Lunch at Nobu KL

If you're into Hollywood celebrity gossip, you would've known that Nobu is a restaurant that they frequently dine at. Nobu opened in KL, specifically at Tower 3 KLCC, sometime in late 2014. With 33 restaurants all over the world, KL's foodies were excited for the opening and so many blogs reviewed on their food.  

Naturally, being a celebrity foodie kepochi that i am, i've been wanting to go and try their signature dishes since day one. But of course, as a mere rakyat marhaen i always wondered "Mampu ke nak makan kat Nobu?" i ain't no Marion Caunter, you know.

At last, bertemankan Amal (seorang kawan yang juga Hollywood kepochi), i got to dine at Nobu today at lunch. Amal made a reservation yesterday (Nobu is so cool that you have to book ONLINE), and at 12pm sharp, we're in the (dedicated) lift, making our way up to the restaurant which is located on level 56, Tower 3, KLCC.

For appetizer, we ordered two of Chef  Matsuhisa's signature dishes, which were claimed as the dishes that changed his career as a chef; New-Style Salmon Sashimi and Rock Shrimp Tempura. And they didn't disappoint. The salmon sashimi is made of fresh salmon sashimi that is poured on with a sizzling hot sauce of what taste like sesame oil mixed with soy sauce, some ginger and garlic.The Rock Shrimp Tempura is basically shrimp tempura coated with a creamy sauce that taste like mayo-chili sauce.

New Style Salmon Sashimi, RM65

Rock Shrimp Tempura with Creamy Sauce, RM60

For main course, we decided to order Bento 56, to share. This bento consists of Salmon Sashimi Salad, Spicy Tuna Cut Roll, Assorted Tempura with Ponzu Sauce, and Beef Kushiyaki with Teriyaki Sauce. After our delicious appetizers, we're a bit disappointed with this bento. No doubt, ingredients taste fresher than your average casual Japanese restaurants but taste-wise, there's nothing to shout about. The bento is served with miso soup which came after we've finished all our food and ready for bill and it taste no better than the miso soup i always make at home with miso paste bought at Isetan.

Bento 56, RM125

We also ordered a tuna dished called Toro something. We asked the waitress because we're unsure of the exact name but we did mention a Toro in small bowl. We were served with this instead:

Chu Toro, RM70

Basically a tuna belly cut. Not what we expected because the picture we saw online is different. Again, the fish tasted fresher than the ones i always have at Sushi Zanmai but at the end of the day, it's still just freshly cut tuna.

Overall, we had a good time at Nobu. If you know what to order, you'll end up with explosion of taste in your mouth, like we had with the sashimi and shrimp tempura. Our two other dishes were rather plain. Still, no regret whatsoever. The prices are a bit steep but it is expected at a fine-dining restaurant. i'd go again, tho not too soon (probably in a year time).

i look fat here but i swear i'm not actually that fat.
*memang ayat in denial*

Perth Trip: Places We Went To

We chose to go to Perth because it is a laid-back city. Initially we thought of Gold Coast or Hong Kong but leceh la bawak Afif. Dia bukan ingat pon and camne nak naik rollercoaster? Maka Perth je la lelepak relax. As we were there for a short vacay ( short 4 days!) we have to be really picky with where we go. We decided to go to must-go places with close proximity to the city. Here's the list:

- City Center

- Caversham Wildlife Park

- Margaret River Chocolate Factory

- King's Park and Botanical Garden

- Fremantle

- Harbour Town Factory Outlet

Perth City Center

Perth City is a small but very well planned city. i must say we did not explore much of the city; no museum nor gallery visits. We explored mainly around 1x0.5km of the city (mainly on Hay, Murray, Milligan and Wellington Streets) center but it seems enough to us.

Hay Street and Murray Street are bursting with life. Endless shops, restaurants and cafes are on these two streets. There's a portion of the streets are not accessible by cars and other vehicle - there are strictly for shoppers and people who just wanna have a nice walk. Street musician playing beautiful music, delicious smell of coffees and shoppers wandering with glee are the usual scene. i personally like to sit on one of the benches and watch people do their thing. Among shops on these streets are Target, David Jones department store, Bras & Things, Guardian pharmacy, Valley Girl, Apple store (which i went to every single day while we were there in hope to get the new iPhone 5S), and so much more.

Baru sampai. Sejuk!

 Behind us is the Wesley Church

 Beli stokin sebelom kaki melecet. Baahaha.

Street Doctor.
StreetDoctor adalah klinik bergerak dan rakyat bayar minimum amount of fee (ke free eh?). i think this is a good initiatve by the Australian government.

Perth at nigh from inside our car.

If you're looking for cars for rent, most of the companies can be found on Milligan Street. We rented from Hertz.

Caversham Wildlife Parks

What is a trip to Down Under without visiting the kangaroos and koalas? On the second day, we rented a car and headed northeast to Caversham Wildlife Park. The trip took about 40 minutes from city center (campur sesat dan berhenti tanya arah). If you are not familiar with Australia , we recommend you to bring/rent a GPS. We rented Hertz's Never Lost GPS but we still got lost as the exact Caversham Wildlife Park is not listed in the GPS. It turned out that we need to key in Whiteman Park as Caversham Wildlife Park is located in the Whiteman Park.

The vehicle entrance.

Jakun gila bila nampak road signs ni. 

Us.

Caversham Wildlife Park is like a mini zoo. They have many species of birds, koalas, wombats, kangaroo, and also farm animals like sheep, ponies, rabbits and even guinea pigs.We started off at the birds section. Some of the birds are in small cages, some in big cages where we are in the cage with them. Afif memang amazed and jakun gila tengok segala burung dan binatang. Ye lah selama ni binatang yang dia tengok pon kucing dan ayam kat umah nenek aku je. 

Afif takot-tapi-mahu-pegang tengok burung. Ada sekali ni dia dok nak pegang muka burung tu. Nasib baik aku sempat capai tangan dia. Kalo tak, dah kene patuk.

Koala. 

Koala di tempatkan di rumah khas. Masa kitorang sampai, ada 7 koalas, 6 tengah tido. Aku sebenarnya excited nak dukung. Sekali pegi, banyak koala tengah tido dan tak boleh dikacau. Taik dia bersepah dan busuk pulak tu. idok ler dukung. Maka idok ler bergambar sakan. Usap-usap gitu je ler.  

Feeding the kangaroo. Kat kangaroo sections, memang ada a few bucket filled with their food pallettes. Visitor can feed the kangaroos freely.

Afif begging the kangaroos to play.

Kangaroos roam freely and mingle with visitors. But there's a fenced section where the kangaroos rest and sleep and visitor cannot disturb them there.

A proud peacock showing off its beauty..

..and then chased by these kids!

Pony in the barn.

Guinea pigs! They remind me of my guinea pig, Danny. i had him for 6 years and then he died. Sobs.

Margaret River Chocolate Factory

Located 5 minutes away from Caversham Park, Margaret River Chocolate Factory produces yummy chocolate. My friends who studied in Perth recommended this place, the chocolate bar is cheap they say. Only one dollar they say. i went there with the plan to buy as much chocolate bars as possible as souvenir. Tapi hampa. Chocolate bar adalah $4 se-bar. Yang lelain takyah cakap lah. Chocolate pastille yang lazat around $5 sebungkus. Maka beli sikit gourmet chocolate untuk makan sendiri. Idok ler jadi souvenir. We bought macadamia, almond and cashew cluster coated with dark chocolate sedap gilaaaa! As i'm typing this i wonder "why the hell didn't i buy extra?"

 Free chocolate pastilles!

King's Park and Botanical Garden

All the people i talked to about Perth say that King's Park is a beautiful place, a must go place. i so wanted to spend time there picnicking. After our Caversham trip, late lunch, and grocery shopping, we went to King's Park. It was beautiful with ample of parking space.At one area, a beautiful view of Perth City and at the other area, the view of the Swan River. Sadly it was getting dark, and mosquitoes were feasting on us. We only spent around 30 minutes there.

Sunset

Perth City

 Father & Son

 Taking a stroll

Pose lompat adalah wajib. 

Kali ini macam kangaroo dengan anak skali lompat.

 Dia nak merasa jugak berjalan atas rumput. Kalo tak basah dan sejuk, memang aku ajar dia bergolek situ.

Afif <3 daddy="" p="">

Fremantle

We went to Fremantle on our third day. When you go to Perth, Fremantle is a must-go place. Historically, Fremantle is the original place where the Dutch set up a new port and town. The old buildings in Fremantle are well preserved.

Diorang kata kalo nak cari souvenir, pegi la E Shed market kat Fremantle. Memang murah. E Shed market ni macam konsep Pasar Filipin kat KK tu ha. Gedung besar, dalam dia banyak stall. Cari stall peniaga Indonesian. Murah. Kami laki bini beli sweater $7 each. Patung koala a set of 12 berharga $2. Tshirt around $7 gak tak salah aku dan banyak lagi. Kat town, sweater aku tu berharga $20. Muahaha..

Jangan lupa makan kat Cicerello's. It is famous with the fish and chips. Ramai gilaaa orang.  Bagi aku, so-so je la fish and chips dia. Try Black Pepper Squid dia. Perghhh da bomb!

 

We went to Fremantle by train from Perth. It's the most covenient way as the train station is near our hotel.

 Afif's first train ride. Look how excited he was!

 Lame lagi ke nak sampai, Ma?

 

 The Western Australia Museum

One of the stores in E Shed Market.

Hubs took a photo of me taking a photo. Heh.

Pemandangan luar E Shed Market

Fremantle Ferris Wheel

At Cicerello's. Gamba makanan takde sebab kebulur terus licinkan pinggan.

Harbour Town Factory Outlet

Harbourtown is 10 minutes bus-ride away from our hotel. We chose to go on Friday as it is open until 9pm. On other days, it is open until 5pm. More info here.

Among shops that are available are FCUK, Cotton On, Valley Girl, Chica Bootie, Converse, Timberland, Adidas, Nike, Bras & Things, Oroton, Quiksilver, RipCurl, Roxy, Pumpkin Patch, and many more. As shopping is not our main agenda in Perth, we're looking for really cheap things here. Maka tak jugak la banyak membeli.

To be honest;
 - Converse is worth buying as the stuff are cheap. Ada harga $30, $50.. i likes this one pink leopard print        sneakers tp xde low cut plak. Hubs punya pulak takda size. Maka tak beli. Sneakers untuk budak ada          banyak choice compared to kat KL tapi Afif baru dpt hadiah Converse (lagi) maka tak beli jugak.
 - Pumpkin Patch mahal okeh. Jeans untuk Afif yang on sale $20 which is RM60. Kat KL jeans pumpkin        patch aku bleh dpt RM40. Baik beli kat KL, unless if you find something below $10.
 - Valley Girl ada baju yang murah, ada yang mahal. Biggest catch is $7 blouse. Heehoo!
 - Cotton On banyak murah. Aku beli hi-cut sneakers $10 and shawl $5. Muehehe.

 

 The entrance of Perth Harbourtown FO

  

 "Woahh.. A hot girl!"

 "Maa stop embarrassing me, she's running away!"

Tips & Other Stuff

Transportation 
i'd recommend you to take public transportation as much as you can because they are so convenient. Train stations are all over the place. The trains are clean and spacious, the stations are clean, with easy-to-follow guides and instruction. The bus services are also excellent. The coverage is wide in the city and also out of city center. The best part is in-the-city trips are free of charge! The buses also have ramps for people with strollers and wheelchair. Even travelling with Afif, we have no problems at all taking the bus.

Car rental is also easy in Perth. But book your car online at least a day ahead. We also rented baby car seat for Afif as it is compulsary here. We rented the car for a day for our Caversham and out of town trip. Total fee is around $130 including car seat, GPS and insurance (these three are optional). Bear in mind that parking charges in Perth City is expensive.

Halal Food
There are many halal restaurants in Perth. You can click here and here for a list. We frequented the Central Cafe as it is nearest to our hotel. Our favorite is Charcoal Chicken but it's a bit out of town. Oh God the lamb ribs is yummy i still think about it when i'm hungry.

Bear in mind that foods in Perth are not cheap. Most meals costed us $12-$15 per person. Memula terkejut jugak. Orang kata gi negara orang, jangan convert harga makan tapi dulu kat UK makanan dapat je around GBP5 and mostly under GBP10. Maknanya cost of living in Perth tinggi sikit, even for the local.

Places That We Missed
Pergi pon 4 hari je kan, so tak sempat la explore banyak. Tapi aku terkilan sebab tak spend more time kat King's Park and Mill's Point. Walaupon hanyalah park, tapi sangat cantik with breathtaking view. Cuaca plak sedap sejuk. Memang elok sangat picnic macam dlm citer omputih kat TV. If you're lucky you could even see dolphins at sunset swimming in the swan River.

We spend only a few hours in Fremantle, tak sempat lepak minom kopi kat Cappucino Strip. A stretch of street with many, many choices of cafe. A must-go for coffee lover like me. Nyesal tak gi.

Cottesloe Beach pon tak sempat gi. Orang kata cantik. Haih laa..

So that's what i can recall on top of my head about out Perth trip. i miss Perth! If you wanna go, my advice is take more than 4 days, please! Take time to go for a picnic at King's Park. Take time sip hot coffee at the cafes. Because i didn't have the chance to do that.

That's another continent off my bucket list! Tinggal lagi benua Afrika dan Amerika tak pegi-pegi. Dengarnya AirAsia bukak route cape Town next year. Moh kita? *wink*

Perth Trip: Adina Apartment, Barrack Plaza.

We chose to stay at an apartment for two reasons:

1) there were 3 of us adults. A hotel room would be too small, two hotel rooms would be a waste sebab takkan lah my SIL (which we call kakak tp sebenarnya lagi muda) nak dok dlm bilik sorang.

2) we want to cook for breakfast as breakfast is not provided. Lagipon slalu kan kalo hotel oversea ni diorg bagi breakfast ham, bacon la. Geli plak.

So we settled for one bedroom apartment. We chose Adina Apartment Barrack Plaza because it's in the city. Takyah nak fikir pasal transport plus makan pon dekat. Sayangnya Adina only has one bedroom apartment. They dont have 2 or 3 bedrooms apartment. Nasib baik Kakak tak kisah tido atas sofa.

Even though last minute, i managed to compare the price online with a few agents; Agoda, Expedia and AirAsia Go. Agoda price was RM2500 while AirAsia Go and Expedia offered RM2100 for 3 nights. Of course we settled with AirAsia Go. Booking was easy peasy.

We reached Perth Airport at about 2.30pm. Taxi ride from the airport to the hotel costed us AUD48 (i was looking at the meter the entire time and screaming in my head "Mahalnyaaa.. Baru half an hour ride!" Checked in at Adina at around 3pm. The receptionist is friendly. Her name is Shaya. No charge for third person check in which i was worried about since we booked a room for two.

We were given a room on the second floor. Macam selalu masuk bilik hotel, kami semua jakun lah meng-explore. The room comes with:

-one bathroom with a bath tub

- a kitchen fully equipped with a fridge, hot stove, dishwasher, pots, pans, mugs, glasses, cutleries, plates, an electric kettle, a microwave.. All you need in a basic kitchen. We used Sabun Taharah to samak all the utensils before using them, just in case.

- dining table that sits 4

- a study table

- sofa set

- washing machine and dryer

- iron and ironing board

- flatscreen tvs (one in the living and one in the bedroom)

Bedroom 

Dining and kitchenette 

Kitchenette complete with basic kitchen utensils. 

Living area with Kakak in it. 

The bathroom

We feel like home already. Facilities in the hotel includes a gym and swimming pool. You can request for a parking bay at the hotel's carpark and it costs you AUD25/day. 

What i love most is that Adina is really in the city center. Everywhere you could possibly wanna go by foot are close by. Right in front of the hotel are 2 asian/Korean grocers, a 24/7 convenience store is 2 minutes walk away. On the same block there's a Halal Indonesian restaurant and opposite that, a Kebab restaurant. Hay and Murray Street Mall (which are the highlight of the city) are 5 minutes walk away. Train station is 5 minutes walk away and you can take the bus (free service within the city) in front of the hotel. 

I am so glad we decided to choose this hotel. i'd give it a 4 out of 5 based on my experience.

At the hotel entrance.