Madam Kwan's Restaurant

Being around in Malaysia meaning we are expose to lots of food, and one of the local Nasi Lemak is all time favourite. My post earlier of Senibong Nasi Lemak is too far? Then don't look any further, go to the nearest franchise of Madam Kwan's Restaurant.

I'm sure lots of people know the famous Nasi Lemak from Madam Kwan, it's one of their in-house specialty which is well known to all. The Nasi Lemak name is even printed on their signboard up front below.


I visited the branch out at Mid Valley when we are shopping running shoes. It's located at the central court just right at the back nearby the escalators. It's early in the morning, but you can see that the place is already packed with people! That's true Malaysian enjoying their Nasi Lemak early in the morning for breakfast or brumch, to be more exact.

Italiannies Pasta, Pizza & Vino

It's been a long time since I met my ex-colleagues. Got a chance to meet them up and we decided to take it up at somewhere between our working place, the Empire Subang. Strategically located, and lots of food in there. However I personally don't really like the place, the food there is plenty but mostly are generic franchise available in other shopping mall. It does not provide a good shopping experience as well, I mean it's pale comparing to Sunway Pyramid in terms of variety & scale, so I don't see the reason I should go there.

Anyway we got there at the wrong time, buka puasa. Our first choice of Rakuzen is packed, and our second choice of Chilies is also packed. We walked over to Itallianies and surprisingly half of the restaurant is empty. Hungry stomach and we are not willing to wait, so here we go.


Didn't manage to snap a photo of Itallianies, so I posted a photo of my ex-colleagues =) Just the three of us, others are mostly overseas or outstation. The company that I worked earlier is quite small, so we are very close to each other. It's hard to find such work friendship around anymore, just keeping it up and running. Nice. We are cows, so let's see what we got for food.

Green View Restaurant @ PJ

It's been almost a week since my last post, getting very busy recently due to work load. However, I've been active with my personal lifestyle, with almost 9 outstanding post, approximately a post for each day. A little crazy, and I'm eating lots of food over the last week. Trying to get it all up here.

First to come is the famous Green View Restaurant located nearby the SS2 roundabout (Rothman's roundabout, I like to call it SS2 roundabout though). Prawn lover will never miss this place, but it's only my 2nd attempt. Unforgettable experience in my first visit, I suggested to my wife for a Friday dinner, just almost a few weeks after my 1st attempt. Green View is so famous that it's all packed with people and taking up 3 shops along the road side, most recognisable landmark from the SS2 roundabout.


The Green View Restaurant that's located nearby SS2 roundabout. It's famous and with this location, the food won't be cheap but it is still packed with people. The owner is definitely multi-millionaire with each table spending over hundreds for a dinner. Read on =)

Canon S90 Correct Setting

I've been going through my own blog and noticed that the photos quality from Canon S90 is not exactly good. Not really bad but it's pale in comparison to my Nikon D90. I've already set the setting of Canon S90 to vivid setting and let the DIGIC IV to do the smart part in adjusting the rest. Apparently it does not ended up very well.

I usually check on the LCD screen to make sure the final output is right, but I think the Canon S90 LCD is deceptive, There are many occasions that I thought it's good, but the result on computer shows differently. I did a quick search, nothing is mentioned about deceptive display of Canon S90. However, I think it's correctable, just don't rely on the LCD anymore. I did a comparison test below.

*if you noticed, I just photoshop my Nando's post to make it looks "presentable"


This shot is taken with my Nikon D90, I set mine to aperture priority, vivid setting and let the machine did the rest. Fabulous shot coupled with my trusty Nikon 50mm f1.8 lens. Beautiful, that's something I would want my Canon S90 to present. Let's adjust the setting to get the same result then.


Ok, first shot taken, and it's boring. I set mine to aperture priority, vivid setting and let Canon S90 do the same. Obviously the Canon S90 is not very smart. It's not bad, it set-up the white balance correctly. Just that it's not my cup of tea, I prefer something more, dramatic, like my Nikon D90.


Ok, this time I tweaked the setting to custom and boost up the saturation & contrast to maximum. I manually adjusted the white balance to give in some mood. It looks much better, but still a little off from the quality from Nikon D90.


3rd setting, as earlier setting is not very good, I boosted the saturation higher by adjusting manually on the red, green, blue settting a level up notch. The result is a little over, but definitely something need to be adjusted to get better photos with the good Canon S90.

With the new setting, I took a trial with the shot below. It's much better, that's the shot I'm looking for. Let's see how well it goes in my future shooting experience in Canon S90.

Nando's Peri Peri

This time I included a boring post of food from Nando's. Yes, it's a fast food franchise available in Malaysia. Yes, it's not as famous as KFC or McDonald or Pizza Hut. But of all fast food outlets, I voted Nando's as the most healthy fast food outlet, not taking Subway into consideration of course. I used to love the Kenny Rogers, but somehow I read about the gravvy sauce story and that keeps me away from it (occasionally)

I first come across the Nando's during my study in United Kingdom. As we all know, shops in UK don't normally open till late night like Malaysia, except Pubs and Disco. Britains only got 1 entertainment at night, drink beers and tequila! Of course there are also fine dining, but those price in pounds is far out of my reach during my student time. Having fast food outlet serving cheapest food there, obviously it become our favourite hang-out area. McDonald is like hawker place there and the only place that stood out with good ambience and higher class rating is the Nando's.



I got a crazy friend that love the Extra Hot Peri Peri taste from Nando's, so whenever we ask him to give idea what to have for dinner, you can guess the answer. It continues and I'm not sure since when my wife is addicted to it as well. If you haven't know this yet, chilies is proven to assist in reducing cholesterol that in return help in reducing changes of blood clots. Try to look around your friends that love hot & spicy food, they are normally very slim & fit. It's said to help in keeping the metabolism high as well when you are flaming our of your mouth.

New Love, The Volkswagen Touareg

I'm in love. I've been always admire macho 4-wheel drive, especially the Freelander from Land Rover. However, the scary story of repair history for Land Rover's range of model keeps me away from even touching it. It's scary even for Alfa Romeo driver like me. Yea, go figure.

So I'm all out looking for new love. The usual on-the-road is not something I admire, and last week I watched a movie, and something caught my eyes. Repo-men, the new movie that will be released on 19th August 2010. This particular ride that all repo-men driving is crazily beautiful. The black matt colour, all covered in mud & dust, wide body kit, crazily offset super large wheels, and 4-tube exhaust. I did a search, and it's the new Volkswagen Touareg!


The all new Volkswagen Touareg 1st Generation that's modified in the Repomen movie. Looking at the size of the wheels, I think it's easily 22"! Fabulous!

Here is some screenshots of the original Volkswagen Touareg 1st Generation Facelifted launched in 2007.

The model that's available in Malaysia is the Touareg R-Line 3.6 V6 FSI Petrol version that's punching out healthy 280bhp and 360Nm torque. The On-The-Road price is currently standing at RM437,283.20 excluding insurance (source from Volkswagen Malaysia website). Crazily premium and nice. Some of the specifications for your digestion:

Gearbox: 6-speed Tiptronic gearbox with Dynamic Shift Programme
Drive System: Full Time 4XMOTION  Permanent All-Wheels Drive
Emmission Category: Euro 4 compliant
Fuel Tank Capacity: 100 liters!
Top Speed: 218km/h
Acceleration 0-100kmh: 8.6seconds
Hill Climbing Ability: 45degree
Side Slope Angle: 35degrees
Wading Depth: 500mm
Features: ABSplus, Electronic Brake Pressure Distribution (EBD), Eletronic Differential Lock (EDL), Electronic Stabilisation Programme (ESP),  Engine Brake Control (EBC), Immobilisation, Traction Control System (TCS), Roll-over Sensors, Hill Accent / Descent Assist

Crazily lots of systems within the car, but Free Lander still king of the off-road with its superior Hill Descent Control and 4-wheel Drive System. Hopefully Volkswagen will bring in the cheaper model of 2.5 R5 TDI Petrol version that giving out 172bhp and 400Nm torque to make it more affordable to me =)


A scene in the Repomen's Touareg in action. Beautiful.

Below is the trailer of the Repo-men. Enjoy =)

Chemor Villages Restaurant @ Chemor

Another prime food spot in Ipoh, and my duty to present a very good place for Claypot Sang Yu (Claypot Snakehead Fish) or known as Ikan Haruan in Malay.This place is located in Chemor, as the name suggest, Chemor Villages Restaurant. It's almost a 15 minutes drive from Ipoh, considering no traffic congestion condition in Ipoh area =)


The frontage of the new shop for Chemor Villages Restaurant in Chemor, Perak. They used to operate at the side of the road in a hawker type condition, and they have just recently moved to this new place, cleaner, more spacious, and no doubt better environment. Good thing is that they are not charging more expensive that earlier place. Bravo on that.

This place is actually quite far (15 minutes from town) to Ipoh-an eyes, so we don't normally went that far for lunch. My friend loves this place very much, and most of the time I'm eating at this place is with him. No exclusion this time, we were there last two weeks ago.

New Lease of Life

I'm always of the impression that there is a big change in spending pattern of the new generation in everything. One particular item that got me scratching my head in puzzle is the handphone. Lots of young people are willing to spend over RM2,000 for the latest model like iPhone or Blackberry or HTC, when the phone itself might be their one month salary.

It's alright to buy what heart desire for all the hard works but for an item that depreciates faster than a car, where are the senses? The latest handphone model can be easily worth less than half of the value after a year, which we are talking about 50% depreciation. That means you will need almost 12 years to have your money to appreciate 50% by investing in Fixed Deposit of current 3.7% rate. Crazy? Your call.

For me, I'm never willing to spend more than RM1,000 for a hanpdhone, that's my limit. I'm a gadgeteer so I still love the latest model as well, and with that budget there is actually lots of choice. As said, latest model will depreciate half of the cost in the 1st year, then why not take advantage of that and get a 2nd hand phone?



I'm currently using the Jan 2007 model of Dopod D810 which I bought 2nd hand at RM800 last 2 years ago, which means at 2008. Dopod D810 is the prime smartphone model selling at RM2,700 with a non-functional GPS in its glory time. I saved up RM1,900 by delaying my desire for a year! I searched online and found an upgrade to activate the GPS, a real bargain. I think this piece is worth around RM300 only now. Imagine the phone depreciate RM1,900 after the 1st year and RM500 over the 2nd & 3rd year.


Some screenshots of the original Windows Mobile 5.5 that's pre-installed for the Dopod D810.

Thanks to the programmers from XDA Developers, they have been working very hard to develop ROM upgrade for smartphone even old one like Dopod D810. The latest revision is Windows Mobile 6.5 that's running on Manila Touch 2D that's similar to the trademark Touch3D in latest HTC model. Anyhow as when recently I'm tired & bored with my Dopod Interface, the XDA given my old machine a new lease of life with the new ROM. I reckon with the recent ugprade, I don't mind sticking to it for another year =) Nice.



My current new interface of Dopod D810, loving it.

For those out that loves gadget but the new model seems always out of budget, I've some recommendation. Why not try out Sony Ericsson Xperia or HTC Hero? Both of these are selling less than RM1,000 for used unit, do some search, I'm sure you can find something for yourself. Cheers.

Funny Mountain Tau Fu Fa @ Ipoh

I am a Ipoh guy so naturally I received lots of questions on what & where is the good food in Ipoh. I did mapping for my friends from time to time and this particular place deserves an extra highlight. I'm going to show you the best Tau Fu Fa in the town. There is nothing comparable in KL or Malaysia, so far.



The shop open up in the morning and this is the usual sight at the front of the shop. It's a drive, eat and pay system. All cars will be lining up and wait for their turn, while the kids will run around serving the food.



This shop is crazily famous for its soya & tau fu fa, and the name of the shop is Funny Mountain Soya Bean. That's a funny name, but it doesn't matter when the food is that good. No need to mention the name, all ipoh mari will know this tau fu fa shop. My dad told me that this shop has been around when he is still a boy, that's almost 40-50 years ago. Nice.