Taipei - Moon Moon Food

There was a branch of Moon Moon Food, a local chain known for traditional Taiwanese fare, just down the street from us, so we stopped in for dinner.

It had a modern, but comfortable feel and was busy, but efficient.

We tried their signature sesame-chili noodles, despite the fact that we aren't big fans of too much sesame. And it was just too much sesame paste for me - which was a shame, since the texture of the noodles was good.

The chicken and clam soup fared better for us. A nice, clean broth with tasty clams and bone-in chicken that was a bit bland but perked up with a little soy.

And, of course, we couldn't resist some lu rou fan. This version was less seasoned than others we've had, which made it taste a bit lighter - something that worked in the context of this meal.

Taipei - Li Yuan

On our way homebound, we got into Taipei fairly late. We found this dumpling spot, Li Yuan, just up the alley from our hotel.

They closed at 9:30 and it was a quarter to 9, but we managed to squeak in some dinner. The xiao long bao really hit the spot.

We also got some greens in a fermented tofu sauce, which was interesting, and some gyoza, which were fantastic.

Da Nang - Revisits to Bánh Xèo Bà Dưỡng and Bánh Mì Bà Lan

While in Da Nang, we re-visited a couple of place we'd enjoyed before. First up was Bánh Xèo Bà Dưỡng.

The place was exactly as I remembered it.

The Bánh Xèo and was still great.

As were the Nem Lụi.

Another night, looking for a quick and easy dinner, we stopped by Bánh Mì Bà Lan.

We got a sandwich each, and also shared a "breadstick" (a skinny little Bánh Mì with just pate). Nice, simple dinner.

Langkawi - Restoran Selera Padang Puteh

Another place I found via google maps, but had confirmed by a local as a "good spot" (this time, a grab driver). Selera Padang Puteh is a breakfast/lunch place - we went for both.

First up, lunch. The restaurant is primarily a buffet - you take what you want, and they charge you based on what you've taken. The options were a bit overwhelming. We ended up with one plate with fish balls, braised egg, and beef rendang.

The other plate heaped with fish, two types of chicken curry, potatoes, and eggplant. They had both a regular sambal, and another with ikan bilis in it.

Everything was really good, and it was a very pleasant place to eat, so we came back another day for breakfast.

Breakfast was a similar affair, with a buffet that overlapped with the lunch offerings, but with some different items. We got a plate with some fried chicken and rice with a gravy from a few of the dishes.

They do roti in the morning, so we ordered a roti pisang - roti canai with banana cooked in it, served with condensed milk.

And a couple of half-cooked eggs.

Great local restaurant - the kind of place that would be in our regular rotation if we lived here.

Langkawi - Selera Lubuk Buaya

Toward the end of our stay in Langkawi, we finally started to find some more "local" places to eat. Selera Lubuk Buaya is a place I'd bookmarked from my google map research. We overheard a local lady giving some tourists a recommendation for a good seafood restaurant - which turned out to be this place.

It is a large, brightly lit place full of locals (and a few tourists) busily eating seafood. Langkawi seems to be a center for squid fishing, so we ordered some deep-fried. It was super good - crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. They gave us two dipping sauces. One was a standard sweet chili sauce. The other had a fresh tomato base with some fermented shrimp funk - really good.

We also got some kangkung belacan (water spinach with a fermented shrimp sauce), which was decent.

And some udang goreng halia (shrimp with fried ginger). The shrimp were very good, but the sauce didn't have much going on.

We came back another night and had some tom yam soup - very good, with a generous amount of shrimp and squid in it - and some kailan buwang putih (which we thought would be gai lan from the name, but turned out to be some sort of cabbagy vegetable.

The star of the show here for us, though, was the fried squid, which we got again. Even better this time.

Langkawi - Jomakan

Dinner is usually our hardest meal to sort out when we travel. This was definitely the case in Langkawi, so we were happy to stumble across Jomakan restaurant.

We actually found it because it shares a space with an Indian restaurant that operates earlier in the day that we had a pretty mediocre lunch at. We ate here for dinner twice. The first time we got a combination set that had a tom yum soup, a seafood stir fry, an "omelette", and some veg. The standout here was the soup - a different style than we're used to with a thicker broth. Very spicy and flavorful.

We came back another night and got a fried rice and some deep fried squid.

We also got a beef dish.

Can't remember what it was called, but it was good over rice.

All of the food here was good, and the staff was very friendly. There was one guy working the wok, which slowed things down when they got busy, but he steadily turned out tasty dish after tasty dish.

George Town - Hameediyah Restaurant

It had been a while since we'd had nasi kandar, so we had dinner one night at Hameediyah Restaurant - supposedly Penang's oldest nasi kandar spot.

They are obviously popular, as they have expanded into another storefront a few doors down. You order at one place, and then sit at the other.

We got one place with beef rendang, and another with grilled chicken and an omelette with okra and some other veggies in it.

Nothing revelatory, but a very tasty dinner.

Kuala Lumpur - Restoran Bunn Choon

Given the significant Chinese demographic of Kuala Lumpur, we decided that getting dim sum here was a pretty good bet, so one morning we had a meal at Restoran Bunn Choon.

The place stretched up over multiple floors of small dining areas and was packed, but we only had about a 15-minute wait to get a table.

We always take an opportunity to get some greenery, so we ordered some long beans - very well seasoned and delicious.

Some little shrimp dumplings with super-thin skins and an intensly shrimpy filling.

Sherry rarely passes up a chance to order chicken feet. These ones were great - nice and soft with a savory and slightly five-spice sauce.

Some pork ribs that were just ok, but the bits of some sort of sweet potato or winter squash that came with them were surprisingly tasty.

Bean curd stuffed with a pork mixture. Generous tasty filling, and the bean curd skin gave a nice texture.

Dumplings with the same sort of pork mixture, but with a chili oil sauce.

Overall, a very enjoyable meal. We availed ourselves of the "biscuit" counter on the main floor.

They wrapped things up in a pretty box (that's how you can tell that you overpaid for them...)

The egg tart was ok, but decidedly below average.

The lotus bun with salted egg wasn't a favorite. The lotus paste didn't have much flavor, and the egg yolk didn't add a lot.

The third was a coconut pastry which we really liked. Fluffy, with nice coconut flavor and shredded coconut texture.