Saung Grenvil Seafood restaurant

So, I am finally sick of nasi padang. Time to do my weekend food indulging.

David introduced me to this place, Saung Grenvil. Best seafood in Jakarta (Selatan / South) ,he claims. Well, for a person who has been here for over 3 years, I gave him the benefit of doubt. Brought me there 2 weeks back, and it was the best food I had in Jakarta so far. But then again it's not really fair comparing some road side food stall with a proper restaurant.

Went over with some friends today.

The one I went to was in Blok S. According to David, Blok S is a one way street, and will definitely pass it. There will be a split road that will connect back to the same road and soon after that you will find the restaurant on your left. Just look out for it's big lighted signboard that looks something like this:



Yeah, I know, it's a pretty fucked up picture. Just google up Saung Grenvil and you can find the clearer picture of the crab. So, just tell the taxi driver, Blok S, look out for the small split road, and soon after, on your left. Managed to find the place easily without David and the taxi driver not knowing the place.

The 3 of us ordered:

1. Male crab - XL size - black pepper style.
2. Prawns - M size - salted egg style.
3. Oyster in omelette (similar to the Malaysian Oh Chien)
4. Pomfret - ikan bakar style.
5. And some random vegetable.

I am not sure if I haven't had much seafood back in Malaysia, or I am deprived of good food here, or the fact that I have not eaten that day, but I thought the food here was excellent. The other two agreed.

The prawns, coated in a batter of salted egg and fried to perfection.

The ikan bakar. The ikan bakar here taste pretty much like the ones in Malaysia. It was good but I thought it was such a waste to cook the pomfret in this style, cause, basically any fish cooked in this style would have tasted the same. Could have gone with a cheaper fish.

And the highlight of the day, the black pepper XL size crab. The black pepper gravy was excellent. Not overpowering, but complimenting the taste of the crab meat. And the crab ... it's claw was as big as my fist. The biggest crab all of us at the table have ever eaten. It's shell was so thick that I was at war with it and was totally worn out after the meal. Again, this is coming from a person with not much crab eating experience. I totally enjoyed it.

Here's a breakdown of the bill for price reference.

ONE XL sized crab @ 538,000 rupiah.
Prawns (6 pieces) @ 113,000 rupiah.
Oyster in omelette @ 35,000 rupiah.
Ikan Bakar Pomfret @ 107,100 rupiah.
Some vegetable @ 35,000 rupiah.

Including miscellaneous stuff like rice, drinks and tax, the total amount came up to 1,055,010 rupiah which is around to RM340 plus.

Not too sure if a crab that size cost that much, but it is definitely a new culinary experience for me. Man, claw as big as my fist. Most expensive meal here so far, also the most awesome (so far).

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Went back home, totally stuffed and soon drifted off to sleep.

Dreamt that I was eating crab again, reliving the moment, the taste and the atmosphere.

Two sessions for the price of one. What a steal.

Woke up still full and noticed the half chewed pillow.

True story.

Apart from the chewed off pillow.

Jakarta Nightlife

So, I did it again.

Just an hours nap, I said. I always tend to nap after heavy meals. Still don't get people who go "How can you sleep after such a heavy meal?" It's more like how can you NOT take a nap after a heavy meal. The urge is like wanting to have a cigarette after a meal. It just comes naturally.

Now I am wide awake at 2am listening to the ventilation fan and the buzzing of the water cooler in my studio apartment.

Fuck. Now that I mentioned it, I just keep hearing it. It's like suddenly you are conscious of your own breathing and it is just annoying that you actually have to actively breathe. Now, I shouldn't have mentioned that either.

Been in Jakarta for over a month now.

Lets see if I can summarize my life here so far.

1. Work, the main reason I am here.
2. Machet which means traffic jam in Bahasa Indonesia. The traffic here is so bad that it is alright to use it as a communication starter.
3. Nasi padang, my daily food.
4. Sopranos. Just finished 6 seasons of it and still not too sure how to feel about the final episode.
5. Dota 2.

It is now 2.15am.

This is going to be a long night.

First post for 2012

Happy New Year!!!

Yea, 8 days late but who's counting eh. We still have a whole full year ahead of us.

And finally realised the Jump Break function for blogger. Urgh, that took a while.

Inner voice: Yea, about damn time. Making us load tonnes of pictures on stuff that no one cares about! And also what's with new functions when there are hardly any new posts at all??

*Ignores inner voice*

Anyway, New Year ! Time to get productive ! Let's do it !

Inner voice: Just like all the other "productive" years gone by ...

Note to self: To do something about the voices inside.

Pilot 111 Bangkok

News of the flood in Bangkok has been pretty alarming. The media broadcast on the worsening flood created a panic buy rendering supermarkets and 7-11s with empty racks. Couldn't find any instant noodle, can food or drinking water anywhere.

The Thai government announced a 3 day emergency holiday. Including the weekend, I had a 5 day holiday here. Everyday I peep out my window only to see my streets still dry and the weather sunny. Wanted to go out but kept wondering what if that area was flooded. On the 4th night, I could no longer stand being cooped up in the hotel another day. Called up a fishing guide asking if the ponds are affected.

"Brother...no flood here lah."

Alright. It's on. Lets do it.

Bangkok with Joy, part 2

Day 3.

Woke up early today for a half day trip to Ayutthaya, an ancient capital of Thailand. I will just let the pictures do the talking in this post.


"Yay! Road trip!"

Bangkok with Joy - part 1

Right before I was posted here, Joy and friends and I actually had a short vacation in Bangkok.

So, this is what we did a couple weeks back.

Day 1.


Excitement (or rather energy level) is always high at the start of a vacation. Here we are on the way to the airport.

Bung Sam Ran, Bangkok

Finally, I managed to pay a visit to one of the world's famous freshwater fishing venue, Bung Sam Ran, or Bung Sam Lan. After reading so many reviews on this place, I just had to come.

I booked the Giant Siamese Carp and Catfish package with www.FishSiam.com which had a special promotion going which offers another person to share the package for free. Manage to convince (or rather con) Dee Lern to join me for the trip, considering that he has never held a rod, a fishing rod, in his whole life. Paid 7000 Baht for it which included return taxi ride from hotel, fishing gear, bait, 'private bungalow' and guide.


The cab picked us up at 8am and departed for Bung Sam Ran. The journey was around 40 minutes from Sukhumvit. We were in a town area, when the cab went into a small road and behold, a fishing haven.

Escorts in Bangkok 2

I just love the train rides over here. It's just so convenient. It is linked to almost every big mall in the city, and everywhere is just so accessible.

During rush hour, the trains here are packed. Really packed. Everyone squeezes into the train like sardines cramped into a can.

So, I was on my way back to the hotel and the trains were overflowing with people. There was this foreign guy with his local escort right in front of me, with their backs facing me. The guy then gave her a nice grope in the ass.

The girl, turned around, saw my face and furiously glared at me. I could almost hear her telepathically screaming at me "I AM GONNA KILL YOU ASSHOLE!"

Or it could have been "YOU SQUEEZE YOU PAY!!"

So, on the topic of morality, we can't say that escorts have low moral values. It's just that everybody has a price. Which reminds me of a story some time back.

My sister brought up a story where her friend asked her "Would you give a stranger a blow job for a million bucks?" She was showing her disgusted face saying that she would never do it. My immediate response was "A million bucks?? I'll give any stranger a blow job for a million bucks. Cash upfront!"

So, everybody has a price.

Fried insects review

Protein food in Bangkok.

Around the Sukhumvit area, you will definitely bump into stalls selling these fried insects. In general, they are crunchy and taste really salty with some flavoring of curry leaves. More of a texture thing I'd say. They pretty much taste the same.

They say that you'd only find these insects stalls in red-light district areas. Mmmm must be the protein.

Som Tam Restaurant

Starting to get a little sick of the street food already. Well, guess for myself, I really need variety. Starting to miss nasi lemak, roti canai and my own barbecued burgers already. Damn, I also miss the stir fries and chinese dishes back home. FUCK! Mamak food! How could I leave out mamak food! KNNCCB! FISH HEAD CURRY!! SAMBAL!! ARRRRGHHHH!!!

Ahem.

Strayed away a little from the topic.

So...

Decided to have a proper meal the other day instead of the usual street food. Met up with some friends at BTS Siam station, and it was just somewhere down there (gee...that's really helpful). Name of the place was Som Tam.

Random photo shots

Was going out for lunch today when I bumped into a Malaysia colleague, Choi, who has been here about 5 months now. He was going out for some random photo shooting, so I tagged along.

We boarded the Skytrain from Nana station, transited at Siam station, and headed towards Saphan Taksin station. Here, we could get to one of the Chao Phraya jetties where we could travel the river to various locations. Note to self, take the boats with the Orange flag as those were the cheapest. 14 Bath each time you get on the boat.


A scene at the Central Peer.

Was supposed to have volcanic fried mussels and oysters for lunch. I can't even begin to imagine how that dish would look like, so anticipation was high. Reached the place and it was closed. KNNCCB! (didn't have breakfast and was starving) Most of the shops were closed on a Sunday over here.


KNNCCB!

Escorts in Bangkok

Apparently, the area I'm staying in, Sukhumvit, is one of the big red light districts in Bangkok, says the tuk-tuk driver. Damn tuk-tuk drivers. Asked me five times on a short trip back if I wanted a Thai girl. Persistent bastard.

Yeah, and stop giving me that suspicious look. I went home alone that night.

...

I am home alone every night. Urghh! --> feels a suspicious stab from Joy.

Was having some siu yok noodles at Soi 11 (the street where all the bars are and almost every foreigner had a local escort in arm) when I saw how easy they picked up the girls.

An ang moh just walks by, sees a girl sitting by the street, and goes "Hi, how are you?". Girl stands up, puts her hands around his arm. Done deal. Just like that.

Interesting. Urgghhhh! Been feeling a lot of stabbing pains recently. Must be the som tam.

Tony Stark

Finally, a nice body and suit for Tony Stark.

Do forgive the half ass picture though. Should have done a better job.


Head from Hot Toys Iron Man Mark IV. Body from Art Figures AF-002 Bagheria.

Definitely value for money.

Last I checked, Toyzmaniacs, Endah Parade Sri Petaling still has some stock.

Anime noodles

The anime culture seems to be quite big over here in Bangkok.





UPDATE: Damn bloody spicy!!!!!

The Hand

Another one of those awesome purchases where others would find useless.

Citadines Bangkok

Wow.

2 years 2 months and 4 days since the last update. That must be a new record for procrastination.

Anyhow, to my loyal fans, LOOK WHO'S BACK!!!!!!!!!


Fans: BOOOO!!!! FUCK OFF!!!!! 2 YEARS?? YOU CANT JUST WALK IN AND PRETEND LIKE EVERYTHING'S NORMAL!!!! KILL!!!!!!!!!! KILL!!!!!!!!

Well, lets put the last two years behind us. Let's start a new chapter here.

And this new chapter begins in Bangkok.

Yeah, I finally started traveling again. Well, I've only been here 4 days and haven't really left my hotel room.

Fans: LIAR!!! TIGER SHOW!!! PING PONG SHOW!!!! LADY BOYS!!!!! HOOKERS!!!!!!

SHUT THE FUCK UP! Geez. These voices I'm hearing. Can get really irritating. So, where was I ...

Oh yeah, Bangkok. Haven't left my hotel room, so this post will be about my room. It's a Studio Apartment really, and it's a small cozy place with everything needed. Citadines, the name of the place. They are really big and in Bangkok itself, there are at least 3 that I know of in the Sukhumvit area. They have also mushroomed all over Europe, and Philippines. Well, at least that's what the poster in the elevator says. Anyway, enough publicity about this place.

Here come the pictures.


Mini little hall.


Hall from different angle.


Movable TV and working area.


Working area. Keep cursing to why they didn't have drawers.


A small but complete lil kitchen. Fucking water boiler doesn't work though. Complained but they say its for safety reasons, where the water clicks off seconds after being switched on. I don't buy that.


Place where I spend most of my time. Sleeping of course.

Drop me a buzz if any of you (that is if anyone is even reading this) drop by Bangkok.

Will be around for at least two months.

Snake killer

No, this is not an Indian cat. Some kampung cat which had its fun with the snake, killed it and coolly walked away.

Indian Delicacies

One of the horror stories before I came over was how easily everybody got food poisoning over here in India. Some said it got so bad that you are unsure whether to puke it out or shit it out.

One thing they didn't tell me though. Food here is godly taste good as hell.



I only managed to try their chapati, naan and briyani so far. Yea, you can easily get them back home, but its a total different league here. The ammount of side dishes accompanying the bread, and the tantalizing aroma immediately sent my taste buds craving for more, even now as I am writing this. The existence of curry back home is a mockery to the curry served here. God, I might spit at the fake Indian food back home.



Another thing India is famous for should be their mangoes.



I bought two kilos of these mangoes for only 70 rupees (RM5). Sweet succulent fruits they are. You could even separate the flesh from the seed by squeezing it with the skin still on, and then suck the flesh and juice out from a hole.

All this great food here, and guess what, no diarrhea.

Wait. I did have slight diarrhea, but that was from having 6 mangoes in a go.

Incredible India

Headlines this morning was all about the Pakistani terrorist launching rockets into Punjab.

I am in fucking Punjab. Thankfully it was some other city near the India-Pakistan border.

Yup. I am now in Chandigarh, Punjab in India. It was just a week ago when I was still enjoying my favourite meal of herbal pork stew aka bak kut teh in Malaysia. After enduring weeks of horror stories from India, here I am to witness the truth with my very own eyes.

Honestly, I still find it hard to believe that I am in India. It is a very surreal feeling and I only have fragments of memory of how I got here.



Transited at Changi Airport for a whole 7 hours

The moment I landed in Delhi, it felt different. I have never seen so many Indians in my entire life. No, that is not a racist statement. They were just … everywhere. It was a freaking sea of brown people.

I got into a car, and headed to my hotel in Gurgaon, Delhi. I felt safer in a roller coaster ride. The roads of India had no rules, more like a free for all deathmatch. They accelerate with their horns, come within inches from each other, stop abruptly in the middle of the freaking highway after missing a turn, drive in reverse and also drive opposing the traffic. Longest ride of my life.

Crashed the moment I reached my hotel in Gurgaon, Delhi. Woke up about 5am the next morning due to time difference and got ready for another long road trip up North. It was only 280km apparently to Chandigarh, but the freaking trip took near 6 hours. It was interesting the first 2 hours. Their road transportation varied from lorries, cars, rickshaws, bicycles, to horses, cows, and even donkeys. You could even find warthogs running around freely.


A view outside my hotel in Gurgaon. And I thought Malaysia was hazy.


Looks like this area was bombarded.

The scenery for the next 200 kilometers was more or less like this:


Poverty.


Abandoned.


Messy.


And barren.

The surroundings improved slightly up north. There were more trees, a lot of paddy fields and less dusty. Chandigarh is known as the greenest city in India and that is quite true with trees and parks surrounding the whole place. The place isn't as crowded as Delhi and more men in turbans could be seen around.


But you can still easily spot horses and cows in Chandigarh.

Reading and hearing about India can only tell you so much. Experiencing it for yourself is a whole different thing. Really. How the heck did I end up in this shithole fascinating country.

Play-Asia.com

Ever since I came upon Play Asia, game shopping had never been easier. Just a few simple clicks, and a parcel would be delivered to my office within ten to fifteen days. Ample duration to finish off a game comfortably. Plus with a 5USD discount coupon with every purchase, that'd easily make it cheaper than most places in Malaysia.

Shopping around for original games around here can be pretty disappointing. Besides Gamer's Hideout at the Cineleisure, I can say all the other shops are pretty fucked up. Showing off their fucking attitude when their products are marked up sky high. URRGGggHHggHH!! Just thinking about it makes my blood boil. Just die maggots scums!!!!

Only problem would be its just too convenient. Too convenient. I am leaving my room less. I am getting glued to my couch. Game after game delivered to me. Life couldn't be better. MuAHAhAhAhAhAhA!!!!