Restoran Selesa

For our lunch hour (that had interestingly lead to this), we decided to eat somewhere nearby that they claimed to have some of the best kolo mee around, so we gave it a shot and went to Restoran Selesa

This be the signboard of the restaurant. It's located nearby the Standard Charted Bank building and where Brunei Times HQ is located as well. Looks more towards a Chinese restaurant despite the Malay name on the signboard though

This be the interior. Nothing much to comment about, seems like the standard procedure of a regular Chinese kopitiam


My part-timer friend ordered Teh-C ping with less sugar. He seems to be partial to tea or coffee though, never really see him drink anything else other than that


My best friend's usual Kasturi ping


My Milo ping, taking in my usual daily intake of chocolatey goodness, LOL XD


My part-timer friend ordered cha sau with fried rice. Looks yummy, though I didn't really actually try it


My best friend ordered sweet and sour pork (I think) with fried rice. Looks yummy as well, but I was in "See No Touch" mode though


I ordered claypot noodles, because apparently this seemed to be the only thing that happened to actually have ingredients in the menu, and I was so frustrated that they seem to have nothing in the menu that I had wanted that I just picked whatever was on the menu that they DO have in the kitchen. Tastes pretty good, though it seemed to look a little dry for claypot noodles

There you have it, my two-cents on this restaurant. My part-timer friend said that maybe he had picked the wrong time to introduce us this restaurant because it is at its peak when it is during nighttime where people flock in there and ordered like nobody's business. Maybe we could try stuff there during nighttime and maybe considered for reprisal, who knows.

So for those within that vicinity, only approach this restaurant after dark

Sumbangsih Mulia

We were craving for a bit of nasi katok, and of course, the best nasi katok in all of Brunei (for me) would be the one in Sumbangsih Mulia. So off we went during lunch hour

This be the area of Sumbangsih Mulia. It's located within the Beribi Industrial area and just beside the building where Goh Hock Kee Motors is. This used to be one of my favourite haunts after a long day of tour-guiding and to grab a quick lunch, in which I have discovered like the best nasi katok in the whole of Brunei, ever! Even when I was a tour guide back then, this is the pit stop we would take our tourists to whenever I have to do complimentary tours to the tourists who are on transit and/or waiting for the next flight in a short time, so I'm pretty much a regular here. A souvenir shop is also strategically built here to cater for the foreigners and tourists to buy their wares while checking out the local goodies, though they rarely buy anything, so I can't claim my 10% commission T_T







This be the surrounding area of the market. Rumour has it that as the history goes, apparently this place did not exist and people were hawking around in their small stalls in nearby housing areas selling their wares, and despite the government trying to shoo them away for hygiene purposes, they kept coming back, and the public actually enjoyed their next-to-nothing prices of their food. So someone from GHK actually offered to build this place for the sake of these hawkers and for the sake of public demand, with only one condition that they pay rental of a dollar a day, and the rest was history. Well, that's what I heard anyways.





Trigger-happy on some of the food they serve, which are mostly Malay-oriented and you pay less for a lot


It's also a make-shift marketplace where they sell vegs and fruits as well, and at a dirt-cheap price too

Something new in the ranks: An entertainment stage where there will be performers singing to entertain the people who sits there to have their lunch, something like a bit of food for the soul kind of thing, though I think it was a bit of an overkill, coz technically we're here to enjoy a quiet lunch and not be bothered by music, but then again, we don't mind if it were good singing and music, unfortunately this singing is not one of them


Our respective drinks of Pepsi and A&W. And it only costs one dollar each


This is what I ordered: Rice with prawn, fish, chicken and cabbage, courtesy from my second most favourite and frequented stall for only $4. The best nasi katok that I usually go for is unfortunately closed for the day, so I couldn't get what I wanted. Gah! Goddammit!! And I was hoping for a nice nasi katok meal from my favourite stall -_-**


My part-timer friend got himself rice with beef rendang and chicken liver. Haven't eaten liver in a while, though he's right when he said it must be accompanied with rice and not eating it alone since the iron alone in the liver leaves a rather unfavourable taste


I think my best friend got himself curry and rendang, most likely chicken and beef and such, and he got himself 100Plus to drink. Everything here is really dirt cheap, and usually doesn't cost more than $5 per serving, but I think I got mine cheaper coz I was a regular back then

Cute little birdies enjoying their lunch too X3

There you have it, Sumbangsih in a nutshell. Good place to get something nice and cheap and equally delicious as any other kopitiam or Malay restaurant, that is if you're not really a picky eater. You can even get a whole bundle of their famous cucur for just a dollar as well. Reprisal may be possible, since I need to blog about my best nasi katok one of these days.

Pines Restaurant

Decided to go on a whim for our Saturday lunch date and check out the Korean/Japanese fusion restaurant, which is Pines Restaurant

This be the signboard and entrance of the restaurant. It's situated in Gadong area, same block together with where Excapade and Grazie Mauri is, upstairs on the first floor. Though initially I was wondering if we were at the right place because it gives off the feeling that we're going to Excapade instead of our intended destination XD


This be the interior of the restaurant. Somehow, despite the fact that the furniture and whatnot (including colour theme) had its own taste, it still gives off the Excapade feeling, especially the setting and arrangements of the furniture and the private rooms location. LOL! But I give kudos to their colour theme and the music background. It does feel Korean in a sense

This be their menu, which consist of one Korean and one Japanese. Not much pages, just two of each, and they have really interesting names and dishes in there for the Korean side, and Japanese side pretty much have the familiar dishes that we've seen in other Japanese restaurants, so we decided to order one main dish and one side dish










Trigger-happy on the surrounding areas, including the private room and also the decors

The stove for steamboat, for those who are here to have steamboat ala Korean style

The exhaust above our heads to suck away the heat and steam while we're eating our steamboat, but of course, too bad we're not eating steamboat, or we would've put this thing to the test

Interesting call buzzer that is connected to the intercom at the podium to call for waiter service. We certainly put THAT to the test XD


Settled for green tea since we're eating Korean/Japanese fusion. Tastes pretty alright, at least it doesn't taste like one of those that are from packets or instant powder or whatever

These are the appetizers that are given to us while we wait for our food to come in. Looks yummy and has much more choices that the other Korean restaurant we went to. Some of the dishes were actually made pretty well and has the perfect tasteful feeling to it, especially the eggs and the kimchi. I am utterly satisfied with it






Close-up shots of each appetizer dish, each of them just as tasty as the next one


I ordered kimchi ramyon, which the name speaks for itself, obviously, as kimchi noodles. I had not expected that a one person portion would be YE HUGE!! It's enough to feed at least two people, let alone for one!! It's just frickin' huge! Thank goodness I was hungry enough to finish everything. It's got that really nice sweet and sour taste to it, and it's not one of those spiciness that lingers like forever in your mouth, but just the right amount, so you wouldn't feel like you can't handle it anymore because it's too spicy or anything. And it only costs $7 for it! So cheap! Really worth the money to get this!


My friend ordered dolsot bibimbap, which is rice with mixed veggies and runny sunny-side up egg. Looks amazingly delicious, though I didn't try it, and it is cooked ala sizzling style, so better be careful where you touch on that bowl. I made a mistake of trying to use the bowl as leverage to get a better shot and got burnt for it >.<'''



My friend also ordered a side dish of modeum ggochi, which is basically a shishkebab version of mixed grill. There was chicken, beef and prawn. I didn't try it though, since I have my own side dish and main course to finish, but the sauce is teriyaki-ish, and tastes pretty cool


I ordered salmon sashimi. At first I was a little disappointed, because it looked so uber little, and paying $6 for it, but when I think about it and compared it with the amount other Japanese restaurant had prepared and the price, I think it's a fair price. I'm basically paying half for half the size of the usual amount others give. So it's no big. Though they kinda took forever to prepare and serve it

Hard-workers of Pines Restaurant, smiling for support and patronage~!

This is my two-cents of this restaurant. Technically it has pretty good potential and all that, what with the creative Korean/Japanese fusion food, but sadly there was not much people in the restaurant and no one seemed to actually notice this place and it's quite empty to begin with. So, if you're feeling a bit of Korean and/or Japanese at half the price of what other restaurants offer, go ahead and give this restaurant a shot. They need the support as well