Sam's Strawberry Corner - My Favorite Noodle Restaurant in Bandung

Sam's Strawberry Corner has always been one of my favorite restaurant in Bandung. It's located on Jalan Dago (near to Sheraton Bandung Hotel). I know this place from my Malaysian friend who tried the noodles during his visit to Bandung and I became a fan of this restaurant after my first visit.

They started this as a cafe in Bandung 14 years ago which sells fresh Strawberry Juice. And they has expanded their business through franchising and have some outlets in Jakarta now. I have been once to the outlet in Karawaci. 

They are famous for their home made noodles (we call it bakmi or mie in Indonesia) and their fresh strawberry juice. For the noodles itself, they have 2 types... salty and sweet (they called it yamin). I personally like the sweet one. It's sweet because they use sweet sauce (we call it kecap in Indonesia). Both types of noodles comes with shredded chicken. And you can add meatbals (we call it bakso in Indonesia), dumpling (we call it pangsit in Indonesia), beef tripe (we call it babat in Indonesia), chicken feed (we call it ceker in Indonesia), or the combination of them. The price for the noodle is from Rp. 22.000,- to Rp. 50,000,- depends on the topping you would like to add. 

For the strawberry juice, you can have it either with milk or without milk. The one with milk is the one which color is more pinkish than another one. The price for a glass of stawberry juice is Rp. 17.000,-. They also have strawberry juice with lychee which is quite popular too but I personally haven't tried it.

Other than that, they also serve some other Bandung's famous dish like siomay and batagor. Batagor is abbreviation from Bakso Tahu Goreng (fried meatball and tofu). Batagor is actually fried type of siomay. And both of them are served with peanut souce and sweet souce (kecap). For this time round we ordered batagor. You can order by peace and the price for 1 peace is Rp. 10.000,-.

Details :

Sam's Strawberry Corner

Bandung

Jalan Dago 315

Bandung

Karawaci

Ruko Del Espana Jalan Kalimantan No. 53

Lippo Karawaci Utara (Belakang Hypermart)

Phone : +62 21 55768672

PS : They actually have more outlets but I have only been to those 2 outles above

Holiday Inn Resort Batam - A Great Family Hotel for Family Getaway!

As a Platinum IHG Member, I received The Big Win Challenges from IHG. It's customized offer for IHG Member so each member have different challenges from others. I managed to complete all of the challenges except the last challenge which is to stay at designated IHG Resorts and one of it is Batam. As I have to complete the challenges by 31st Dec 2013, I decided to go to Batam on the last weekend of 2013. 

I booked a 1 Bedroom Suite Queen Bed Non-Smoking Room for 1 night. The room is a little bit old but it is very spacious (60 sqm) with separate living room (with another TV) and dining room as well as private balcony. The bathroom is big too!

If you plan to stay here, you better arrange a hotel transfer in advanced because the queue at the immigration is quite long, so it's good if you have the hotel staff to assist you as soon as your ferry arrived at Batam Ferry Terminal. And the hotel transfer is free (vs taxi which is quite expensive in Batam!!). The journey from Sekupang Ferry Terminal to the hotel takes you about 15-20 mins.

The hotel is quite full so you may not be able to check in early. But you can just enjoy the hotel facilities or you can just take free shuttle to Nagoya Hill Mall. They have few timing :

- From Hotel to Nagoya Hill Mall : 11am, 2pm, 5pm, 8pm

- From Nagoya Hill Mall to Hotel : 2.45pm, 5.45pm, 8.45pm

Free Shuttle Bus from Hotel to Nagoya Hill Mall and Vice Versa

The hotel is very big!! They have 4 restaurants including Chinese, Japanese, and Thai Restaurant. They also have sports lounge, games room (with Wii and billiard table), KTV Bar, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, tennis court, gym, and famous Tee Tree Spa. As we went for the Spa at Eska, we didn't try the spa here. But we will definitely come back and try the spa here! 

The breakfast was good too! As we only stayed here one night and we were out for the whole day for massage, shopping, and eating seafood, we didn't really much time to explore the hotel. But I really enjoyed staying at this hotel mostly because of the hotel staff is nice and friendly! 

Details

Holiday Inn Resort Batam

Waterfront City, Batam

Indonesia 29422

Phone : +62 778 381 333 

Lucky Seafood - A Nice and Cheap Seafood Restaurant in Batam

We went for a 2D/1N trip to Batam last weekend. And when you are visiting Batam, you should try their famous seafood. A friend of mine whose parents live there recommended this place. They have live seafood here.

As we were so hungry after walking around Nagoya Hill Mall, we ordered quite a few dishes. We ordered 2 portion of Grilled Fish (1 White Pomfret or Bawal Putih and 1 Rabbitfish or Baronang), 1 portion of Chili Crab, 1 portion of Calamari, 1 portion of Balacan Kangkung, 3 portion of Steam Rice, and juices and tea for drink. The fish are so fresh and they grilled it with the spicy sauce (don't worry it was not that spicy!). It's so nice when you eat with the sweet sauce (kecap manis). And the Chili Crab is sooo yummmyyyy!!! The Balacan Kangkung is a spicy!!! So if you don't like spicy, don't order this!

It costs us around Rp 434,000,- for 3 people. My friend told me that it would cost us more if we eat at Golden Prawn and the taste is much more better here. We really enjoyed the dinner! Thank you for bringing us here!

Details :

Lucky Seafood

Komplek Perumahan Citra Indah Blok A4 No 01

Batam Center (Next to Bank Bukopin, near to Arsikon Batam Centre)

* See Google Maps here or message me if you want to know how to get there! *

Khmer Kitchen Restaurant @ Siam Reap

We went to this restaurant as per recommended Dary Mol, the souvenir seller at Old Market. It's just across the street from Old Market and near to Pub Street. We ordered 3 dishes as per recommended by the waiter : Morning Glory with Pork, Khmer Curry, and Grilled Breast Chicken. The food were super nice! We like all of them. The chicken is so tender, Morning Glory is so tasty and Khmer Curry is nice! The portion are big too. We almost can not finished all of them. Also They serve you rice for free. And we ordered lemon tea and lemon grass for drink. Total bill was USD 12. It was ok price provided the portion are big and food are nice. The atmosphere is good too. Do try this restaurant if you plan to go to Siam Reap!

Details :

Khmer Kitchen Restaurant 
Mondul I, Sangkat Svay Dangkum, Siem Reap, Cambodia
+855 12 763 468

Shopping @ Cambodia

We only had a very limited time in Cambodia so I didn't have much time so shop. But I was very happy with my shopping experience in Cambodia. It was cheap (although is not that cheap) and the seller are very friendly! They can speak multiple language too!! We only went to 3 places to shop : Psar Chaa - Old Market in Siam Reap, Night Market in Siam Reap and Russian Market in Phnom Penh. 

1. Psar Chaa - Old Market in Siam Reap

Old Market open in the day time although some of the shops (especially the one by the road) open until quite late. They have wet market inside where local people buy fresh fish, vegetables, etc for cooking at home. Surrounding the wet market are souvenir shops. You can find traditional Cambodian made handicrafts like clothing's silk, painting, jewelries, wood and stone carvings here. You have to bargain when you shop here... Half or more!!

Handmade Mat for USD 1 for 2 pcs ONLY!!

2. Night Market in Siam Reap

There are a few Night Market in Siam Reap and all of them are close to each other. They also sell the same stuff as what Old Market sell. I found the price here is cheaper and you still can bargain some more. For example, I can get the shirt for USD 10 for 5 pcs and fisherman pants for USD 5. Some of Night Market (like Angkor Night Market) have Fish Spa where you can pamper your foot after the tiring shopping.

3. Russian Market in Phnom Penh

We went here because they said we can find branded stuff like GAP, H&M, etc from here. Although I managed to buy some of those but I found is very difficult to shop as they are a lot of small shops inside the market and they dont have enough space to display all of them. So you have to patient enough to find what you want. They also only have 1 size for each model so you really really need your luck to find a good stuff that suits you. But the price here is very cheap. I bought a GAP top for only USD 1.50. Unfortunately it was raining when we went there so the place were flooded and we decided to go for dinner!