Kota Kinabalu to Kundasang

We took a short break of 3 nights to Kota Kinabalu after Christmas to chill & relax before the New Year. I have been to Kota Kinabalu before but for a relative's wedding so I didn't explore at that time. This time, after hearing so much about Kundasang, we decided to see what's all the rave about hahaha

Due to the festive season, I couldn't get a room at Kundasang. So we stayed at Kota Kinabalu. We rented a car at the airport and took a 10 minute short drive to our hotel. We stayed at The Pacific Sutera Hotel.

This was our room's view- the golf course.

They were having some end year promo and our room only costed us RM200 per night hehe. They even upgraded us to a Club room.

Huge bathtub.

Comfy bed in a big room.

Service wise could be improved but hey, for RM200, I have nothing much to complain about.

Nearby, around 10 minutes, there's KK Waterfront and the Filipino market where we had dinner.

The seafood in KK are really cheap!!

My 2 Kam Heong crab for only RM48! Oh My, super cheap and delicious.

The next day, we hired a private car with driver to drive us to Kundasang. It was a 2 and a half hour's ride. The road was bumpy and quite jam. It was definitely a good decision to hire a driver because it would be too tiring to drive up and down within a day with that kind of road plus the mist towards the evening.

Most restaurants weren't opened yet when we arrived. So we just chose to eat at Puteri Nabalu where they only had economy rice. But the view was amazing. You can sit at the patio and enjoy this view.

Then, we went to hunt for Rafflesia. This is by luck. If it's blooming season, you get to see the Rafflesia. We were considered lucky!

We went to Adenna Rafflesia Garden. RM20 per pax.

Rafflesia takes 15 months from a seed as small as a longan seed to bloom into a bud this big.

From the bud, it takes 5-7 days to bloom into the biggest flower in the world. This is Day 2 of bloom.

Day 4 of bloom.

Day 5 of bloom.

Day 7 of bloom. Almost going to die already.

Day 9 of bloom. Died.

It dies so fast hence why it is so rare to see a Rafflesia.

Then on the way to Desa Dairy Farm, we stopped by this bus cafe which was so cool.

There's even a slide. The whole concept was really nice.

Then we went on our way to see cows hahaha

The view at Desa Dairy Farm.

Mini New Zealand.

It's supposedly a cow milking view but it's done by machine so we couldn't see much.

Had their gelato which was good.

Milk was well, milk hahaha

Then, we went to Kinabalu Park and hiked a short Bukit Tupai trail.

While we were coming down, it turned very misty and by the time our driver drove us back, it started to be low visibility due to the mist and rained. So I think hiking during the morning would be best.

We managed to stop by and eat Sinalau Bakas Babi Hutan...yummss! Must try!

The next day we ate at Kedai Kopi Nyuk Pau Menggatal.

This is probably the best beef noodles we ever had! The broth was on point and the beef were super smooth and tender it melts in your mouth kind. MUST TRY!

Then, we drove to Mari Mari Cultural Village.

It's very educational and even for Malaysians like us, we felt like we didn't really know Sabah and its ethnicities at all. It's a must visit to know a little more about Sabahan's culture.

We visited some longhouses replica.

Ate some of their ethnicities' delicacies.

Saw performances.

Love their bamboo dance. Super talented!

Then, we had hi-tea. We had a lot of fun learning about their culture =)

After that, we wanted to try more Sabah's food so we stopped by Teck Kee restaurant for Mee Tuaran.

It's like indomie goreng but the noodles are more springy. Very yummy.

At night, we tried the highly raved Little Italy in KK town. They make their own pasta and there's a vast variety of pasta and sauces to choose from. You can customise your fave pasta to go with your fave sauce.

We chose Fettucine Chilli with Arrabiatassima sauce. We preferred it to be more spicy though but overall the pasta was al dente and I think this pasta can fight Natalina in KLCC.

The next day before going back, we stopped by Kedai Restoran Kuo Man, Sunny Garden for fish slice noodles. However, they have sold out at 12pm >.< So we tried their second best which is the beef noodles.

The beef was also very tender, in fact more tender than the Menggatal shop but their broth is not as good. Overall, Sabah really make good beef noodles. 

We had a good trip exploring KK and Kundasang. It was short but sweet =)

New Year 2023

 2022 is by far the most adventurous year of my life I would say. The migration to Hong Kong was in 2021 but the settling down and moving into a new home was in 2022. The new environment, the making of new friends, the new apartment, new job, no family, home sick etc made 2022 also one of the hardest year with a lot of obstacles haha

But we survived! And that's all that matters =) Looking back, it was not easy but we learnt from each hurdle and as the saying goes, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I hope I am stronger going into the year 2023 because the new year will also have its set of challenges ahead.

In Hong Kong, the first 3/4 of the year was still on travel lockdown due to the rise of Covid cases. So we could only explore within Hong Kong. We went to the nearby outlying islands, we hiked, we ran by the bay on weeknights and I think I got fitter living in Hong Kong because we walked alot.

I also spent my birthday at Hong Kong Disneyland. That was super fun, it's like being a kid again. Then, when the borders opened with no quarantine, we managed to finally go back home to Malaysia to see our family & friends. That was probably the highlight of the year *laughs* We kinda went on revenge eating, and gained back a lot of weight LOL We took the opportunity to then fly to Phu Quoc and stayed at Hotel Regent PQC which was one of the best luxury resort holiday we ever had. I also took a short trip to Bangkok for a shopping spree weekend with my girl friend and I bought many clothes!

We also voted right before flying back to HK and our country is hopefully finally in good hands. We then came back to Malaysia again to celebrate Christmas after not being able to spend Christmas with our families in 2021. We also took a short trip to Sabah to relax and chill before the year ended.

Here's to more adventures in 2023. As the travel restrictions have been abolished, hopefully we can travel further in 2023. Happy New Year and to new beginnings!!

Omakase at Honest Butcher by Chef Nickt

I would say Honest Butcher has one of the most underrated omakase. I only found out about their omakase through word of mouth and even so, I tried to find reviews online but not many were found. If I was not looking for a good wagyu omakase, I wouldn't have found this place. But thank God I found it. We went in skeptical but left super fulfilled. Mind you, we were comparing against Yakiniku Great because that was the only other wagyu omakase we went to and that was definitely a 5/5 IMHO. Now, let's get into the food! The Honest Butcher has 3 different price range for omakase- RM388, RM588 and RM788. We went for the RM588 per pax which serves Australian and Japan wagyu.

Beforehand, I have already arranged with them that my husband doesn't eat raw food nor seafood and asked whether they could curate different dishes for him? Because I saw some reviews that they do serve sushi in between. They very kindly agreed and said no problem and said if I wanted sushi in my omakase, they could do that too- so his without and mine with. I was honestly very impressed with their service at this point and placed my booking!

Off we went all the way to Sunway Damansara. Took us 1 and a half hours okay!

You can see their trademark cow figures in front of the restaurant. It's honestly a warehouse type of restaurant among other factories so we were a bit skeptical hehehehe

Now comes the omakase course.

Appetizer was warm croissants with French butter and Truffle Butter.

Then came my huge plump oyster. So fresh, so yummy, it melted in my mouth <3

The replacement for the oyster was this cold wagyu dish for the hubs.

Sushi no.1 for me.

Torched wagyu for the hubs.

Topped with truffle.

Uni, ikura on top of sushi rice for me. Super yums!

Wagyu for the hubs.

Engawa for me =)

Beef bourguignon done with beef cheeks cooked for 13 hours with truffle mash on top. This was one of the best bourguignon I had and the beef cheeks were super soft!

Chawanmushi with foie gras...Mmmm...yums

Then came our main meat platter- a mix of Australian and Japanese wagyu. 

Australian beef tongue with salt & pepper.

Beef tongue in onion sauce. Tongue is not my thing. It was quite tough.

But after that, each wagyu that come was better than the other. There were Australian Marble 8, Marble 9, then came Japanese wagyu which were the best. So, I would say, straight go for the RM788 omakase because it's purely Japanese wagyu and they were the best.

Each were seared there and then by the chef and brought to us.

Torched sauce on top.

Topped with frozen foie gras. Oh my, this made my taste buds do all kinds of dance LOL

Their torched sauces were just amazing.

The last Japanese wagyu was dipped in egg yolk sauce and it was just perfection!

And then we had claypot rice with char gyu. It's not char siu because they don't sell pork but it's made of wagyu so it's called char gyu. Seriously, it tasted exactly like char siu, the sauce and everything was so yummy! This is Chef Nick's specialty. Also, you must try their chilli sauce. Spicy and blends well with the rice.

Chef Nick, the owner has a policy. If you are not full, they will add on until you are full. They asked if we can still eat and we were like we wana try the char koay teow because we had been hearing multiple orders of this dish but felt like we can't finish because we were almost there LOL So, I asked for just one portion.

Nope, they were super generous and came with 2 portion and we ate until we were absolutely filled to the throat HAHA The pork lard was replaced with wagyu bits so there were crunchy bites in between which made it so special.

Then came out the finale meat dish. Wagyu in hot soup and mine had some clams as well.

Almost couldn't stomach dessert also hahaha but since they had this super unique chendol ice cream, we just had to give it a try. Was really good!

Chef Nick is almost our age only yet he's super talented.

I would say the dishes definitely catered to Malaysian taste buds. The sauces, the char koay teow and char gyu were very Malaysian. This is why we love our country so much. Wherever we go, we still love Malaysia and its food hehehe I love that they had some sushi in between so you wouldn't be sick of just meat dishes. But, I must applaud our chef Robert who also curated some different dishes for my husband to cater to his allergens. The chefs were all very friendly and told us many stories and kept us entertained the whole night. I would probably come back to try their RM788 omakase the next round.

Honest Butcher by Chef Nickt

28, Jalan PJU 3/47, 

Sunway Damansara, 

47810 Petaling Jaya, Selangor

012-628 6804

Look good in Shapellx

 It's Christmas!! And you know when it comes to Christmas, it means gifting, parties and...feasting!! Christmas is no time for diet. Leave the diet resolution to the next year *laughs* But we all know what happens to feasting. It means weight gaining, flabby tummy showing under that tight dress and silhouette all gone wrong ='(

Fret not, Shapellx has the best shapewear collection for women especially during this festive season. Designed for all types of women of different shapes and sizes. Shapellx’s body shapers walk you through the day, escorting you until the evening while still being comfy. It's even stylish to fit those festive dresses.

AirSlim® Backless U Plunge Thong Bodysuit

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LacyDaisy Mesh Lace Lingerie Bodysuit

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