DP | @ekhoophotography

A lot of my life seems to revolve around Cameron Highlands. No reason why but it's been the place for a lot of interesting and life-changing events in my life. One reason could be that I'm kind of a winter person. Anything above twenty-one degrees celcius is warm and I think the sweet spot is a lovely fifteen. Camerons, being at an altitude of 5,500 feet above sea level makes for a more pleasant temperature for me.

Anyways, this time round, we returned to my favorite place to stay, the OMF bungalow just outside Tanah Rata (flat-ground in Malay). OMF trumps every hotel I've stayed in Camerons mainly due to it's lovely caretaker and surrounds. The old bungalow still has charm and Mrs Chye, the current caretaker serves up good old plain home cooking and unbeatable scones. Don't waste your money on those pathetic scones at Ye Olde Smokehouse. This one's made with love and freshly baked. The only other scone worth spending money for in Camerons (my opinion anyways) is at T-Cafe in Tanah Rata. T-Cafe is going to be renamed to Lord's Cafe soon. All the best Terese!

Secondly, this is a great place to unwind from the hustle and bustle of any city. There's only 8 rooms and the nearest neighbor is about two miles down the road. Being on an isolated outcrop, it does get windy and cold but get yourself a mug of steaming hot chocolate, a good book and you can enjoy the great outdoors.

It was a good getaway and as usual, was filled with quite a lot of good food. Probably overdid it but don't you always overeat on holiday anyways? The Sungai Palas Tea plantation has now been upgraded and it looks fantastic. It looks awesome but I didn't take any photos of the exterior because the excitement has now been spoiled by stupid drivers who don't know how to drive on single lane roads. I mean if you see an approaching car and you're at a section which permits passing, stop the car and let the incoming car pass. Seems like all the good drivers are long gone and we have city folk who think that giving way is a weakness. Pure stupidity which results in a fifteen minute journey taking over half-an-hour. Not recommended if you're not a good driver! Looks like all that off-road driving on even narrower trails had some benefit after all!

That's it for now, more photos to come...

Celebrated my mom's birthday at a cozy little seafood restaurant in Subang called South Sea. In some ways, it's set up close to what some termed the "death row" considering that you pick your fish happily swimming away in their little glass aquariums. They then end up on your dinner plate and your stomach! Of course the selection available is smaller than a similar restaurant we went to in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah called Ocean seafood but then, again, it's close to home and had good food, reasonable prices and most of all, super fresh. Here are some of the "inmates" on the "death row"...

Many of my friends know me as a porky person. I love pork. Ribs, roasted, steamed, minced, burgers, whatever, including pork tongues... with minor exceptions such as trotters and intestines. Pork liver is fine by me. Anyways, ever since I've been smitten by a delicious plate of hakka noodles, it's been a hunt for a well done plate of those noodles. Many are average. Probably it comes down to how much lard is used but also the noodles can't be too soggy. I like them crisp but tender. The minced pork also must be finely made without too much salt or worse, monosodium glutamate (MSG).



So here I find a lovely plate of hakka noodles, hidden away in a secluded corner of SS2, PJ. It's fricken awesome! One big bonus. I love char-siu or roasted pork equally as much and this place has hakka noodles with char-siu. Fricken awesome number two, the char-siu is crispy on the outside and crunchy but once you bite in, it's melt-in-your-mouth goodness. Lean meat but with bits of fat to ensure it's juicy sweet. Simply awesome! So what's the name of this place? Well, it's called Toast and Roast!

Suchan Deli has been around a fair bit. It was around when I started work at Computing giant Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) was around before it got swallowed by Compaq who got swallowed by HP. Anyways, it had great cakes, great food and a cozy atmosphere. Well, how times have changed. If anyone asked me for a nice comfortable place with good food and will not break the bank, I'll recommend Food Foundry instead.

We went for dinner which may not be a good idea considering the area Suchan is located in was dark and poorly lit. It didn't help that the restaurant itself didn't look inviting. I think now people are looking for bright, cheery, simple and wi-fi! The cluttered interior with lots of knick-knacks is just so 1980s.











While they may still make an awesome tiramisu, the rest of the menu is a no-go for me. Well, just maybe, just the wild mushroom soup. All photos - Panasonic GF-1 with 14-45mm lens. ISO2500, RAW, processed with Adobe Camera Raw 5.6. Am loving my lil' GF1 a lot.

Well, well, everyone's talking about Cristang's pork burgers... so it's obvious we've to get ourselves there!

Tucked in a corner of Section 8, it was a quiet PJ neighborhood. Service wasn't that great as the waitstaff seem to have problem understanding simple English. Food however, more than made up for it. The pork burgers come in multiple levels, from P1 to P7! As I'm no fan of petai, I've to stop at P3. My wife had pork chops in a delicious creamy sauce. We also had starters, shitake mushrooms in garlic and red wine. Excellent. Since there were only two of us, we had to be content with the order. Maybe next time.

On a lovely Saturday afternoon, we had a wonderful time with a few good friends. Instead of spending money and going into town for great food, we had better. This was a Do-It-Yourself, Bring-Your-Own high-tea. With a delectable spread of simple, but delicious food, the time spent was absolutely wonderful. We don't need a lot of fancy food or a 5-star dining room... our simple house and home-made, hand-crafted food was all that was needed. Awesome!

Palate Palette, bar and restaurant in KL was a place I wanted to go ever since I saw a friend's family celebration reunion photos. This time however, it was just a small gathering and we spent more time talking and eating rather than taking photos. The ambiance was great, aided by a gray overcast KL sky, it was not too hot to sit under the open sky, with trees and the breeze (and haze) wafting about.

We had quite a bit of food but the Chicken lollipops were great along with the Mushroom Cappuccino soup. The moo stew is also highly recommended plus of course their dessert. The ran out of the dark chocolate cake so we had to settle for the toasted carrot cake which was pretty awesome and of course the ginger cr�me br�l�e! Delicious!

What a packed day. iPhone post.