Tringkap Restaurant and Equatorial Hotel

Continuing my trip in Cameron Highlands, after the adventurous ride to the tomato orchard, our stomachs started growling. *LOL* Coincidentally, it was already 12pm, just right for lunch time! We left the orchard and went back to my relative's place in Tringkap. Just a few doors away, there was a restaurant called "Restoran Tringkap", how creative. Anyway, my relative highly recommended it and said that he always eats there too. So without further ado, we all walked to the restaurant and found a nice table with cool air.

There were plenty of flowers blooming everywhere in Cameron Highlands. Even outside of the restaurant, we saw some pretty colourful and huge blooms. Very beautiful sight.

Pretty blooms

The restaurant is in Tringkap town itself, and you won't miss it if you're using the new road from Simpang Pulai, heading towards Brinchang. Using the new road, it will lead you straight to Bukit Raja, followed by Tringkap, Kea Farm and Brinchang. It is situated just by right road side for easy recognition.

Restaurant Tringkap

Moving on to the food! As our relatives joined us for lunch, they knew the signature dishes to order. We started with this deep fried fish fillet, which was very delicious! The way they fried the fish here was different because the fish meat was cut into pieces before frying. As a result, you need not worry about picking out bones while eating fish! Perfect for lazy people like me. :P

Deep fried fish

Another of their specialty is the steamed 'kampung' chicken. 'Kampung' or Village chicken is usually more expensive in the market. This is because they are bred and raised with traditional chicken feed, in villages with a compound to run about. In other words, they are not subjected to injections or hormone growth pills etc, like those of farm chickens. Therefore, they are more healthy and 'organic' in a way. The drawback is that with all the running around, the kampung chicken meat may be slightly tougher compared to the farm chicken. Nevertheless, this restaurant managed to steam it perfectly! Very smooth and just very slightly tough. I think I wouldn't even notice it if I didn't know it was a kampung chicken in the first place. Maybe it was just psychological. *LOL* I am the type of person who doesn't like steamed chicken. I prefer the roasted variety, but this steamed chicken was really above average. We actually went back to the same restaurant 2 days later and ordered the very same dish! How good is that? :)

Steamed Village (Kampung) chicken

Next up, there was a plate of fried mushrooms served to us. This was something new because we never had mushrooms fried this way. Fortunately, the mushrooms agreed with our taste buds and the plate was clean before long. The exterior was crispy while the interior was juicy and succulent with mushroom fragrance. Pretty interesting dish.

Deep fried mushrooms

Of course, one could not miss eating vegetables in Cameron Highlands. Vegetables are aplenty here that they are dirt cheap! We had the spinach here, which was very young and soft. You know how old spinach is so very tough especially the stems, but the spinach here was really good.

Spinach

Our last dish was the stir friend long beans with dried shrimps. Needless to say, the vegetables were top-notch, and coupled with the fragrant dried shrimps, one simply could not resist this dish.

Stir fried long beans

After being satiated with our hearty lunch, it was time to check in our hotel. For our trip, we booked 2 units of 2-room apartment for the 10 of us. Lucky for us, my aunt is a member of the Berjaya Holidays and she managed to get the rooms for free! The Equatorial Hotel is a landmark of Cameron Highlands, simply because it stands tall among the rest and it is located near the famous Kea Farm/Market.

Equatorial Hotel, Cameron Highlands

The hotel is situated at 5,300 feet above sea level, as stated on this plaque. The temperature that day was 20.5C, pretty cooling and comfortable. I like not having to sweat while walking outdoors. :)

5,300 ft above sea level

This was the mini fountain pool just outside the hotel lobby.

Mini fountain pool

Besides hotel rooms, Equatorial also has apartments. I personally think that the maintenance at Equatorial Hotel was pretty bad. The paint of quite a number of buildings here was already old and had fungus growing on them. Also, the doors and furniture in our room were of poor quality. Some of the chairs were ripped, exposing the cushion beneath. The beds also had some kind of smell. Worst of all, the hot water was very limited! We were told to wait for 20 minutes after each shower for the hot water to refill. However, during evenings when the hot water was widely used, I didn't manage to get hot water even after waiting for half an hour. The water was freezing cold! Surprisingly, with this type of quality, the price was not cheap at all. The rate for the 2-room apartment that we stayed was above RM500 a night! I definitely would not pay this amount for this type of quality.

Equatorial Apartments

The lobby of the hotel was impressive though, probably the only area that was maintained well. It was spacious and airy, with plenty of leather couches to rest on.

Equatorial Hotel lobby

Some pictures of myself and Angie, my brother's girlfriend. We had nothing to do, hence the camwhore. :)

Angie and witch

Stay tuned for more adventures after this! We took a rest at the hotel before going for high tea at a high place, literally. :)