Beyond Veggie By Secret Recipe Bintulu

Beyond Veggie By Secret Recipe is an intriguing spot recently opened at Bintulu Sentral (Google map still showing a jungle path but it is located just around the corner of Digi). As the name suggest it is a vegetarian themed restaurant by Secret Recipe which we dropped by last week to have a try.

Vegetarian restaurant has always been the sort of ignored places as I find it largely ironic that these restaurants serve dishes made of vegetable to resemble or taste like poultry. I am puzzled whether people who do not want to eat meat due to religious belief or to end animal cruelty wants to actually get a taste of it? For now I will just leave it at that but being it from Secret Recipe I was curious to find out what is actually being served?

The restaurant has a relaxing feel to it mostly due to it's lighting placement with dark ceiling for a chill hangout plus the night we arrived there was only two tables occupied which was surprising considering most new restaurant is swarm with people. We were served immediately with a green menu, there is a selection of dishes that could be found from the original Secret Recipe however those dishes with meat or prawn are being substitute with vegetables. Things that I found interesting are the variety of appetizers like mushroom done in different style and sauces, yam basket, spring rolls and there is a slew of choices for fried rice and noodles cooked with some different kind of vegetables. Then there is also the dessert which I find pleasing apart from their cakes (most are not found at Secret Recipe) are the new addition of cendol or shaved ice and sago.

We made our orders and less than fifteen minutes the foods are out.

The Snow Mountain which cendol shaved ice looks good but unfortunately lacks the taste, it taste pretty watered out as they used too little condensed milk.

Mushroom is the new meat

Kueh teow with bitter gourd, as the name would suggest is quite bitter which came in a large bowl with black sauce that tasted a bit herbal but I couldn't make out what it was. A very large potion with lots of mushroom however overall I do not find the look or smell too appetizing.

Tom yum without the prawn

Tom yum soup noodle, Secret Recipe has the same dish however they sub the prawn with mushrooms (mushroom is the new meat here). It lacks flavor due the missing prawn and cuttlefish usually used to give an overall sweet flavor.

No lion mane was harm in making this dish

Lion mane mushroom, although no resemblance of a lion however it was the highlight of the night. It has the curry flavor yet sweet smell and taste which is mouth watering. To be honest it really taste like meat maybe that is the reason I enjoy it.

Healthiest meal we had...really?

Overall I do like the place and Beyond Veggie has set itself apart from the tiring western food restaurant in Bintulu. There is a lot of choices that I look forward in trying in the future. Stay tune for future updates.

Lion Mane Mushroom - RM19.90
Kuey Teow Bitter Gourd - RM15.90
Tom Yum Soup Noodle - RM15.90
Snow Mountain - RM7.50
Quickfix - RM8.90

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.

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

Sushi King

It's that time of the year where you try to pile as much plate on your table and post photos of it on Facebook declaring supremacy of who ate the most sushi. Sushi King's RM2 per plate bonanza is here next week in Bintulu from 9-12 April 2012 for members. Prepare for the very long queue.

ザク豆腐 - Zaku Taufu

Japan might be the weirdest but the only place in the world that I would love to visit one day. Without Japan you would not have Godzilla or Gundam but you might be wondering "Hey what it has to do with food?" but wait! A few days ago a weird kind of bean curd modeling the head of a Zaku robot from the popular Gundam universe has came out!

Zaku is a robot character in Gundam

Great way to get kids to eat their bean curd!Now if only they could make a broccoli into a light saber.

Secret Recipe

Weekends are best enjoyed loitering around and getting fat. There isn't many place in Bintulu where you could sit down and enjoy an array of cakes as well as digging into something heavy.



Secret Recipe needs no introduction as it is a franchise throughout Malaysia and they serve according to them the best cheese cake and some delicious food. Although like any other franchise, the one thing I dislike especially the steak or anything that aren't freshly prepared are straight out of a tin foil to be oven heated or cooked.

The place was pretty empty when we arrived however we waited about 10 minutes for the menu as there was a shortage of staff. We ordered the chicken curry puff and a brownie walnut, the chocolate of the brownie walnut just melt off your tongue which is nostalgic. Chicken curry puff was just so so nothing special.

Chicken Curry Puff

Brownie Walnut *gulp*

My partner in crime order the noodle in tom yum soup, there is also another choice of noodle in tom yum kung which difference is the later has prawn in it but both tasted similarly delicious and very spicy. So be warn if you can't handle the heat!



I ordered the Australia stewed beef steak which looked not so appetizing which tasted alright but nothing to write home about. If you wish to try in my opinion the best mouth watering beef stew, head over to Marco Polo restaurant in the town area. The white cauliflower and corns are like meh, seems like someone just throw it on the plate just for the sake of it.



For drinks I had the orange apricot slushie, while my partner had a glass of watermelon juice without ice. I love the orange apricot slushie with apricot bits in it and it would be perfect if it was chilled more.



Overall a relaxing dining experience which I will still come back for the cakes!

Brownie Walnut - RM5.00
Chicken Curry Puff - RM5.80
Noodle in Tom Yum Soup - RM13.00
Stewed Australian Beef Steak - RM19.50
Fresh Watermelon Juice - RM7.50
Orange Apricot Slushie - RM7.50

Ah Pek ABC

If you enjoy some sand in your shoes, the breeze and sun on your skin then you'll surely love the muddy Tanjung Batu beach, the premier "public" beach of Bintulu apart from Semilajau beach which requires entrance fee to keep out the cats and dogs. Apart from the buzzling people going for a jog, we choose to pig out with some after work delight - ABC and Rojak!

There is a variety of store selling ABC but walk on till the end from the entrance path and you will find the infamous "ah pek". The old man with a beard has been here since the dawn of dinosaur or maybe I am just exaggerating but he has been here since I could remember.

They have this ABC Milo which I ordered together with fruit rojak. The normal ABC is for the other partner in crime. Although the ah pek forgot my rojak order but I pardon him because of his sexy beard.

Pardon for the lack of pictures because we couldn't resist to dig into this sweet savory that we almost forgotten to take any picture. I didn't quite like the Milo ABC, it tasted quite blend and also a combination of ice with Milo meant it's hard to melt off but if you love Milo or chocolate give it a try. The normal ABC and fruit rojak was stomach licking good although the fruit rojak could use a bit more fruit than cucumber.

If you don't know the way just ask for the ah pek ABC and people will point you in the right direction.

Milo ABC - RM3.50

ABC - RM3.00

Fruit Rojak - RM5.00