If you didn't know, I'm a serial Katong hang-outer and Le Petit Paradis caught my eye one of those days as I was walking aimlessly along the street houses, while they're still under going their very final stages of pre-opening preparations.

"Hey, isn't this the French food stall from the Ali Babar kopitiam?"

And yes, it is. And apparently, this kopitiam really has some awesome fengshui, for its previous tenants include Aston's (after which they started 20 over franchises) and then Saveur. Le Petit Paradis has obviously, followed their footsteps and expanded just a few shops down the street. The restaurant is actually pretty small, yet not crowded on a Sunday evening when we visited. Interior decor is also kept simple and chic.Just showing off my pot of tea. xpSous-vide Lamb Leg - $21

62 degree Celsius slow-cooked lamb leg, served on top of creamy basmati rice and topped (or in a literal sense, surrounded) herb vinaigrette.

Sounds yummy? Yes it is! I love the lamb leg! It's not exactly moist-slimy kind of tenderness you find in chicken or duck, but it's definitely tender yet with a chewy bite. The meat still remain much of the natural sweetness and juices, brought out and complemented with a strong flavour of spices that I reckon, help to mask out the distinctive 'lamb smell' commonly feared by many.

As for the creamy basmati rice, it's pretty average and taste just like a mediocre risotto. The rice remains hard and generously covered in creamy cheesey sauce, albeit not as flavourful as I will like it to be.

And lastly, the herb vinaigrette didn't go too well with my tastebuds. Too.... herbal?Steak and Fries - $23

150 days grains-fed Angus Sirloin with thick crispy fries and caramalised onions.

T commented that the steak is too thin to be deemed nice, but later on changed his mind in relation to its affordable price. It would be a decent choice for a cheap steak & fries fix.

Set up just like a CBTL cafe with better chairs and tables, it may be hard to notice that it's a Beanstro and not just their usual cafe. To be honest, CBTL has never been on my favourite list, ever, for I'm really not a fan of their coffees. So, will the Beanstro impress me?

Hmm, we'll see.And of course, no coffee for me, thank you very much. I'll go for a cuppa tea! For starters, we got a few 'finger food' snacks for sharing while we waited for our tardy queen to arrive. Hand-cut Calamari - $9

Well, what can go wrong with a basket of well batter, deep fried squids? Near to nothing!

The batter wasn't exactly very crispy and the squid wasn't exactly tender-chewy enough, but it was still packed with flavour to make this basket of fried squid pretty addictive.Mozzarella Fritters - $7

I didn't really get to eat this, because the waiter came and cleared the plate even though there's still 1 whole, untouched fritter left on it. He didn't even bother to ask if he can clear it. Just reached in, grabbed the plate and left while we're engrossed in chit-chatting.

BAD SERVICE, CBB, BAD SERVICE!

Erm, any refund of the (perhaps) $2?

But according to the rest who has eaten it, it's still 'not too bad' for a cheese lover.Morrocan Lamb Casserole - $16

A pair of lamb Marquez in tomato stew done Moroccan style, overlaid with eggs and baked in a hot plate!

CBB is quite a bad place to be taking pictures due to backlight in every corner and every single angle.

But this dish is really delish! However, the serving is pretty small and if it's not for the 2 slices of toasted baguette and with the calamari, I might have left the place hungry. I can't really say I understand the point of adding 2 eggs on top of the dish, for it doesn't complement ANYTHING imo. Well, it might have been for the toasts, which were better off being paired with the tomato stew to begin with. So In the end, I pretty much gobbled down the runny yolks first (I really cannot imagine the taste of it getting mixed into the rest of the stew) before moving on with the rest of the dish. The lamb cubes were tender and savoury, and the tangy tomato stew simply brought out more of its flavour.

If you're a lamb and tomato lover like me, I really recommend that you try this!Bangers and Mash - $18

Oozing with cheese, grilled chicken snail sausage on Idaho mash with caraway sour cabbage and onion gravy.Classic Eggs Benedict - $17

Two softly poached eggs built on toasted Vienna with chicken ham, lime vinaigrette mesclun and hollandaise sauce.

Frankly speaking, I won't say that they're very affordable but the food quality is definitely there for a cafe (even though beanstro's concept is meant to be a casual dining restaurant, I still view CBB more as a cafe), and it makes the penny a little more worth spent. Service wise, they need to train the waiters not to clear off non-empty plates without asking the diners if it's alright to do so.

A shot of the crazy queue just to show off how popular Andong Zzimdak is on a Friday night. They even had to stop the queue at just 8 plus because they're almost out of chicken. The restaurant is pretty small and cozy, and would be perfect for a small gathering of friends to enjoy some yummy braised chicken.
As the name of the restaurant suggest, this place is famous for their Andong Jjimdak, which literally translate into steamed chicken of Andong, for jjim means steamed or braised and dak means chicken in Korean.Hot Citron Tea - $2.50

If you're dining at a Korean restaurant, it definitely has to be either criton tea or barley tea, right? And I'm definitely team citron. Very reasonably priced at just $2.50 for a standard mug sized, the tea wasn't overly sweet or thick but brewed just nice with the right amount of yuzu peel bits for those who loves to munch of them. And there was so much food for 6 of us, I can't even....Chicken Karaage - $9.90

Well, who says you can't make yummy fried chicken when you're supposed to be selling jjimdak? These fried chicken bites, although a little 'off' because they're Japanese (karaage, yeah?), were still worth my tummy space. Fragrant with a slight savoury taste, the battered skin was fried still crisp while the insides still tender. How can one possibly resist a piece of piping hot, boneless fried chicken? Spicy Dokboki - $9.90

Although the tteok wasn't the softest and chewiest I can find, it was still quite enjoyable as the gravy was indeed spicy enough, as compared to some other places which serve the gravy sweet. It would be perfect if the tteok was cooked softer, which I reckon can be done easily by just leaving it to cook for just a tad longer before serving. Mini Seafood Pancake - $9.90

Chewy and packed full of seafood (I tasted shrimps and squids), I like how it comes in very manageable (almost) bite size and each bite gives you as much seafood as the pancake batter itself. Boneless Jjimdak (Large) - $59.90 [Medium at $49.90]

Even though there is a chili icon next to the dish (as compared to 3 chili for Mayak Jjimdak, the supposedly spicy one) and there's this huge piece of red chili staring at you in the picture, I find this not spicy at all, just a comfortable savoury braised flavour. Will definitely return to try the Mayak Jjimdak another day.

The chicken bits are served boneless with skin and pretty tender and well braised. My first try of the glass noodles was an NG as it wasn't well mixed in the gravy, hence extremely chewy, like rubber. After mixing it well into the gravy and giving it ample time to soak up the moisture (and flavour) of the gravy, it became so much softer while still retaining its QQ (chewy) texture.

So a small note to everyone, remember to mix the glass noodles into the gravy before you eat them! Seafood Jjimdak (Medium) - $52.90 [Large at $65.90]

Similar to the boneless jjimdak but with prawns, mussles, squids and boney chicken parts. I find that the chicken in this jjimdak is significantly less tender than those in the boneless chicken, most probably due to the chicken parts. The mussels (my favourite shellfish), though on the small side, were still pretty fresh and chewy. The prawns were also pretty big and fresh, but peeling them when they're drenched in gravy is really not something enjoyable and nobody went for them until M took it upon himself to peel all the prawns for us.

For full detailed review, visit http://molly-mia.blogspot.sg/2015/10/mias-review-andong-zzimdak-media-tasting.html

For full review, visit http://molly-mia.blogspot.sg/2015/07/mias-food-trail-review-penang-culture.html

Penang Lor Bak - $7.95Well, I was expecting a pot of braised pork, and was surprised when it turned out as ngor hiang! Crispy on the outside with savoury and flavourful minced chicken meat inside, the lack of pork didn't effect its taste at all. Pairing up with a good dip of chili, this is just the dish to go for if you're not a fan of the distinctive 'pork smell' like me. Bronze BBQ Platter - $18.90

I'll find the satay, albeit flavourful, is a little too tough and dry (I took the mutton) and the squid a little too rubbery.

The disappointment of being slightly overcooked aside, the taste still packs a punch. The sambal, though not exceptionally spicy, is still strong enough to give a comfortable spiciness as you chew, with a slight hint of sweetness in the aftertaste. Penang Assam Laksa - $7.95

I'm not a fan of assam laksa at all, for I don't appreciate the sourness of the dish. But I love the extremely chewy (QQ) noodle that resembles the mouse tail noodles, which apparently is a characteristic of the dish.

I so want to fish out the noodles and dunk them in the prawn mee soup! HAHA!Penang Hokkien Prawn Mee - $8.95

Once again, I was expecting something close to our popular local delights, Hokkien Prawn Mee, but was surprised to see a bowl of prawn rice noodle soup.

Needless to say, the kway tiao (rice noodle) was soft and smooth, and the broth flavourful with the sweetness of the prawn heads and chicken bones that were used to boil it. With a quick mix in of the chili paste, this yummy bowl of prawn mee is complete!Black Pepper Mantis Prawn - $10.95

After munching down a few pieces of it, I still couldn't really tell that they're mantis prawn. But who really cares when the taste is absolutely heavenly? The battered, fried pieces of the mantis prawns were then tossed in a savoury black pepper sauce that is so delicious! This will totally go well with a bowl of rice, I'll tell you.Premium Crab Meat & Salted Egg Fried Kway Tiao - $14.99

As mentioned in my food trail post, this is my favourite dish at Penang Culture for the day. Those crispy fried bits you see covering all over the kway tiao are actually fried salted egg bits, which added to much texture and flavour to the savoury, soft and slightly chewy fried kway tiao that's tossed in generous serving of seafood. Coconut Milkshake - $6.95

I'm not a fan of coconut, but this drink is still pretty okay for me. It's more towards the refreshing taste of a coconut water than the heavy creamy texture of milkshakes in general. Rambutan Juice - $4.95

This is like a less acutely sweet version of the rambutan cocktail blended up with ice and served to you as it is. A really good choice, even if you're not really a big fan of rambutans.

For full review, visit http://molly-mia.blogspot.sg/2013/09/mias-review-marutama-ramen.html 
Their choices of ramen flavour is not really extensive. A very typical menu of an authentic humble ramen-ya. I ordered for myself a daikon and their Nama Karashi Ramen while Airmeli got a Tori Dango and their Aka Ramen. Daikon - $4

Yes, you might feel that $4 for 2 pieces of radish (although they're quite big pieces) is pretty much a rip off, but I didn't really care much for the pricey-ness of it because:

1. I really love daikon

2. They're really damn awesome!

The daikon is served almost piping hot in a rich & flavourful savoury broth, which tastes like tonkotsu/chicken broth, and is cooked down extremely well to be amazingly soft throughout. Each and every bite is 'stuffed' full of the savoury taste of the rich broth. I need not even chew on them, but just pushes my tongue towards the roof of my mouth to mash it up and release the broth that was soaked up within.

Heavenly. Definitely a must try for all daikon lovers out there. Tori Dango (Chicken Meatball) - $5The Tori Dango is definitely a disappointment, and yes, it's not worth the $5. I expected the dango to be of, well, chewy dango texture. (duh!) But the first bite brought nothing but disappointment to my face. Nothing in this meat-packed ball is chewy. Instead, the entire meatball is soggy and crumbly. A soft bite to the surface easily breaks the dango in half and a few more bites just literally crumbles them into distinctive separate chunks in your mouth. Not my favourite kind of texture in a meatball.

However, from a cooking noob's POV, I also wonder if it's because they're using a lot of real chicken meat and very little flour.

As for the taste wise, I can't fault them on it but shan't commend them on it either. It's a "typical" meatball taste, flavourful yet nothing distinctive that screams: I'm a chicken meatball! I guess the only thing that hinted it's chicken and not pork is the crumbly texture.Nama Karashi Ramen - $12

It looks just like a normal chicken broth ramen, yeah? But it's actually spicy ramen! This is one thing that is kinda intriguing to me. A 100% non-spicy looking spicy ramen!

The broth is rich, flavourful and has the spiciness level just right for me.

I think I'm just an average spicy food eater, and I do not like to eat challengingly spicy food as I believe it doesn't do justice to the ingredients and preparer of the dish.

Comparing the richness of flavour to Santouka and Ippudo, Marutama is definitely smack in the middle. I feel that their broth is definitely richer than Santouka's yet still manageable for me, unlike Ippudo's, which almost killed me.

Went Ippudo once, and plans never to return.

I do get a little thirsty while eating the ramen, due to the salty flavour of the broth, but I'm attributing it to the fact that I'm more of a lighter taste person. My preference for lighter taste is blatantly hinted in my obvious dislike for Ippudo's ramen.

As for the noodles, it hovers between chewy and hard imo, deviating slightly more towards hard. I'm a chewy (softer) noodle person, and Marutama's noodles really came this close to making it right for me. It was just a little bit too close to the hard side, but I can still accept it as well made noodles.

The char siu was also pretty well done, having a good mix of lean and fatty meat, cooked to a savoury tenderness.

I'm also rather disappointed that the ramen wasn't served with menma (bamboo shoots) and it wasn't offered as an additional topping or side dishes either.

And as seen from the picture, the ramen doesn't come with the flavoured egg (typical of many ramen shops) but need an additional $1.50 for an add on. Just look at the pictures, need I say more? The $1.50 is a MUST SPEND!

I do feel that Marutama does their flavoured egg better than Santouka and Ippudo.

And in addition, Marutama offers Kaedama for those big eaters. With leftover broth and an additional $2, you can get your noodles refilled and eat to your heart's content! I'm not sure if it's a full portion refill though, because there's absolutely no way I can ever go for a kaedama.