Lunch at Taste Restaurant, The Westin on Day 1.
When I first decided to go to Langkawi for a short break, the intention was to spend the majority, if not all, of my time on the beach either in the water or on the sand. That was not to be. Most likely because I brought my parents along and Dad can't sit still for more than 5 minutes (seriously, the man has a colony of ants in his pants) and neither of them like the 'hot'. It was always 'too hot' to do anything more than walk from the car to the apartment and can we 'come back later when it's not so hot?'Oh well.
So what did we do?
Apart from the touristy stuff like going to Makam Mahsuri and the cable car?
We ate.
Day 1:
Lunch at Taste Restaurant, The Westin. This was the most expensive meal of the trip. I am still getting over the can of Coke that cost RM13, which we can buy in the supermarket for RM1.50. Cost aside, it was really good western fare. The bread rolls came out piping hot and the butter was soft. We had a tomato and mozarella salad to share, and it was lovely - fresh soft crumbly mozarella and whisper-thin slices of tomato drizzled with a herby dressing. For mains, Dad had lamb cutlets while Mum and I each had the salmon. Again, these were very good dishes with good flavours. The salmon came with wasabi potato balls and tempura vegetables and a sticky almost balsamic glaze. The menu is mostly western but there are local dishes too - though I really couldn't bring myself to pay RM28 for nasi lemak (more on that in Day 2) which can be bought for RM4 at a stall and RM10 at a cafe. The bill came to approx. RM330 including service charge. I left a tip but tipping is not expected in Malaysia as a service charge is always added to the bill in restaurants and most cafes.
Afternoon tea at the Langkawi Parade. We were doing some shopping (more on that later in another post) and wanted a rest. It was about 5pm. We stopped by a little food court on one of the upper floors of the Parade. There was a little stall selling local desserts. My parents had the ais kacang and I had the lychee kang. Ais kacang is a concoction of shaved ice topped with tiny bits of chopped jelly, red beans, a scoop of ice cream and many other things I can't remember - it is very refreshing.
Dinner was fast food because we couldn't be bothered looking for anything else.
Day 2:
Breakfast was included in the room rate. On offer was nasi lemak and meehoon (bean thread rice noodles goreng. Nasi lemak is my favourite of Malay dishes. The rice (nasi) is steeped in coconut cream (this is where the 'lemak' or fat comes from). A basic nasi lemak comes with sambal, kacang (peanuts), ikan bilis (tiny anchovies), sliced cucumber and boiled egg. This is what was served at breakfast. If you eat nasi lemak at a stall, cafe or restaurant, there is usually the option of adding fried chicken or beef rendang or chicken curry.
We were at Pantai Cenang around lunchtime so decided to have lunch before going to Underwater World. We chose a Thai restaurant at the end of the building where the Underwater World was situated. The menu was not purely Thai as they also offered local Chinese and Malay dishes. We had the Japanese tofu Thai style, a steamed fish Teochew style and a red beef curry. The food was tasty and fresh, the service was cordial and quick. The only downside was the size of the individual rice servings which were too small, we had to order two more. The bill came to just over RM100.
For dinner, Dad wanted to eat at a stall in Kuah. Eating at a stall is a quissential Malaysian experience. They tend to be at the roadside and under a roof with no walls. We were back in Kuah so chose to go for a drive in the old town until we found something that look reasonable. We ended up choosing one along the river which looked like it served Chinese food. There was a table of western tourists there so we thought it would be a safe bet. There are no menus at a stall, just ask the person who comes along with a pen and paper to your table what they have. We had an idea of what we wanted to eat and ordered the steamed prawns with egg, lemon chicken, Japanese tofu claypot, mee goreng and steamed fish Nyonya style. The food was good here too and the rice servings were more than adequate. We had a table right by river but separated by a railing. At first I thought it would a scenic spot but it was dark so we couldn't see much anyway. There were cats wandering about but they seemed well fed and didn't bother us. Service was generally good but it can be chaotic at these places, especially if there are lots of customers. Just wave until somebody notices you.
Day 3:
This was our last day in Langkawi. We had breakfast at the apartment again. This time they had fried rice and mee goreng on offer. I went for the mee goreng.
We had lunch at Perdana Quay on the way to the airport. Dad had mentioned The Loaf, a bakery owned by a previous Prime Minister of Malaysia. We wandered down the quay which had a number of eating places, then saw The Loaf Bakery and Bistro. It was the only place that had people sitting inside it having meals so we decided it would do. Mum and Dad both had pasta dishes while I opted for the chicken satay. The satay came with a great kuah (gravy) but the nasi empit (rice tightly packed and cut into small cubes) was sour, like it had been soaked in lime juice or something. Then because we had time to spare, we had dessert - a honey baked banana with ice cream for Dad and fresh fruits for Mum and me. The food here was good. Service was good too, and the staff were very polite. Though the waiter dropped my cutlery when he was removing my dish. Lucky it landed on the table and not on me! I had ordered an English Breakfast tea with my dessert which never came but was charged. We pointed it out to them and they removed it from the bill. Watch out for that sort of thing, especially if you've ordered lots of items. The bill came to just under RM150. Dad tried to pay with his Visa but the machine had a poor connection (it spent forever trying to 'link', 'linking ... linking' it blinked at us but I have no idea where it was trying to 'link' to) so after 2 attempts he paid with cash instead. Watch out for that sort of thing too as it can take ages before they come back to the table with your card and tell you they couldn't get the transaction through.
All in all, a great 3 days with plenty of places to eat in all price ranges. Do note that local staff tend to speak very limited English. It was only at The Westin that we found that were easily understood when we spoke English. In other places, it was much easier speaking in Malay. And note also that credit cards may not always be accepted, a lot of the smaller establishments accept cash only.
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