JD's Fine Food Bintulu

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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

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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

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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

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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