Not wanting to let Ah Kit be the only person left among the three of us who has yet to try Sushi Zanmai, we decided to head down to The Garden’s to have sushi for lunch before my 4.30pm bus back to Malacca.

We sat down and ordered our refillable iced green tea. Honestly, they certainly didn’t taste like green tea to me, more like plain water with a little bit of flavouring in it. As for the other picture, its the wooden chopsticks.

We sat next to the conveyor belt, where an endless and unlimited but not free sushi kept passing by, tempting us to take them and put them into our tummy. Funnily, we didn’t take any of them, not even a single plate.

Ah Kit had a difficult time thinking what to order as it was his first time there.

No sushi meal would be complete without unagi. For the three of us, we ordered the large unagi set, which came with eight slices of unagis. Not too sweet or salty, just nice to compliment both tastes. The white rice, after mixing it with the remaining sauce dripping from the unagis, tasted really good and it was emptied in no time.

Ah Yong suggested a cod fish dish which we had no intention of disagreeing with his suggestion. The same sweet sauce as unagi’s, but different texture. Pieces by pieces, we helped ourselves with the cod fish. Not too bad, but it could have been better as cod fish is best eaten steamed to taste the natural sweetness inside the meat. Kind of oily too! Just look at the layer of oil that gave the fish the shinny surface.

Upon seeing soft shell crabs on the menu, Ah Kit wanted to order it. Who were we to say no, right? However, I find it rather salty compared to its counterpart, Pasta Zanmai. Although under the same management company, Pasta Zanmai’s soft shell crabs tasted much better. Moreover, Sushi Zanmai’s didn’t really look like crabs to me, more like spiders.

Wanting to taste their superbly soft and smooth tofu, I ordered a bowl. It definitely didn’t disappoint me. However, I find Pasta Zanmai’s version is better in terms of presentation. Their tofu stood up firmly and didn’t wobble around, unlike Sushi Zanmai’s. On top of that, the outer layer was fried till a very light golden brown colour and has slight crispiness in it where as Sushi Zanmai’s were nothing but just a layer of skin.

Ah Yong wanted to try their sushi and he ordered a plate of assorted sushis. I had the salmon sushi and it tasted just average.

Not wanting to lose out, I ordered a plate of deep fried tuna sushi, which turned out to be really delicious. The fact that I quite like tuna made the sushi twice the deliciousness. Tuna and Japanese rice, wrapped with seaweed and then deep fried. Some mayonnaise to give the extra punch and presentation before serving. Crunchy yet a little juicy at the same time. I could eat two plates all by myself! It was that delicious.

Another sushi filled with soft shell crabs, just for Ah Kit. The soft shell crab in this particular sushi wasn’t crunchy at all and tasted just nice for me.

To end my lunch, I ordered a bowl of black sesame ice cream. Damn nice! Only available at Japanese restaurants, I assume.

The bill came up to just a couple of dollars above RM100. It was definitely lower than we hada expected from the beginning.

Overall, Sushi Zanmai didn’t disappoint me the second time and there’s no reason for me not to go back there again. Judging from Ah Kit’s happy face after we came out from the restaurant, I am pretty sure he would visit it again, with his parents.

Editor’s Note : Overall, Sushi Zanmai did not disappoint me / still pretty good although this particular round was a little off standard compared to my first visit. However, I reckoned that’s because it was a weekday and the sushi had stayed on the conveyor belt just a little bit longer than usual. I recommend their deep fried tuna sushi, unagi bento set and black sesame seed ice cream. The tofu and soft shell crab, somehow, Pasta Zanmai’s tasted better.

After my first visit to Dynasty Ice N’ Snacks, I knew I might pay them another visit, just didn’t know when. By chance, I wanted to go Cheng to collect something from a friend and without hesitation, I picked this cafe for my dinner place.

As promised, the cafe introduces new dishes and beverages every month and I was delighted to see more varieties this time. There were about 20 different food and drinks introduced within the span of two months. Probably the less popular items during the previous month are removed and replaced with new ones, and the cycle repeats itself till the menu is filled with good stuffs.

After some pondering, we ordered our stuffs and it didn’t take long for the food to be served. First up was the fish balls and spring rolls varieties, or more widely known as “Wu Xiang 五香”.

This dish definitely didn’t pass my standard. Not only the very diluted sweet sauce tasted weird, the fish balls didn’t have any texture or springiness in it. It was like eating mashed potatoes, soft and mushy. The crackers weren’t as bad as the fish balls though.

The Xia Men Spring Rolls 厦门春卷…

Was absolutely finger licking good. Crunchy on the outside, soft and meaty on the inside. It was like a fusion of nuggets and meatballs. Yes, meatballs covered with batter and then deep fried. It cannot be anymore awesome than that. This is going to be my must-order-item if I dine here in the future.

Another note though, chilies sauce goes better with this finger food than the sweet and sour sauce they provided. Isaac, do you sell ready made ones so that I can deep fry them myself? Ha!

Jian had the lemon grass chicken with rice set meal, that came with a free drink with every order.

The sauce used to marinate the chicken tasted really or closely resembled or perhaps was the same sauce used to marinate satays. I told Jian that they should have grilled the chicken on a BBQ pit instead of pan fried it to give the chicken a satay- taste and feel. Not too bad, as I managed to taste a bit by sneaking up on Jian’s plate.

I went for something normal, seafood fried rice, which turned out really delicious after all. There were quite a reasonable amount of meat, squids, a few tiny prawns. It was served with a small plate of coleslaw and sambal. The rice were fluffy and didn’t stick together into a lump. Prawns were really small though, an upgrade to a slightly bigger prawn with a cut down of the number of prawns in a plate would be better.

The owner, Isaac, was kind enough to let me sample another in house specialty of theirs free of charge, the Sze Chuan Hot & Spicy Soup 四川麻辣汤.

Issac : “The soup is really hot and we have toned it down to suit Malaysians’ taste buds. If you can take spicy food, I can cook the original version of it.”

Jason : “How spicy can it be, right? Give us the original one.”

Considering that I came from a family who eats chilies almost on daily basis, how spicy can outside food be, right?

How wrong I was and I went o.0””’ when I saw the pot of soup being served on our table.

A close up.

Yes, those red tiny dots were cili padis. Shit loads of them. Moreover, the amount of chili oil on top of the soup was “remarkable”.

Jian and I were literally sweating off while drinking the soup and finishing the fish fillets and potatoes in it. The soup was boiled using fish fillets, potatoes, cabbages, Japanese cucumbers, herbs and spices imported from Sze Chuan and other ingredients. Knowing that if I drink too much, I would definitely be having diarrhea the next day. I stopped drinking, fearing that it would affect my events tomorrow.

Honestly, it was horrifying. Haha! Yet, it was quite an experience to be able to taste the true Sze Chuan Hot & Spicy soup. It was numb-fying and definitely lived up to its name.

Last but not least, it was my chilled double boiled white fungus with red dates and lychees.

Instead of just putting ice into a bowl or chilling it before serving, Isaac went the extra mile by buying a bigger half-bowl to make ice around the tub containing the dessert. Here’s a close up picture for better description. The layer around the container wasn’t just water but ice.

The icy cold dessert was just nice to wash down the numb and spicy feeling that lingered on my tongue and lips. Just the right sweetness, coupled with generous amount of white fungus, red dates and two lychees (from those canned lychees), the price of RM3.50 was definitely justifiable.

The bill came up to RM26.15, including 5% service tax. Do take note that the Sze Chuan Hot & Spicy soup was on the house. Again, reasonably priced and I am definitely coming back for more. If you are a Malaccan and looking for good food, this is one of eateries that you can consider, albeit the distance.

Inside the goodies bag I received from the management of Mahkota Parade, there was a box of mooncakes from Starbucks Coffee.

There were two flavours inside, one was the tiramisu while the other was berries cheese. What design do you think Starbucks Coffee would “print” on their mooncakes? Of course, none other than their own logo.

Splitting the mooncake into half, there’s a layer of rich cheese and mung bean set in the middle, wrapped with a mixture of lotus and coffee paste. Among the paste, there’s some melon kernel seeds as well.

It sure tasted kind of weird to me, neither lotus nor coffee. In fact, it tasted more like chocolate to me. It’s not that sweet but difficult to consume that many pieces at one go.

Compared to tiramisu, berries cheese wasn’t that appetizing. From the colour, it sure looked like any other mooncake.

Upon cutting into the mooncake, my nose immediately detected the aroma of berries. According to the piece of paper inside the box, the paste was made from lotus, raspberries, dried cranberries and dried strawberries. In the middle was cheese and mung bean filling, same as the tiramisu flavoured mooncake.

It wasn’t too bad during the first few bite but after that, I had the intention of putting it aside a.k.a throwing it away the 1/4 piece that I cut out earlier.

Overall, both mooncakes tasted pretty average to me, and definitely way off course from the traditional mooncakes with no fancy or weird flavours. While the new flavours are created to cater the younger generation, after tasting two out of four flavours offered by Starbucks Coffee, I think I am going to stick with the lotus paste, red beans, salted egg yolks and etc. for now.

Oh, I seriously love those jelly mooncakes, lotus paste wrapped with coloured jelly. Heh!

Sam Tham, a photographer for Star Publication, was free to meet up with me after her assignments at Serdang. After picking me up at KDU, we headed for 1 Utama for a drink. She suggested we try a new outlet that specializes in chocolate. Immediately, I recalled of this chocolate selling outlet at one corner somewhere near Chilies / escalator to GSC.

Indeed, we ended up in Theobroma Chocolate Lounge.

Originating from Australia, Theobrama Chocolate Lounge made its debut in Malaysia by opening its first outlet in 1 Utama, followed by another outlet in Pavilion KL. As its name suggested, its signature product is nothing else but chocolates.

Looking at the menu, it has a huge range of chocolate filled, chocolate made and with chocolate products for you to choose from, while you chill out with your friends. Of course, you have the chocolate fondue thingy too, served with four different types of fruits to go along with the thick chocolate. As for the drinks, its nothing but chocolate-related.

Sam had Snow White Frappe, basically blended white chocolate with chocolate shavings and powders on top of it. The side of the glasses are “decorated” with thick chocolate as well. She said it was very sweet.

I can’t remember the exact name for my drink, but I reckon it should be Iceberg Lady. It’s chocolate drink with a scoop of vanilla flavoured ice cream in it. After some intensive stirring to melt the ice cream, the chocolate “milk” tasted really creamy and extremely smooth.

It was really good, but it has a huge problem. It was so freaking sweet that one might just get diabetes the moment he stepped out of the outlet. To make things worse, the drink wasn’t cold at all, it was warm. Warm and super sweet, not a very good combination, if you ask me.

We had something to eat. I don’t know what’s it called, but it has a muffin shaped brownie tasted kind of cake, served with four really small strawberries with chocolate poured over it. Lets assume its brownie although it might not be, ok?

The brownie was served warm and it has this fluffy texture which I absolutely adore. My tongue could barely taste anything after drinking my freaking sweet chocolate milk. However, it tasted pretty nice after I dipped some of the brownies into my drink and ate it.

As for the strawberries, they tasted like strawberries. Duh!

While I wouldn’t mind patronizing the outlet again, the sweetness of the drinks is something that I don’t like or look forward to. A really huge glass of cold water might solve the problem but your appetite for the day might just go down the drain after that. I felt really bloated and my tongue was kind of numb after I left the place.

The place itself is really nice to sit down and talk some craps with your friends over a good cup of coffee or chocolate. Generally, it was still a pleasant experience in Theobroma Chocolate Lounge.

Hop over to KampungBoyCityGal’s review on the same outlet. Some of the photo credits go to them as well.

Jian and I headed to town for Amber Chia’s Mahkota Fashion Runway and before heading back to Bukit Beruang, we decided to have something else for dinner. Jian suggested East Garden at Melaka Raya and since I couldn’t come up with anything else, I took his suggestion.

It sure looks like any other cafe in town. The good thing is that it doesn’t smell smokey inside the cafe. On one corner, there’s a work station, which I am not too sure whether one can use it to surf the internet or not. There’s free wifi and newspapers / magazines placed around for diners to surf or read while waiting or having their meal.

Two page menu for food and drinks. Nothing special, nothing significant, nothing different.

Jian ordered a glass of Tiramisu (Yeah, tiramisu has became a drink. WTF!) while I had plain water.

Bored while waiting for our food, I snapped around.

The waiter recommended their fried chicken chop, with different sauce to go along with it. I had one with thousand islands sauce while Jian had his with sweet and sour sauce with sesame seeds. It is served with barely a spoonful of coleslaw, handful of fries and some lettuces, cucumbers and tomatoes for garnishing. Well, its tasted not too bad, but it’s plain normal at the same time.

I had warm longan with white fungus for dessert. It tasted pretty decent, with generous amount of longan inside.

The bill came up to roughly RM25 for the both of us. It wasn’t as expensive as I expected and for the price I am paying, I am not going to be very picky with the taste.