Olivenz Cafe, Ipoh

Olivenz Cafe is located in Bandar Baru Medan Ipoh. They serve western foods like chicken, beef, lamb, fish, and sausages. They have pasta too, alongside with some noodles and rice. Here foods are nicely decorated, and served in big plates. The portion is big too! They have open-air dining area, so it is very relaxing sipping chilled drink and enjoying the sunset, while waiting for your food. We reached there quite early for dinner and have no problem waiting for our foods, waitress was friendly and attentive.

Their mashed potato came in really huge portion! And they are genereous with the sauce too! I think this bowl of mashed potato is enough for 4 persons as side dish.

mashed potato - RM5.80

For dinner, Alex ordered Red Wine Lamb Shoulder. They served two pieces of grilled lamb in red wine glaze, on top of some stewed vegetables and potato wedges. They served the sause separately, in another small bowl.

Red Wine Lamb Shoulder - RM15.80

I picked Ocean's Catch, because I adore the name so much! They served me two pieces of succulent and tender pan-fried dory, pilled up on a bed of stewed vegetables and lotsa fries. The rich cheese sause was served separately.

Ocean's Catch - RM14.80

I love the nicely decorated food served to me, it is very appealing and inviting. And on top of that, the food is also tasty and and pleasing. Their iced lemon tea (RM4.90) is served in a large glass jar. Their root beer float (RM6.90), however, is a bit disappointing. We should have just ordered iced water instead, since the iced lemon tea is quite enough for two persons.

So next time when you want to have some good food for a celebration, or just to pamper yourself after a long shopping day in JUSCO, Olivenz Cafe could be your choice! Ohya, they only start operating at 6 p.m. everyday, so don't go for lunch!

Olivenz Cafe

Address - 65, Jln Medan Ipoh 3, Bandar Baru Medan Ipoh, 31400 Ipoh, Perak.

Tel - 016.959.2348

From marketing to homecooking

Saturday is usually my marketing day. I only wake up after I have had enough sleep, unlike working days where I reluctantly crawl out of the bed after several rounds of alarm clock snoozing.

I will usually do marketing in the morning. Since the opening of TESCO, I hardly go to the wet market though they sell practically everything you need for cooking meals. It is very hard to find parking in the town. Since this is the only marketing in the week, I buy enough supply to last for several meals cooking at home.

I clean the chicken, prawn and fish, put them in separate containers before keeping them in freezer. As for vegetables, I usually just keep them in the fridge without removing them from the plastic bags. Leafy vegetables like sawi, siu pak choy, kailan can last for 3-4 days in the fridge. Broccoli, cauliflower, long beans, french beans, carrots and potatoes store well, and can be kept till the end of the week. As for kangkung, bayam and shoot sprouts, I will cook them within a day or two.

Other ingredients that come in handy are eggs, fresh mushrooms, fish balls, fish cake, wanton skin and tomato. Also, always store some canned food or ingredients like canned mushroom, black bean fish, baked beans, braised peanuts, cucur udang flour, dried mushroom, and chinese sausages. With clever combination with fresh ingredients, you only require a little time to prepare a tasteful dish. This is particularly useful when you come back from work with a growling tummy and when you are running out of resourses in the fridge.

fried bee hoon

wanton mee

Of course I don't religiously cook every meal, everyday. It's been almost three years in Kampar, and I have started to feel boring eating out everyday. That's when I started to cook. With a bit of planning and labour, simple homecook meals aren't too difficult to prepare. Homecook meals are healthier, less oily, cleaner and very often are cheaper than outside food. But that doesn't mean we should just stay home and eat all the time, because eating out occasionally gives us more ideas what we can cook at home!

Laksamana Cheng Ho

There is a chinese muslim restaurant in Ipoh - Restoran Laksamana Cheng Ho. This place was introduced by my malay colleague not long after I worked in Kampar. The director cum executive chef and operation supervisor are both malays.

They offer a wide range of food - asian hawker delights, rice with chinese dishes, western food, snacks and beverage. Besides, they have buffet, barbeque buffet, chinese oriental set, cocktail receptions, hightea and steamboat. Ohya, they serve halal dim sum too! They have siew mai, har kow, lor mai kai and fried wanton. I myself have not tried their dim sum before, but overheard some of my malay colleagues telling how much they love the dim sum served here.

My all time favourite is their famous "Laksamana Cheng Ho fried rice". The spicy fried rice is very savoury, you can find squids, prawns and chicken chunks in the richly flavoured fried rice. They serve the fried rice with a fried egg topping the rice, two sticks of well-seasoned satay, and some prawn crackers. If you want more ooomph, you can ask for their sambal belacan. I find this fried rice very comforting.

Laksamana Cheng Ho fried rice - RM7.50

I have tried their dessert "gula sago melaka" before, and I remember it tastes good. But today when I ordered, the waitress replied it is not available.

Their grilled lamb chop tastes ok, but the lamb was a bit tough and fibrous, thus required a lot of cutting and chewing. It comes with fries, few slices of cucumber and tomato, lettuce, and some coleslaw beneath the greens.

Grilled lamb chop - RM13.80

A meal for two, including iced lemon tea (RM3.00) and iced water (RM0.50) was a total of RM24.80, no tax.

I had the meals at their branch, located at Jalan Sultan Abdul Jalil. It is quite a nice place with decent decor, having several sections catering for different patrons. Food wise, so far I keep coming back just for their fried rice, so yes, their fried rice is good!

Restoran Laksamana Cheng Ho

HQ Address - 76, Persiaran Greentown 1, Greentown Business Centre, 30450 Ipoh, Perak. Tel/fax - 05.255.5840

Branch address - 137, Jalan Sultan Abdul Jalil, Greentown, 30450 Ipoh, Perak. Tel - 05.2421.300

Tomato Ketchup

"Tomato Ketchup” is not about bottled tomato sauce but western foods, good western food in Taman Kampar Perdana. It is located at the row of shop houses next to TESCO. There are only few shops operating in the whole row, so you could easily spot Tomato Ketchup - the big banner with bright red tomatoes should catch your attention quite easily.

The interior of the café is clean and neat, they have tables of different sizes to cater for small and large groups of patrons. The dining area is very spacious and cooling, unlike some cafés, having tables and chairs all cramped in a small stuffy space. Ambience is good.

The café starts operating at 5 p.m. every day. If you reach there early for dinner, you probably find the place empty without a single patron. That is because the student patrons will only crowd the place later in the evening. So if you enjoy quite dinner, be there early. Last order is 10:30 p.m.

Tomato Ketchup serves a variety of western foods. Their chicken chop and fish fillet come in sauces like garlic butter cream sauce, curry leave special mix cream sauce, mushroom brown sauce, and other sauces. As for rice, they serve chicken chop rice and saucy rice. They have pasta, sandwiches and toasts, and a few local snacks as well. Their food portion is just nice, unlike some cafés giving you really huge portion but taste dull.

These were what we had for dinner:

herb garlic chicken chop spaghetti RM6.50

This pasta is very flavourful with lotsa garlic, herbs and mushroom. It appears on the menu as "herb garlic prawn" under pasta, but I opt for chicken chop instead of prawn, and was delighted that they allowed me! Additional 50 cents for more cheese, choice of parmesan or cheddar. For pasta, you can choose to have either spaghetti or penne. Their "herb garlic chicken chop spaghetti" is highly recommended!

garlic butter chicken chop rice RM4.80

chicken cordon bleu - RM9.90

XL size sugar cane - RM1.50

iced lemon tea - RM1.80

They are having promotion now, so grab this opportunity to try out their chicken chop!

We have tried their spiced pork roll (small - RM2.50, regular RM4.50) and fried chicken toast (RM3.50) before. Both are impressive.

Tomato Ketchup manages to keep the prices affordable, the food quality high, and the service friendly - a truly attractive dining place for Kamparians. It is definitely a place I will go frequently, to try their items on the menu one by one!

Shinjuku

Since the opening of TESCO, finally there is a place for Japanese food - Sushi King is here in Kampar! For months, Sushi King is our only choice for Japanese meals. But not anymore, when Shinjuku started their operation in Bandar Baru Kampar.

Their dining area is split into two: western style tables and chairs, and the Japanese style platform.

Shinjuku has quite a wide variety of Japanese food ranging from sushi, ramen, udon, tempura, chawan mushi, and rice sets. Their set lunch promotion ranges from RM9.90 to RM12.90.

set lunch promotion - RM9.90 to RM12.90

Alex ordered salmon teriyaki set - RM19.90. The set comes with rice, grilled salmon with teriyaki sauce, miso soup, vegetable salad with garlic and mayo dressing, two types of appertizer, fruit and green tea . Quite worth it because all taste nice.

salmon teriyaki set - RM19.90

Our friend, CS, ordered unagi set - RM27.90. The set comes with a generous portion of grilled unagi, rice, and the rest of the items served in a rice set. If you can't finish the unagi, you can always ordered a second bowl of rice, for RM1.50.

unagi set - RM27.90

As for me, I usually like their Japanese fried rice set, at RM6.90 only. Apart from the fried rice, the set comes with miso soup, vegetable salad with garlic and mayo dressing, two types of appertizer, fruit and green tea . I personally find that this is the most worth eating set from the menu.

But today I feel like having something soupy, so I ordered kyushu ramen - RM12.90. This is the price for ala-carte, you can pay additional RM2.00 to make it into a set.

kyushu ramen - RM12.90

Look at the gigantic bowl, the portion is surely big, but too bad it tastes flat. Though kyushu ramen is not recommended, salmon teriyaki set and unagi set are worth trying!

The green tea is bottomless.

Shinjuku not only serves tasty food (for Kampar standard), but the serving size is generous too. It is definitely a fulfilling meal with the price you pay for it.

Compare with other cafés operating in Bandar Baru Kampar, Shinjuku is considered outstanding - their interior is clean and neat, with quite environment, soft lighting and music, good service, and most importantly – they serve good food with reasonable price!

But just one thing : there is no English details in the menu, at all! Everything is in romanized Japanese like saba shioyaki set, oyako don set, unagi patayaki... etc. For those who are not frequent visitors of Japanese food outlet, this is really troubling, because we can only depend on the photos, or have to ask the waiter one by one what exactly they are serving.

The front of Shinjuku Café House is really simple looking. So look out for their simple brown signboard with the red writing of “Shinjuku" Café House. Shinjuku is definitely a place worth checking out!


Shinjuku Café House
Address : 31, Persiaran Batu Karang, Taman Kolej Perdana, Bandar Baru Kampar.
Tel : 016.455.4545