Roti Bakar at Toh Soon Cafe (Georgetown)

I happened to discover a new place for good roti bakar recently. It was purely by chance. A few weeks back, I had to chaffeur my wife to look for locally designed T-shirts around Georgetown for her nieces and nephews. We stopped by at one of the shops at the entrance of Campbell Street which sold quite a variety of clothes. While waiting impatiently for her to select the designs of her choice, I noticed that not far from where I was, there was a crowd building up along one of the side lane. Upon closer inspection on what I thought was a dodgy alley, there's actually a shop inside the lane selling roti bakar. Its called Toh Soon Cafe.

From one glance, this place looks anything but dodgy. It triving and lively. There is a mix crowd of Ah Mahs, Ah Peks, Ah Bengs etc, sipping their tea and coffee away or reading the main headlines from their newspapers, all completely oblivious to their surrounding. I decided to join the crowd and ordered some roti bakar to blend in. They have got a few types of bread to order from. The bread selection consists of whole wheat, chocolate, coffee marble, Hainan, sandwich and even low calories bread for the health conscious folks.

I ordered the whole wheat and the chocolate bread. And of course, tea and coffee. The way the toasts are prepared is quite unique. Its toasted over charcoal fire. Now, that's not something you see everyday. These days not many coffee shops use this method anymore. They also serve half boiled eggs something which isnt too appealing to my taste.

I went for second round; this time the Hainan bread plus extra tea. The Hainan toast tasted the best among the three I ordered. The aroma which consisted of a blend of melted butter and grilled charcoal was just tantalising.

I recommend that if you are into roti bakar, do give Toh Soon Cafe a try. However, be prepared to wait as this place is popular and pack most of the time. Its no surprise that they sometimes miss out on your order so be warned. They forgot my change!

Dim Sum at Max Gourmet (Bayan Lepas)

After a great swimming session yesterday morning, I decided to head out to Max Gourmet for breadfast with my wife. As I was in desperate need to replenish lost calories, I floored the pedal of my old trusty four wheeler and sped there.

For those of you who are unfamilar with Max Gourmet, its located at one of the shop lots in front of Queens Bay Mall. Unlike most eateries, it comes with ample parking space but nonetheless, its good to be there early since the parking lot gets easily filled up with shoppers going to QBM. Be warn. Its RM 3 per entry.

The food here is base on Hong Kong cuisine. While dim sum is one of their main specialty, it also serves an assorted menu ranging from different types of noodles to rice of one's choice. We decided to order a mixture of dim sums as well as my usual fried rice. The fried rice is a must for those who wants to stretch the Ringgit since it comes in a generous portion loaded with char siu and prawns.

Here's what I had for brunch:

An assorted range of dim sum consisting of char siu sou, egg tart, sesame seed ball with lotus paste and butter bread. Hmmm...looks like I'm missing a couple of char siu sou even before I took this picture. Someone beat me to it!

The char siu so are really nice because the pastry melts in your mouth and you can also taste the sweetness of the char siu. The egg tarts are equally delicious. Its soft, delicate and not too sweet. No complains with the sesame seed ball. I didnt get the chance to savour the butter bread. It conveniently "dissappeared" while I was busy taking pictures. I will have to leave this to my imagination for the time being.

More dim sum in the form of dumplings. Yum yum. I have to comment that they really use prawns for the dumplings. I mean BIG, SOLID prawns that I can really bite into. I have been to most dim sum places and some times, you cant even taste the prawns since they mince it so finely.



A close up view of siu mai and an equally out of focus shot.

Fried wantans anyone? The fried wantans are different here. They have got a contrasting texture. While its really crispy outside, you could taste the softness, flavours and juices trapped inside the dumpling. Wow!

For the coup de grace, I had the fried rice. Its a well balance dish with lots of char siu, prawns and vegetables.

I had the teh peng or as what was written in the menu; milk tea.



Need I specify further?

All in all, the food here is good and the service is fast. I have never been dissapointed coming here. On week days, do come early for lunch since the crowd starts building up by 11am. Just so you know, they close on Mondays.