Chung Mok

나들애 청목 Chung Mok
Location: Gyeongchung-daero, Gyeonggi-do, Icheon
Date of Visit: 16th October 2010

>> She kept telling me that it's the best Korean meal she's ever had and there's no other place that could ever match it. All that happened when we were travelling South Korea in  2010. She yearns to go back to that same restaurant to eat again in the near future.

That place is called Chung Mok. Uncle Roh took us here for lunch after a visit to the Korean Folk Village, which is situated in Icheon, about an hour drive off from the city of Seoul. This part of town is rather rural where you will see a lot of paddy fields and also ceramic factories. I had a few bowls of mild rice wine from the folk village visit that made me feel a bit light headed after that. Those few bowls of manly goodness got to me by the time we reach the restaurant.

We reach the restaurant around 2:30pm and I noticed the sun were starting to set. Winter is coming indeed! Cold wind, a hungry stomach and a light head doesn't really give me a sense of good judgement for this place for lunch. About the restaurant... it's a rural restaurant that looked a bit run-downed. I was notified up front that you don't get pretty sights from the places you eat in rural areas of Korea. You will need to lower down your expectations and so I did!

As we walked into the restaurant, there were so many tables occupied with empty plates and bones, with only a few tables occupied by patrons. The staffs were so occupied at the kitchen end, which leaves Uncle Roh no choice but to go to the kitchen to get someone to serve us. Tables were cleared quickly and the orders are being placed soon after. Uncle Roh tells us that this restaurant is famous for serving this one thing... Rice!

As our meal is being served, I noticed that Uncle Roh didn't hold back on what he ordered for us. In just a few minutes, there were more than 10 bowls of dishes served in front of us. There are plates and plates of side dishes, two different kind of fishes, kimchi vegetables, stewed pork, crab, soup, broth, and there are some other dishes I barely know what it is but it tastes rather good. It's a complete and wholesome lunch. A feast fit for a king!

She loves particularly how the fishes are being cooked and how it tastes. She ate almost half of the fishes that's being served. According to Uncle Roh, there are some historical facts about why rice are so valuable in Korea. This part of the land (Icheon) are rather fertile and muddy, making it the best place for rice plantation. According to the locals, there's no better rice anywhere else than the ones from Icheon. In today's Korea, harvested rice are being rationed and only to be consumed the year after.

During the age of the kings, rice from this area are only to be served to the kings and commoners are not allowed to have rice that is being produced from this area. Rice cannot be wasted anyhow. Even the rice that lies at the bottom of the pot were scraped and then made into rice tea. In Malaysia, we'll probably just flush left over rice into the drain. Generally, we get the idea about how the locals appreciate their rice so much that made us feel ashamed on how we treat the rice that we eat daily.

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The Twelve Cups

The Twelve Cups
Location: Beach Street, Georgetown, Penang
Date of Visit: 16th May 2013

>> More and more cafes are popping up within Penang's heritage zone. I'm beginning to wonder if this town really need that much amount of cafes that sometimes provides poor services, bad cup of coffee and also highly priced merchandise.

As I'm seated at this cafe trying hard to muster a new entry, I can't help but noticed that there's a large amount of teenagers hanging out in this cafe. The Twelve Cups. This cafe serves good coffee for a start. Serving from Espresso to Mocha, they also offer Twinnings Tea and also 100% pure fruit juices that's being prepared fresh at the counter. The one thing that interests me from this cafe would be their Mille Crepe.

I adore their Oreo Chocolate Mille Crepe which I honestly think it's light, fluffy and also the right amount of cream used to bind the thin layers of crepe together, which made it a rather enjoyable dessert that goes well with goes well with a good cup of coffee. I'm skeptical that their crepes are home made as there's a wide range favour of crepes being offered from their refrigerated display. Price wise, I think it's bit lower when compared to Starbucks or Coffee Bean.

Environment wise, it looks pretty clean but the ambiance is a bit poor because the amount of noise that the customer makes doesn't make a good place to really relax and unwind. There's not much seats available and when crowd comes, they don't just sit here, drink their cup of Joe's and leave. They hang around literally for hours! So if you drop by to see all the seats are occupied, better luck next time? Try to be early.

Here's a personal tip. To gain seats to such coffee places, go during odd hours. For example, parts of Beach Street will be closed on Sunday's from 6am to 1pm. So... drop by AFTER 1pm on Sunday's or you may also opt to drop by on Saturday mornings. The last time I drop in on a drizzly Saturday morning, it's basically empty and the only thing that greets me at that time is the aroma of freshly brewed coffee and warm service. The perfect kick back morning.

I know a great deal of coffee drinkers that likes to hang out in cafes after dinner. They come in swarms and they tend to make environment remodelling as they dragged tables and chairs to accommodate their numbers. That's where the nightmare began. They don't observe good etiquette and all they would do is to fill the cafe with loud talks and hyena laughs. This place carries such patrons and if you think you can handle all those, feel free to drop by at night for an earful.

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Cozy In The Rocket

Cozy In The Rocket
Location: Beach Street, Georgetown, Penang
Date of Visit: 12th May 2013
>> It has been quite a while since I've last post up a review. Visiting cafes has been put to a temporary halt for the past few months as I'm currently engaged with my MBA programme which last for another year.

Despite all the hustle and bustle, juggling between work, life at home and school, I am still able to squeeze out sometime to spend with my love ones over the weekends at this little cafe for breakfast. This cozy little place is called Cozy In The Rocket. Located opposite the very busy China House cafe, this place runs at a smaller scale. The menu range is rather small and its business hours runs from 10am to 5pm daily (closed on Monday).

The place is quite cozy as per say. Don't expect waiters to come and collect your orders at your table as you need to make your way to the counter and start selecting your choice of meal there. The place is uniquely antique as its located in the World Heritage site with many of the decorations are rustic and environmentally green. You have a choice of whether to be seated in air-conditioned or under the warm Penang weather.

The weather has been extremely hot, so I opted for a cup of Iced Chai Latte, which I've finally found the one good reason to return again and again for. That one glass of Chai Latte is filled with soul! Milk and Chai were properly mixed, sugar content at the minimal, added with a single cinammon stick for more taste. Seriously, it's just that DAMN GOOD!! This one glass makes other cafe serving Chai Latte looks amateurish and make places like Cha Time cry.

The family is here for breakfast as lunch begins its service from 11:30am onwards. At the time of visit, there's only 3 choices available for order for breakfast. There's Bacon, Eggs and Toast; Mushroom and Feta Cheese Omelette served with Toast; and Pork Salami and Tomato Omelette served with Toast. We ordered every single breakfast choice that morning and it gives me a glimpse of what's nice and what's not.

The bacon's rather salty, however it is tender and juicy with a little crunch on the sides. The bread is home made. It's quite good to be eaten on its own or with butter, and we made extra orders for those. Omelette wise, the pork salami omelette was overpowered by rosemary and it's not really to my liking. The mushroom and feta omelette deserves a better praise  from me in terms of taste despite its slightly undercooked. 

For drinks, they've ordered Cafe Latte, Short Macchiato and Hot Chocolate. Overall, this place is worthy of a visit. Food wise, it's very Jamie Oliver as the cooking style is open and uses plenty of herbs to bring out the taste. I've yet to try it's lunch menu, which leaves me with another reason to return again in the future. For now, I left the place with a very good impression for its food and ambience. I believe that this little place has what it takes to stick around for quite sometime.

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