Friday, March 25, 2011

Sofia Restaurant, Melbourne

I just realized that there is another good Italian restaurant that I really recommend you guys. Sofia Restaurant is in Melbourne, Australia. There are many branches but the one that is closest to city is located at 857 Burke Rd., Camberwell. If you come from CBD, you can take a train to Camberwell station and walk like 5mins to the restaurant.

1. Entree (sorry that I cant remember the name);

mixed fried seafood..that can feed like 5 people as main dish!!

The restaurant is pretty big and croweded especially at dinner time. The waiters are nice and friendly. And the food are HUGE and CHEAP!!!!! It's really good place to go with friends or family.


2. Sofia Specail Pasta (or sth like that :p)
Seafood was more than pasta hahaha

I always ordered Spaghetti Carbonara in SMALL portion. Even I ordered small and shared with friends, I always had some left for couple next meals..seriously!!!


3. It was really good

Also Salad that was served like they brought you the whole garden to you. It's HUGE!!!!!!


3. Chicken or Ceasar Salad (I'm not sure again :p)

I don't recommend pizza there. I've tried some and they are not good.


Dessert is another funny thing. Gelato (Italian ice-cream) there was served up to waiter haha. They will put all flavors in one small bowl and make it high (as you can see from pic).



Cakes looked so good and the taste was not bad.



Sofia is a MUST go restaurant in Melbourne. Although the taste is not that good but the price and quality is the BEST!!!

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Vanilla Brasserie, Siam Paragon Bangkok

" What is your favourite food? " Mine is defenitely Thai food! but that doesn't means I don't like Western food. I just love eating!!!! hahaha

I'm not a big fan of Italian food but I love cheese! Not all Italian food are good for me as some are too cheesy to finish. Anyway today I'm going to talk about really good Italian restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand.

Vanilla Brasserie is located on the ground floor in Siam Paragon (big department store in the center of BKK). I went there last night with my friends and still impress of the food there and would like to talk about it in my blog ^^



They are famous for pasta dishes. We ordered like 5-6 pasta dishes but my favourite one was Angle Hair Corned Beef with Chilli (250 Bath). It was my first time with corned beef. I still have no idea what it is exactly haha. For me it looked like Thai dry pork and also tasted similar so it was all good for me to finish the dish ^^. You might think it must be spicy because of chilli but it was not spicy at all. It was good :)


Next one is my most favourite dish from last night which was Spinach and Mozzarella Crepe (240 Bath). I really like spinach and cheese so this is the best combination for me haha. And they didn't disappointed us. It was soooooooooooooooooooooooo good!!!!! creamy & cheesy...awww just think about it now make me hungry

I will defenitely go back there again and try other dishes.

Ps. Sorry for the pics. I didnt take any pics myself so they are from Internet :p

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

The closest island to Bangkok; Koh Larn

Hi all! It's been a while...

Last weekend was public holiday in Thailand so I had a chance to get out of BKK just for 1day trip.

Since I came back home, almost 6 months....I didn't have chance to go to the sea in Thailand and that was a BIG shame!! So I decided to go to just small island that close to BKK (about 1.5hr driving) called Koh Larn.

Koh Larn is located in Pattaya city. It's been famous among Thai people since few years ago as you can see from the rising numbers of accomodation on the island. In the past people always went to Pattaya for the beach but now Koh Larn is the new destination :)



Going there is easy...just find the way to Pattaya and go to Bali-hi pier (sorry for the spelling coz I don't know how to spell in Eng but it sounds like that ^^ ) Then buy ferry ticket for 30Baht to Ta Wean beach.

Actually there are 2 beaches for ferry, the first one is Nah Baan which is like the center of island where there are 7-11, small restaurants and taxis to go to other beaches. But if you want to go straight to the beach..take the ferry that goes to Ta Wean beach.

No worries if you took wrong ferry (cause I did the same hehe) you can take taxi for 20 baht at Nah Baan to Ta Wean beach.

Eating on the island is quiet more expensive than in Pattaya. I suggest that you should bring some water or snack in the case that you might get hugry there.

There are some activities on the island like banana boat and jet ski. Apart from these activities....enjoying clean & clear water is my favoruite activity to do there!!

If you have just short time in Thailand or Bangkok and want to get away from city just 1-2 days...Koh larn is really good choice.

ps. you can find more information from the link here --> http://www.kohlarn.com/

Friday, January 21, 2011

Cheap hostel in Hong Kong

Today I will talk about the hostel in Hong Kong.

There are no backpacker like in western countries in HK.

There are only hostel (which does not look like hostel) in HK that is cheap but TINY!!

If you are westerner (who are usually bigger than Asian), you should go to see the room before make any decision.

For me, it was ok. The room is tiny but I used it just for sleep and took shower.

The toilet and shower is together. It's normal for Asia but this hostel that I stayed. The toilet is sooooooooooo small. They have free liquid soap for every room. You can also ask for free towel as well.

Hong Kong is a small island that every Sq.m. in city are worth like gold. Even you stay in nice hotel, you won't get big room like what you get in US, Australia or etc where the land is much bigger.

Ho Mongkok Hotel (They call hotel but it does not look like hotel at all!! haha) is located in Mongkok, the center of HK and close to everything you want!! It's really good location.

I stayed in this hostel because my HK friend booked for me. I know it's not helpful to you guys who don't have anyone in HK. But hey, they have website and I think you can call or contact them by email (website is at the end).

If you can't speak Cantonese chinese, I suggest you to email because their staff can speak only hello, thank you, good morning hahahaha.

Ho Mongkok Hotel is located in Sincere building where there are many hostel in it. If you don't like this one I suggest here. You can go up and down the building and check for other places.

My suggestion is don't expect much from the small amount of money that you pay :)

www.hmkhotel.com/Ho_Mongkok_Hotel_EN.htm

Somehow I can't copy picture from the website so I will suggest like this.

- The first pic with 2 beds..I think it's room number 2. It's bigger than other room and has window!! So if you are two person. You should request for room number 1 and 2. ;)

- Next 3 pics are double bed rooms...The bed is small, just right fit for 2 person. If you have big luggages, you might have problem as there is no space to walk in the room haha.

- The lady in the website is always be there for daytime. She doesn't understand much English but you can use body language with her. It's fun! hehe

Monday, January 10, 2011

Flight from Bangkok, Thailand to Hong Kong

Happy New Year everyone!!!!
Wish you have all the best and travel as much as you can ^_^
I went to Hong Kong and Macau for 5 days on new year holiday.
It wasn't my first time but I rarely remember things from the past lol as I went there like almost 10 years ago.
I bought ticket too late so I paid a lot for the trip esp. it was high season ticket!!
At first I tried low cost airline like airasia but the schedule and price were not that good for me.
Then I found the price that less than 10,000 baht from Thai agency website (http://www.hflight.net/).
It was Royal Jordanian airline. I had never heard of this airline before back then.
I searched for some reviews of this airline and people said it's ok so I bought it.
Also it was only 2.5hours flight. So I didn't care much about the plane.
The flight from Bangkok to Hong Kong doesn't operate every day (the one I took was leaving from BKK on Thursday's afternoon and left Hong Kong on Tuesday's night)
The plane was nice, clean and no smell.
The flight attendants were not that pretty and friendly lol
I heard they spoke Thai to each other while serving food and I think it's bad behavior.
Maybe they thought that I wasn't Thais and
noone around that area would understand the language.
That's the point they should change with the flight attendants.
The seat was big and everyone had own tv with variety of movies, games, songs etc.
Food was not bad. I had green chicken curry + rice (trip to HK) and
Fish noodle (Lad nah) on trip to BKK.
In conclude, RJ is not a bad choice to fly to HK if you can't find any cheaper airline ;)

Friday, December 24, 2010

Thai restaurant in Melbourne

Melbourne is such a nice place for food lover (after Bangkok though hehe)


According to the variety of people in different nationalities, eating out and trying new food in city is so much fun!


For example, if you are craving for Vietnamese food, North Richmond and Footscray is the place you should go for cheap and nice food (though the suburbs are not good to walk around).


If you want some pizza and gelato, Lygon St. is the place to go.


But when you think about Thai food, where should you go??


There are many Thai restaurants in Melbourne; some are owned by Chinese or Vietnamese but sell Thai food!!!! (One Thai rest. in China town,Melbourne is owned by Vietnamese and all people in kitchen are Vietnamese and they have bad bad Thai food..pls don't go there!!!!)


This restaurant that I will recommend is owned by Korean and Thai couple and the food is cooked by Thai chef. So no worries ^_^


Golden Triangle Restaurant, 123 Park St., South Yarra is located on the 2nd floor above 7-11, on the corner of Domain Rd. and Park St. You can take tram number 8 that goes to Toorak and get off at stop 24. Or you can park on the street in front or nearby the restaurant. It's so convenient and not far from city in nice location with the view of Botanic Garden.


The restaurant opens at 6pm - 10pm (kitchen is closed) everyday.


The food is cheap there compare to other restaurants in the area. Here come the recommended dished from Tan Tanz ;)


1. Mixed Entree - fish cake, spring roll, satay chicken, golden bag and curry puff (1 each) is really good starter for people who cannot make decision of what they like. After trying some of this and that. You can order your most favourite for another round :)


2. Roti bread and peanut sauce - some people who are not from Australia might be confused as I was that why roti is in Thai restaurant. I guess it might come from high population of Indian especially in Melbourne. Therefore roti is so common in restaurant.


However the highlight is not only nice roti bread but it is the peanut sauce that was the best I've tried in many restaurants in Melbourne!!!


3. Main course time....continue from number 2...if you like peanut sauce, you should try Pad Satay which is mixed veg with your chosen meat and stried fried with peanut sauce.


4. Tom Yum soup - hot and sour soup..they usually serve in small bowl just for 1 person as entree but I would like to recommend you to order for main size and share as the taste is so nice. Also tom yum soup is like a symbol of Thai food that you must not miss!


5. Chuchi Chicken - creamy Thai curry with some herb and galanga with marinated chicken. It's tasty and creamier than usual red or green curry.


6. Talay Ruam (Mixed Seafood BBQ) - it comes with mixed of squid, fish fillet and prawn that stired fried with herbs and chilli. It's really nice dish for spicy food lover. It's not that much spicy. You can order for more or less spicy. It is served in hot pan with some smoke that might bother other customers in the restaurant haha


7. Korean BBQ beef - as the owner is Korean so there are some Korean dish in the menu and this one is the best one (as I think ) Marinated beef with onions that is served in hot pan.


8. For noodle lover, Pad thai is the recommended one. It's not really taste like Pad thai that you eat in Thailand because of the sauce that is kinda sweet but it's not bad if you want to try.


9. Dessert time!!!! Banana flitter is the one you should order. Deep fried banana with coconut and vanilla ice cream in cute dish decoration. Ohhhh...I love their coconut ice cream!!


10. Drinks and coffee are available there as well. Not many varirty drinks but enough for a beautiful night with good meal.


The ambient is cozy and nice with small size of the whole restaurant.


The service is average with friendly waitress.


They also have free delivery service with more than $20 order before 9.30pm only in South Melbourne and South Yarra suburbs.


Here is the link that talk about Golden Triangle Restaurant



Please let me know what you think if you stop by there. Hope you will like it!



On the right is Korean BBQ beef

On the close left is Roti bread and rice and

On the far left is Massamun curry (curry with potatoes,onions and peanut with meat)

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Napier, NZ

First of all I would like to apologize people who will read this blog. Putting pictures in the blog is so annoying for me as it's not easy and you can't move whereever you want like other websites.

Maybe it's only me who is stupid and don't know how to do. So if anyone knows, please teach me. That would be really helpful!!!

So I will start from the first picture to last one which is not the same as what I did in my trip :p

The most beautiful beach in Napier!!


Because it was only one beach that has sand like it's supposed to be.

Other beaches in Napier had black stones.

I had never seen beach like this before.

This was the first one.

Huka Falls in Taupo
It was really powerful falls with such a really blue water.

Although the size is small but it's really worth to see.


Craters of the Moon, Taupo

Can you see the heart shaped mud pool? ^^

View from lookout of Napier

Napier town, Art Deco style town

The town is small like the city but it was decorated and has nice style buildings.

I really like these old style buildings in this lovely city.