can call them at +6082-413551.

Will definitely be back to try their steaks. Bon Appetit!

Did I mention that they have a hotel too? I'm going to blog about the hotel next. Wait for my next post!


xoxo Mrs Fashionista

Fashionista's Review: Kuehpedia, Bringing the Groove Back to Old School Kopitiams

I had meant to write this post sooner but unfortunately Alexa had gotten sick right after we landed in KL and when she had left for Kuching last Sunday, I was swamped with deadlines and had to complete some errands before I leave for my Eid break. Alhamdulillah I had finally completed my work earlier today and now I am (almost) on Eid mode. I'll be singing Eid songs all the way to Kuching this Sunday, woot! woot!

Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of breaking fast at Kuehpedia with my pal, Farhah. I've heard of Kuehpedia before (believe me, Kuehpedia has been trending on my Facebook timeline), but unfortunately, as I haven't been back to Kuching for a while, I had not had the chance to visit and try out the cafe. Luckily Farhah called us up for their breaking fast session and let me just say that it was absolutely awesome.

Don't believe me? Let me show you some photos just to show you how awesome Kuehpedia is:

They had a Ramadhan buffet promotion when I was there. I had all the traditional Malay food such as ulam, ikan tahai, sayur nangka, midin belacan and sayur keladi along with some of the modern Malay food such as butter chicken and daging masak kicap. Let me just say, they were all scrumptious. I loved every bit of them and I especially love their sambal belacan. It was the perfect iftar for me!

Some of the traditional cakes that we had. We actually had more but they made it to the tummy first before I managed to take a photo of them. And by the way, the fried fritters next to that Kueh Perahu is actually kurma goreng. Yummy!

Ended my dinner with a cup of teh tarik =).

Buffet spread.

Some of their buffet spread.

Buffet spread for the cakes. I loved the fact that they had loads of traditional cakes. 

Let me just add a few comments about their buffet spread before I show you some photos of the interior of the cafe. Firstly, I love the fact that they cook fabulous traditional Sarawakian food. Some of the food are not easily available in Kuching, such as ikan tahai, thus Kuehpedia definitely offers something unique to their customers. I also loved their traditional cakes. They are delicious and those such as kueh bongkol and kueh perahu were absolutely scrumptious!

The Ramadhan buffet were priced at RM30 per person (for adults) and RM15 (for children) which I think is an absolute steal with the array of food that they are serving. The place was filled to the brim with customers and they even had to reject walk-in customers because there was no more space, masha Allah.

Unfortunately, the buffet promotion is only available in Ramadhan (I imagine there will be a long queue for next year's Ramadhan) but after Eid they will be open for business as usual. I actually would love to try out their breakfast spread. Soon, Fareiny, soon =).

Here are some photos of the cafe:

Food and drinks counter.

Cafe interior. Photo courtesy of Kuehpedia's Facebook page.

Trinkets and cakes.

The Iban warrior. I absolutely adore this mural.

The set up at the first floor. Photo taken by Farhah. 

Kuehpedia has a private room available for private bookings and functions on their first floor. On the day that I came for iftar, they had a private booking where the guests requested to eat and sit on the floor (traditional style). Uber cool!

The first floor set up. Photo taken by Farhah.

Decor in the private room. Photo taken by Farhah.

Thank you Farhah for inviting me over and Kuehpedia is such a gem. I can't wait to come over again. 

Kuehpedia exterior. Photo courtesy of Kuehpedia's Facebook page. 

Kek Lapis Citrawarna. Photo courtesy of Kuehpedia's Facebook page. 

For now (until Eid), Kuehpedia will be focusing on their Kek Lapis business and those who are looking for cakes and other delicacies to be served to guests this Eid, do drop by and check out their selection of scrumptious cakes.

If you're wondering where Kuehpedia is, it's located at Wayang Street (not far from Medan Pelita, some locals used to call the building Star Cineplex). If you're unsure of where it is, feel free to call them at 010-9710606. 

For more info on Kuehpedia (and to be updated on their promotions) do follow their Facebook page [here]. Let's support the local industry (especially the yummy ones) *wink*.

xoxo Mrs Fashionista

Food in Borneo: Bella Italia

Note: This was supposed to be posted last month, but I totally forgot that to post this entry after writing it.

 

A few days ago a friend of ours, Qana had posted some photos of her dinner at Bella Italia which prompted hubs to ask me on the place since he'd never been here. I've been here a couple of times and I do love their selection of Italian food (it is an Italian restaurant after all) so we decided to stop by for lunch. 

 

The restaurant's interior

 

The restaurant's interior

And here are some of the food that we ordered:

 

 

Appetizer: Bruschetta

 

Main: Fettucine salmon

 

Dessert: Tiramisu

All in all our food costs about RM49. Not bad eh? We absolutely adore the bruschetta and tiramisu. The fettucine salmon was quite okay but the bruschetta and tiramisu was heavenly!

So if you're craving for Italian food, Bella Italia might be the best place to go to satisfy your craving. Although I must admit I've never been to Italy before and have never tasted authentic Italian food, so for those who have done so, your experience dining here might differ from mine. Bella Italian is located among the row of shops opposite of Four Points by Sheraton, Kuching. It's about less than a minute walking distance to the hotel. 

To glorious food. 

xoxo Mrs Fashionista

Fashionista's Review: Iftar at Waterfront Cafe, Hilton

Hilton is another one of those places that I love to go for breaking fast. The choices of food is incredible and they taste amazing too. This year the buffet is priced at RM89++ or roughly at RM103.24 per person. We had iftar here last Tuesday and here are the photos:

Fresh from the sea.

Desserts.

The chocolate fountain is a must.

The salad table.

Their selection of bread.

Noodles and Bubur Pedas Station.

Next to it is the sushi station offering freshly rolled sushi and raw seafood. Obviously, the sushi station is my favorite station and best of all, I was sitting right opposite of it! That certainly made it easier for me to get second helpings *wink*.

This is what you can find at the sushi station.

And this is what we (me and my friends) had:

Sushi, baby octopus, takoyaki (which was not so delish) and raw salmon (which I love!).

Mussels and prawns with a slice of lemon.

Sambal belacan and raw veggies.

Umai ikan and midin.

Roti john, nasi beriani and various dishes.

From the barbeque section, we had otak-otak and grilled prawns (I ate a LOT of prawns that night).

Pasta. Or more specifically penne alfredo. Unfortunately, it wasn't as tasty as it looked.

All the dishes that were grilled/ barbequed was delicious. Absolutely recommended. And the sauces are to die for (FYI: there are four different sauces to choose from). Yummeh!

This dessert is absolutely divine! I don't what it's made of, but it's called omali and is absolutely delicious.

And some ice cream to end of my dinner.

Compared to Grand Margherita (and it's Macam-Macam Ada buffet spread), I still love Hilton for iftar. I had iftar at Grand Margherita during the first week of Ramadhan (sorry for the lack of review on Grand Margherita, there were too many people and it was kinda difficult for me to take photos of the food) and although I would have to admit that the food at Grand Margherita is better this year compared to last year, but Hilton still has better choices of food (the selection of food is slightly less that Grand Margherita) but the food is delicious (except for a few hiccups here and there).

I also love the fact that Hilton is not as crowded as Grand Margherita so your dining experience at Hilton is definitely better and more comfortable.

If you're interested to break your fast at Hilton, you can contact them at 082-223888.

Happy dining!


xoxo Mrs Fashionista

Food in Borneo: Topspot Permata Foodcourt

There is no doubt that one of the best food attractions in Kuching is its seafood. Although it's always mentioned that Sabah offers the freshest of seafood (and I don't doubt the freshness of Sabah's seafood) but the seafood in Kuching is equally delicious.

Every couple of months I'd be having dinner at Topspot. I'd like the dinner to be more often but the thought of calories and high blood pressure scares me so we'd be having dinner here whenever our seafood craving strikes. 

This is what I'd have to say my favorite stall. There's plenty of stalls offering seafood but Bukit Mata Kuching (the name of the stall) is my favorite. Alternatively, it's also called stall no 25.

Went there last week for iftar and this is what we ordered:

Oyster pancake.

Crunchy keropok-like pancake sprinkled with oyster and served with salted sauce.

A choice of chili and garlic sambal.

Soft-shelled crab fried with butter and nestum. A combination of sweet and salty and to me it tastes even better than buttered prawns =).

Steamed fish.

Bitter gourd (peria) cooked with salted eggs.

The best seafood ever. All food are my all time favorite. If you're new to Kuching, I'd totally recommend stopping by at Topspot for dinner. Dinner for three costed us less than RM70. Super-cheap, right? For more reviews on Topspot you can click [here].

And we also ordered barbecued prawns with cheese from the next stall. Unfortunately it's not as good as it looked. So, that's not recommended unfortunately. 

A word of caution, 7.30 pm to 9 pm is considered as peak time for dinner so seats might be a little bit limited.


xoxo Mrs Fashionista