Forward thinking urban planning:

“The real strength in the policy was that the state government took a long-term view, setting requirements for a 30 per cent active frontage on all new-build or major renovation projects in the retail core of the city. This was a game changer for the city centre: the active street frontage policy encouraged relatively small tenancies.”

Props too for Crown Casino and one Jeff Kennett.

Bun cha

Best food in Vietnam: Bun Cha sitting on one of those tiny plastic stools on a footpath somewhere

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On the way to Penang

Gave the Polo a good run the other weekend by driving up to Penang. Stopped at Ipoh on the way for this local speciality “Sar hor fun”. So good we went back for more on the way home.

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Prata action

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MOS

Without doubt the best hamburger I have ever eaten – Spicy MOS Cheeseburger.

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Saturday morning coffee

White coffee is something of a local specialty. Super strong and often flavoured with sweetened condensed milk, perfectly complemented by a few pieces of kaya toast.

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Mmmmm

Did I mention how good the food is over here in Malaysia? There’s nothing you can’t get. From local specialties, really local hawker food, top restaurants and every fast food chain you could ever think of, except for Oporto (which is odd, but that’s entirely another story).

This past weekend we found a local representative of the Din Tai Fung chain and stopped by for some of their signature xiaolongbao and other dumplings. Whilst we’d previously visited the local Sydney branch, it was nothing compared to the experience we had at this one. The service was great, the food hot/fresh and mindblowingly cheap.

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MINI Chicken Burgers

But not quite in that order.

After craving them all week, we made up some burgers on Saturday. For something different I got some extra lean mince and made the patties from scratch, then with some (tiny) sour-dough rolls, maiche, tomatos, onion and pickle, made up a handful of mini-hamburgers for late lunch.

Today I went for a short drive to a short festive-season meet-up with some of the MINI crew – really do need to get back out on the track again soon or even start organising more regular catchups to talk all things MINI, good fun.

On the way back, I even managed to stop and catch up with some more old friends, can’t believe these things are still there – I can remember them being in the same spot when we used to pass through when I was quite young.

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