ZenQ Bintulu - Blackforest Danish Toast

ZenQ Dessert Bintulu has recently added a new toast series to their dessert menu which seems quite popular judging from all the hype being posted on Facebook. So I decided to give a go and chosen the Blackforest Danish Toast which they also have Chocolate Banana Honey Toast and Strawberry Lover Honey Toast.

The wait was pretty long around 10 minutes despite we were the only table waiting for our desserts to be served which I can't imagine on a busy day. The toast came in a big plate with fork and knife but because the table surface was pretty smooth, I had a hard time trying to cut through it.

Blackforest Danish Toast sure looks dark

Top with chocolate ice cream, grapes, kiwis and a layer of peanut butter on top of a toast, it was somewhat puzzling to say the least to even consider it creative. The taste if you would imagine is like getting an ice cream bun from those bicycle ice cream vendor for a price of RM2.00 but instead you are paying RM16.90 for it. The mix of peanut spread with chocolate ice cream was not really my preference, it felt there is just too many different things going on with the toast and halfway through it I stopped as I was feeling pretty dreadful like when you load up too much fat and sugar in a filling.

Maybe I did not know what I was expecting but overall in my opinion it could have been good other than ice cream on toast with bombardment of different taste on it.

Blackforest Danish Toast - RM16.90

The Esplanade Bintulu

View The Esplanade in a larger map

The Esplanade Bintulu is one of those hidden spot due to it's location and public perception towards not knowing what to expect from the restaurant. Situated just beside the riverbanks of Bintulu Waterfront, it serves a variety of Chinese dishes and seafood choices while I did not see any Halal sign however they do not serve any pork and there was a few tables with our Muslim friends.

 I have been here since the week of The Esplanade's opening and as expected of any newly opened restaurant the service was poor. Food came out late and the drinks did not even came until we asked at our last dish. So I decided to come back again after a year later. You can choose to sit within the restaurant which is air conditioned or outside which I enjoyed the view of the park and the cool breeze.

We ordered bean curd with seafood soup, fried prawn with salted egg, stir fried broccoli with almond and deep fried chicken Thai style. I expected the food to be late as there were a few tables waiting and not to mentioned the people seated just in front of us was really unhappy with their order as the food did not came and they canceled it in the end. Yet I was pleasantly surprised food took around 15 minutes to be served while I could not say the same thing for the drinks as it took a staggering 20 minutes just for a watermelon juice and barley lemon.

The food was great especially the prawn fried with salted egg which is in golden crisps and not to mention the portion of the Thai style was huge. I love the relaxing experience and would be coming back again.


Fried prawn with salted egg - RM20.00
Bean curd with seafood soup - RM8.00
Stir fried broccoli with almond - RM15.00
Deep friend chicken Thai style - RM12.00
White Rice per person - RM1.00
Watermelon Juice - RM5.00
Barley lemon - RM5.00

T4 Bintulu

View T4 Bintulu in a larger map

T4 is a Taiwan bubble tea franchised which has open it's door in Bintulu since 2012 has received good reception from the public. Dubbed as the Tea Master, I must admit their tea always has that special refreshing taste that doesn't feel like you are drinking a cup of over sugary water. The best part is that you are allowed to choose how much sugar or even ice you want in your drink.

Personally I love the feel of the whole shop, a relaxing place where you can hangout with friends or just spend a little quiet evening finishing your book with a cup of milk tea. Although some times it could get pretty crowded.

Picture taken from T4 Facebook Page

Below is T4 Bintulu menu. Click to enlarge. Personal favorite is their Elegant Lady Rose Tea.

Picture taken from T4 Facebook Page

Starbucks Coffee and Sakae Sushi Bintulu

Times Square Mall Bintulu which is slated to be finish and operational in 2014 had a signing between Starbucks Coffee and Sakae Sushi on 29 August 2013. I am especially excited at this news as we now have more quality franchise to relax and dine in. For more info head over to their official Facebook page HERE

Photo taken from Time Square Mall official Facebook page.

ZenQ Bintulu

View ZenQ Bintulu in a larger map

For ZenQ menu of item please view HERE. I'll also be updating what I have tasted on the main menu.

ZenQ is a Taiwanese dessert store located beside Kemena Hotel at Medan Raya Bintulu. The store popularity among teenagers to old folks is just amazing as the place is always buzzling since its opening in April. Although suffering from the initial setbacks of not having enough ingredient to complete their menu, these days most dessert are available.

There is a variety of choice or series ( Grass Jelly series, Barley series, Red Bean Soup series, Shaved Ice series, Sago series, Iced Tea series & Freshly made series) . Unless you came with someone that has tasted quite a few to give recommendation or else you'll be one of those customer who might complain they ordered something that doesn't suit their taste. After trying most of their series, my suggestion is to ordered those that is recommended on the menu marked with their logo. Personally I recommend ZenQ Signature Grass Jelly and Mixed Fruit Shaved Ice.

ZenQ Signature Grass Jelly base is crushed ice of green tea with toppings of grass jelly and Q Yuan that I can only described as sweet jelly. You can choose between green tea,grass jelly or soy as the base. A really refreshing dessert as the bitter taste of green tea balance out the overall sweetness of the dessert which I greatly enjoy.

Signature Grass Jelly

The Mixed Fruit Shaved Ice came with a mountain of shave ice top with an ice cream and accompanied with honeydew,mango and watermelon cubes. I added sago as another topping. Although as good as it might seem I find there is nothing particularly interesting but don't get me wrong it still serve it's purpose for a cool dessert.

Mixed Fruit Shaved Ice

Overall I enjoyed the place and it has been one of the dessert store I visit from time to time.

For ZenQ menu of item and more dessert review updated as I have tried. Please view HERE

ZenQ Signature Grass Jelly - RM7.50
Mixed Fruit Shaved Ice - RM8.90 + Topping RM1.00

ZenQ Bintulu Menu Item (Last Update 29/07/2013)

View ZenQ Bintulu in a larger map

ZenQ Bintulu offers a variety of dessert however it could be puzzling trying to figure out what to have when you reach the store. So here is a menu for easier viewing. Click here to view ZenQ Bintulu.

For all ZenQ dessert series excluding Milk Tea Series, you have the choice to add toppings of the following sweet goodies into your dessert. So pick and match!

Now onto the desserts!

Like and follow our new official Facebook page!

Bintulufood official Facebook Page!Like us and follow our daily eating venture!

BintuluFood Facebook Page

Paddy's Coffeehouse New World Suites Bintulu

View Paddy's Coffeehouse New World Suites Bintulu in a larger map

Paddy's Coffeehouse is a restaurant serving both local but mostly western halal food located at the fifth floor of New World Suite Hotel. It is one of those restaurant that I seldom visit due to my past 4 experiences here that not only didn't impress me at all but left me wondering why I am spending to spoil my lovely evening here? From past experience the service is not really great and I could still remember calling during Valentine day to ask what course of meal they were serving to their reply "chicken, beef and vegetable"...*GASP*. The main deal breaker is the wait, I hate waiting for my food and I had experience of waiting almost an hour for my chicken cordon bleu which tick me off really bad despite there were only two tables in the whole restaurant.

So you might be wondering why I am back here?Well I guess it was fate as I was stuck in the building due to the downpour and the only place to dine other than having fried chicken and sushi was Paddy's Coffeehouse. Despite its name, Paddy is by no mean a kopitiam. Its quite an expensive restaurant to dine in by Bintulu's standard. They serve mostly western food but also some local food and they are quite famous in offering a variety of mocktail and cocktails.

Upon entering I was greeted by a smoke filled restaurant, I guess the exhaust fan in the kitchen was not working that night? I love the enviroment, it felt really cosy and you get to overview the rivefront park of Bintulu which is gorgeous in the afternoon. I would recommend sitting near the windows in main hall and avoid the big tables at the secluded side. The chair and table are so awkwardly placed it is only suitable for afternoon tea break where you are relaxing but eating is not practical as I find you need to reach your whole body forward to the table to eat.

I ordered the double cheese burger while my partner ordered the ulam fried rice. I was really suprised when the food came under 15 minutes as there was around 4 tables when we came in. The burger was juicy but cold when it came out however I wouldn't say it was bad. The bun was fresh made with chunky beef paddy slipped between processed cheese and a piece of egg.

The ulam fried rice came with prawn, tofu and shrimp paste. The shrimp paste was the highlight, albeit from that it just look as it is. Dull.

To finish it off, we had the silky smooth sweet creme caramel, I love how they decorated it. It wasn't too sweet that made you cringe thinking I am going to have diabetes tomorrow. Overall a great place if you are not in a rush.

Shabukun Bintulu

View Shabukun Bintulu in a larger map

Shabukun is a Japanese restaurant located at ParkCity (same row with SunFlower) that serves a variety of Japanese food although I would not say it is the best due to most of the item on the menu are only available when you are in luck but they are the only Japanese shabu shabu restaurant in Bintulu.

I like the place mainly because of quiet and comfy setting with the whole wooden vibe going around and you get a table which is partly covered so you get a bit of peace and privacy plus some tables even have a DVD player with a selection of movies for you to keep the children on their seats.

Their main business is as you guess from their name, shabu-shabu. Their menu consists of items which you would normally see in any shabu restaurant and to be honest there is nothing to shout about. The night we arrived there was a set meal promotion for RM38 per head only for the month of July. The set meal consists of a bowl of shabu material, fried rice,baby octopus,fried pork,skewered chicken meat,skewered prawn,salad, fried vegetable and a pot of tea. On top of this they allowed you to top up three times for any of the dish. Pictures taken below are for two person portion.

Overall I would say it was alright however I find the material for shabu boring as it consists of chicken frank,mushroom,vegetable and squid which I could have found any of these things at a better place but if you want to have a nice quiet evening out with the missus I would say this is a good place but maybe you might want to wait for this promotion to end and order off the menu.

Xin Yu Yuan Bintulu

View Xin Yu Yuan in a larger map

Xin Yu Yuan is a Chinese restaurant located at ParkCity. It has a small air conditioned room although most people would prefer sitting outside in the open air. They serve a variety of local Chinese dishes which you should ask for a menu as from past experiences the person taking order does not know anything unless it's a Chinese guy taking your order.

To be honest, there are a lot of great places for Chinese dishes in Bintulu and this place might be off my radar most of the time as I would not call it bad but just nothing memorable or anything to write home about. However this place does have two particular stalls setup just outside it's door that might interest people. One is selling western food and another which I always came for is the grilled fish.

They have a big cooler with a selection of fish but I find that most of the time they are only left with Tilapia. However I was lucky that the time I wrote this they had "black and white".

Grilled on a hot metal plate which is season or covered with sambal and served with their spicy sauce and also comes with lemons for that mixture of spicy sourly taste . Made me drool just thinking of it. However I find that they also skimp on the sambal, should have covered the whole fish with more of it as that is the main taste of the fish.

Grilled Fish - RM25

New Seoul Korean Restaurant Bintulu

View New Seoul Korean Restaurant BintuluUntitled in a larger map

New Seoul Korean Restaurant is no stranger in Bintulu, it was open back in the 90's when Bintulu had an influx of Korean worker for the MLNG oil and gas project. However they close down and moved over to Miri which I heard was pretty successful there.

As of Late Bintulu is swarm with Korean again due to the ever blooming Samalaju projects and the recent success with the Kidurong Korean House Restaurant proves that even local demographic loves Korean food, New Seoul Korean Restaurant is back again but is it any good?

Located at the old Teapot restaurant or the area of 900Inn, they serve raw meats of pork,chicken and beef for barbeque which they have this hot plate on each table and also Korean food *duh. To be honest I was pretty shocked with the interior design (if there is any) of the restaurant considering this kind of price point, imagine tables in an empty room with no proper roof where you see all the wiring's and pipes. Sorta like dining in a warehouse if you dig that kind of enviroment. Due to the grilling within a closed restaurant the whole place is filled with smoke with no proper ventilation which I did not enjoy at all.

Service was at best described as everyone looked very busy but not really. There is a large selection of foods to choose from the menu and I like how all the food is accompanied with a picture because one of the things I found dining in foreign cuisine is the lack of any information of the food which makes ordering really difficult. We ordered garlic fried rice, kimchi fried rice, kimchi soup or they call Kam Ja if I am not mistaken on the menu, Kimchi pancake and seafood rice cake. I did not bother with the grilling because personally I don't like grilling that much.

Food took pretty long to come out however the person in charge was kind enough to asked "is every order out already?" twice but the rice cake never came out until we were about to leave. Pardon as I didn't take any pictures as I wasn't in a good mood with all the waiting in a smoke filled room.

The garlic fried rice taste great with bits of garlic in it and has this buttery aroma smell, you can basically just eat it off by itself. The Kimchi fried rice came with a fried egg on top and taste just like kimchi as the name suggested. I am not familiar with Korean food but I had kim chi soup before and it was pretty spicy but the kim chi soup we had was boiled with pork and potatoes which taste like bland potato soup. Kimchi pancake is what you would expect egg fried pieces of pancake with Kimchi saurce which I personally like. The seafood rice cake came out when we decided to leave so we asked them to pack it up. It was basically korean rice cake as they call it made of glutoneous rice cook with kimchi, prawn and fish fillet. Portion of all these food mentioned are for two to three person.

Overall personally might come back again but not in the near future due to poor service and the smoke filled room, I waited almost fifteen minutes just for the bill which end up having to personally go to the counter to see that the lady hasn't even started to do my bill yet. There is a variety of food catering for the Korean but price wise I would say it is not for the usual folks as average each dish cost RM30 and way up.

Garlic Fried Rice -RM10
Kimchi Fried Rice - RM10
Kimchi Soup -  RM35
Seafood Rice Cake - RM35
Kimchi pancake - RM35
Orange Juice - RM8
Softdrink -RM3

JD's Fine Food Bintulu

View JD's Fine Food Bintulu in a larger map

JD's Fine Food or formerly known as Mr Ho's Fine Food was always the spot that I hesitated to go because of mixed review I get from people. Apart from that there is a bar outside of the restaurant which I presume is going to get pretty noisy which I dislike when I enjoy my meal. However my assumption was pretty much blow out of window and I absolutely love the place, the dim quiet atmosphere is amazing with the no nonsense music or television blasting at the back. A perfect spot for a romantic dinner with the missus or even hangout with friends at the bar outside.

Their menu is non halal with specialty of serving pork chops, roasted pork knuckle, sausages, burgers and a variety of other western meals with desserts like banana fritter and bread and butter pudding but my last three visits they weren't serving any roasted food which was disappointing. One of my complain is that they never had any fresh juice, I mean come on its not that hard to put a few oranges into a blender instead their only fresh juice is lemon juice. They do have a lot of wine and alcohols to go with the meal.

The place is always buzzing with Japanese but you will always find a table. I ordered as written on the menu Braised Lamb Shank (Malaysia) which presume the lamb is from Malaysia?While the missus ordered the Roasted Pork Chop with Apple Sauce with no avail so instead the Pork Chop & Bratwurst  Although we were the only table waiting for our food but the food came relatively late but 20 minutes late wouldn't warrant me to throw any tantrum considering lamb shank needed time to prepared.

The Pork Chop & Bratwurst came first with 4 slices of pork chop and a bratwurst. I love the big juicy bratwurst which brings back memory of those I had in UK, the pork chop was equally meaty good with balanced tenderness served with mashed potato. Too meaty if I am being honest that it concerns me that anyone chowing down this plate is going have their cholesterol shoot off the chart.

Pork Chop & Bratwurst

The braised lamb shank served with mashed potato on the side looks amazingly appetizing which a lot of restaurant just slap a big piece of dull looking meat on the plate. The meat just fell off the bone as expected which I was happy after my bad experience at Absolute Kitchen incident. The sauce has a curry smell to it and was spicy but I love it.

Braised Lamb Shank (Malaysia)

Overall an enjoyable experience with good food to boast, definitely coming back to tried out their burger next time.

Braised Lamb Shank (Malaysia) - RM32.90
Pork Chop & Bratwurst - RM25.90
Lemon Juice - RM7.90
Dimah Tea - RM6.50

Reggae Grill Bintulu

View Larger Map

Reggae Grill located at Park City is one those restaurant with nice dark ambient where you can just simply hit back and watch a game with a bottle of cold beer or simply enjoy your meal. The menu served both local and western dishes from your fried noodle to steaks and I must say they have a good variety with prices I consider reasonably cheap which why the place is always buzzing with crowd later into the night.

I ordered the steak roll while my partner a chicken chop. The service was good as the waiter waited at our table to make our order but it took almost twenty minutes for the food to come out which in my book is a long wait considering when we arrived there weren't much people.

The steak roll came rolled with sauce and mix vegetable in between served with mashed potato. The meat looks absolutely gorgeous and the taste  didn't disappoint. Full flavour and was pretty soft but my only complain was the portion was too big if I am being picky.

 Steak roll

The chicken chop came with mushroom sauce and mashed potato. According to my partner it tasted alright since I don't expect anything earth shattering about chicken chop as long as they don't burnt it.

chicken chop

Overall I enjoyed the whole experience and there is also a room with air condition for those who doesn't want to sit outside which mostly are smokers but I find it's not always opened.

Beverly Hill Home Hawker

View Beverly Hill Home Hawker in a larger map
Map is not updated by there is a house there instead of a piece of dirt!

There has been a slew of home owner that had setup their own hawker style store where you can have a variety of local food like kam pua (kolok mee), laksa or even fried mee with sambal for supper.

Last night I went to this home at Beverly Hills Bintulu to had supper. The specialty of this place is that they serve rojak and even shaved ice dessert like ABC, mo mo cha cha, red bean soup and five flavor soup (五味汤). It's pretty rare to get these kind of dessert late at night in Bintulu so this place is highly recommended for people with a sweet craving at night.

I ordered the normal white kam pua with an ABC to go with while my partner ordered the mo mo cha cha. For those who might not know what mo mo cha cha is, it's a bowl of shaved ice with sweet potato and yam. It could be served either cold or hot which I am mouth watering while writing this. Pardon that I forgot to take my kam pua because I was too hungry.

ABC

mo mo cha cha

Overall I like the place, neat and tidy. The food served are textbook cooking although nothing to shout about but at least you get your money worth and a good place to have some ice kacang particularly in this hot month.

kam pua - RM2.50

ABC - RM2.50

Mo mo cha cha - RM2.50

Sunflower Cafe Bintulu

View Larger Map

Sunflower is located at Parkcity Bintulu. I have never been drawn to this place because on first impression it's really dark. The whole place is painted in black and they seem to be on earth hour every single night plus I don't know what kind of food they are serving until last night.

The service was pretty good with the waiter came out with the menu after we were seated which is a plus because I hate waiting for menu and if a menu took a bazillion century to reach, I can imagine the sun to come up chicken crowing before the food came.

The food they serve are from both western and local ranging from steaks, burgers, fried rice, lalapan to some side dish snacks. Although it is considered HALAL but they couldn't get the status because they are serving alcohol. The environment is a vibrant relaxing dark place where you could have a cold beer enjoying movies shown from a projector onto the wall albeit a little small. They should really not be showing bootleg movies in the public though.

I ordered the Zig Zag Burger which I asked the waiter what it was and to his reply "it's a large chicken meat inside the burger". Well at least he didn't told me it's a meat sandwiched between two buns. The burger came out pretty fast with pale fries on the side which tasted pale in comparison to anything I had before. It's just not been deep fried properly into golden crisp. The burger was even more puzzling as I couldn't find anything to justify it's funky name. It's a small burger with oily buns and a fried chicken paddy in the middle. I just don't get why the buns was so oily and the meat didn't do justice which tasted like fried tasteless chicken.

My partner in crime ordered Thailand fried rice, which came out in a big plate. It smells like pineapple dip in curry powder and it tasted like rice fried with chilly, super spicy rice that taste like chewing a piece of paper. My partner in crime's remark was "feel like vomiting".

At least the saving grace was the Ribena and Watermelon juice which the beverage department did not failed. Overall I would still come back to give it another chance but till then there are other places worth a taste.

Zig Zag Burger - RM8.00
Thai Fried Rice - RM4.00
Watermelon Juice - RM3.50
Ribena - RM2.50

Absolute Kitchen Bistro Bintulu

Absolute Kitchen Bistro is located within Jinhold Apartment Hotel Bintulu serving a mix of food from local, western and eastern. I have been to this restaurant since it's opening in 2011 and was really disappointed back then because of the odd choice of food and service, you might be asking how odd could it be?Well had you ever order a mix grilled garnish with oranges that came out served with rice?

Since then the menu has gone through a revamp which I was particularly happy because I love the traffic free location where the restaurant sit in a cosy area facing the sea so you could either sit outside to feel the cool breeze with the acoustic sound of the waves or within which is my favorite because I am always sweating. Enough of my sweaty arm pit and on to the foods!

I ordered the lamb shank while my partner in crime ordered spicy malay chicken rice with an umai fish as an appetiser  The umai fish if you do not know is local dish here in Bintulu where raw fish are being served with onion, chilli and mixed with lemon juice and there is a variation being served by Chinese and Malays which will be another topic but this one is definitively Chinese style. I would say one of the best umai fish dish you can find in Bintulu.

deliciously spicy and sour Umai Fish

Then the spicy chicken Malay rice arrived which look unappetizing , to be honest it didn't taste spicy at all but just tasteless.

Spicy Chicken Malay Rice

My lamb shank came after that which was a big portion. I previously had the same meal at this place and it was superb as the meat is so juicy tender that it just slide off the bones. However I could not say the same this time around. The meat was so hard I might as well be eating a live lamb. I could barely cut through it and after 5 minutes of trying to saw through a wooden plank I was seriously sweating and my palm was hurting badly. I was quite mad as I didn't paid to be a carpenter! I asked the waiter for an explanation and her only response was "Uh, I don't know" and didn't even bothered to get someone to answered until I asked another waiter that he offered to changed it.

Lamb Shank made of wood

After twenty minutes of waiting, it was the second trial and I was equally disappointed as I suspect the chef had no idea how to treat this poor lamb some respect for it's sacrifice. I didn't even bother trying to eat it as it was too tiresome so I paid the bill and left for some other food as I was still hungry.

Overall I was disappointed and furious with the food and service but from past experience their other food was alright but for now this restaurant is in my black list until I feel like coming back again maybe next year. I would recommend this place but avoid the lamb shank and "spicy" chicken Malay rice.

Total Cost:
Lamb Shank - RM38
Spicy Chicken Malay Rice - RM10
Umai Fish - RM15
Watermelon Juice - RM5
Plain Water - RM0.05