Taiwanese Tea & Dessert by BlackBall (黑丸) Dessert Outlet is in K.K.!

New taiwanese dessert house in town... AGAIN! The first BlackBall branch is in Lintas Square of K.K.

Me and my manager went for lunch nearby and managed to buy bowls of desserts at the outlet. We were completely blank for the ordering method, the whole list of desserts that we couldn't figure what to buy. It was funny. 

I heard that the crowd were crazy during the night when they first started newly opening promotion with Buy 1 Free 1 to all customers, and believe me, unbelievable local people who queued outside the corridor and few shops away during the night and I was passing during one weekend. My goodness!

 - BlackBall (黑丸) -

The special tool that handover to us after we made our order and when it buzz, it means your drinks are ready for collection. Very clever of them.

- Our order -

- BlackBall Signature -

First, I HATE BEANS! As in, I don't like to eat beans and I did changed the original red beans to aloe vera chunk. Overall, it taste sweet but not way to sweet like overloaded with sugar, except for the aloe vera cubes. The sweet potatoes balls and slices ones were made of original sweet potatoes which we could feel the texture and eat the real sweet potatoes while we were consuming them.

I like their signature where I can customise ingredients of what I like to add in there. :D

- Golden Sweet Corn Deli -

My manager was complaining why her bowl of dessert was dry and not shiny and watery like mine. hahaha :D Poor thing. The sweet corn ice blended were underneath all those ingredients, and in the end after it melted, she said the flavour is quite good.

 

In my opinion, if you want to have a taste of quality Taiwanese dessert, you might want to try Blackball and have a taste of real Taiwan in K.K. :)

Location :

No.17-0, Block D, Lintas Square,
Jalan Lintas, 88000 Kta Kinabalu.

(Same row as Maybank Berhad and few shops away from Zenq.)

Website : BlackBall (Original Tea and Taiwanese Dessert)

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Taiwan Guide : Taipei (V.1) - 5 Days 4 Nights 【台湾游】 台北之五天四夜

Guide to Taipei - My version of 5 days 4 nights in Taipei.

The compilation for 5 days 4 nights in Taipei with WHERE to GO and WHAT to EAT during Summer, August 2011.

All the following places and foods can be found in Taipei itself and every destinations we visited. For your information, ten of us stayed at Taipei Room, 中山 (ZhongShan) which located just few minutes away from the main entrance of ZhongShan MRT Station), a convenient district for high street shopping and fashion seekers during the night! Part of experiencing Taipei nightlife with shopping!

Upon arrival at Taipei Room on our first day trip in Taipei, we proceeded to 九份 (Jiu Fen) an hour after we left our luggage at our rest house at 10.00am.

RuiFang District ( 瑞芳區)

* Place to visit :

   - Ji Shan Street (基山街) - 九份旧道 (Jiu Fen Old Street)

 * Foods to eat :
   - Ji Shan Street (基山街) - 九份旧道 (Jiu Fen Old Street)

Say goodbye to the magnificent historical 九份 (Jiu Fen) in the evening and we visited 士林  (Shilin) during the night!

 Shilin District (士林區)

* Place to visit and Food to eat :

   - 士林夜市 (Shilin Night Market)

The second day, we went to the largest Pedestrian area at 西门町 (Xi Men Ding)! It is also known as Shibuya (Japan) of Taiwan, an interesting place during the day and during the night as well. I love that place and I might revisit the place again and staying at that area if possible. 

 Wanhua District ( 萬華區)

* Place to visit : 

   - 西门町 (Xi Men Ding)

 

* Food to eat :

   - 西门町 (Xi Men Ding) - 马辣鸳鸯火锅专卖 (All You Can Eat Mala Hotpot Store)

   - 西门町 (Xi Men Ding) - 便所餐厅 (Modern Toilet) 

* Souvenirs to buy 

  - 西门町 (Xi Men Ding) - Sophisca - Condoms Treats (Choc)

During the night, a Taiwanese friend of ours brought us for a walk (by foot) at 中山 (ZhongShan) and other reachable area by foot and experiencing the local lifestyle and small eateries that the local love to eat.

Da Tong District (大同區)

* Place to visit :
  ** Ning Xia Road (宁夏路)
       - 宁夏观光夜市 (Ning Xia Night Market)
       - 大稻埕码头 (Da Dao Cheng Wharf)

* Food to eat : 
  ** Ning Xia Road (宁夏路)
       - 宁夏观光夜市 (Ning Xia Night Market)
  ** Ming Shen Xi Road (民生西路口)
       - 豆花莊 (Since1965) (Dou Hua Zhuang) 

They often tell us that it is a must visit to the landmark skyscraper of Taiwan - Taipei 101 (台北101) and we were there the day before we left Taiwan. :)

Sin Yi District (信義區)
* Place to visit :
  - Taipei 101 (台北101)

Overall, it was quite an experience visiting Taiwan. The massive crowds that we could see from every corner. In fact, there are some recommended destination such as 淡水 (DanShui), themed cafes such as Hello Kitty (most of them said the food quality were bad, but I still wanna be there) and we are yet to visit in the future. :)

By the way, 7 Eleven of Taiwan is a must visit place! And everyday I visited 7 Eleven to buy something. If one day you visit Taiwan, remember to have a look at that awesome convenient store.

My Daily Dose of Taiwan (My Favorite Place)
- 7 Eleven Convenient Store

We left Taiwan and back to Malaysia on the fifth day afternoon. We reached Tao Yuan Airport earlier and did some last minute shopping before we say goodbye to this lovely place. :)

Okay! That's the complete compilation of my trip in Taipei.

Have a nice trip for those who are going Taipei for holiday! :)
 

- Taipei 101 -

- Grilled Mushrooms at JiuFen Old Street -

- The Largest Pedestrian area of Taipei - Xi Men Ding -

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French Pastry by Levain Boulangerie Patisserie @ Kuala Lumpur

It has been one of the cafe which attracts me by my friends in KL and it was my first visit to Levain on June this year.

The cafe is located nearer to KL city and we were there for our afternoon tea break after shopping. The place is beautiful with a hint of English design that like a fairytale scene with flowers and cozy environment. :)

- Levain Boulangerie Patisserie -

Thanks to Marcus and Mei Ling who brought us hunting for the best food while me and meatball-online in KL. That's the main entrance of Levain and we are looking forward towards what we could eat in there!

- Pastries and Desserts -

Smells good and looks good as well! The fruits topping were fresh and made us undecidable of what to eat!

Tiramisu~ Strawberries~ Almond Nuts and more.

- Caramel Nut Danish @ RM4.20 and Chicken Curry Donut @ RM3.80 -

Every time I come across "Pastry", it reminds me the croissant texture that is crunchy while consuming one. In fact at Levain, those breads we had were crunchy, just like we sees on the image above. Overall taste was good and all of the pastry we had were tasty. 

Sometimes having English Tea Session in the afternoon at a place like that or a garden are so beautiful and perfect.

- The view from 1st Floor -

The garden seats outside the building was full and even the inside seats. Luckily we could find a space for four of us upstairs with the last table vacant! What a luck.

- Macarons @ RM14.40 and Tiramisu (further right) @ RM6.50 -

MACARONS, the correct spelling for macaron, not macaroons. There's a difference between both of them, search Google to understand it. The macarons we had were both sweet and mild sweetness. As for the hot Earl Grey tea we had, it taste average only with a price of RM6.00 each. Perhaps a slight changes of the tea brand will made it better and maybe serving tea with teapot will be great. :)

I'm looking forward to my next visit soon.

Website :  
Levain Boulangerie Patisserie

Location :
Off Jalan Imbi
No. 7, Jalan Delima, 55100 Kuala Lumpur

Contact No. :
+603 2142 6611

Operating time :
Monday to Sunday 7.30am - 9pm

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Fun In Taiwan : Taipei - That's Taipei 101! 【台湾游玩记】 台北 - 台北101!

Taipei Part 10 (The End) - 台北101

The day before we left Taiwan.

No matter how packed our time was, everyone of us should visit Taipei 101, the landmark representing Taiwan.

We left the rest house around 9.00am, had a walk at Taipei Underground Market which is nearer to the subway while having our brunch and waited others to buy their goodies.

Few of us went for a drink at one of the interesting cafe at the Underground Market and what a coincidence that we walked in to this Panda Cafe. And we were still waiting for few of the girls who are shopaholics. (-_-)

- Panda House (熊猫馆) -

Very cute and interesting panda concept cafe for friends to chill with. The whole cafe details and things (for sale/ decorations) are PANDAS!

Time consuming and we were chasing the time to Taipei 101 after all of us gathering together!

- Taipei 101 -

Reached the nearest MRT station to Taipei 101 and we had a short walk before we arrived at the landmark skyscraper.

"Formerly known as the Taipei World Financial Center, is a landmark skyscraper located in Xinyi District, Taipei, Taiwan. The building ranked officially as the world's tallest from 2004 until the opening of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai in 2010." - Wikipedia

- Taipei 101 -

- Taipei 101 -

Meatball, Pom Pom, Bunny and IceHippo in action! As a remembrance before leaving Taiwan on the second day. :)

The street looks quiet but with all the decoration of the surrounding area, the place is quite trendy and beautifully groomed environment.

- Taipei 101 -

And WE ARRIVED at the main entrance of Taipei 101! Yippi! :)

It was an eye opener there, the architecture interior design is amazing, a little mix of Roman design as well. Me and meatball bought Tiffany & Co. bracelet as remembrance for our Taiwan trip, thought it was cheaper there but not really. But, it's okay. :) I'm happy with my purchase.

Shopping and walk about while we were there. We went up and looking forward to see Taiwan from the highest level but it was too crowded with people and they were mad long queue for all of us to wait. In the end we just leave that place and went for a walk and some shopping for souvenirs.

- Cartoonised Taipei 101 during the night -

- Macsot of Taipei 101 -

- Taipei 101 during the Day -

- Architecture Interior Design -

Very beautiful and some how this photo reminded me Times Square of Hong Kong. :) And the good news is I almost done with Taiwan trip entries and gonna start with Hong Kong and China post!

It was getting late and we left Taipei 101 in the evening for a rest back to the rest house and went out to experience the booming place of Zhong Shan! 星光三越 (Xin Guang San Yue) is a good place for all kinds of reasonable priced goodies! It was a waste if we didn't manage to walk there.

- Cold Stone -

If you ever come across with Cold Stone Ice Cream, remember to try them, definitely creamy as we seen from the packaging. :) Our Singaporean friends treated us for this huge bucket of ice cream as a "symbol" of thank you and friendship during the trip.

So, the next day comes and we are going back to our country. The happy moments always has it ends. 

- Bye Bye Taiwan -

Till we meet again. Hopefully next year! I wanna explore Taipei again and looking forward with it.

*A BIG SMILE* ;)

Location :
Panda Cafe : Taipei Underground Market
Taipei 101 : Sinyi District

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生肉面 (Sang Nyuk Mian) by 金兴利茶室 (Kedai Kopi Kim Hing Lee) at Gaya Street

It was a public holiday the other day when we were out around town for our family outing.

I saw the banner outside one of the restaurant along Gaya Street for quite some times and it was actually my first time having meal (brunch) at the restaurant selling the famous pork noodle a.k.a Sang Nyuk Mian (生肉面) which originated by local SABAHAN! And many of them told us that Sang Nyuk Mian can only be found in Sabah! But sorry to say, that I'm not a huge fan of it.

So, we had our meal as follow...

- Kon Lou Kuey Teow 干捞粿条 -

Pork slices cooked in soup while noodles 'kon lao' (served dry with dark soy sauce).

- The Story of Kedai Kopi Kim Hing Lee -

 

From the huge board behind the noodle stall, there's short (which quite long in fact) story explained about 金兴利茶室 (Kedai Kopi Kim Hing Lee), the well established restaurant at Sinsuran and assuming it is the first pork noodle restaurant in town and review from local newspaper editor.

- Noodle Soup -

If you would like to eat something light with pork meat and pork "spare parts", we may seek for their noodle soup. However, the one served with dark soy sauce will taste much better.

- Kon Lou Mian 干捞面 -

As some of us may not favour pork spare parts, we might personally request what we would like to include in our soup as well! No heart feeling bah~~

- The review by local newspaper editor -

From my personal opinion, I love the Kon Lao Kuey Teow which is soft and thin and the dark soy sauce mixed with it taste good. :) 

But as for the soup, I think that it wasn't salty enough (yes, I know salty is unhealthy, but the correct portion of saltiness will make the soup taste GOOD). I wonder, maybe I should try the original restaurant at Sinsuran someday. As for now, I still prefer the famous one at Lintas, either the one next to Hong Leong Bank or Sinsuran Sang Nyuk Mian.

Location :
1. Gaya Street.
2. Blk F, Lot 7, Sinsuran Complex, Sinsuran, Kota Kinabalu.

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Food In Taiwan : Taipei - Dou Hua Zhuang (1965) The Long Lost Tau Fu Fa Recipe 【台湾美食记】 台北 - 古早味之豆花莊 （1965）

Taipei Part 9 - 豆花莊 (Dou Hua Zhuang)

Anyone who manage to visit Ning Xia Night Market is recommended to visit the famous bean curd dessert shop that has been around since 1965.

Something special about this dessert shop, the bean curd are soft and smooth to eat, the shaved ice are thin and are not icy. Varieties of choices for us to choose and it wasn't mixed with so many ingredients as Blackball or some other Taiwanese desserts chained outlets.

- Pearls Beancurd and Peanuts Beancurd -

I am not a Tau Fu Fa lover, but this one... yea... I like it very much. :)

- 豆花莊 (Dou Hua Zhuang) -

- Both the owner as the ambassador of their own dessert store -

The love story since 1965.

- Varieties of Choices -

- Peanuts beancurd -

The peanuts for the dessert were soft, unlike the ordinary one we had.

- TV Shows -

Interviews by TV shows in and across the country.

- 食尚玩家 -

The famous Taiwanese TV show that we can watch from our country as well!

 - 豆花莊 (Dou Hua Zhuang) -

Definitely a bowl of Tau Fu Fa with shaved ice is refreshing after the hot night market walk!

Location :
Ning Xia Road No. 49 (Ming Shen Xi Road 民生西路口)

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Taiwan : Taipei - NingXia Road Night Market & Da Dao Cheng Wharf【台湾游】 台北 - 宁夏观光夜市 与 大稻埕码头

Taipei Part 8 - 宁夏观光夜市 (Ning Xia Rd Night Market), 豆花莊 (Beancurd Shop) and 大稻埕码头 (Da Dao Cheng Wharf)

We were back to the hotel from XiMenDing （西门町）, and waited a local friend of Doggy's mom who was the person who brought us for the "night tour" via by foot from Zhong Shan MRT Station to Ning Xia Road Night Market and other places in Taipei.

- Ning Xia Rd Night Market (宁夏观光夜市) -

" Snacks are the main pursuit at the Ningxia Night Market. The area comprising blocks between Minsheng W. Road and Pingyang St. is a favorite of long-time Taipei residents, as it is home to shops offering old-time tastes. Among these are oyster omelets, shrimp omelets, grouper soup, satay beef, pig liver stew, Tainan rice cake, roe dressed in mayonnaise and Canton-style rice congee. The most outstanding feature of the Ningxia Night Market is that separate lanes for vehicles and pedestrians have been laid out, allowing visitors to enjoy top-quality service at the area’s shops and eateries. Ningxia Night Market has been the leader in the move among night markets to introduce large tables for diners. A reservation is your ticket to an unforgettable night tasting Taiwan’s traditional snacks. - Taiwan Food Culture. "

And we started our Ning Xia Night Market...

- Ning Xia Rd Night Market (宁夏观光夜市) -

The night market is known as one of the most favourable night market for the local Taiwanese, it is not as large as Shilin Night Market, Taipei nor Feng Jia Night Market, Taichung. In one glance, we can see varieties of businesses that run by the local hawkers, in fact, we can play games, sitting there and enjoy the night life of Taiwanese.

I believe every night market has it specialty and same as Ning Xia Night Market and I found out that I kind of like the snacks over there. :)

- Food Division at Ning Xia Rd Night Market (宁夏观光夜市) -

- Snacks - Moon Pan Cake -

- 豆花莊 (Beancurd Shop) -

Located at Ning Xia Road No. 49 (Ming Shen Xi Road 民生西路口). The beancurd store is the most recommended dessert shop at Ning Xia/ Taipei. Moreover, the shop were introduced by many TV shows before! Even Japanese Food Show as well!

After we visited Ningxia Night Market for dinner. We went for a short walk which became a lonnggg walk in the end, midnight in fact. The Taiwanese friend brought us the wrong way when we were walking back to our rest house.

The next few images will be the night scene of Taipei :-

- 波丽路 (Bolero) -

The oldest steak house in Taipei. Furthermore, we passed by (a few blocks away) the club for gangster as well! During the nigh, Taipei seems to be quiet while we were walking through the street. Well, experiencing the real life of local Taiwanese is another way for us as a tourist there.

- Dried Seafood Store -

- Walked at the old street and buildings of Taipei -

- 大稻埕码头 (Da Dao Cheng Wharf) -

We went to Da Dao Cheng Wraft for a walk and enjoy the night scene of the sea. From what I had understood, the main entrance of Da Dao Cheng Wharf will be close when the sea water level is too high and streaming towards the city.

- 大稻埕码头 (Da Dao Cheng Wharf) -

That's the view of Taipei from Da Dao Cheng Wharf, the purple neon light bridge is Dan Shui (淡水), another tourist destination that worth for a visit.

After the visit, we walked back to the rest house, despite of walking the wrong way and we took another 1 hour or more to walk, we were exhausted and had supper at our room before ending our day in Taipei!

Location :
Ning Xia Night Market - Ningxia Rd. (between Nanjing W. Rd. and Minsheng W. Rd), Datong District.

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