Kuching Festival Food Fair 2008 will end soon on 24th August. As we had promised before, we are going to share some of the food available from there with you. You still have chance to go try them out. We’ll le the photos do the talking.

“O Jien” aka Oyster Omelette

Sio bee

Some food from a local restaurant

“Cui” kueh, a type of Chinese delicacies from the Teochew

Mini yam basket

BBQ stingray with sambal, it’s a hot among the locals

A type of rice ball which is something new in the food fair this year

Pineapple rice

Nasi Briyani

Curry lamb leg

Belacan beehoon

Cuttlefish with chili

Fried emperor noodle

Penang assam laksa

Pumpkin kueh

Yam kueh

Korean onigiri from a Korean restaurant

Chicken wings

Jellyfish

Obviously we are late in posting this. It’s that time of the year again! Kuching Festival is always related to the food fair instead of other events. Food is much more popular choice. The fair started on 1st August this year and will end on 24th August.

Entrance to Kuching Festival Fair 2008.

From the photo, it looked quite blank because we went there early. It’s a popular place for people to buy some food back for dinner.

Many office workers would also drop by here to have dinner before going home.

One last photo of the stall. Food photos will come soon in this post.

If you notice it when you dine out, many places do not charge your 5% sales tax anymore. If you are still charged, do contact the authority about if you are patronising a non-hotel restaurant whose total sales is not more than RM3 million a year.

Here’s the contact details if you are charged service tax by restaurants that are now exempted at cd@customs.gov.my or call 03-88822605/10.

The government has abolished the requirement for such restaurants to pay service tax effective July 1.

All restaurants operating outside hotels were previously required to pay the tax if their individual sales over 12 months exceeded the threshold of RM500,000.

As for restaurants in hotels, they are still required to pay service tax of 5% regardless of their sales amounts.

Restaurants in hotels with 25 rooms or less are only required to pay the 5% tax if their sales values exceed RM500,000 per year.

Do take note.

Ajiten will be taking orders for delivery services to those working within the Crown Square and Crown Towers area. The service will be free for purchases above RM30. Ajiten would also offer breakfast set, teri ramen and coffee, beginning this month.

The breakfast set is available everyday from 8am to 11am.

The special Thai foods available are pandan chicken rice, pineapple rice and belacan fried rice.

The nasi lemak, however is infused with Japanese and Thai cuisine.

A normal plate of nasi lemak is available at RM3.80, chicken rendang nasi lemak (RM6.80), beef rendang nasi lemak (RM7.80), ajiten nasi lemak which is served with grilled salmon, chicken rendang, prawn and fried oyster is available at RM14.80, fried oyster nasi lemak (RM12.80), seafood nasi lemak (RM9.80), and ebi tempura nasi lemak and grilled salmon nasi lemak (RM11.80).

Diners purchasing two drinks from the ALVIN range of products at The Food Gallery at Tun Jugah Shopping Mall here will be rewarded with another drink for free.

This is the deal diners will receive when they patronise The Food Gallery during its Merdeka Promotion Month starting this Friday (Aug 1). The Merdeka Promotion Month is being held in conjunction with the Merdeka Day on Aug 31.

ALVIN’s four drinks namely Air Mata Kuching, Black Soya Bean Milk, Chrysanthemum Tea and Green Tea will be covered under the promotion. All these are produced from traditional herbs, and consumers can be rest assured that there are no artificial colouring, flavouring and preservation, thus making them the perfect choice for healthy-conscious people. Each drink is sold at RM2 each.

Other participating outlets in this ‘Buy 1 Free 1′ promotion are Boulevard Food Court Kuching, Star Cineplex Kuching, Wisma Wan Tabuan Jaya, Upwell Jalan Song and Top Spot Food Court, Taman Kereta.

Sushi King Card RM2 Bonanza wil come again soon in October. Those who missed it, you still have the chance to enjoy it in October.

This time it’s opened to Sushi King Card members of 2008 and 2009. You can bring a maximum of 5 people only. Promotion is applicable only to sushi(rice based) on all coloured plates on the kaiten belth exclusing Tsunami(appetizer) and Handrolls.

Remember don’t waste food.

These are the dates you should look out for:
West Malaysia, 13-16th October 2008
East Malaysia, 20-23th October 2008

*Green Bento had adjusted their food price, please go to their site for updated price, thanks.*

I’m sure Green Bento is not something new to Kuchingites. Nowadays, many people prefer to stay in the office or go to nearby places for lunch instead of driving out to find food with the hike of petrol. Green Bento is here to the rescue, you don’t have to go out to eat, just order your food via e-mail, phone or fax and they will send to your place.

Green Bento is healthy and green. There’s no added MSG, preservatives, artificial flavouring. Where possible, we choose ingredients from free-range or organic certified sources. Hand-picked fresh ingredients ensure that you got the most natural tasting goodness of a healthy lunch packed in a biodegradable food container.

They have choices of Sandwich, Pasta, Oven Roasted, Salad, Asian Bento, Western Bento and Drinks available for order.

Let’s see what Green Bento has to offer for their Asian Bento:

A23 - Sweet & Sour Chicken(RM5.50)

A24 - Ka-Chang-Ma (w/rice wine)(RM5.50)

A22-B - Black Pepper Beef Bento(RM6.50)

A27 - Stir Fried Beef w/kai-lan(RM5.50)

A21-A - Chicken Curry Bento(RM6.50)

A20-A - Chicken Teriyaki Bento(RM6.00)

Just to remind you that the food are not serve this way but it will be packed in biodegradable food container. Which you can see here

If you would like to order your bento, you can contact them at
Call: 012-8813 278/287 or 082- 240073/250073,
E-Mail: orders[at]greenbento[dot]com.
Open for lunch and dinner orders
from 8:30am till 4pm, Monday to Friday.
(Delivery period 10am - 5pm daily)
URL: GreenBento.com

erdeka Palace Hotel and Suites is offering a special deal for diners during its anti-inflation campaign effective this month.

Under this campaign, the second person from a group of two people or every second person from a group of four people and above will be charged only RM10++ instead of the usual RM59++ per adult or RM25++ per child.

This is only applicable on weekends during the ‘Fresh and Fabulous’ buffet dinner at its Aurora Court restaurant every Friday and Saturday. The same deal applies every Sunday during the La Casetta Etoile’ buffet at Ristorante Beccari located on the hotel’s ground floor.

The ‘Fresh and Fabulous’ commenced last Saturday featuring local and international dishes such as pasta, sushi, seafood and grilled meats cooked a la minute to the diner’s liking by Aurora Court’s team of chefs.

This time, the Middle Eastern and Indian section is added to spice up the buffet spread. It will be manned by a Pakistani-born chef Ghazi-Ur-Rehman who will be serving up specialities such as spinach mughlai, mutton karahi, chicken shawarma kebab, BBQ stuffed chicken cottage cheese and many more.

Consumers will need to dig deeper into their pockets to quench their thirst as a box of bottled water is selling RM2 more starting today.

Sarawak bottled water manufacturers dropped the bombshell yesterday, saying they had no choice but to price their bottled water at RM10 per box of 500ml and 1.5 litre, from RM8 previously.

The fuel prices had cost raw materials especially plastic to double in cost from RM2 per kg to around RM5 per kg. Bottled water manufacturers in the state bought their raw materials for packaging from Peninsular Malaysia and overseas.

Bottled water is currently sold to retailers at a very cheap rate compared to some six years ago when a box would cost RM18.

The manufacturers assured consumers that the measure taken was not to make an extra buck but to cope with the fuel price hike.

The press conference was attended by 10 bottled water manufacturers from all over Sarawak while the rest, although not present, had given consent to the increase.

A box of 500ml bottled water holds 24 bottles while in a box of 1.5 litre, 12 bottles, which means manufacturers’ price per bottle now will be about 42 sen for a 500ml and about 83 sen for a 1.5 litre.

If the usual price of a bottled water is RM1 (500ml) and RM2 (1.5 litre), then retailers would be earning 58 sen and RM1.17 respectively in profit. However, this profit could increase if retailers were to hike their prices following this announcement.

Kluang Station is one of the eateries you can find in tHe Spring. It’s just next to Starbucks. They serve local cuisine and if I’m not miskaten it should be a franchise. It can be considered a kopitiam where you can get basic Kopitiam food.

Let’s see what you can find there:

Nasi Ayam Merah, RM8.90

Nasi lemak, RM3.80

By the way, Kluang Station’s Kaya (coconut jam) is a very much sought after item for its quality taste and texture. Anyone tried it before? What do you think?

One more thing, they are pork-free.

You can visit Kluang Station website here.