Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Skudai Duck Mee (士古来鴨肉)

Following the previous Skudai Wonton Noodle review by Jolly Ben, today we are going to the famous Skudai Duck Mee (士古来鴨肉). This is the name that is harmoniously adhered to the city Johor Bahru in Malaysia whenever good food or famous food is mentioned. Today Jolly Ben is bringing you some pictures and review for the famous Skudai Duck Mee. The Skudai Duck Me is situated near the side of the main road of Jalan Skudai. The picture below is the crowd at Saturday morning about 11:30am, if you wait till lunch time around 1-2pm, the whole place would be very packed and the waiting time for the food to come would be at least 20mins. So choose your timing wisely.

Let's grab a seat and order the duck mee! To our foreign friends: the following pictures below might not be so pleasing to your eyes, we understand that it is not so popular to eat animal innards in your culture. Please bear with us! :-)

Our yummy Skudai duck mee was served in less than 5 minutes. Here's a rundown of what we ordered..

Skudai Duck mee order list

1. Duck Meat (boneless/chopped)
2. Pig's Intestines
3. Braised Pork skin
4. Braised Egg
5. Braised Bean Curd
6. Duck Noodles (2 bowls)
7. Duck Soup

All the food we ordered above are in single serving because when you add up so many different things we ordered, it is good enough for 2 pax. The bowl of soup comes together with every order of duck mee as a default, you do no need to mention it.

First up, let's introduce the duck noodles. There is a choice of plain white rice or kuay teow (ricecake strips) to choose from but Skudai Duck Mee is famous for its mee, i.e. the noodles, they are drenched in their braised duck sauce with chopped spring onions for toppings.

We move on to the main highlight of Skudai Duck Mee - the duck meat. However, the duck meat here to be frank is nothing spectacular, it is dry and not flavorful. You can find much better braised duck meat elsewhere. So what makes the skudai duck mee so famous since the duck meat is not even tasty?

The answer is this braised duck gravy. This legendary braised duck gravy has been used for cooking the duck meat for 37 years already! I'm sure you know how braised meat or meat stew always taste better the second day, so imagine how good this sauce at skudai duck mee taste after 37 years.

The specialty we want to introduce here is the braised pig intestines. They only serve one kind of pig intestine here at skudai duck mee, which is the large intestine but notice how the large intestine in our picture look smaller than usual? The reason is you can specifically order the end part of the large intestine, because we love to eat small intestines which has a more crunchy bite so the end part of the large intestine is actually a lot like the small intestine. The pig intestine here is actually more tasty than the featured duck meat, it absorbs the 37 years duck gravy much better, so this is a must order here! The braised pork skin although deters many women, absorbs the 37 years duck gravy best and it has all the collagen you need for a youthful skin.

This Skudai Duck Mee shop is so famous that 2 other imitation shop opened at the opposite selling the same food. Unknowing tourist might get confused and end up in the wrong shop or those who don't want to wait might opt for the imitation duck mee. Unfortunately, we have tried the one right opposite and it is nowhere as delicious as the original skudai duck mee, so make sure you recognize the correct shop.

Skudai Duck Mee rating: 
Rated solely for the 37 year duck gravy and pig intestines. The duck meat is not really good and the attitude of their service is very bad. No matter when you eat there, you will get served with a face like you owe them money. The food is quite expensive too, total damage was RM18 for what we ordered above.

Skudai Duck Mee (士古来鴨肉)
Address: 29,Jalan Emas Putih Dua, Taman Sri Skudai, 81300 Johor Bahru, Malaysia.
Opening Hours: 11am – 9pm (closed every tuesday)
Tel: (+6) 07-5563170

Monday, June 27, 2011

Poland - Kraków (Krakow)

As we moved on from Slovakia, we stopped by a gas station and found the sign saying Kraków. Krakow is our next destination, one of the oldest city in Poland and the capitol of Poland previously.

Here is Jolly Wolf again, on the road. He wonders how much further is it to get to Krakow, Poland. Jolly Wolf did not get any pictures here but we still decided to post this entry to share the pictures of this unique country. Hope you enjoy them! ^_^

 Poland uses their own currency, you have to get your euros changed to Polish Zlotys.

This beautiful tree is the big welcome for us as we approach Wawel Hill Krakow.

Wawel Castle and Wawel Cathedral are situated on top of Wawel Hill

The 1,000 year old Wawel Cathedral - Krakow, Poland

What is Jolly Wolf's human doing beside the statue of Pope John Paul II

We head next to Krakow Market Square of the Old Town in Poland

Its a Sunday and the Krakow Market Square is full of people

A head in the middle of Krakow Market Square!!

St Mary's Church or St Mary's Basilica is the main attraction of the Krakow Market Square in Poland.

Gorgeous interior of the gothic St Mary's Church, Krakow

And we saw this awesomely cool street performer in front of St Mary's Church. Try taking a picture of him and you will know how fast he reacts to looking away from your camera.

Krakow Church St Peter and Paul of Poland

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Auschwitz Concentration Camp, Oswiecim Poland

Arbeit macht frei (work brings freedom) sign at Auschwitz concentration camp

Auschwitz concentration camp is a very sad place.

There we a lot of tourist and school children during the visit. No one was laughing or making jokes.

Block 14a - Auschwitz concentration camp

Our steps got heavier throughout the guided tour with explanation and pictures.

The Auschwitz Concentration Camp Gas Chambers where thousands to millions of people were killed. It still sends chills to your spine walking into one of these gas chambers even though many tourist walks in and out everyday.

Spring flowers in Krakow Poland to brighten up the sad pictures above, before we leave for another destination in Eastern Europe - Prague, Czech Republic. There will be much more Jolly Wolf pictures in Prague but we will break for another entry and the final entry of this Eastern Europe series will be in Germany where we visit a few NICI shops so stay tuned!

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Slovakia - Bratislava & Banská Bystrica

As we mentioned in our previous entry, we are heading to Slovakia the capital city called Bratislava and a small town called Banská Bystrica. We caught a picture of some spring flowers on the way!

And here goes Jolly Wolf again on the way to Slovakia. Our first stop is Bratislava!

We passed by Orava Castle of Slovakia, a beautiful renaissance structure of the 16th century surrounded by Orava river.

Bratislava Slovakia, being a not very popular tourist attraction compared to other major cities in Eastern Europe, you don't see many people on the streets.

We stumbled upon a Bratislava road sign, their signs are English translated below.

Michael's Gate Bratislava

Next we head to the Bratislava Main Square or Old Town Square first. Its considered a very small main square with not many mobile stalls selling Slovakian souvenirs.

What happened to Jolly Wolf all this time? He was left in his owner's bigger bag as we walked down with just our cameras to travel light. Poor Jolly Wolf, but we got him a pint of Slovakian beer as a solace.

Now we arrive at Banská Bystrica, we are 1188 feet above sea level and the weather is much warmer here. It spikes a high 25 degree Celsius instead of the normal spring temperature of Europe.

Banská Bystrica Castle laid upon our eyes as we walk further uphill

Walked to the very top and this is the whole view of Banská Bystrica old town. Opposite is the new town where there are modernized buildings.

Banská Bystrica fountain in the middle of the old town

We were excited to see flowers in Slovakia! This is springtime

and more flowers

Banská Bystrica old town is a very small place, the people here can speak English and they are friendly with smiles on their faces.

If you walk into any building or house at Banská Bystrica, you can see there is a huge courtyard behind. The houses are not just the front, it has a big area on the inside.

As we descend the hilly area, we found a small chapel with a very nice door.

As we leave Slovakia, we pass by Tatra mountain range with beautiful bungalow houses built on the mountains.

The houses are so far away from one another. It must be great to live here with fresh green air and high altitude.

Then we passed by a ski hotel which we are told that during winter time, this is a popular location for skiing. Tatra mountain range is a border between Slovakia and Poland. So guess where we are going next?