Dinner at Kocha Taiwanese Delight

I'm having dinner with my boss at his expense at this quaint little Taiwanese outlet at Burmah Road and blogging at the same time. I'm getting wi-fi signal from the hotel next door :P

It's a buautiful little shop with loads of trinkets, souvenirs and deco. A very nice setup although a little cramped for space.

ScAv's Silver Banana outside Kocha.

There's even a grinding wheel in the landscape. The Chinese used to make flour with these contraptions.
They have an amazing collection of three salt water aquariums very well maintained in the premises. It does help that the owner is also a diver!
The frontage to the restaurant and tea bar.
The tea bar. All those botthes and packages are an array of exquisite and exotic tea selection.

Look at the beautiful lantern that was hung just above the bar.

Ornaments and decorations aplenty.
I saw this wooden inscription on the wall. Looked beaut although I did not know what it means.
There was a Buddha situated just at the main entrance.
And the goddess Kuan Yin near the dining area.
Food is tasting great so far... We had a couple of steamboats on parade. Will update tomorrow as food's here :P

Alright... Further update of pics. Sorry as I usually am either busy or away from the internet on weekends :P

We had Kimchi Steamboat

Spicy Pork Steamboat
And PAPER Steamboat where the veggies are cooked in a paper cup! I'm told that there is science behind this, so here's what I remember - The soup absorbs the heat so the paper doesn't burn and the paper in turn absorbs the by-product (I forgot what it is) of the veggies when cooked.
There were many trinkets displayed in a glass case, some are for sale.

It was a great overall experience and the ambience was just spot on. The food was great and the dumplings especially were excellent!

I'll definitely be going back soon for a round with the family.

Dinner in town.

It was a boring Wednesday night for me and I was working late. Then Patrick called up and wanted to have dinner along with Raj. So I packed my stuff and left the office to meet up with them in town.

We went for some superb hawker food at Campbell Street. Raj and I had "Koay Chiap" (a sort of pasta in thick duck broth) while Patrick was devouring desserts.

This place is famous for the Koay Chiap and Koay Teow Th'ng (a form of fettucine in clear soup) with chicken feet cooked in soy sauce.

We topped off the meal with Chinese desserts... Raj and I had almond soup with "Eu Char Koay". Some say it tastes like cockroach... I say it tastes GREAT!

So sorry I didn't get a pic of the dessert stall.

Friend's B'day dinnet at Mainland.

I was over at the mainland side of Penang last night to sign some documents and got invited to a friend's birthday dinner... Ad hoc! I was still in working clothes, but they didn't seem to mind so off we go. We had a short little touge just before dinner to perk up :P

We went to CK BBQ for some steamboat + BBQ combo makan.
It was a nice place that even had a karaoke set in house.
Along with some Japanese style seating.
There was a great array of food and we were of great appetite!
I'd go as far as to say that the prawns were the highlight of the night. We finished them all!!!

Trunk space!

I've seen some funny stuff in ppl's boot... Here's some stuff I saw this weekend.

A 42" LCD TV stuffed into the rear of a Honda City.

An NGV gas tank stuffed into the boot of a Nissan Sentra.

Pic update!

I'd just visited Ray's blog and found a pic of myself driving Raj's R3 chasing Adam's (ZTH) M3 CSL during the May 18th Track Day at Dato' Sagor Track in Kg. Gajah.

So here it is... (left to right) Adam in his M3 CSL, Me driving the R3 Satria with Raj riding shotgun, and Tougeking in his Franken70 with Patrick in tow.

So sad that its not my car... But what the hey... I got to go on track with a legend... Kewl!

Thanks Ray :)

Retrieving the Silver Banana

I'd applied leave last Friday to go down to Ipoh to get the Silver Banana. I left Pg for Ipoh by 11a.m. along with Raj and Patrick in his Satria.

We enjoyed the ride down as Patrick has his suspension set to the softest setting and I'd brought along my laptop for on board entertainment.

We arrived shortly (around lunch time) and TK (tougeking) met up with us along with a member of Hillraiders from KL. Naturally, we went up the touge... After a short lunch session.

Great drink.. Kinda like a float with extra flavor.

The herbal duck noodles were superb! *smack lips*
We had some good rojak... But nothing like Penang.
There was also dried Chee Cheong Fun.
Once we'd devoured everything, refuelled, had a puff for the road and received Fujiwara (another friend). We then went up the touge with TK in the lead (me sitting in his Franken70), followed by Patrick and Steven of Hillraiders (I'm sorry bro, I can't seem to find your site. Leave me a comment and I'll post it up). We were halfway up the touge when it friekin' poured on us! Nonetheless, being the advent blogger that I am.. *ahem*ahem* I took pics standing in the rain :P
A logo of the hillraiders. Innovative use of the "r" 'innit?
We went down to visit what Ipoh is known for, it's caves and caverns, for a photo op! After which we finally went over to Han's shop to take a look at how things were going for the Silver Banana.
Work was not yet done. But night was upon us as Han kept laboring away.
As it was getting too late, Raj and Patrick went home to Pg after a short touge run. And I bunked with Han whom was a gracious host. I for one am always thankful for anywhere to sleep, and Han got me some sheets and a pillow to boot. Thanks bro!

I got a great amount of floor space to roll around in :P
Next morning as we were leaving for the workshop, I saw Han's bike.
Which had carbon fibre forks!
On route to the workshop, I saw this "interestingly" named restaurant. In Hokkien "Kam Ching" (literally translates to "suck gun") is a slang word to describe getting oral sex. I just had to take a pic of the signage! :P
Here's a pic of Han's place with a Kancil Turbo in the works. It'll be used for dragging and bragging.
We then went over to see a machine shop which catered only to the automotive industry. You can get work done from your location pins inserted to boring out your block.

Just look at the size of the workshop space!
We then visited a drift buddy of mine Jim (Ah Hei) at his workshop (ABT motorsport) to look for some parts and to have a short chat with him. I found out about his new project for the DCC RES'2 IBU A31 Drift car... Its new engine will be a monster. Just as comparison, he'd removed an RB25DET in exchange. Lookit his drift machine sitting just outside.

The final touches were done at Han's neighbouring shop as he had certain tools needed.
These fellas even had their name on the concrete ramp!
CT-4 (formerly known as GT-4) had completed the final work on my baby and we started up the engine to perform some tests before leaving for home sweet home! Thanks Lek for the work done.

Thank you all very much for the hospitality and ferrying me around. Much thanks to TK for the ride, thanks to Han for all the work done and a room to stay (very grateful), much thanks to Ah Boy the unsung hero as he accompanied me the entire night and brought me up the touge in his pristine EG6!

As for Raj and Patrick... The engine will be run in soon and you better be ready for my return to the touge!!!

Local getaways... Beautiful!

I'd just stumbled upon this wonderful getaway site I'd like to share with all my readers out there. It's a tropical getaway full of fruits, natives, and forest "friends" privy to our tropical country.

Many of these concept retreats have surfaced in light of the bustling city life that many have to endure.

Here's a pic of one of its many lodgings offered at D-Paradise. Beautiful isn't it?

The site's address is at : http://www.d-paradise.com.my/english/index.php

I'd love to visit it someday along with the Serendah getaway which can be viewed at http://serendah.com/

This is a pic of its private, outdoor, open air dining... Soooo nice...
Just look at the simple bedroom area with just a mattress and it comes with a "kelambu" (netting to keep out insects) as well.
Aaah.... I'm sure it'll be a great experience... What can I say, I'm just a kampung boy at heart.

Blown engine.

It was a great Open Track event at the Dato' Sagor track in Kg. Gajah and all was well until I blew my engine within the first few hours of going on track.

I had so much fun chasing a Mini Cooper on track that I didn't realise what was going wrong. Sadly, as I came to pit, the engine stalled and would not restart.

The Silver Banana is now with Han and checks are ongoing to find the cause.

Get well soon my dear. We'll do better next at the next track excursion.

Track day pics!

I'll leave this posting clean and simple... Words do little for an event like this.

First group of the convoy about to leave for Kg. Gajah.
An overview of the parking area from the grand stand. We had an AWESOME turn out.
Even the fields were full of cars.
Including the volleyball court side!
Some of the early arrivals waiting for our second convoy to arrive as well as local participants.
Under the palms... Looks exotic ler?
Just look at the amount of drivers attending the track briefing... Phew!
Even the local drifters were here to show us some tire burning action!
A beautiful A31
Just check out the camber all these drifters had on.. Exceeding 4deg. of slant!
Our first casualty of the day. His wheel had dug into the soft sand and got stuck. Thanks to Dennis for helping out with his winch equipped Ford Ranger.

Soon, at lunch time, Adam and Tom from ZTH showed up with the official ZTH car. The M3 CSL. There was also a pretty girl and a camera man that came along to provide coverage (I'm very sorry, I'd forgotten your names) for this event.

I took Tom out for a brief drive through the track (in Raj's R3 GTi.. Thanks bro) to see the course while Adam was following behind in the M3.

*sorry guys no vid as its too long for youtube and the editor on my com went corrupt*

The mini race started around 4p.m. and Boy was leading the 1.6L group... Excessively I might add.
The more exciting and "interesting" >1.6L group was taking off.
Suhaimi took pole position.
While our very friendly Raj brought home a close 2nd place. (Thanks for the drive and sorry for the scratches, we go yam cha tonight.) Patrick Gun got a cheery 3rd placing and still in his full face helmet! We ended the journey with a hearty dinner at Tg. Tualang. I missed my lunch...
The prawns there were HUGE!

We parted ways and bid farewell to each other. We'll see you all at the next excursion! Cheers.

p.s. I blew my engine in the first half of the day... If anyone's got pics of it, pls drop a comment and I'll be in touch.

Courtesy of Dennis : Pics of the Silver Banana on tow.