Makan Places I Frequent In JB

Hey gorgeous, welcome back to my blog!

In today's post, I'll be sharing 3 of my favourite makan places in Johor Bahru that I usually go to whenever I'm there. So if you keen to see where I would recommend, keep on reading!

1) Toast & Coffee

First up is my go-to breakfast place in JB and it is conveniently located right opposite City Square Mall, along Jalan Tan Hiok Née ("little india" of JB). As per what its name suggested, this little Chinese cafe serves really good coffee and toast but on top of that, they also serve really delicious local delights such as dry pan mee, bee hoon and even Western cuisine like chicken chop.

Dry Pan Mee

Stir Fry Vermicelli 

Fried Chicken Skin

Fried Chicken Chop 

A typical meal with the above food plus 3 drinks and a toast set will cost about 50rm which is approximately sgd17 which is very acceptable because you do get 3 mains, 3 drinks and few sides. What I would recommend is their dry pan mee, especially for ladies who do not have a big appetite. The dry pan mee has the right proportion of ingredients, sauce and of course the pan mee. It is usually served together with a bowl of soup as well so for those who don't really like dry noodles, you can eat it together with the soup but i personally really love the dry version because the mixture of the dark soy sauce, chilli and the fried scallions is really good. Another thing that i highly recommend is their toast set which is much more cheaper than our dear Yakun but you still get the same portion. The toast is toasted to the perfect crispyness and the home made kaya is very delicious too, not forgetting the soft boiled eggs that are cooked to perfection. Overall eating experience in this little cafe is very pleasant and the food is satisfying. After a good meal, you can also hop over to the popular Hiap Joo Bakery & Biscuit Factory that is located right opposite Toast & Coffee and get your banana cake craving satisfied too!

Address: No. 64 & 65 8000, Jalan Tan Hiok Nee, 80000 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
Operating Hours: 730am to 5pm (Closed on Fridays)

2) Restoran Junction 88

For those who love simple kopitiam fare, I highly recommend you to try Restoran Junction 88 which is only a 2 minutes drive from Aeon Mall Bukit Indah. This coffeeshop is open 24hrs daily so you can come here for breakfast or even supper.

These are my must-haves from this coffeeshop and personally I feel they taste much better than any restaurant served food. The dry mee tai mak may not look appealing at first but once you mixed it well with the sauce, the spring onions as well as the scallions, I guarantee you that you will want a second serving. The soup that is served together with the mee tai mak is just as good and the boss is quite generous with the ingredients as well.

The pig liver in the soup is very fresh and nicely cooked. 

Another dish that you definitely need to order is the Kolok mee which comes in 2 sizes, small and big. The small one is only RM3 whereas the big one is RM4. The one you saw in the photo above is the big one and I think the portion is just nice for an adult. You can also add more noodles for just another RM1. For someone who had been to Sarawak and tasted the original Sarawak Kolok Mee, I would say the Kolok mee here at Restoran Junction 88 does not disappoint at all. It really tastes like the authentic Sarawak Kolok mee, if not better. The boss is also very generous with the amount of char siew served in every bowl of noodles. Here at this coffeeshop, you can easily settle your meal for less than RM10 anytime.

Address: 1, Jalan Indah 22/14, Taman Bukit Indah 2, 81200 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
Operating Hours: 24hrs daily

3) AnMour Cafe

And for those who prefer to go for cafes that serve good western cuisine, AnMour Cafe is one I highly recommend you to try.

I usually go on weekdays when they offer their set lunch menu and it is really affordable. The prices range from RM13.90 to RM16.90 and you get to enjoy a free drink too.

Hot buns served before your meal

Fish and Chips 

Black Pepper Chicken Baked Rice

Creamy Fish Fillet with Mushroom Baked Rice

If you are spoilt for choices and do not know what to go for, I highly recommend their Fish and Chips. The fish is surprisingly very fresh and tender (not those typically cheap White Fish that some cafes serve) and most importantly, no fishy taste/smell st all. For RM13.90, I think the Fish and Chips is super value for money. The ingredients that the cafe used and served are of a good standards and they are not stingy with the portions as well. The ambience in the cafe is good as well, giving off the cosy vibe.

Pandan Coconut Milkshake

Apple Green Tea

If you ever decided to try out this cafe, do get their Pandan Coconut Milkshake too!

Address: 34, Jalan Sutera Tanjung 8/3, Taman Sutera Utama, 81300 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia
Operating Hours: 12pm to 10pm daily

And that's all I have to say for this post. I hope you have enjoyed reading it and go ahead and set a date to do a food tour in Johor Bahru! Please follow me if you haven't already and I'll see you in my next post, xoxo.

Trying Haidilao Instant Mala Hotpot

Hey gorgeous, welcome back to my blog!

In today's post, I'll be doing something different from my usual grind. I had recently bought a Haidilao Instant Mala Hotpot and I really wanna try it out and do a review on it so if you're keen to see how I feel about it, keep on reading!

Everything on the packaging was in Chinese but basically it's saying that the one I bought was the beef flavoured one with authentic beef in it. Sounds good!

And here's the cooking instructions. First step was to put in all the ingredients, followed by a little water to mix the sauce with the ingredients. I'll explain the third and last step in a bit. First, let's take a look at the ingredients.

First packet was the preserved vegetables and there were quite a few varieties, including potatoes, lotus roots, bamboo shoots, seaweed and black fungus.

Next was the beef itself. I had no idea how they managed to preserve the beef but they tasted really good after cooking.

Last ingredient here was the vermicelli. Not sure if you noticed but I actually added some luncheon meat as well haha.

And the most important ingredient in this hot pot was the mala sauce itself. The sauce legit smell exactly like Haidilao mala hotpot you get in the stores.

After putting the mala sauce, you got to add in water to mix the ingredients and the sauce together. The water would later become the soup of your mala hotpot.

After settling the ingredients, we need to start the "cooking". Firstly, I poured 260ml of normal temperature water into the black box that was provided.

Then removed the heat pack from the plastic packaging and made sure the heat pack was intact, i.e. not torn or exposed. Add the heat pack into the 260ml of water that was added in the previous step.

Once you put in the heat pack, you got to quickly put the ingredients box back and then covered it up. After that, wait for 15 minutes and your instant mala hotpot will be ready.

Tada, Haidilao Instant Mala Hotpot was served! The soup base was not as oily as the one we ate in the store and the spicy level was not as high as well but the taste was great! The preserved ingredients taste as good as fresh ingredients and even the beef was super tender and soft.

Even though this was just one serving but I thought it was sufficient for 2 pax. My favourite was the potatoes and lotus roots while my husband loved the beef and vermicelli.

All in all, we thought this Haidilao Instant Mala Hotpot tasted quite similar to the one in store and it was genuinely good. We thought this is perfect for those who are craving for Haidilao hotpot but are on a budget. Oh ya, there are also other flavours such as the signature Haidilao Tomato soup base and there is also a vegan option one. The beef one that we got is retailing for less than $10 and I think it's super worth getting.

So that's all I have for this Mala Hotpot post. I hope you have enjoyed reading it. Please follow me if you haven't already and I'll see you in my next post, xoxo.

Ciate London Astrolights Jewelled eyeshadow palette swatches + 3 eyelooks tutorial

Hey gorgeous, welcome back to my blog!

In today's post, I'll be doing a swatch for the Ciate London Astrolights Jewelled eyeshadow palette which I had recently purchased during the Sephora mid year sale and I'll also be sharing 3 eye looks that you can achieve with this 9 shade eyeshadow palette. Keep on reading if you're interested to get this palette too!

First and foremost, I really like the packaging of this Astrolights Jewelled palette because it is so cute and girly in my opinion. I also like that it is super compact and light that I can actually bring it everywhere I go. It also comes with a mirror which is perfect.

The colour combination of this palette is mainly pink and purple and the pigmentation of the shadows is awesome for both the metallic and matte shades.

My ultimate favourite shade in this palette is definitely Mood as it is a very unique duo chromatic, kinda holographic shade and the pigmentation is da best.

It has an iridescent purple sheen to it and it looks so out of the world. Hands down the prettiest shade of the palette in my opinion.
None of the shadows gave me any fall outs when I was trying them out so if you're looking for a small, handy palette with warm shades that are highly pigmented as well, this is definitely one palette to consider. It is retailing at $52 and I believe they are still available in Sephora.

So for the eye looks that I've created, I wanted to go for something that's simple yet glamorous and I was trying to use all the shades available in the palette to make full use of it.

First look:

Apply 1 to the entire eye lid as the base colour for this look. Then layer 2 on top of 1 to finish the look. Use the first brush that you used for 1 to blend the colours together.

2nd look:

Apply 1 to the entire lid as the base colour for this second look. Then apply 2 to the outer lid, slowly blending it to the centre. You may want to layer it for a stronger look. Then apply 3 and focus it on the centre of the eye lid, dragging it slightly towards the inner lid. Blend the shadows with the first brush you used here. Then with a flat brush, apply 2 to the lower lash, only focusing on the outer half. With another flat brush, apply 4 to the upper lash, blending it out slightly.

3rd look:

Apply 1 to the crease blending it nicely. Then take 2 and apply it to the outer lid, slowly blending it towards the crease. With the first brush, blend the two shades together. Using your finger, focus 3 to the centre of your lid, blending it inwards. And with a flat brush, apply 3 to your lower lashline. Finish the look with a black eyeliner.

And that completes this post. I had so much fun creating the 3 different eye looks and I really love how blendable the shades in this palette are. I am so gonna get more Ciate London products to test them out in the future! I hope you have enjoyed reading this post. Please follow me if you haven't already and I'll see you in my next post, xoxo.

New Maybelline Sensational Liquid Matte Lipstick Swatches and First Impression

Hey gorgeous, welcome back to my blog!

Maybelline recently came out with a new Sensational Liquid Matte Lipstick collection and there are a total of 10 shades in this collection. Personally, I feel that some of the shades are rather similar in terms of the tones and colours so in today's post, I will be sharing 3 shades that I think you may consider purchasing. If you are curious to find out more, keep on reading!

The newest Maybelline Sensational Liquid Matte Lipstick claims to be super lightweight with an intense matte finishing that is non drying and sticky. It can also last up to 8 hours. I have very dry lips as you may already know by now, and honestly I think this Sensational Liquid Matte Lipstick is still kinda dry on my lips and it does dry down to a very matte finish. For ladies with very dry lips, do make sure you moisturise your lips well before applying these matte liquid lipsticks.

The liquid lipstick comes with a doe foot applicator and is rather easy to apply. But do note that it does dry up quickly and I had to dip in twice for a full application. It is also transfer proof in my opinion and it doesn't really stain the lips. I must say that I am really impressed as the lipstick does last a long time and I noticed that the lip colour stayed on even after meals. This is one lipstick that you can definitely wear at ease without having worry that it will be gone throughout the day.

The three shades that I personally recommend you to try are 01 To The Fullest, 08 Sensationally Me as well as 10 Bday Suit On.

01 To The Fullest is a nice red colour with a cool undertone that can instantly add a little glam to your everyday makeup. I like that it also makes me look fairer and livelier. If you are looking for a bright red lipstick, this is one that you can consider.

08 Sensationally Me is the perfect in between colour for those who doesn't like to go full glam or nude in my opinion. It is a nice rosey colour that can match any makeup looks and you can definitely wear it on a daily basis. This is also my personal favourite from the collection.

Last but definitely not least, if you are looking for the perfect My Lips But Better lipstick, then 10 Bday Suit On is the one for you. It has the nicest nude pink colour and I like that it doesn't show the lines on your lips like how some other nude lipsticks do. For me, if I am gonna put on a heavy eye makeup look, I will go for a MLBB lip colour to neutralise and tone down the entire look.

So that's the three shades from this latest Maybelline Liquid Matte Lipstick collection that I highly recommend you to try out. They are retailing at $14.90 each and I think this is a very reasonable and affordable price for the quality and it really is very long lasting.

That's all I have to share today and I hope you had a good time reading this post. Please follow me if you haven't already and I'll see you in my next post, xoxo.