My favourite fruit of all time is hands down the Durian – or as it is commonly known in South East Asia, ‘The King of Fruits’. The word Duri comes from the Malay word which means thorn, and the -an is the suffix for the Malay word Durian. For those who are curious, Durian is scientifically known as durio zibenthis. Yes, I looked this up on Google out of sheer curiosity on my part! If it were up to me, I would re-classify Durians and place them in the gourmet dessert category instead.

My deep and thorny love affair with Durians started when I was about 5 years old. That’s approximately a 20-year love affair that is still going strong. I was introduced to the Durian fruit by my family who have roots in the jungles and villages of Sabah, Borneo. As a young child, my father used to sleep in a small hut near my grandmother’s Durian trees with his cousins overnight to wait for the ripe Durians to fall to the ground. A dull thud on the jungle floor followed by the rustling of foliage usually indicates this.

While growing up, I never got a chance to sleep under the Durian trees but I sure received generous helpings of the fruit whenever we visited granny in her village. My grandmother has countless Durian trees around her yard which always produces delicious Durians during the fruit season between July and November. However, I have seen Durians sold outside this season in different parts of Malaysia and Thailand.

A tropical fruit, the Durian is native to Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. In recent years, Thailand has become one of the biggest exporters of Durians in South East Asia even though the fruit is not native to their country. There are many variants of Durian – different sizes, flesh, colour, taste and texture. The three most common types of Durians are the yellow, white and orange-fleshed ones. I have tried a red-fleshed one in the past but this variant seems to be quite rare.

The Durian has a dense, solid and thorny outer-shell that splits open in sections (when you try hard enough with a cleaver or sharp tool). My theory is that the Durian protects itself with this intimidating ‘facade’ from preying animals and humans because its flesh tastes too good to be true and is worth the extra protection!

Unfortunately for the poor Durian, humans still managed to outsmart it. Years ago, I came across a fallen Durian in my granny’s yard with a dead squirrel wedged halfway into the fruit. The poor creature probably died trying to reach the tasty morsels of fruit within the thorns ala Get Rich or Die Tryin’!

So what is the big fuss about the Durian? There are two sides to this: You either love it with a passion, or hate it with a vengeance. People who love Durians will go out of their way to get their hands on them. One example for me was driving out to the local fruit markets on a muddy gravel road in a tropical storm- thunder, lighting and all – to satisfy my cravings for Durian.

As for people who don’t, they find the smell sickly sweet and unbearable, and the taste utterly revolting,  “like rotting onions”- as I recall someone telling me years ago. Needless to say, I was more than slightly offended. But hey, to each of their own! Durians are actually banned in a few hotels and public transport in Malaysia and Singapore due to the strong odour from the fruit! How rude!

I was having a discussion with a friend the other day on why Durians have such a wide reputation for being a smelly and disgusting fruit. We concluded that Durians probably get alot of bad press from all the widespread negativity and the idea that this fruit is gross becomes ingrained in people’s psyche and therefore puts them off enjoying it fully.

Perhaps the new tactic is to market this fruit in a more positive light so that people may change their minds about it. I grew up without the bad press and actually appreciated the fruit for what it was, just by eating and enjoying it the way nature intended.

Out of the three most common types of Durian (white, yellow and orange), I like the yellow variety the most. My personal description of the flavour will have to be ‘A rich, creamy and concentrated bitter-sweet Vanilla custard’. The flesh of the Durian is very sweet and intense, and the creamy texture of the fruit simply melts in your mouth.

There are usually about 4 to 5 pods in a single Durian and each pod may contain up to 6 pieces of fruit that are attached together, and the seeds are encased within the flesh of the fruit. Durians are dense and  depending on size, a whole Durian can weigh between 0.5kg up to even 8kg! Here is an example of a 5.2kg Durian my folks’ bought at their local Durian stall:

Durians are usually sold out of minivans and trucks on makeshift roadside stalls, night markets and local produce markets. The only times I have ever seen Durians sold indoors in a supermarket or fruit shop is when the fruit pieces have been packaged or they are sold wholly frozen (not recommended!). The price of Durians vary – smaller fruits can cost from around RM4 per kilo and the bigger, higher grade Durians can cost up to RM50 a kilo from my experience at a Durian stall on Jalan Alor in Kuala Lumpur.

Most Durian eaters will notice that after they eat the fruit with their fingers, the smell of the fruit lingers on for days on end! There are two tricks to this: Wash your hands under a running tap while rubbing your fingers with a stainless steel object such as a spoon. Or, my all-time favourite, using a Durian husk, rub your fingers in the white part of the husk while rinsing under running water. This method works like magic and removes the smell completely!

One thing I have found from eating too much Durian in one sitting is that my body temperature goes up and I feel quite feverish. This usually happens after going through about 5 whole Durians! The trick is to have some cold water or Coconut juice handy to counteract this heaty problem.

Besides eaten fresh, Durians are made into various types of delectable sweets such as ice cream, candies, sweet porridge and cakes. I was at a Secret Recipe Cafe in Kota Kinabalu a while back and I saw that they had a Durian Cheesecake on offer. How could I possibly pass up the opportunity to try this?

I ordered a slice and to be honest I couldn’t taste the cheese but it tasted as though the entire cake was made from fresh Durian concentrate together with a crushed biscotti crust! It was so sensational, I bought an entire cake to bring to a family dinner that same week! The whole cake cost around RM40, which was pretty reasonable for what it was.

As far as fruits go, Durians will have to be on the top of my favourites list. If you are ever around in Malaysia during the fruiting season, be sure to head down to the local food markets to sample the king of fruits for yourself and prepare to be amazed…

On a recent trip back home to Kota Kinabalu, my parents took me to one of their favourite coffeeshops for brunch. Located in a shop lot in Damai, H&H Kopitiam serves really good Yong Tau Foo or stuffed tofu and vegetables. One of my favourite Malaysian-Chinese dishes, Yong Tau Foo is usually served for breakfast or lunch together with noodles or can be eaten on their own.

Armed with my giant Nikon, the shopkeeper thought I was from the local council checking up on her establishment when I started taking photos around her shop! She relaxed abit when I told her I was just genuinely there for the food… To be honest, even if I was from the council, I wouldn’t be worrying too much as the level of hygiene at H&H Kopitiam is pretty good.

The menu at H&H is very straightforward – you can either have dry or soup noodles ranging from vermicelli, egg and flat rice noodles together with their selection of stuffed tofu and vegetables. They have two kinds of soup; a clear fish broth and a spicy curry. You can opt to have a combination soup with all the toppings, or you can pick your own selection from their glass display.

They have quite a wide variety of veges and tofu that are stuffed with finely minced fish meat. The stuffed veges on display are eggplant, bittergourd, chilli and okra. The quality of the food at H&H is pretty decent – all the veges and tofu are cut in generous sizes and taste fresh.

Besides stuffed veges, they also have fishcakes, fishballs and deep fried crispy tofu. You can actually pick the number of items to go in your soup and they will charge you by item. If you’re just after a light snack, you can just order the stuffed veges and tofu without any soup or noodles.

Their most popular dish is the special curry as was recommended to me by a few people. Being a fan of all things spicy, I ordered one of these with a combination of stuffed eggplant, bitter melon, chilli, tofu and fishcakes with a serving of flat rice noodles. However, when the bowl arrived I noticed that the portion was quite small compared to alot of other noodle soup restaurants around town.

The special curry soup was very tasty but I found it too oily, as you can see in the photos. There literally was a thick layer of oil on the top and to get to everything else in the bottom of the bowl one had no choice but to drink the oil too! The oil is from the coconut milk they use in the curry soup base. As it gets cooked, coconut milk slowly unleashes all its fatty goodness upon its bowl-mates!

This is probably the first time I have eaten a curry soup like this in Kota Kinabalu. The other curry soups I have tried were either Laksa or Tom Yum whereas the H&H Curry Soup had a very stong curry leaf flavour to it and wasn’t sour like Tom Yum. Despite being too oily, it was still delicious and I would definitely be going back to H&H to try the other dishes on offer. Meals here are very cheap and range from RM4-7.

A stroll through a supermarket in downtown Tokyo was a fascinating experience! The quality and variety of the fresh produce was top notch and I was surpised to find that they weren’t too ridiculously expensive. Here are some photos I took of a few items at the supermarket:

Established in 1994, Krishna’s Curry House is undoubtedly the top banana leaf restaurant in Sabah. I have been dining at Krishna’s since 1995, and I can tell you now the only things that have changed is Krishna’s hairstyle, his ever-growing popularity and expanding franchise. The top quality of the food remains unscathed, and flavours haven’t changed.

Located in the Grand Millenium Plaza along Jalan Lintas, Krishna specialises in South Indian style Fish Head Curry and the famous Banana Leaf set meals with a Malaysian touch. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night craving food from Krishna’s. It’s harder now that I no longer live in Sabah – A meal at Krishna’s is now an annual event when I return to visit the folks.

Recently when I was back in Kota Kinabalu, my folks took me through the old ritual of lunching at Krishna’s. Once again, the experience was as memorable as the last. So what is the deal with Krishna’s Curry House? The answer is simply unrivalled dizzying-deliciousness. Putting this down on paper is impossible, one must experience the food in person at Krishna’s to fully understand where I am coming from.

Typically, a meal at Krishna’s for me involves the Fish Head Curry and Banana Leaf Set Lunch which consists of a platter of fish head curry and all-you-can-eat vegetables and rice. There are different fish head sizes available to suit – ranging from small to monstrous! The fish head curry is priced depending on the size of the fish head. A medium-sized one would cost around RM28. On Fridays and Saturdays, Biryani Rice is also available from the menu.

The types of vegetables and curries on the menu change on a daily basis which makes for great variety. The food at Krishna’s is never too salty or greasy and has the perfect balance of spices. Whenever you order the banana leaf set meals, the waiters will bring you a selection of veges in these tin pots. There can be up to 6 different types of vegetable dishes in one meal setting (lunch or dinner) and one is always spoilt for choice!

The star of the show is of course the Fish Head Curry – I’m never too sure what kind of fish they use – from memory I remember Krishna mentioning something about Ikan Putih. The reason why I rate the fish head curry here so much once again comes down to taste and also freshness. I still can’t get over how fish head is SO underrated outside Malaysia! It’s probably the best part of the fish, especially the eyes and cheeks!

The fish here is sourced daily from suppliers and I have never once tasted a less-than-inspiring piece of fish head from Krishna’s. The curry sauce has just the right consistency and isn’t too thick or watery. They use lots of tomatoes in the sauce to give it a tangy, sour bite which compliments the fish very well. There is also a generous serving of Okra in the fish head curry.

Most of the time, you’ll get to see Krishna and his wife at the restaurant. Sometimes his boys also help them out. He is a really friendly and jolly fellow who loves to interact with his customers – just how a restaurant host and owner should be. Getting back to the earlier comment I made about Krishna’s hairstyle, he used to sport a ponytail way back in the 90′s…

The Delicatessen Bake Shop at the Hyatt Hotel in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, has been around as long as the hotel itself (In other words, decades). My mum used to buy me treats here when I was really young and as far as I can remember, I was never disappointed with the goodies that came out of this bake shop.

Only recently a friend of mine told me about their famous Asam Pedas or Hot and Sour Oxtail Puff. To combine french puff pastry with a local delicacy, how could I possibly NOT sample this? I made a quick dash to the Hyatt to investigate this for myself. Upon entering the shop, I asked the lady and she directed me to a glass display cabinet and lo-behold! There they were… At RM7.90 a pop, they had to be good!

I purchased one Oxtail puff and took it home for some serious analysing… And yes I measured it with a ruler, and it was a good 20cm in length! Don’t mind the lack of presentation, but the oxtail puff was bulging with a delicious meaty content waiting to be consumed!

I proceeded to slice the Oxtail puff in half and thanks to a good macro lens, I was able to capture a steaming close-up of the hot and sour Oxtail goodness inside the puff pastry.

The verdict? Everything I expected and more. The puff pastry was flaky on the outside yet was soft and buttery when bitten into. The pastry contrasted well with the sour and spicy flavours the Oxtail was cooked in. As for the Oxtail, it was cooked to perfection. Extremely tender but with a bit of bite, the meat itself wasn’t too chopped-up and minced. There were generous large chunks of delicious Oxtail in the puff.

I’m definitely going back for more. I reckon the Oxtail Puff would be great for tea-parties – you can pre-order in advance from The Delicatessen and they can bake them fresh for any function. Totally scrumptious!

Malaysian Airlines has by far the best airline food I have ever eaten. Definitely a far cry from the pricey, overrated, purchase-only meals on low-budget carriers! Since I was a young kid, one of the highlights for me when my parents took me travelling on a plane was the food on MAS!

The food on Malaysian Airlines is always dangerously scorching hot, fresh and DELICIOUS! Not to mention the copious amounts of FREE booze you can drink until you pass out as I have experienced in past flights – great for a deep sleep on a long journey! Besides serving great food, I must also give credit to the fantastic in-flight service from the cabin crew.

Earlier this year, I recall being on a flight from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur when my companion and I were served by a lovely lady who kept on bringing us cans of cold Carlsberg. I eventually dozed off, and when I woke up there were TWO new cans on my fold-up table! She definitely was the magic beer fairy of the journey – too bad I can’t remember her name.

On long haul flights, you get 2-3 meals while on shorter flights you either get snacks or 1 full meal depending on the length of the journey. As a fan of MAS food, I thought this would be worth posting! I will be adding to this post in the years to come – In the meantime, enjoy these photos of yummy MAS food!

Located across the road from Balmain Town Hall, Kazbah serves up delicious Middle Eastern, Moroccan and North African Cuisine. The flavours are rich, the servings are generous, and the ambience is warm and inviting. Kazbah was highly recommended to me by one of my companions who had been there the previous day. She was really impressed with what she had eaten, she came back for an encore!

We went there for what was supposed to be breakfast, but daylight savings meant that once we arrived it was already brunch! We were greeted by a queue of patrons out the front, and overheard a lady asking about bookings. We didn’t make a booking (who makes breakfast bookings anyway?!) and didn’t think we’d get a table. But with the large crowd assembled there, it probably goes to show that getting a table is worth the wait!

It only took about 3 minutes in the queue for us to eventually get to the host, and she managed to squeeze the three of us in but we were only given 45 minutes to finish up our meals as the table we got was already reserved for another group. Despite how busy Kazbah was, she still managed to keep her cool and was very friendly.

Picking something to eat from their unique and extensive menu was a challenge! I initially ordered the Fried Duck Eggs, only to be told that they had run out! I went for the Foul Mudammas instead. Foul Mudammas is an Egyptian fava bean stew normally eaten for breakfast. The serving of Foul Mudammas at Kazbah was really thick – a combination of Boiled Egg, Chick Peas, Fava Beans, Garlic, Tahini and Lemon and served with 4 sprigs of fresh shallot and Lebanese bread. The Foul Mudammas tasted pleasant, but was too heavy for me and I couldn’t have eaten the entire bowl on my own as it way too rich, like a dip!

Next up was the Lamb Tagine – A combination of Lamb Mince, Sucuk (sausage), Spinach, Roast Capsicum, Roast Tomatoes, Caramelised Onion, Feta, Eggs, Turkish Toast and Lebanese Bread. We ordered a serving for one person, but you can also get a larger serving for two or more people. The mince in the tagine tasted quite similar to the Spicy Morroccan lamb but wasn’t as sweet and spicy. It still won me over though!

Last to arrive was the Spicy Moroccan Lamb Mince with Hommus, Pine Nuts and Pita Bread. I actually ended up swapping my fava bean dish for my dining companion’s spicy Moroccan lamb because I was in the mood for some hearty meat instead of beans! Out of all three dishes, the Spicy Moroccan Lamb was my favourite. The mince had a really strong flavour which I’m assuming would be cumin, and the pine nuts added that extra bit of crunch. The generous serving of hommus was rich but not too overpowering, while the pita bread was fresh and crispy.

The entire meal plus drinks and coffee came up to $68. I definitely rate the food at Kazbah. If you want to try something different for breakfast, this place is definitely worth a visit. It’s probably a good idea to book in advance, just in case!

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My second outing at Kazbah involved an out-of-this-world Lamb Tagine. My dining companion and I ordered the breakfast lamb tagine for two people. It was quite a generous serving and was the perfect portion for two. This also came with two servings of buttered Turkish and Lebanese bread.

The lamb mince was cooked beautifully in aromatic spices and the flavour that truly dominated the tagine dish was cumin. The lamb was cooked with baby spinach leaves, red capsicum, onions, tomatoes and eggs on top. A very hearty and delicious dish! Don’t be too intimidated by the size of it- when you taste how good it is, you too will lick the tagine clean!

Kazbah is located at 379 Darling Street, Balmain 2041.

Cafe Berlin is located on the eastern end of Darling Street in Balmain and is renowned for it’s big breakfasts and light lunches – but the extravagant display of home-made cakes in their window is what makes them a specialty cake shop. If you love an afternoon banter with friends over coffee and cake, this is the place to be.

They have a decadent array of home-made cakes, scones, cupcakes and sweet slices available for eat-in or takeaway. Despite the selection, I always end up ordering their bread and butter pudding. It’s always good to bring some friends along so you can try each others cakes!

Cafe Berlin is a hit with the locals in Balmain, and my all-time favourite is the oh-so-indulgent bread and butter pudding. To make it a notch more decadent, I always order a side of hot butterscotch sauce to go with it. The sauce actually belongs to the sticky date pudding, but what the heck!

They are always generous with the butterscotch sauce; needless to say, so am I! It is part of the ritual to lovingly bathe the pudding in sauce. Not to do so is a crime in  my books! It is dense, moist, and has fat, juicy raisins in all the right places that just explode in your mouth, releasing a barrage of buttery, sugarry euphoria.

A faithful companion to my bread and butter pudding will have to be a steaming bowl of hot chocolate (extra chocolate please). The cocoa powder they use at cafe Berlin is dark and bitter which compliments the pudding very well.

I also got a chance to sample the Tiramisu and strawberry cheesecake my tea-time companions were having. The Tiramisu had a good combination of textures – unlike alot of Tiramisus, this one wasn’t too damp. The crushed almond biscotti just melts in your mouth.

The Strawberry Cheesecake was deliciously rich and heavy. The cheese was dense and solid, and had a strong milky flavour that worked in harmony with the strawberry concentrate. Probably a good idea to go slowly on this one! A sip of coffee between bites does help!

As you can see, the cake portions are very generous at Cafe Berlin. Definitely worth the $7.50! Cafe Berlin is located at 249 Darling Street, Balmain 2041.

On a short stopover in Sandakan on our way back to Kota Kinabalu after a week in the jungle, we demanded to be taken to a local restaurant. Our guide dropped us off at an establishment called Sandakan Curry House, located on the outskirts of town. Sandakan is a port town on the east coast of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, and is famous for its seafood. This restaurant is apparently a big hit with the locals, so we happily went along with it. We got some stares as we walked in, the locals a bit bemused at the sight of a Mat Salleh -  or foreigner.

Sandakan Curry house specialises in South Indian food with a Malaysian touch. Compared to North Indian food, the Southerners don’t actually use much cream at all in their cooking. Chilli also plays a vital role in South Indian cooking and can be very spicy compared to its creamy counterpart. Their specialty dish, I’m assuming, would be the Fish Head Curry that we ordered.

There isn’t much Indian food in East Malaysia as the majority of the Indian population resides in West Malaysia. The most common type of Indian food available in Sabah are the banana leaf and fish head curry set meals. There are also other curries that are available such as mutton and goat which is very popular amongst the locals, as well as rotis and naans.

We ordered the Fish Head Curry Set Lunch for two. Contrary to what many people say about fish head, depending on the size of the fish (duh!) the head is actually very fleshy and has some of the softest and best parts of flesh from the fish, The cheeks and eyes are one of my favourite parts! With this set lunch menu, you also get a choice of plain rice or Biryani, a selection of vegetables and other curries from their glass display cabinet and some papadams (deep fried crispy crackers with cumin seeds).

We went for the Biryani rice (rice cooked with cumin, cardamom, raisins and star anise) which also came with large chunks of chicken. The selection of veges we picked were cabbage with mustard seeds, garlic spinach and bitter gourd curry. Indian set lunches also come with some Dhal (lentil stew) and a spicy vegetable soup, which we also got. Instead of plates, the entire meal is served on a banana leaf which adds to the flavour, hence the name ‘Banana Leaf Set Lunch’ – An economical way to avoid excessive dishwashing later!

The verdict? Very tasty. The pot of fish head curry actually contained about 5 medium-sized fish heads, which is quite unusual. I’ve always seen them served as one whole big head! The curry sauce to this was very tangy as they had cooked it with lots of tomatoes and added okra as well. The Biryani was well seasoned with spices and wasn’t too salty or greasy. The veges tasted great too except they were slightly cold. We definitely got a lot of variety on our banana leaves that day! The entire meal set us back around RM55 with beverages included, which is approximately $20. Not bad! If you’re ever in Sandakan, drop by Sandakan Curry House to taste-test this meal for yourself.

One of our missions while in Japan was to try as many kinds of confectionery as humanly possible. We came across this adorable box of treats called ‘Every Burger’ at a convenience store. Naturally, we were curious. We found them in the sweets and chocolate isle, so they couldn’t have been savoury mini burgers complete with meat patties? Didn’t think so.

Inside the box lay 8 mini burgers. They ‘buns’ were actually biscuits, while the ‘cheese’ and ‘meat patties’ were a combination of milk and white chocolate that melted in our mouths. The verdict? Sweet, crunchy, chocolatey and gooey with no burgery aftertaste. A pretty tasty snack and for 200 Yen a box, not bad at all! Definitely satisfied the sugar and chocolate craving…