OMG I really feel like a total pig for punishment today... Been eating so much.  Anyway this post here is really about Kaya and Toast, a small authentic Malaysian coffee shop that is located inside the Imax cinemas.  It might be a little difficult to see it if you haven't been there before as it is located right next to BK once you walk into the cinemas and is down a flight of stairs.

I would say that this is the only authentic Malaysian coffee shop that I have found in Auckland so far.  They serve a type of spread called Kaya on toast and it is everything that I remembered in the good old days,  Also, they have gone so far as to use the original utensils that one would find in a Malaysian coffee shop to prepare the food and drinks, such as the white ceramic cups that has green patterns on the side and is accompanied by a matching plate.  For entertainment, they even have copies of Lat, a popular comic that has become very popular in Malaysia due to the artist's sense of humour. 

Today, I shared their infamous Chee Cheong Fun with my beautiful fiancee.  When it is translated literally, it means "Pig's Intestines Noodles", this is most probably due to how the noodles resemble one's intestines.  Nevertheless, this dish is still very delicious and is recommended to all.  Usually, this meal consists of fried tofu, beancurd skin (taufoo pok), fishballs and rolled noodles.  It is served in diluted peanut sauce that is rich in flavour.  Now this dish that I had also had chilli sauce and it was really spicy, so for those of you who are not used to having spicy food, I would recommend that you tell the lady at the counter not to put any chilli sauce for you.

The moment I put the first piece into my mouth, my taste buds were overwhelmed by the sweet peanut sauce.  Even though the rolled noodles doesn't have any inherent taste to it, it is still a treat to be able to chew on the noodles briefly before it slides down your throat.  Both the tofu and beancurd skin, due to it's porous nature, absorbs the sauce and when I bit into it, the rich flavour of the sauce exploded in my mouth.  The beancurd skin is also quite chewy so everytime my jaws met together, more and more sauce was released from the beancurd skin. 

This is a definitely the place for any Malaysian, Singaporean and foodie to go to experience food that can only be found in Malaysia.  The only thing that I can say is unauthentic would be the price... That was made for Aucklanders.

Now this is one of the places that I normally would go to for my daily coffee, however today I decided to do something different. A colleague of mine has often told me about how delicious the Almond Croissant were, hence I decided to try it out myself. On top of that I ordered for myself a Moccachino as well and the price came up to $7.50, $3.50 for the croissant and $4.00 for the drink.

At first I didn't know what to make of it, to me it seemed like any other croissant that I've had in my life except this one had almonds and icing sugar on it. When I took my first bite, the first taste that I got was the icing sugar when I inhaled. Biting down on the croissant, I could taste the sweetness that accompanies a normal croissant followed by the crunchy almonds on top.

Combined with a medium Moccachino, this sweet titbit caused me to be on a buzz for the rest of the day.

I must say this has to be one of my favourite restaurants in Auckland to have some good Asian Fusion meals.  Went there for lunch today and ordered the Herb and Spicy Chicken on Fried Rice (I think that's the name... it's quite long).  Anyway, this restaurant is located on Durham Street along Queen Street.  In order to get there, you have to walk down a flight to stairs and at the bottom of the stairs you'll find the menu on the wall right in front of you.

 I find this a very innovative style as you can easily pick from the wall of pictures exactly what you want to have instead of attempting to guess how or what you will be ordering just from the words alone.  The restaurant itself is quite big in itself.  I believe that it should be able to fit it about 80 - 100 people without any problems.  It has a very relaxed atmosphere where you can have a good chat with your friends as the tables are quite well spaced.  At the far end of the counter, there are two big stainless steel containers that hold hot Chinese Tea and cold water. 

The sauce can also be used as a compliment to the rice. The fried rice that comes with the chicken is cooked with egg, peas and some corn.  When I mixed all the flavours together, the savoury taste of the sauce was the strongest that I could taste, followed by the crunchy exterior of the chicken.  When I had it with the steamed vegetables, the natural sweetness of the vegetables mixed very well with the chicken.  However, I am still wondering where the Herbs come in.  I was unable to taste anything that I would call herbal in anyway.  It might have been in the chicken and had a subtle taste that was overpowered by the sauce.

I would definitely recommend this restaurant if you were looking for a quick lunch as the meals do come very quickly. Some time ago, before the management changed, this was one of the ONLY restaurants that served A&W Root Beer. For those of you who don't come from Malaysia, A&W is one of the fast food franchises that we have that was one of the first to serve chilled root beer in a frosty cup.  Nowadays you can get it in cans, but the taste is still the same and having it from a cold can just makes it all the better.

Currently, the original manager is in the Kiwi Roast restaurant located on Quay Street. It is a smaller restaurant and usually meant for takeaways only but many people still do have meals there as there are a number of tables that are available.

I started the day at 5.30am today and after my gym session I decided to have something that would fill me up for the rest of the day as I was having dinner at my fiancee's place.  Now I needed something cheap, something that would fill me up and something that would keep me going for the rest of the day without me having to buy something for lunch.  Hence, I headed to the Hollywood bakery located in the Westfield shopping centre to get me something that they call a "Swiss Cabonessi", I just call it a beef sausage as I couldn't find anything remotely similar to the name that was printed on Google.

  This is probably one of the most filling snacks that I've had.  Two of these will be able to keep me up and running for the rest of the day until dinner time.  The skin of this sausage appears to have been fried as it is quite chewy and crunchy.  When I bit into it, I could feel the skin breaking under my front two teeth as the juicy filling slid into my mouth.  The meat carried with it a spice filled flavour that was both chewy and crunchy at the same time due to the skin.  This sausage is also very moist and it doesn't leave your mouth feeling like you need to have water right after eating it. 

The only thing that I don't like about it is that it is very, and I mean VERY oily.  After placing it on the table for a few seconds, I saw there was oil on the table when I lifted it.  Before eating, I used some paper towels to remove the oil and I do hope that the juicyness of the meat is not oil that I'm eating.

Aside from that, this is quite a delicious and filling snack for $2.50 each.

Located on the corner of Jervois road and Wanganui Ave in Herne Bay, this quaint little bakery serves up some of the best pies and sausage rolls that I've had so far.  The secret behind this, I believe, is the vegetable based pastry that they use in their baking.

One of my favourite pastries that they have in this store is the Sausage Roll.  The second you bite into it, you'll be able to tell the difference.  Unlike normal Sausage Rolls, the pastry not only keeps the meat inside, but the crust is very airy and flakey and has a flavour of it's own as well, a very subtle sweet taste.  Once you bite into it, you will find that some it has stuck onto your lips.             

From this picture you should be able to see what I am talking about.  See how the crust has broken off the main body of the Sausage Roll?  This gives the roll a very light, airy and crunchy feeling when it is bitten into.  It takes a little off the old guilt meter with the airy feeling that you get when you bite into it.

Now talking about the filling is another matter on its own.  Unlike other Sausage Rolls that you can get from bigger bakeries such as the Hollywood franchise, which also does pretty good food, all they have put into it is meat and a little onion.  Hence, it has a very savoury taste to it that the onion offsets somewhat due to its sweetness.