Outback Steakhouse @ Anchorage, Alaska

Outback Steakhouse is an Australian-themed American casual dining restaurant chain based in Tampa, Florida and have many outlets in many countries. They have an outlet at Mid Town Anchorage and it is just 5 minutes walk from the hostel that I stayed previously.

Taste:8/10(Good. The salmon fillet prepared were good and well seasoned. The blue cheese wedge salad were great and this is my first time having salad with both blue cheese and bacon. Great combination).
Price:6/10(Moderate. For the price of USD19.90, I get the fish, vegetables, salad and bread with butter. Quite a good dinner nearby the place that I stayed).



Fresh catch salmon. Seasoned and grilled fillet with seasonal mixed vegetables.

Bread and butter.


This classic blue cheese wedge salad were great.

A bottle of American Budweiser beer.

The environment is like a sports bar.

Outback Steakhouse in Mid Town Anchorage.

GPS/Coordinate: 61.190141, -149.883920
Address: 101 W 34th Ave, Anchorage, Alaska 99503, USA.
Public transport: People Mover bus stop at 32th Avenue of A street or C street.

Ramen at Hakata Ippudo @ Pavillion, Kuala Lumpur

Since back from Tokyo trip, I have been looking for good ramen meal around Klang Valley. This time I tried Hakata Ippudo in Pavillion KL. The restaurant looks posh inside and nice ambience environment. Food wise, the tonkotsu soup is light but flavourful. If you are looking for thick soup, this ramen might not for you. They have 3 main ramen type to choose from which are
1. shiromaru motoaji: original tonkotsu broth
2. akamaru shinaji: original tonkotsu broth with miso paste & garlic oil (slight spicy)
3. karaka-men: original tonkotsu broth with spicy miso, cashew nuts and ground pork.

For each of the ramen type, you can order a vast array of sides to complement it which includes poached egg, salted soft boiled egg, extra chashu (pork belly) and seaweed.

Taste:8/10(Delicious. The shiromaru special does taste better compared to the new misoshiromaru ramen. The shiromaru shop is tastier. The misoshiromaru taste is covered by miso which makes it less desirable. Bamboo shoot which is usually present in original ramen is none here).
Price:5/10(Near expensive. A bowl of ramen in Ippudo will cost around RM26 to RM32. Additional 10% service charge and 6% government tax).


Shiromaru special. It comes with salted soft boiled egg, pork belly and seaweed.


My bowl of misoshiromaru ramen.

Raw garlic is by request. Good ramen should be accompanied by raw garlic.

Pepper, sesame and chili flakes are provided.

Trying new type of ramen. Misoshiromaru ramen with lots of garlic.

New type of ramen to try. Misoshiromaru ramen.

Ippudo Malaysia.

Ways of enjoying your ramen.


Hakata Ippudo in Pavillion shopping centre.

GPS/Coordinate: 3.148200, 101.713247
Address: Lot C4.07.00, Connection Level 4, Pavilion Kuala Lumpur, 168, Jalan Bukit Bintang, 55100 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Public transport: Wisma Genting Monorail station or Bukit Bintang Monorail station. About 5 minutes walk towards Pavillion shopping centre.

Budget stay via Airbnb near central Tokyo, Japan

The apartment booked via Airbnb consist of two bedrooms and a futon in the living room. Good for 2 to 6 persons.

Rating:9/10(Recommended if you have at least 3 person to stay at this apartment in order to consider as budget stay. The location were around 10 minutes walk from JR Gotanda station. The guest were very responsive during booking process and we were glad to be able to secure this apartment quite last minute. The great thing is the portable wifi. Very useful for us as the device get us connected wherever we are in Tokyo. Food searching and finding location made easy with the fast wifi availability without us to spend additional for the data plan. The guest provide an apartment handbook which was very well thought and detailed).



Bedroom.

Another bed room.

Living room with futon. Just nice budget accommodation near central Tokyo.

Modern washing machine provided.

Kitchen for cooking and to take drinking water.


Bathroom with soap and shampoos provided.


Clean toilet with unique water faucet.

GPS/Coordinate: Near by 35.623774, 139.720770
Address: 10 minutes walk from JR Gotanda station. Easily accessible via JR Yamanote line.
Website: 3BEDS 2BR JR max6 7mins to SHIBUYA

Christmas and New Year decoration at Pavilion Kuala Lumpur 2014/2015

Pavilion Kuala Lumpur always has grand decoration at their entrance each year when there is festive season. The decoration and music does give festive environment feel and attracts both tourists and children.


Christmas and New Year decoration at Pavilion main entrance.

Huge crowd visiting Pavilion Kuala Lumpur.


Huge ribbon decoration in Pavilion KL.

Moving doll represents Christmas carol singing.

GPS/Coordinate: 3.148189, 101.713225
Address: 168, Jalan Bukit Bintang, Bukit Bintang, 55100 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Public transport: Raja Chulan or Bukit Bintang monorail station. 5 minutes walk from the respective stations.

Cheap eats at Ootoya @ Gotanda, Tokyo

Ootoya is a chain restaurant in Japan serving cheap great food. Their speciality is teishoku meal set. Teishoku is a main dish comes with rice and miso soup. Teishoku meal are nutritious as you eat several food items at one meal. Usually you will have meat/fish, vegetables, rice and pickles in one teishoku meal. The Japanese teishoku in Ootoya is cheap, healthy and authentic. They also have English menu so ordering food should not have any problem for any English speaking tourist to Japan. Ootoya have many branches throughout Japan and they offers good food options for both lunch and dinner. They also have wagyu beef set which I not manage to try at 1,300 Yen which is quite cheap for wagyu beef.

Taste:8/10(Delicious. Ootoya is a cheap, simple and quick place where you can have good lunch and dinner. Since most dinner place have higher price tag, Ootoya can gets very crowded at night).
Price:8/10(Cheap. For less than 800 Yen, you can get a decent teishoku lunch set).



Japanese fried chicken set. The chicken is crispy outside and tender inside.


Fried fish with vegetables set. Fresh ingredient and tasty.

Cosy restaurant serving cheap and great food.

Soy sauce, sesame and chili flakes are provided.

Promotional item leaflets.

Ootoya is located at first floor of this building. Ootoya have a obvious blue colour signboard.

GPS/Coordinate: 35.625749, 139.724836
Public transport: East exit of Gotanda station on JR line/Yamanote.

Ritter Sport Chocolate from Germany

Ritter Sport is my most favourite chocolate as the sweet level suit my taste. I like the quality and fine chocolate taste. Surprisingly, with such quality chocolate, the price of Ritter Sport chocolate are reasonable and if you were in overseas, you can get a piece of 100 gramme for 1 Euro. So far I like rum raisin flavour the most but this flavour are not available elsewhere other than in Germany. Second best flavour would be praline.


Variety of Ritter Sport chocolate brought from Frankfurt, Germany. There is a piece of Milka hazelnut chocolate that I brought which taste good as well. From all the Ritter Sport flavour, I like the rum raisin the most. However, I am not able to get it else where so far. Ritter Sport chocolate flavour from top left: rum raisin, praline, chocolate mousse, marzipan and whole hazelnut.

Ritter Sport chocolate which I brought it from Istanbul airport. Extra fine milk chocolate with 35% of cocoa.

Whale meat dinner at Kujira @ Shibuya, Tokyo

This is my second time visit to this restaurant serving whale meat. It was back in year 2011, that I have tasted whale meat for first time. This time around, I brought my friends who eagerly wanted to try out whale meat at Kujira in Shibuya Tokyo. This time round we ordered many types of whale meat with different cooking method. Kujira is one of the few restaurant in the world which still serving whale meat. Whale meat is very unique as the meat is quite succulent. Japanese believes that eating whale meat can prolong age and looks young. I not sure how true is the claim.

After your dinner, you may take a pamphlet which give justification about eating whale meat. According to the pamphlet, the world is in balance when whale is around as whale consume a lot of fish in the ocean. As a result, the source of fish will be reduced when whale is around. So a controlled whale hunting must be carry on and human should consume whale to control the fish resources in the ocean.

Taste:9/10(Delicious. We ordered sashimi, lightly roasted, teriyaki, fried and tempura whale meat. From all the 5 cooking method, tempura whale meat is the best as the meat is tender and blend well with the batter which gives crispy texture when eaten. The meat structure is tender and succulent when raw and smooth meat without smell when cooked).
Price:5/10(Near expensive. We ordered ala-carte portion of whale meat and choose which type we want to try. The dinner set is not worth it as the menu is fixed and you can't choose what you like to have. We have ordered whale meat in fried 842 Yen, sashimi 950 Yen, tempura 842 Yen, lightly roasted 950 Yen and teriyaki (Japanese sauce) 1058 Yen. Rice at 324 Yen per bowl. The whole dinner cost around 5,300 Yen for two persons).



Sashimi whale meat. This dish is eaten raw. Without smell with some blood taste. The texture is succulent. The white colour tendon is very chewy.


Lightly roasted whale meat. Almost the same as sashimi but slightly cooked.

Fried whale meat.

Teriyaki whale meat. Cooked in Japanese sauce.

Tempura whale meat.

Comparing each type of whale meat. From left: fried, teriyaki, sashimi, tempura and lightly roasted.

Pamphlet about justification of eating whale meat.

They have lunch set which is reasonable priced.

Coordinate/GPS: 35.659785,139.698586
Address: Dogenzaka 2-29-22, Shibuya. If you are from Tokyo Metro Shibuya station on Hachiko exit, just walk towards Shibuya 109. It is located on your left before reaching Shibuya 109.