Food Adventures in Malaysia: Day 5, Langkawi

Jun 8, 2011 by The Bald Gourmet    1 Comment     Posted under: Malaysia, Travel

Day five. Today marked the beginning of an incredible weekend trip to beautiful Langkawi; Malaysia’s tropical “get away” paradise.  What a gorgeous island with cool sites and pristine beaches and water.  The exchange rate is 3:1, so we got to stay in an amazing 5 star resort for just pennies on the dollar.

Langkawi Cable Cars

Our first adventure began at the little town of Oriental Village at the base of the Langkawi Cable Cars.  There was a small selection of decent restaurants and food stands to choose from, and I was rather surprised at the quality of the meal I ordered at the Japanese restaurant there:  tempura shrimp and miso soup.

Oriental Village Tempura Lunch

This tempura shrimp was pretty much the best I’ve ever had. It was super light, not greasy at all, and had a very clean shrimp flavor. The miso soup was definitely the best I’ve had. It was very full flavored and the seaweed wasn’t obnoxious like it so often is. I usually have to put soy sauce in my miso soup to make it flavorful, but not this miso!  It was perfect as is.

The cable car ride was absolutely thrilling at a 40 degree incline to the top of a mountain!  The views of the Andaman Sea up at the top were absolutely breathtaking.

Langkawi Cable Cars at Oriental Village

Langkawi Cable Cars looking back

We walked down the very steep and uneven hand-made stairs to the Gunung Machinchang Sky Bridge, which was absolutely awesome!  This is one of the highest suspended bridges in the world and is just freaking cool.

Langkawi Sky Bridge from above

Dinner at the The Sheraton Langkawi

Back at the hotel, we went to chill on the white sand beach.  As soon as we got sprawled out, it started to rain…. more like torrential downpour.  But I was here to enjoy this paradise, so I just kept sitting in the rain until soaking wet and freezing cold.  It was perfect!

Raining at the Beach

After drying off and changing clothes, we headed out to dinner.  We chose very poorly and took a seat at some crappy establishment called Sheraton Resort Captain’s Grill.  It was horrible.  Typical beautiful presentation, flavorless, American “gourmet” food.  Australian beef tenderloin, lemon grass jumbo prawns (no lemongrass flavor whatsoever, but they were cooked properly at least), garlic mashed potatoes, brown sauce, and Béarnaise sauce.  Stupid.  $40 for filth.

Captain's Grill 'Gourmet' Filth

The only thing good about the meal here was my mocktail drink called “Touch of the Orient”. It was Lychee, pineapple, guava, orange, coconut, and something else all mixed together with some grenadine syrup. Delicious!

Touch of the Orient Mocktail

Flying Lemurs

The walk back to the rooms offered an exciting adventure all of its own; as we had the pleasure of seeing flying lemurs gliding from tree to tree during their gourmet nightly bug feast.  How cool!

Flying Lemur

Dessert at The Sheraton Langkawi

Back at the rooms, Hilary wanted some dessert and I joined in too. We room-service ordered their “famous” (that’s what it said on their menu) mango cake. Ya……it was awesome.

It had a layer of white cake on the bottom, then a light mango flavored mouse, then topped with an amazing mango puree that must have had gelatin mixed in it. The mango pieces (I’m pretty sure they were Champagne Mangos) were tossed in a mango syrup/sauce, and it was all served with a very crunchy almond biscotti and a bowl of the best coconut ice cream I’ve ever had. They must of mixed crack in that ice cream, because I’m jonesing for it even now.

Famous Mango Cake

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