Tea for two or a few at Winter Warmers

Winter Warmers is no stranger to most people; in fact, its lovely Victorian style settings and interior plants a vivid image in most of our minds; especially all who have visited the place.
I am not sure about you; but after my first visit, I do long to go back and enjoy their lovely tea in the equally soothing ambience accompanied by some soft music.

It sounds like a blissful vacation or some royal treatment, doesn't it, sipping your tea away and relaxing your mind?
Well, if you have not been to Winter Warmers, you should consider giving it at least a try.

This place serves lunch as well as dinner; besides their tea and light snacks.


I've fallen in love with their exquisite tea sets used to serve their specialty tea/drinks here!~ =)

Anyway, enough about the tea, I have to push the tea topic aside today and fill in on the types of food you can consider for a light meal when catching up with friends or for your tea/late lunch where it's not too heavy and yet not too light (you get what I mean?)

Ham and egg sandwiches



For something more filling, you can consider their medium-sized serving of chicken/seafood spaghetti/bolognaise


The pasta comes with a side serving of salad and fresh veggies





If you spotted their waffles, well, don't hesitate, you should go ahead and give it a try for their waffles are really good.
Egg and Vege Waffle (RM10.90)


It seriously tastes as good as it looks from the menu!

Tuna Waffle

For a more fishy and different topping to your usual waffle


If you don't want tea, you can also look at their other light cordial or fruit cocktails


Now, do you know why I love Winter Warmers?
Does it make you want to go for tea now?

Dim sum brunch @ Tai Thong

Some of you may have seen these pictures on my FB a few months ago; and yes, that means I am late in this posting again (LOL, what's new lately =p)

Tai Thong is one old heritage-like Chinese restaurant housed in one of those pre-war shophouses along Cintra street and I am sure this place is no stranger to most Penangites; particularly if you are a food blogger yourself! =)

We were there the week approaching the Mid-Autumn festival (which reminds me that I still have my posts on mooncakes pending...goshh!)

Look at the nice little lanterns hanging in the background; it just gives me a sense of nostalgia as I recall those childhood days where we yearn to get a new lantern and light them up; playing around with other children (siblings, cousins, friends, and neighbors)
I am sure most of you have the same memories as well, right?


It was our girls' day out and to catch up on everything that has been happening in our lives; it has indeed been a while and our day started with this brunch in this old favorite dim sum restaurant in town.



Fried Sui Kow (dumplings)



Chee Cheong Fun

I don't know about you, but somehow, this looks way too oily for me...



Hor Yip Fan (Glutinous rice wrapped in lotus leaves)

Is this the same as Lor Mai Kai? Can someone tell me?

One of the must-haves for dim sum meal for most people; Siew Mai

For Siew Mai, I was told that another dim sum restaurant by the name of Yong Pin along the same street serves a better version of it, any thought?


Prawn dumplings/Har Mai

Nothing special; I've always felt that their har mai had a funny taste in it; there is something that I could not quite put my finger to it.


Steamed fishballs; this is my must-have! I am a fan of fishballs....


Fried fishballs

Yeah, my gals ordered them especially for me
This is a sure case of Cloudy with a Chance of FISHballs =P

Har Kao to sum up the meal; this is also not one of my favorite har kao around as I felt their shrimps are over-marinated; and the taste is slightly weird. Perhaps it was not too fresh as well? I don't know


This place serves dim sum from 6.00am onwards and extends until lunch where they will close at 2-3pm. They will resume the business for the night at 6.00pm; to serve you dim sum, fried noodles and even dishes/rice; which is quite a variety and doesn't that just makes things easier for us when we can't decide? =)

Homemade Strawberry Yoghurt Cheese Cake

When you read the words "Homemade", you must have jumped to the conclusion that I was the one responsible for the making of the cake, right?

Well, if you've read my blog long enough, you'll realize that ermmm...yours truly is not a fan of cooking and will never be a master of cooking either =P
I am just one pickyeater who is really fussy about what I eat and how it tastes like.
I don't criticize on the way the food is prepared or whether the chef is good, etc...my reviews and comments are purely based on how it tasted to me, and it may not be agreeable to anyone else (as most of the floggers have already know =)

This post is dedicated to one of my close girl friends who have since succumbed to her love for baking and the little oven she has at home. She delights in learning and baking a new recipe or two when she has the free time and shares with the bunch of girl friends like us =)

This is her newest creation; the Strawberry Yoghurt Cheese Cake

Lovely, ain't it...with the colorful exterior, I am sure it will tempt even those who are not fond of desserts/sweet things...like me =)

There are four layers in this cake; the red is the strawberry puree kinda concoction; followed by the pink strawberry yoghurt, then the cheese, and the last one is the crispy brownie-like crust.

I am not familiar with baking but I reckon that layers like these would be rather time-consuming and requires a fair amount of patience to succeed, right?


What do you think, baker-lovers? =)

Lovely ambience but food-wise...not so wise...

I couldn't believe that I was not aware of this place in 1U until I heard it from my good friend.
Well, guess I seldom walk through these alleys or it's been a while since I have done my shopping in 1U?
Either way, I was awed by the LOVELY, and I mean really lovely/awesome/wonderful/serene, etc...all the adjectives I could use to describe the settings of this little restaurant tucked away in the corner of the new wing on the ground floor.


It feels like a homely garden and to a certain extent, it even reminds me of the gardens in Babylon..LOL!



Even the lighting is just so soft and it all makes the ambience LOVELY! (this must be the highest number of times I have used the word Lovely in one article =P )

If you are interested in their designs/ensemble, you can choose to purchase their flowers, pots, vases, etc.

However, they don't come cheap...or at least to me =)

On the table where I was seated, there is lovely pot of lavenders


All the lovely atmosphere makes me go awwwww so much that I almost forgot about the food and anyway, the food along with the ambience, should make this a memorable meal, right?

The prices of their set lunches are reasonable; estimated around RM14.90++ onwards and each comes with a drink (choice of Iced Lemon tea or Coffee/Tea) and a soup.

The Iced Lemon tea came in a unique little jug like this. I thought it was something like the Fruit cocktail served in Winter Warmers when I saw these being served to other tables earlier.


The soup of the day was tomato broth

It was really diluted; even for a non-soup fan like myself and I find myself wondering, is this really tomato-based?

Next comes the food...
My classmate ordered the Black Pepper Chicken cutlet

It looks pretty good although the portion is just not proportionate to the size of the plate.
Taste-wise, I think he said it was on the average

As for my other classmate and me, we both ordered the Butter Lemon Fish which was basically dory fish fillets as expected
What we didn't expect was this...

We both asked for the sauce to be served separately and erm....this definitely does not look appetizing to me at all, nice ambience or not!
No amount of soft lighting is going to hide the fact that this looks like chunks of stuffs being served to your pet!



Needless to say, I was totally disappointed in the quality of the food served here...and even though the ambience is really nice, I doubt I will really go back for the food.
What say you?

Fried snacks, desserts and a short story - Finale for Tenji

(Continued from previous post...)

Finally, the last part of the Tenji Japanese buffet spread (I had to separate them into several posts so that the pictures can load nicely and there will be no complaints of slow loading of the blog post =P )

After a wholesome meal (and a very cholesterol-filled one too), Tenji also graces the buffet spread with an array of tempting light snacks and of course, (not-so) sinful desserts

Some fried anchovies with sesame seeds and groundnuts (I think)

The fried stuffs section

(The lighting at this area was kinda annoying to the eyes; not to mention the camera!)

A unique variant of the fried Mochi



Japanese just can't seem to get enough of fish ya!! (I am so with them on this =)



There's even Pie Tee...tee hee hee! =)


To the (western) desserts counter, where you will be spoilt for choices by the colorful variety on display


Feast your eyes on this; the lovely cakes and even konnyaku jellies!! =)








I didn't get to taste every single one of them of course; I was stuffed by then.
Furthermore, I was annoyed with the couple sitting next to my table (remember how I mentioned that our tables were placed so closely to each other that it makes me feel uncomfortable and stripped off my deserving privacy?)

Well, to make matters worse, I was sat next to such an annoying couple!
First of all, the lady was initially speaking in Mandarin to her boyfriend and then she kept stealing glances over at my table whenever we come back with food or whenever there is any new plate or stuffs placed on our table.
Then, the most annoying part, she would pass comments like we weren't there.
She even eavesdrop on our conversation and when she heard us speaking in English to each other, she started switching to English to speak to her boyfriend.

I guess the bf seems lost because he kept switching back to Mandarin with her *rolls eyes*

She even fakes a high-pitched voice (acting cute I guess) when she talks.
Each time a plate or new food is placed on our table, she would make no effort in hiding the fact that she is peering (or PORING) over our food and then she would say to her boyfriend in a not-so-low-tone,
"Oh, dear, how come we didn't go and order the steamed fish ya?" (when our steamed fish arrives)
"Did we forget to get fruit juices? I am not sure whether I want some or not..." (when our fresh juices are placed)
"Oooh, we missed the tong sui ar?" (when we have the small bowl of tong sui on the table; imagine, she could see into the bowl and know that it was tong sui and not boiled soup or soba, now you tell me she isn't poring?)
And the list goes on, I think you get the idea....
Don't you think that is just plain ANNOYING after a while? It's like someone is checking on you ALL the time...and imagine, how could I enjoy my meal in peace when she kept talking like that? UGHS!
SOME PEOPLE just have no idea how irritating they are...

The climax of the whole thing came...when my partner took this

Undeniably, it was a huge claw from the crab and he was tempted to try it.
Unfortunately, the poor guy did not manage to find a tool to crack the claw and gently used his fork/knife to knock against it slightly to try to crack the claw

Now, you wanna take a wild guess what our 'lovely neighbors' did?
The boyfriend passed us a hammer/tool to crack the claw and he sort of shook his head in front of us.
Then the girlfriend gave us a kind of look when I tried to smile to thank their kindness!
It was like, "These people are just so stupid" on their minds and they definitely make no effort to hide it!

WHOA...now that was definitely MEAN and uncalled for...
I totally lost my mood and appetite after that (anyway I was full too~)
It was seriously so degrading to be treated this way like we were way below them....and they think they are so great is it?

Well, thank goodness we were almost done and after a light round of sampling the desserts, we left.

That's why I seriously think that Tenji should consider improving on the placement of their tables/seats to prioritize customer's comfort and privacy.

Forget about that incident, probably I was just unlucky and brushing it aside, the buffet was quite enjoyable nevertheless


They even have private function rooms which can accommodate about 15-25 people, I think?

How I wish they had private function rooms for 2 people too...LOL!~