Thứ Sáu, 31 tháng 1, 2014

Ratatouille La Gourmet, A Hidden Gem at Tmn Setia Indah, Johor Bahru

Ratatouille La Gourmet (N1.57163 E103.75767) is my first dining experience that enjoying such a good quality western cuisine at a very simple 'Kopitiam'. It's actually a stall in one of the Chinese kopitiam (aka small food court) named 'Fu Sing Kopitiam' and serving nice + delicious food. Thanks for the friend's recommendation from Facebook.

We were there around 6pm on the Sunday evening, the Chef Brian politely introduced the series of western cuisines that serve by Ratatouille La Gourmet to us. After about 15-20 minutes, the first salad served on table - Caesar Salad.

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Caesar Salad by Ratatouille

That was the first appetizer for us and the presentation was nice, taste not bad.

Followed by second appetizers - Foie gras, some of us just cannot believe it because we were enjoying a nice Foie gras in a 'Kopitiam'...

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Foie gras by Ratatouille

This was my first time in my life having Foie gras in kopitiam too! What a experience!

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The Foie gras was well prepared and served with some mushroom slices and piece of bread, the bite will bring some mild alcohol fragrance...excellent! The dish above is selling with a affordable price (RM38) for everyone to be able to try it.

The third appetizers - Escargot.
"Escargot is a dish of cooked land snails, usually served as an appetizer in France and in French restaurants. The word escargot is also sometimes applied to the living snails of those species which are commonly eaten in this way." Source from Wiki.

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Escargot by Ratatouille

Another experience that having this French cuisine in 'kopitiam' again!
The escargots were served in 6 per order (RM18), I'm not in the position to say about the taste because I don't really have much experience having it, but...actually they were acceptable and nice!

Next was the Spaghetti Bolognaise.
As for the Italian authentic ingredients including pancetta, carrots, celery, onions, tomato paste and a dash of wine, and the key ingredient is minced beef. This spaghetti did all right except I didn't taste the wine...maybe it was my mouth problem. :)
The rich minced beef and the tomato sauce were really made our mouth can't stop until the spaghetti is finished. (RM11)

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Spaghetti Bolognaise

Anyway, it is a light and fast meal you should try if you visit Ratatouille La Gourmet.

By having the dishes above, Chef Brian served us two different type of soup - Mushroom soup and Clam chowder to let us have a break before continue our extraordinary dinner.

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Clam chowder

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Mushroom soup

The clams were fresh and the soup was rich flavor but not starchy at all. Their mushroom soup was another great version compare with others, fresh mushrooms and rich. Again, not starchy. We like the both soup.

Here come the first main course - Grilled Salmon with pumpkin sauce.

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Grilled Salmon with pumpkin sauce by Ratatouille

The grilled salmon served with pumpkin sauce, broccoli and Ratatouille.

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Grilled Salmon with pumpkin sauce by Ratatouille (another view)

The combination was excellent! The grilled salmon was well grilled to perfection! This was another different experience to savor the dish.

Another main course - Crusted Roasted Rack of Lamb.

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Crusted Roasted Rack of Lamb


The rack of lamb were served in the medium doneness, succulent and juicy! The dish was served with Ratatouille, broccoli and mashed potatoes. We like the crusted outer layer of the lamb which was mixture of herbs and pine nuts that really brought us a new taste of the dish! The bite had give us a different layer of enjoyment, awesome!

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The medium doneness of the lamb and the special crusted herbs and pine nuts outer layer.


The last main course was the US Black Angus Ribeye steak.


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The US Black Angus Ribeye Steak

The Black Angus steak was absolutely delicious! Served with the medium well doneness for the best way to enjoying the steak, said by the Chef. The dish was served with the marvelous home recipe sauce which mixed with mild brandy. Another awesome steak in that evening!

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I had a chat with the Chef - Brian Soon, understand that he's still working in one of the 4 star restaurant in Singapore right now...and only available at the stall during Wednesday, Saturday & Sunday. Thursday and Friday's duty will be handle by his wife. According to him, he'll be full time at Ratatouille few months later within this year.

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Ratatouille La Gourmet

Brian said, he wanted to introduce the nice and quality western cuisines to the public with a affordable price, and he'll try his best to educate the local on the various dishes serve by Ratatouille La Gourmet.

The stall is operating by Chef Brian and his partner Mr Sherman, both of them are good friends since teenage until now and they are from Malacca. That is also one of the reason that the wordings at the stall has some Malaccan style on it, can you feel it?

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The staffs of Ratatouille La Gourmet

They also provide catering and private chef services to your house for private function. Do contact them from the email address below if you need it.

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Chef Brian in action!

This will be one of my regular place for western cuisine. The prices are very reasonable and affordable, beside that I also tasted the quality ingredients provided by the Chef.
Do drop by if you happen in the area, I believe you will be surprise by the dishes serve by Ratatouille.

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Ratatouille La Gourmet
24, Jln Setia 3/6,
Tmn Setia Indah, Johor Bahru.
Tel : +65 9711 4138 / 0167550886
Operating hour : 5.30pm - 10pm (Wednesday - Sunday)

Location map of Ratatouille La Gourmet at Taman Setia Indah, Johor Bahru.


Thứ Ba, 21 tháng 1, 2014

Recent updates from Jewish Heritage Europe


Postcard showing Chmielnik synagogue and the Archangel Gabriel



By Ruth Ellen Gruber

As I have begun to do on a regular basis, I'm posting here last week's updates from www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu, the web site that I coordinate as a project of the Rothschild Foundation Europe. There's news mainly from Poland, Ukraine and Belarus.

I post on the JHE newsfeed several times a week, to keep content dynamic on what we aim to make the go-to web site for Jewish heritage issues in Europe. JHE will celebrate two years online next month, and we are planning to expand the enhance the site with new features.

Meanwhile -- please subscribe to the JHE news feed! You can use the subscribe buttons on the home page or on any of the news pages. The deal is that, on days that I post on the JHE news feed, you will receive one email with the links to the posts. Easy, convenient and informative, no? And you won't miss any of the feed.

Look at all the news we ran last week:


"Shtetl Routes" under development with EU grant in Poland-Belarus-Ukraine border region

An ambitious, international “Shtetl Routes” tourism itinerary through a score or more of towns in the Poland-Belarus-Ukraine border region is under development with a more than €400,000 grant from the European Union’s Cross-border Cooperation Programme Poland-Belarus-Ukraine 2007-2013.

Call for Papers: Conference “Urban Spaces of Lviv/Lwów/Lemberg: Imagination, Experiences, Practices”




Call for papers: New Research on Memory in Eastern Europe conference in Warsaw

Aim of the workshop is to discuss specificity of the collective memory and research of that memory in Ukraine and Belarus

Dariusz Stola named director of Museum of the History of Polish Jews


Report on Jewish Cemeteries in Silesia Province Published

The Brama Cukerman (Cukerman’s Gate) Foundation in Będzin, Poland, has recently published “Our Cemeteries,” a detailed, 50-page report on the state and status of the dozens of Jewish cemeteries in the Silesia Vojvodship (Province).



Thứ Bảy, 18 tháng 1, 2014

New series of foods and desserts from Moshi Moshi Dessert and Tea Cafe at Taman Mount Austin

Do you like desserts?
Moshi Moshi Desserts and Tea Cafe at Taman Mount Austin had launched their new series of desserts and some snacks on December 2013! We visited the cafe not too long ago, and below are some of the new series available...

Before the desserts and snacks, let me brief some information of Moshi Moshi Dessert and Tea Cafe...Moshi Moshi is selling their 100% local handmade ice cream and sorbet (they learned the skill from Taiwan) and serve with 'Natural, Fresh' ingredients with NO preservatives, and their drinks is make from fresh fruits, not from 'powders' that easily available in other cafe. Majority of their ingredients are imported from Taiwan and they make the sorbet and ice cream locally.

The first dessert was Coffee Ice Cream + Guava Bum Bum Ice (咖啡冰淇淋 + 土巴乐泡泡冰)

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Coffee Ice Cream + Guava Bum Bum Ice (咖啡冰淇淋 + 土巴乐泡泡冰)

The dessert served with 2 flavor of ice cream which was coffee and guava, corn flakes and some fresh fruits. The coffee flavor was rich and nice, we love the 'aroma' very much! If you are coffee lover, I believe you will love it too! The guava flavor ice cream was fresh, fragrant and original. It's advise to take the side dish (fruits and flakes) together while enjoying the handmade ice cream.

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The corn flakes and fruits served together with the ice cream above

The dessert above serve in 4 types of combinations.

The Sesame Q-Rice Ball (芝麻米果甩) was the second surprised for us. The rice ball was fried in sesame seed and glutinous rice with the fragrant Gula Melaka (palm sugar) filling. The outer skin was crispy and soft inside. It's advise to taste the rice ball with the peanuts topping, the first bite was unforgettable!
There are 3 types of rice ball available from the menu.

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Sesame Q-Rice Ball (芝麻米果甩)

Peanut Mochi Cake (花生西麻薯烧餅)
This was one of the Classic series of the Mochi Cake, topping with peanuts butter and a cube of butter + honey.

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French Mochi Cake (花生西麻薯烧餅)

The Mochi cake is waffle look-a-like, but it was not the waffle. It made from the sticky rice, baked to perfection. Crispy outside and really chewy when you bite on it! It was a totally new experience! The dish can really fill up your empty stomach even it doesn't serve in big portion.

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The Mochi cake from Moshi Moshi

The Classic series of Mochi cake serve in 4 different types...Chocolate, French, Strawberry and Peanut.
The Mochi cake also serve with ice cream, our next dish was Chocolate Ice Cream with Cheese Koshi Cake (浓情巧克力冰淇淋起司烤餅).

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Chocolate Ice Cream with Cheese Koshi Cake 
(浓情巧克力冰淇淋起司烤餅)

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The chocolate ice cream

The chocolate ice cream was not sweet, it taste like dark chocolate...slight bitter. Cheese lover will love this light meal because of the nice aroma of the cheese which baked with the Koshi cake. The whole combination was just perfect!

Beside the series above, Moshi Moshi also provide the Special Baked Series (烘烤咸味系列) for the Kochi cake.
One of the popular Special Baked Series is the Smoked Chicken Koshi Cake (烟熏鸡烤餅).

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Smoked Chicken Koshi Cake (烟熏鸡烤餅)

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I like this smoke chicken baked koshi cake! It's hard to describe in words about the taste, it took a little strength for chewing it and the smoke chicken was a good combination for the cake. Love it!

After we filled up our 'tank', the last dessert was served on the table...Coconut Ice Cream Parfait (夏日椰子冰淇淋芭菲)  It was one of the dessert from the Parfait series...

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Coconut Ice Cream Parfait (夏日椰子冰淇淋芭菲)

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This parfait ice cream was served with fresh coconut where you feel the coconut within, they mixed the young and old coconut with some home recipe to provide this NICE parfait ice cream. It can really cool down the temperature during the hot sunny day...please take note the layer of the dessert, there were cornflakes and cut fresh fruits in between. One of the great refreshment we had!

Prices for the above desserts and snacks is between RM6.90 - RM15.90

Do visit the Moshi Moshi Cafe not only on the hot weather day, it's also a nice hangout place in evening. It's good to enjoy some good dessert after your sumptuous dinner. The cafe understand the market demand about the after meal dessert culture, so Ms Elaine (one of the partner) said their operating hour is until 12am everyday...Yes! It's everyday!

Related post :-
Moshi Moshi Dessert & Tea Cafe at Taman Mount Austin, Johor Bahru.

Moshi Moshi Dessert and Tea Cafe
19, Jalan Mutiara Emas 10/19,
Taman Mount Austin, Johor Bahru.
Tel : +607-3616337

Location map for Moshi Moshi Dessert and Tea Cafe at Taman Mount Austin


Thứ Ba, 14 tháng 1, 2014

Sumptuous 4 course dinner at SkyBar and buffet breakfast at Traders Hotel Puteri Harbour, Johor.

Having dinner at SkyBar Traders Hotel Puteri Harbour - Johor was one of the most enjoyable and unforgettable dinner for our family! We had our dinner on one of the Saturday evening sometime November 2013 during our 2 days 1 night city escape holiday. I appreciated that Ms Aidah and the Executive Chef of SkyBar for the dinner arrangement.

We specifically chose the table situated next to the baby pool and had a breathtaking view for the Puteri Harbour night view. While waiting for the dinner to serve, the Chef presented a nice bread with 3 different sauce on our table.

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There were 2 types of bread and we like the 3 different sauce very much! Garlic, Rosemary and butter. Before we can finish the bread, the starter served...The Caesar Check-mate! Salad.

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Caesar Check-mate! Salad

The appetizer was unique and creative! Nice presentation on the piece of tile and this was the most creative salad I ever have!

Next appetizer was the 'SHE Lobster Bisque'.

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SHE Lobster Bisque

"Bisque is a smooth, creamy, highly seasoned soup of French origin, classically based on a strained broth of crustaceans. It can be made from lobster, crab, shrimp or crayfish." Souce from Wiki.

The rich flavored soup was yummy with the fresh female lobster meat. The highly seasoned savory appetizer made our conversation pause awhile, everyone just enjoyed very much. The empty plates tell it all...

The next dish was the main course of the night. The Herb-Crusted Roasted Rack of Lamb.

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The Herb-Crusted Roasted Rack of Lamb

I was looking at the Rack of Lamb for at least 5-10 minutes just to admired the presentation by the Chef. Well done!

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The portion was big and the lamb served on the medium doneness. Every bite of the juicy and tender lamb provided the satisfaction of the meal, it was sometime back I haven't have a chance to taste the rack of lamb with the mint sauce, excellent! Well, I took the longest time to enjoyed this delicious Roasted Rack of Lamb among all of us...

The dessert served after the main course, it was the 'Combination of Screw pine Creme Brulee and Tiramisu with home-made Vanilla ice cream'. Again! Another well presentation of the dessert from the Chef of SkyBar - Traders Hotel.
*  Apologies from me that my memory card having some problem that I can't retrieve the photos.

Thanks for the humble Chef who came to explained on the dishes, and very much appreciated on the surprised chocolate birthday cake from the management of Traders Hotel. Ms Aidah and the team, thanks you very much on the arrangements and warm hospitality.

That was a wonderful dinner for us especially company by the breathtaking view from the surrounding of SkyBar and Puteri Harbour, the dining experience was totally cannot describe by words! You have to try it yourself to feel the different!

Our buffet breakfast on the next day was prepared at the Harbour Cafe of Traders Hotel. It was full house during we stepped in, nice and polite cafe's staff arrange our table in about 10 minutes...

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Harbour Cafe during the morning session

The Cafe provided more than 50 types of breakfast for their guests to choose from. It was a nice breakfast with full of varieties, appetizers, main course and dessert from local and international. Photos below...

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The salad corner

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The local food session

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The noodles area...

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The American breakfast counter

I like the sausages, hash brown and baked beans very much!

And also the bread, donuts and croissant corner...

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And last not the least...the dessert island.

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The dessert island of Harbour Cafe

And you can find even the local Nyonya kueh at the dessert island...

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The local kuehs...

It was a very enjoyable moment for our family having the buffet breakfast in the Harbour Cafe. The full varieties of foods really wake up my morning appetite and I like the sausages very much!

It can be very crowded during the weekend morning session at the Harbour Cafe, so please make a reservation from the hotel management if you wish to having the breakfast during the weekend to avoid any disappointment.

We will be back again on our next city escape!

Related post :-
*  The Traders Hotel at Puteri Harbour Nusajaya, Johor.
Deluxe Harbour View Room in Traders Hotel Puteru Harbour, Johor.

Traders Hotel, Puteri Harbour, Johor.
Persiaran Puteri Selatan, Puteri Harbour.
Nusajaya, Johor.
Tel : +607-560 8888    Fax : +607-560 8999

Location map of Traders Hotel at Puteri Harbour Nusajaya, Johor.


Chủ Nhật, 12 tháng 1, 2014

This past week's updates from Jewish Heritage Europe


Murals of the Holy Land from Beit Tefilah Benjamin in Chernivtsi, Ukraine. Photo © Ruth Ellen Gruber



By Ruth Ellen Gruber

As I did last weekend, I'm posting here this past week's updates from www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu, the web site that I coordinate as a project of the Rothschild Foundation Europe. There's news from Ukraine, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Italy and the UK....

I post on the JHE newsfeed several times a week, to keep content dynamic on what we aim to make the go-to web site for Jewish heritage issues in Europe. JHE will celebrate two years online next month, and we are planning to expand the enhance the site with new features.

Meanwhile -- please subscribe to the JHE news feed! You can use the subscribe buttons on the home page or on any of the news pages. The deal is that, on days that I post on the JHE news feed, you will receive one email with the links to the posts. Easy, convenient and informative, no? And you won't miss any of the feed.


Great news, thanks to the indefatigable Jasna Ciric


Launch of online catalogue of Romanian archives


Rich new resource


New digital uploads of old synagogue postcards from the Rosenthall collection


Fantastic images and great resource -- for the armchair traveler, too


Technology: 3d scanners help digitize weathered inscriptions


Science in action to benefit historic research!


Update: Bradford Synagogue received first tranche of lottery funding for restoration


A shining example of Jewish-Muslim cooperation


“Visions of the Holy Land” in northern Romanian synagogues


Explanation of beautiful murals that decorate synagogues




Thứ Ba, 7 tháng 1, 2014

Deluxe Harbour View Room in Traders Hotel Puteri Harbour, Johor

"Traders Hotel, Puteri Harbour, Johor provided Malaysian's stylish guestrooms and suites range from 33 to 96 square metres in size, and each is outfitted with a spacious bathroom, 40-inch TV, IDD dual direct line with voice mail, motorised day and night curtains, iron and ironing board, in-room safe deposit, a mini-bar, hairdryer, and coffee and tea making facilities, among other practical features. There are also two rooms with special features designed for persons with disabilities."

There are total of 283 rooms in Traders Hotel Puteri Harbour, Johor. 129 of Deluxe rooms, 90 of Deluxe harbour view rooms, 14 of Premier rooms, 18 of Traders Club rooms, 23 of Traders Club harbour view rooms, 8 of Executives suites and 1 of Specialty suite.

We were having a 2 days 1 night city escape and enjoyed the comfortable Deluxe harbour view room. Let me show you in the photos below...

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Nice fishes on the wall...

The view through the window was marvelous! Harbour view...

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The room equipped with an extra sofa bed, and that was my comfort bed, let my wife and daughter enjoyed the King size bed...
There was a study table at the corner and provided with complete necessity like international power socket, wired network UTP port and even HDMI + audio jack to the TV.

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The study table at the corner...

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The power sockets and the ports...

There are total of 9 power sockets in the room, and it was really convenience for me and my family to charge our gadget during the night. No need to fight for it anymore! Haha! This was my first came across the hotel room provided so many power sockets at every corner in the room.

The bathroom is spacious and the tempered glass showering area is wide enough for a big size person.

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All the bathroom necessity even a table clock was provided...

"A pampering stay on the Traders Club floor ensures the needs of savvy travellers are cared for the provides use of a *private lounge with breakfast, refreshments and evening cocktails; personalised check-in and check-out; meeting area and club concierge. Guests will also appreciate the complimentary suit pressing and shoe shine service, daily newspaper and fresh fruits. Shangri-La's Golden Circle members can enjoy special privileges and earn reward points while staying at the hotel."

Even the rooms in the hotel are fully covered with the good coverage WiFi signal, the network port still provided for those old model of notebook which is without the WiFi card built-in.

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The reading LED light beside the bed

The rooms rate is not fixed for every booking, you can login to their website (URL below) and do your reservation early to get a better rate.

We enjoyed the comfort stayed in the room and being greeted by every staffs who passed by with a lovely smile.
We were really satisfied and my daughter said, she want to re-visit the hotel again! :)

Related post :-
*  The Traders Hotel at Puteri Harbour Nusajaya, Johor.
*  Sumptuous 4 course dinner at SkyBar and buffet breakfast at Traders Hotel Puteri Harbour, Johor.

Traders Hotel, Puteri Harbour, Johor.
Persiaran Puteri Selatan, Puteri Harbour.
Nusajaya, Johor.
Tel : +607-560 8888    Fax : +607-560 8999

Location map of Traders Hotel at Puteri Harbour Nusajaya, Johor.


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