FIFA World Cup

The FIFA World Cup fever is back! Now, hosted in South Africa. Even though the game is in South Africa, we can  save $$$ and time from traveling all the way to South Africa, just by relaxing with a bottle of beer or cocktail in hand watching the matches through the TV or big projector screen. The power of technology, huh.

some football match on screen

For the first FIFA World Cup match between South Africa VS Mexico, I watched it with my Level Up kakis (gym-mates) at Rajang Bar, Grand Margherita. Well, it was a surprise birthday party for a friend and we ended up watching the game together since it was on screen. hekhekhek..

FIFA World Cup Cocktail @ Rajang Bar

Few nights before the opening of FIFA World Cup (June 9, 2010), I attended the FIFA World Cup Launch at Rajang Bar, Grand Margherita with ahlost, Jimmy, Mike and Pazuzu.

Me, ahlost, Mike & Jimmy behind us. Where's Pazuzu?

It was a private party in Rajang Bar.We were among the media and press, along with the regular guests  and clients of the hotel at the launch.

the crowd

The crowd was punctual and the event hit off on time

Organisers & Sponsors

The launch was organised by Grand Margherita and co-sponsored by LEA Centre and Guinness. The lucky draw offers is applicable for both Rajang Bar and The Club, Riverside Majestic. Just only Rajang Bar has the exclusive FIFA World Cup 2010 Cocktail/Mocktail. Read ahead for more details..

#1 FIFA World Cup 2010 Cocktail/Mocktail

FIFA World Cup Cocktail awaits

At the entrance of the Rajang Bar, we were greeted by their waiter wearing Adidas shirt holding serving us with either FIFA World Cup Cocktail (with cherry) or FIFA World Cup Cocktail (without cherry).

FIFA World Cup Cocktail @ Rajang Bar

FIFA World Cup Cocktail @ RM35 each

FIFA World Cup Cocktail @ RM35 each

The FIFA World Cup Coctail is RM35++ (price subject to taxes), served in the gold cup and best of all, you can bring it home as a souvenir! The cocktail is a mixture of alcohol mixture served with a slice of lemon and cherry on top.

As for the FIFA World Cup Mocktail, it is RM25++ (price subject to taxes) is a mixture of fruit juices.

#2 The Privilege Card

GMH & RMH Privilege Card

If you are a holder of The Privilege Card, you are entitled to 10% discounts (before taxes) for food and beverage in either Rajang Bar or The Club.  If you don’t, fret not, you can always sign up for one for FREE (subject to availability).

#3 FIFA World Cup Lucky Draw

FIFA World Cup Lucky Draw

When you make a minimum purchase of RM30 in a single receipt, you are entitle to join the lucky draw. There are 2 lucky draws. First is the mini lucky draw which is drawn at every match during the half time break. The prize is ADIDAS merchandise.

As for the second lucky draw, which is the Grand Lucky Draw, which will be drawn at the end of FIFA World Cup. The grand lucky draw’s prize is RM1,000 ADIDAS Gift Voucher.

#3 FIFA World Cup 2010 Launching

getting ready

So, what’s in the box?

Opens up the Box & Gift Voucher presentation

Then, we all know that under that white box is a replica of the FIFA World Cup trophy.

Immediately after they revealed the trophy, the representative of LEA Centre Sdn Bhd. presented the RM1,000 ADIDAS Gift Voucher to the representative of Grand Margherita.

Everyones a piece of the trophy

And that’s the end of the launching and comes the food!

#4 Cocktail Food

cocktail food

Brinjal Fritter with Mayo

huhuhu.. I’m not a brinjal person, so I didn’t try this. Albeit, it looks nice and should probably taste nice too.

Salmon sushi

Salmon Sushi, everyone’s favourite.

say Ahhhhhh

Then, I thought of sharing it with the football player, but he so nice, let me have it to myself. Hahaha..

more cocktail food

Then, there were more coming out :3

FIFA World Cup food tag

Cute and creative food decor.

Potato Salad

The potato salad was delicious. Soft and sweet. There’s a funny story about eating the potato salad. As it was cocktail food, don’t expect holding a spoon on one hand and the other to fetch food. Hence, it was kind of awkward to eat the salad with hand. So, we used the lettuce as a spoon to scoop the potatoes. lol.. Half way eating, I ate the “spoon”.

Cheesecake with mint leaves

The cheesecake was served on fruit parfait. Excellent combination and easy to eat. Just wallop the whole thing into our mouth.

some weird sauce

I have no idea what this is, but it tasted like chilli sauce with onions and spring onions in it. According to Jimmy, it could be sauce for other food. =/ I almost down the whole thing.

Boxing Chicken

This is delicious. Snapped a few pichas feeding the chicken to some more football players but the pichas turned out to be super blur, so I decided not to post it. Mehh..

Frankfurters

Some hotdog grilled or maybe just panfried with blackpepper sauce and sitting on mashed potatoes.

Grilled doree fish with mayo

The doree fish is superb. Wish I had more servings on this. hehehe…

American Chocolate Cheesecake

Another cake for us :3

FIFA World Cup makan-makan

Well, it’s FOODball.

#5 FIFA World Cup Deco

In conjuction to FIFA World Cup, they decorated the whole lounge with mini footballs, posters of fehmes football players, and lotsa ADIDAS stickers around too.

footballs everywhere

cute mini footballs

I want the ADIDAS football

If you think small balls are eyesores, wait till you see the BIG ball.

GIANT football

FIFA World Cup trophy glasses

FIFAness

And if you think the replica glass of the FIFA World Cup trophy is too small for you to camwhore, check out their GIANT FIFA World Cup trophy.

GIANT trophy

The GIANTness makes me looks like an elf!

with the GIANT trophy and GIANT ball

Or perhaps if you think that the GIANT trophy would look too fake, you can always camwhore with their replica ones, which looks like the real thing.

with the Replica FIFA World Cup Trophy

Still not convinced?

The "kiss"

A kiss on the trophy as though I won the World Cup.

#6 Pichas

The management

I also want to be in the group picha

Bloggers and Patrick

with DJ Gary

#7 ADIDAS Goodie Bag

ADIDAS goodie bag

The sponsors prepared a goodie bag for each one of us.

ADIDAS FIFA World Cup cap

Inside the goodie bag, we got ourselves an ADIDAS FIFA World Cup cap and ADIDAS sticker. SWEET!

Us 5 with our cap

Took this picha without flash because we were camwhoring in front of the mirror. It was so dark, it made us look like Africans for FIFA.

#8 The After Party

At every launching or events, there’s always an informal party whereby we drink with strangers or newly made friends. These are among the drinks ahlost and I enjoyed:

Tequila shot

Tequila & Beer

POP

ahlost & I with our Tequila shots

Now back to FIFA World Cup, where’s your ideal place to watch FIFA World Cup?

The Fusion Cafe

The Fusion Cafe is a new cafe in town and currently my favourite place for my dosage of 3 layer pork cravings. Years back, the cafe was known as Red Tea House and years later, they changed management to some stir fry cafe and today,  it is The Fusion Cafe. The Fusion Cafe is located in Jalan Song Thian Cheok, just somewhere near MAS building.

The Fusion Cafe location map

Parking is convenient during the evening. During the day, to get a parking slot in the city centre will depend on your luck, unless you park in Taman Kereta or in Tun Jugah’s basement parking.

The Fusion Cafe building

This is how The Fusion Cafe’s building looks like from the parking outside MAS office.

The Fusion Cafe's Business Hours

The Fusion Cafe operates 14 hours daily (10am – 12 midnight) and closes on every 2nd and 4th Sunday of the Month.

Interior

Interior of The Fusion Cafe

The Fusion Cafe is a nice place to chill out,  gossiping chit chatting, catching up with friends, etc. The place is air-conditioned and complimented with ceiling fans, whilst the doors are always open. Hence, the place is never too hot nor too cold, just cooling.

Here’s a slideshow of the cafe:

The wall is painted soft pink and decorated with wall stickers. Very simple yet unique and creative. I like the one with the girl walking with the dog. (Can I bring home the poodle?) hehehe…

Well, I was at The Fusion Cafe with Kevin, Jess and  Albert (aka AhBird) for dinner. Thanks to Sharon for the great treat We enjoyed the food and drinks lots.

I’m impressed with their menu. There are varieties of drinks to choose from. From milk tea (recipe brought down from Red Tea House) to fruit juice  to iced tea  to beer. And of course,  they have their very own created special fruit punch:

#69 Paradise @ RM4.50

Paradise is #69 in the menu. It is a mixture of Lemon juice, soda and fresh strawberries. It is a refreshing and cooling drink, with a tinge of taste.

#69 Paradise

Paradise is one of The Fusion Cafe’s popular drink. Most of their customers order this.

notti flash light

This is just a notti and random shot.

Real fresh strawberry. No cheat one.

Sweet strawberry

* * *

#71 Love Elixir @ RM5

Love Elixir is #71 in the menu. It is a mixture of Watermelon juice and lychee.

Do you see anything at the bottom?

Spot the lychee

Canned lychee

As elixir of love as its name, it is sweet and lovely (provided that you love watermelon and lychee).

* * *

#68 Soda Blackcurrant Lemon @ RM4.00

Soda Blackcurrant Lemon is #68 in the menu. It is a mixture of soda and blackcurrant syrup (I presume it is Ribena) and topped with a few slices of lemon.

something is glowing inside

Well, it is a simple and pretty ordinary drink, but familiar to those who love Ribena sprite

* * *

Apart from all the icy and sweet drinks, they have nice healthy and unique tea.

Special tea

Unlike other cafes which serve Early Grey Tea, English Tea, Boh tea, Lipton tea, etc tea bag, here in The Fusion Cafe, you get to taste a variety of hot healthy  flower tea.

Plum Flower Tea @ RM5

The Plum Flower Tea is a mixture of Plum, red jujube, longan, hawthorn, licorice, mysotis and marigold. Don’t look at me, I have no idea what they are except for Plum. The plum is the round item at the bottom of the teapot filter, whilst the tea is at the top.

Not tea leaves

Who said tea must be in the form of tea leaves?

* * *

Butter Chicken Rice

Butter Chicken Rice @ RM5.50

The butter chicken rice is not bad. The thick sauce is butterish and sweet. Goes well with the hot steamy rice.

piglet figured plate

served in a cute plate. Awww…

toothpicky tail

But too bad the piggie lack of its tail and AhBird made him a stiff tail by using a toothpick. lol

* * *

Salted Fish 3 Layer Pork Meat Rice

Salted Fish 3 Layer Pork Meat Rice @ RM5.50

fatty porkie rice on porkie plate

I didn’t get to try the Salted Fish 3 Layer Pork Meat Rice but the look of it is so enticing and I MUST ORDER THIS next time.

* * *

Fruit Salad

Fruit Salad @ RM5

The Fruit Salad consists of green apple, watermelon, lychee, pineapple and raisins with generous salad dressing.

this is green apple & raisin

The fruit salad is not bad. That night, I learnt that AhBird and Kevin actually prefer veggie salad! That’s something new. hekhek..

* * *

Fried 3 Layer Pork Meat (recommended)

Fried 3 Layer Pork Meat @ RM10

This is one mountainous plate of Fried 3 Layer Pork Meat (san zhang bak)!

#1 Succulent and juicy porkie

succulent & juicy porkie

#2 FATTY

fat. not lean.

#3 chewable

chewable

The porkie is cut into thick slices for a chewable sensation.

#4 better than satay

san zhang bak on toothpick

#5 Affordable

portion at its price

#6 Condiment that compliments

delicious condiment

The porkie is served with fresh crunchy cucumber and sambal belacan. The sambal belacan is sedap lagi enak (delicious condiment: chili based sauce with belacan) but not spicy enough for me.

* * *

Fried Chicken Wings

The chicken wings are also recommended.

4 pieces of Fried Chicken Wings @ RM10

Truth to be told, the fried chicken wings are not very oily and it’s sweet and juicy. Goes damn well with the sambal belacan.

you must try this

You must try the chicken wings because AhBird said so. He labeled the chicken wings here as the best chicken in Jalan Song Thian Cheok. lol.. Don’t believe me??

AhBird and his comment card

AhBird wrote, “THE Chicken Wing *draws a chicken head* is da’ BEST! #1 in Song Thian Cheok & Malaysia.”

a picha with AhBird and his comment card

Took a picha with AhBird and his comment card because he wrote “Albert #1 was here! with ANNNA.NET on 18/05/10″ *lamao*

My Comment Card

I also got to write a comment card leh.. I wonder if they are going to post it on the wall or not. Anyway, if you happen to be there, spot it for me yah! hekhekhek.. *thick face*

The Fusion Cafe Chop Card

The Fusion Cafe Chop Card

Ada makan (got food),

Ada minum (got drink),

Ada chop (got chop), if you spend RM30 and above in a single receipt.

1 chop for every RM30 and above in a single receipt

Lunch Promotion

The Fusion Cafe Lunch Promotion

Currently, The Fusion Cafe is offering this lunch promotion. For RM6.90 only you get a set of lunch which comes with iced red tea and soup!

I’ve tried their lunch promotion, it’s great and will update on it in the next post. heehee..

taken from Rosewong.com

And because I have no Starbucks pichas to brag, I shall brag about my laksa day at Golden Arch, 3rd Mile which was on the next day of the Starbucks day.

spotted leftovers at the passenger seats

Bro was nice to drive that morning. So, I took the opportunity to camwhore the whole journey from home to Golden Arch. Hekhekhek

I is Tigress

Am 24 6 years old only. Born in the year of tiger. Rwoww rwoww.. For months, my marther and I purposely shop more in Guardian that other outlets so we could trade this Tiger plushy for free. :3

The Tiger

You know, it is just like The Dog – big head small body. Even the eyes are big and round. Makes mine looks sepet (small). wteff..

Golden Arch - Not goldy pun

We reached Golden Arch in less than 20 minutes (good traffic mah).

Here’s the location map (in case you too noob to don’t know where it is):

View Larger Map

Laksa Sarawak Special @ RM5.50

This is the fehmes Sarawak Laksa from Golden Arch. This is the one Sixthseal like a lot. Gotta agree with him lah. The laksa soup is riched with coconut milk!

2 big prawns

Only 2 prawns for the Laksa Special BUT they are so BIG!

Laksa Ayam @ RM4.50

Some people (the brother) who are not prawn tolerant ordered Laksa Ayam (no prawns, just chicken) wteff.. Since he only wanted chicken for his laksa, the generous laksa taukehnio (lady boss) gave him extra extra beehoon (rice vermicelli). The big fella couldn’t finish the laksa in the end. LOL

Yew Char Kuay

The best stuff to go with laksa! Educated everyone to dip yew char kuay in their laksa *forcefully*. :3 I hope they liked it.

Popiah

The popiah so so only lah..

9 people squeezing in one small table

These peeps are the greatest! Woke up early on a Sunday morning to join me for a Laksa breakfast <3

Frankie & Steve

Even Frankie and Steve woke up early for breakfast!!! ^..^ so touched

Because it was a big group, we changed table (I was still half way eating my laksa wei).

CHH Loudao & Kie

And Frankie was the only one who ate fried kuay tiaw instead of Laksa. lol

biz talk on SwkBlogs

The Core Team having some serious discussions *serious faces* kakakkaa..

Oh, did I mention that some of them were hiding something behind me that entire day? Mehh.. They were up to something.  I know one.

Gladys

One of the mastermind for something that very evening (which I later found out). >:]

Thanks for coming!

Thank you all for joining me for a Laksa breakfast!! I hope that we can have more breakfast gathering again.

A shot with the Orchid Garden Coffee House signage is a must!

For Mothers Day, we went to Orchid Garden Coffee House, Grand Margherita Hotel (formerly known as Holiday Inn) for dinner. There were several reasons why we chose GMH in the end.

"Happy Mother's Day" fruit & veggie carvings

#1 They are celebrating Mother’s Day

Mum eats for free

They have one of the best promotions offered on Mother’s Day – Mum eats for FREE and FREE wine. So meaning, instead of paying RM79++ per pax, we are paying RM68.14 (3 x RM79 x 15%/4) per pax. A great saving of RM22.71 per pax and total savings of RM90.84!

P/s: The dinner buffet is RM79 and subject to 10% service charge + 5% government tax = RM90.84.

#2 Complimentary FREE wine (choice of Red or White)

FREE wine

Each diner is served with a glass of Complimentary house wine (except Muslims). They only serve the wine upon request. I saw few tables don’t take wine and requested the Captain for more wine. He was reluctant at first telling us the reasons that they serve based on per head. Told him that since other tables are not drinking, we help them drink. And again, the Captain regrettably apologize that it couldn’t be done.

camwhore with the FREE wine is a MUST

Nevermind lah.. It is okay if we can’t get extra pouring of wine, the wine not that great anyway (the white wine is not even chilled! wteff).

Anyway, 15-20 minutes later, the Captain, he came over to our table with 4 glasses of wine!!! LOL! So sweet of him.

P/s: Pretty disappointed with the wine served (tasted cheap =x)

#3 FRESH RAW OYSTERS!

Oysters chilling out on the ice cubes

They serves real fresh RAW oysters. The all you can eat!! <3 <3

Oyster said, "eat me eat me"

They refill this section pretty often as it is one of the section which finishes within seconds!

I had plenty of Osyters

They are smart to place dessert plates near the salad bar. So, the max you can fit on the plate is 3 Oysters, unless you stack them up, WHICH I don’t advice you to do so lah.

Good for men

Yesterday, princess_Yen mentioned on Twitter that Oysters are GOOD for men in the ahem aspect (improves men’s sexual health). A real eye opener lah.. So guys, how true is this? LOL! share share lah..

Juice it, Slurp it

So, how do you eat raw oysters?

Some prefer to taste raw oysters without any seasonings, while others prefer seasonings like lemon juice, cocktail sauce, tobasco sauce, etc sauce. The usual one is lemon juice. Personally, I love it with a squeeze of lemon juice.

Using a fork, work it under the juicy oyster to detach it from the shell.

Juicy raw oysters

Place the oyster shell at the bottom of your lips and give it a big suck like how you take a deep breath but with your mouth (duh!) and slurp the oyster into your mouth.

Last but not least, don’t just swallow it. Give it a chew, else how would you  taste the hamness (oysterness).

I <3 Oysters

#4 Seafood, See Food

Grilled Scallops

This is damn sedaps!!

Seafood Squid: Fish, Squid & Prawn

Superbly great with Tabasco sauce <3

Pacific Clams

The veggies not really ngam (suitable) with the clams. =X

[please imagine pichas of PRAWNS]

There were grilled prawns, butter prawns, and something prawn. Totally didn’t dig any prawns (except the seafood kebab), because I was lazy to peel the skin off. =x

#5 Japan was in Orchid Garden

Chuka Idako & Wakame

They also have seasoned scallops which I screwed up on the picha and hence, no picha for display.

Red & White Tuna sushi

The raw fish is fresh, but the rice =/ taste farny.

Salmon & Tuna sushi

Unfortunately, they don’t do Sashimi (even though we requested the sushi master for just raw fish without rice). So, we ate the raw fish only and left the sushi rice for something else (see below below) =x

Fish Roe sushi, Tuna sushi & California Maki

Fish Roe sushi & Chicken Floss sushi

If you don’t like their sushi, you can always DIY your own:

Special DIY sushi

Give it a wild guess for the name of this sushi.

(THIS IS JUST A JOKE)

#6 Meat Galore

They have varieties of meat to choose from; chicken, duck, lamb, beef and NO PORK lah. Meat in different cooking styles; steamed, sauteed, roasted, grilled, you name it.

Roasted lamb & veggies

This is one of my favourite among all! I love their mini roasted potatoes. So cute and sweet. :3

Mixed Grill

The sausages are grilled on the spot and you need to wait…with patience.. for them and the beef steak is ZOMGood!

Roasted Smoked Duck

Bro didn’t like the roasted duck as it has a mild smokey taste in it. Surprisingly, the duck is smoked before roasting (I think).

#7 Soup needs improvement

Tomato soup and brown bun

The tomato soup is too diluted =x and tasted like my spaghetti bolognese sauce with extra 1 liter of water. (just saying)

[a picha of screwed up Ginseng soup]

I’m very sorry for this very harsh comment on the soup but seriously,  does the chef knows what he is cooking?

As a Chinese who drinks soup at every dinner since she was born, I can cook Ginseng soup (sedaps lagi enak) with one eye closed.

second helping on Ginseng soup

Or maybe I’m not a pro Ginseng soup drinker as I watched a lot of people scooped ounces of the Ginseng soup.

#8 Desserts

Tropical Fruits: Papaya, Honey Dew, Watermelon

The fruits are very sweet *thumbs up*. They have fresh pineapples as well, but I dislike pineapples. Every time I eat fresh pineapples, without fail, my tongue get cuts and sometimes, I get ulcers from it.

Red Dragon fruit

They didn’t peel the skin off the fruit! Why? To show how dragonish the fruit is? ~..~

A MUST Mothers Day Cake

And of course, on this memorable Mother’s Day, how could we miss out on the cake.

some bitter pudding

A sweet mango pudding topped with fruit parfait and perhaps a small slice of strawberry on top would be lovely. But what they have here is some pandan pudding burnt sugar syrup on top (which made it bitter) and topped with almond flakes.

Not so Banana Chocolate Cake

LOL! Remember my Banana Chocolate Cake? This is so opposite of it! The chocolate cake is decorated with BANANA CRACKERS! What a combination of sweet chocolate and salty, crispy banana cracker.

At this point, I wonder if there is any vacancy for food taster. I want to apply, can?

Chocolate mousse & Pandan agar-agar

Pandan & coconut milk agar-agar lapis

The Pandan layered jelly is really the opposite of yum. T___T I love agar-agar and jelly but this is beyond likable. The whitish green is coconut milk/ideal milk flavoured tasted very geli!

P/S: Seriously need improvementssssssss.

Bro making a statement

*scared*

Chocolate Mousse

This is the best among all the cakes and puddings. The chocolate mousse is very delicious! But I don’t like the pink deco (DIY on sushi rice).

Ice-Cream and some cheesy cake

They have ice-cream too. There were two flavours of ice-cream that night; strawberry and peppermint. Got lotsa toppings to go with the ice-cream too; almond flakes, chocolate syrup, berry syrup, chocolate rice, colorful thingy, etc..

The cakes are pretty okay. Just okay only.

#9 Miscellaneous

For display only

They have this candle in XO glass, but they didn’t light it.

Bro making another statement

Bro: what’s the point of having it on the table if they’re not going to light it.

Me: DECO bah

What is wrong with this picha?

You tell me lah.. LOL..

Overall, the dinner buffet is okay lah. I enjoyed the seafood and meat (YUMYUM) minus the desserts (no offence). In fact, I was looking forward to Oyster shooters!! Well, I hope they serve that again in future

i <3 oyster

The Mother’s Day buffet dinner at _____ coming up in the next post

Posing in front of Rajang Lobby Lounge

The lounge is located in the lobby and it is easy to spot when entering the hotel through it’s main entrance.

The bar

The bar itself can accommodate approximately 10-12 pax. The entire lounge can accommodate approximately 50 pax (based on my own estimation).

Happy Juice

They have various range of liquor. You name it, they have it.*

Rajang Lobby Lounge's weekly promotions (click for larger view)

And of course, they have weekly promotion to enjoy. For the ladies, yes, again ladies always get to enjoy the best promotion, the TGIF, Thank GOD It’s Friday promotion.

TGIF promo

Applicable for ladies only on every Friday, 7-9pm. Yippee!! It’s Friday today! TGIF!!

Bartender in action

They mix the happy juice on every order, and not from jug – the-free-pouring-style. So, you get to enjoy fresh happy juice throughout the 2 hours.

Margarita @ RM18

Margarita is my favourite cocktail. It is a mixture of tequila, triple sec and lime juice.

Icy, Salty & Zesty

Lime or Lemon?

TGIF!

Only on Fridays you get FREE unlimited Margarita from Rajang Lobby Lounge from 7-9pm!

Enjoy~

I had approximately 6 glasses of Margarita that one evening to go with my dinner.

the beverage menu

They have various Cocktails and Mocktails to choose from.

Blue Lagoon @ RM18

Blue Lagoon is a mixture of Blue Curacao (citrus liquor), vodka and soda.

Blue Curacao & soda

The color of the cocktail is pretty but tasted like cough syrup but in blue. :S

FREE snacks

To add on the excitement while happy juicing in Rajang Lobby Lounge, we were treated with prawn crackers and peanut. It’s FREE as well. 1 prawn cracker for 1 lady and a portion of salted peanuts to be shared. ^3^

the Orchid Garden Coffee House menu

As the TGIF promo starts at 7pm, and if you happened to skipped dinner to fully enjoy the 2 hours FREE margarita spree, as I am, you can grab a bite or get a full meal from the Orchid Garden Coffee House’s kitchen. Just request for the menu and enjoy the meal with the happy juice of the night.

Weapons to Eat

GMH Fork & Knife

Pizza Al Fresco @ RM18.75

Pizza Al Fresco is one vegetarian pizza. It is topped with generous mozzarella cheese, spinach, onions, roasted red peppers, tomatoes and bechamel sauce.

This green thingy is spinach

Even though there’s no meat in it, it’s still a very tasty pizza. *thumbs up*

Pizza Ala Diablo @ RM18.75

The name of this pizza reminds me of an online game I used to play years back, Diablo. LOL.. So, we gave it a try.

stuffed with all the goodness

Pizza Ala Diablo is topped with mozzarella cheese, prawns, mushrooms, coriander leaves, chilli, and basil. This pizza is superb! One reason, it has prawns in it! Fresh prawns!

Fresh prawns

This picha is to show that the prawns they used for the pizza is fresh from its shell.

Love the pizzas here. Tasty in its own style and rich in ingredients.

Vegetarian Cutlet @ RM16.50

We saw this Vegetarian Cutlet on the menu and finds it interesting and gave it a try. Another thumbs up dish.

The veggie nugget

The vegetarian cutlet consists of breaded puree of mixed vegetables and potatoes. It is served with fresh green salad, steamed veggies and fresh tomato sauce.

Fish & Chips @ RM26.50

The deep-fried fish in batter served with fries, fresh greens and tartar sauce is not bad. The fish itself is crispy on the outside, tender and smooth on the inside. I like it with lots of lemon juice *licks lips*

Don't think it's Dory fish

There’s nothing fishy with the fish fillet. Just want to show off the thickness.

You must be curious how come there’s no pichas of meat.   I don’t take meat on Fridays.

Live band

Of course there’s entertainment at the lounge. There will be live band performance from 9pm till late.

FREE Wifi

Apart from the FREE margarita, FREE snacks and FREE air, there’s also FREE Wifi. Just request from the lounge. You will be given a piece of sticker with username and password. Each sticker entitles you to go online for 2 hours, for FREE. Yet another TGIF, Thank God It’s FREE!

GMH Privilege Card

When I gave them my namecard, I got this Grand Margherita Privilege Card in return :3

I'm privilege card holder #94

Got it before we settle the bill, hence, we get to enjoy the 10% discounts for our meal!

That’s not all. If you’re a fan of Grand Margherita Hotel Kuching in Facebook, inform them and get yourself a mysterious gift (while stock lasts)!

The Mysterious Gift

The mysterious gift is this Guinness padlock! It’s no longer mysterious as I revealed it here. Nyek nyek..

It’s been 2 weeks since my last Happy Juice dosage. TGIF! Going to get  mydose of Happy Juice tonight! Join me lah!

Pullman Kuching's Grand Opening Gala Dinner Programme & Menu

Colosseum was decorated with handmade or tailor-made props to match the theme of the night, China Shanghai Paris. In other words, the theme was Black and Red. I wore a simple black dress with a red  clinch belt around my waist to match the theme. Simple yet elegant? *perasan*

with the paper Eiffel Tower & napkin

Camwhored with the props on the table, the Eiffel Tower. It is just too cute to  not camwhore with it :3

with the entrance sticker on my arm

Upon registration, Frankie got me the Pullman Kuching’s logo sticker and sticked it visibly on my arm. Every guests of the gala dinner has it on them.

As mentioned earlier, I was at the dinner with ahlost and JF. We met lotsa familiar faces at the dinner;  Jeffrey Sia, Alex Lau (body combat&pump-mate), Fahriee, Cyril, Angel Pep and BF, the Aviva, friends, etc…

JF

with pretty ahlost

Ahlost’s hair looks great that night. She got her hair washed from the hair saloon shop in Sekama for only RM18. FML! Should have joined her for the hair wash. Piff…

Please notice the curls on my hair.

Story of the hair:

I went to Cutting Edge, The Spring for a hair wash (RM25) and to get a glamour hair blow. The fella who washed my hair (I’m sure he’s younger than me) is very talkative. Ask east ask west (obviously trying to dig info), taking what seems like forever to wash my hair. Then, he asked what type of hair blow I want. Told him just blow it straight down with a curve into my face. Guess what he did, he made curls. Not only that, the curls didn’t even last throughout the night. Piff.. Talk about having a glamour hairdo. MEHHH… Not surprising that he asked for a colleague (who blow curls so much nicer) to give him a hand to do the other side of my hair. The curls he “tried” to make looks like sh*t!! Long story cut short, I have two different waves of curls on both side of my face. FML!

met Alex at the dinner

Fahriee & Cyril representing Shiok!

Unfortunately, we were not all seated on the same table. Oh btw, Cheesie and Jaclyn were there for the dinner too. No pichas taken with them as we were seated in different tables and also because yours truly is shy.

This is a rough idea on where we were seated during the gala dinner:

where we are seated

The CM and VVIPs  were seated in a long horizontal table facing the stage. The best seats in the house. Get to have the best views on the stage, no interference while watching the first ever performance by Chinatown Shanghai in Malaysia.

the screenview from our seats

This is the view of the screen from the stage from we were sitting. It’s pretty far away so, it’s quite a small viewfor us. lol

Presentation

The evening began with the slide presentation of Pullman Kuching’s construction progress.

IeatU

I was very hungry during the presentation. =X Dinner began at approximately 8.55pm T_______T

Table settings

This is the table setting for the night. Many tools (utensils) to use for food attack >:]

softdrink & Chinese tea

We were served with either soft drinks (choice of Coca-Cola, Sprite or Orange) or Chinese tea. The soft drink is nice because they don’t put ice in it Chilled soft drinks and not iced ones.

Pain mean bread in French

On each table, there were Pains (bread) to keep the hungry ones quiet. =x

Condiments to go with the bread

Didn’t try the bread nor condiments as I was saving the tank for the real deal of the night (I’ve studied the menu upon sitting).

Enjoy the menu:

Mise en bouche (Pre-starter): Quail Ravioli, truffle cappuccino

Pre-starter: Quail Ravioli

Mise en bouche

Just a mouthful of tasty pasta wrap. Wish to have another spoonful of it…

Petite Entree (First appetizer): Prelude, Synphonie de la mer (Prelude, Symphony of the Seas)

with the Petite Entree/First appetizer

Petite Entree: Prelude, Synphonie de la mer

First appetizer: Prelude, Symphony of the Seas

South-China Sea lobster carpaccio

Wok-tossed peppered crab claw

Marinated Hokkaido giant scallops in passion fruit reduction

All is great except for the crab. It was kind of overcooked as the meat is very much stucked to the claw. Hard to eat as you need to scrap off the meat from the claw.

Grande Entree (Second appetizer): Acte premier, les parfums de I’Asie (First act, Perfumes of Asia)

with the grand entree/second appetizer

Acte premier, les parfums de I'Asie

Fine Oolong tea smoked duck breast, Chawan mushi of foie gras with confit Anjou pear

Succulent juicy & tender duck breast meat *slurps*

My favourite one of all :3

Soupe (Soup): Interlude

The Soup of the night

Blackened chicken consomme, infused in jasmine and Chinese herbs

Jasmine flower

*nom nom nom*

The cookie with raisins in it tasted weird to go with the soup =x it sure is a whole new experience to drink oriental soup with a piece of cookie. Teeheee…

Poisson (Fish): Acte second, L’orientale (Second act, The Oriental)

Slow-simmered "Foo Chow" fish dumplings in citrus & lemongrass scented broth

the "Foo Chow" fish dumplings

Viande (Meat): Intrigue, la rencontre des saveurs (The plot, Encounter of Flavours)

ahlost & I with our Encounter of Flavours

Ignore the reflection from the plate on my face. meh…

Camwhore with mah beef

Rib-eye Bulgogi infused with abalone & matsutake jus

boiled & deep fried kuay tiaw

The kuay tiaw cooking method reminds me of the Ying Yang kailan (2 in 1 cooking style on one dish), where the kailan leaves is cut into very thin slices and then deep friend, and the stalks is stir fried. This kuay tiaw, I think it’s both boiled and deep fried.

Rib-eye Bulgogi

Tender & sweet

The rib-eye aka beef steak from the beef rib is well done and pretty chewy.  It would be better if it is medium well done, so that the meat would be more tender and juicy. *perfecto* However, it’s not easy to please everyone in a banquet as everyone has their own preference on how well done they like their steak. So, no hiam-ing for this case.

Dinner was scheduled to end at approximately 10.45pm followed by fireworks, but dessert was not out yet. Ahlost, JF, Jeffrey and I stayed back for dessert, while the rest went off to capture some fireworks pichas. Good thing we stayed back for dessert as it was more worth missing out on the fireworks.

Dessert: Acte final, Delices sucres (Final act, sweet delicacy)

I has bird nest for dessert

Chilled rock sugar, premier bird nest & ginseng

For dessert, we had BIRD NEST in GINSENG okay! It was a very nice dessert! :3

I has bird nest for dessert (repeating again)

Another picha to rub in for those who missed out dessert for fireworks *evil*

Chilled rock sugar, premier bird nest & ginseng

Bird nest is one of the luxurious food on earth as it is among the most expensive animal products eaten by human. It is believed that bird nest help make your body, skin and face looks younger. On the other hand, ginseng is believed to relieve stress and gives good health and stamina to your body.

ahlost plays hide and seek

Ordinary girl like me can’t afford bird nest with ginseng. So, I ate ahlost’s portion because she don’t like the ginseng taste. Ji lucky sia lo..  Hohoho ..

Do I look more youthful than before?

Throughout the evening, guests were entertained by Chinatown Shanghai. It is said to be their first time performing in Malaysia. It was a very Broadway-like performance minus the theater. Here are among the pichas taken on the performances:

Love the lighting

hosting the night away

musical dance & songs

nice costumes

she has a very lovely voice

Final dance of the night

Super tall fella posing in front

The fella with the top hat is supremely tall! *digs Facebook*

Our boobies is just at the height of his waist!

See! So tall right?!

with the Chinatown Shanghai babes

They are pretty, sexy, hot and talented! I feel so fat and short in between them. Meehhh…

Apart from Chinatown Shanghai, look who else is performing in the house:

Aviva - Alex Chai singing

Alvin the wolverine, the basist

The evening is not just about entertainment, eating and socializing among guests. There were interval during dinner for cheque presentation Interhill Group and witnessed by YAB Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud to PERYATIM Kuching Education and Basic Living Fund for 152 orphans, PETIPUN Education Awareness Programme for Penan Communities, and DBKU Plant-A-Tree Programme.

Each organisation receives RM43,000

I also want cheque.

After the cheque presentation, there was a special cake cutting ceremony specially arranged for YAB Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud for his 29th Anniversary as Chief Minister of Sarawak.

CM checking out the cake

VVIPs join in the fun on the stage

CM is happy

I am just a small photog among the paparazzi

The cheque presentation and cake cutting were the intervals during dinner.

Where's everyone?

Of course the evening did not end just like that. We got ourselves a ticket entrance to Liquid Blast! Party.

Thank you, Stephane!

Next stop… Liquid?

Where to next?

TUUHUUU… I exceeded my photobucket bandwidth and hence, all the pichas cannot be viewed. Am still working on upgrading it, but it doesn’t accept my paypal payment because it’s not linked with my credit card. So babi one! Anyway, just enjoy this post lah!

On our second day in Taiwan, we had to wake super early like 6.30am to get ready and have our breakfast. We had to leave the hotel by 7.45am to avoid the jam towards the railway station.

Salad and ham

We had our breakfast at Holidays Inn Express’ cafe which is the smallest buffet space I’ve ever dined in. It is situated just at their lobby with many small tables and chairs. Very small space and we had to “squeeze” and “fight” for food (add in extra exaggeration).

Porridge and Miso soup

Immediately after our breakfast, we got all our luggage into our traveling machine, the Coach, and left the hotel for the railway station which was approximately 20 minutes drive away.

Taipei Railway Station

This is how Taipei Railway Station looks like on the outside. Our coach went around it and dropped us of somewhere inside the station. We didn’t have to get our luggage as the driver will be going to Hualien as well, by driving, meanwhile, we get to Hualien by train.

Reason being, so we can experience a different mass of transportation in Taiwan. Actual fact, the road to Hualien is mountainous and very geli, so, not very suitable for those who easily get car sick. Anyway, we get to ride train!

Ticket Counters

This is how the station looks like on the inside. Very nice! I like their architecture design.

There are a few 7 Eleven inside the station. I wanted to go in to buy myself a cup of coffee because I didn’t get to have one during breakfast – SuperRushHourBreakfast.

7 Eleven Express

We quickly walked past the first 7 Eleven because the tour guide was so anxious to show off Taipei Railway Station. Couldn’t believe I cussed because I couldn’t stop for 5 minutes to buy my coffee.

City Cafe in 7 Eleven

We stopped by one of the 7 Eleven because some tour member needs to use the toilet before we ride the train.

They have this City Cafe selling in 7 Eleven. The Americano is not bad, but the lattes are tasteless because they put too much milk in it.

Taiwanese lok lok

This is the famous “lok lok” we always see in the Taiwan channels (to those who has parabolic, you’ll know what I mean). I managed to capture this before my camera kena halau (got shooed). Apparently, no photo taking allowed in 7 Eleven. I wonder why.

Me and Bro

So, we end up camwhoring outside 7 Eleven instead.

kopi-ing with leng lui

And another shot with City Cafe leng lui.

Hello Kitty Playing Cards

I bought 2 packs of Hello Kitty playing cards. Nice kan?  Bought them so that we could play in the train in case it gets to bored. It was 3 hours ride worr…

Rails

We reached the basement of the station via escalator and this is how it subway rails look like. *sakai* We don’t have railway in Kuching (except in Peninsula Malaysia). Even though there’s a place called Jalan Keretapi (Train Road) but that does not mean that we have railway tracks there. =x

Monitor

We have to check and double check the time of arrival of our train, in case there is any delay. Also, to ensure that we get on the right one.

Tickets

These are our train tickets. It costs us NT$441 (approximately RM49)  for our train ride from Taipei to Hualien.

with the rails

I am very nervous standing so near the tracks. I is scared someone who walks pass might push me down when the train comes. @.@!!! *Final Destination dilemma*

people mountain, people sea

The station is similar to KL LRT/KMT stations; it is packed with humans. The only difference is that, Taiwanese are very organized. They wait till everyone gets off the train, then, they go in. Unlike Malaysians so kiasee the train will leave them behind, just squeeze through when people are trying to get of the train.

#Random picha:

cute terrier

The one thing you can never get to see in Malaysia’s public transportation is doggies! You get to see doggies riding public transportation in Taiwan. Saw this cute terrier with its owner patting on its head to keep it calm.

The Train

This is how our ride looks like. Chuu chuuu...

Our trails

The train ride from Taipei to Hualien takes about 3 hours. As you can see from the map above, throughout the whole journey, all we see is mountain, villages, farms, rocks and etc on our right; the beach on our left along the coastline.

Seating

The seats are pretty comfortable with plenty of leg room plus, there’s a leg rest in front and you can adjust the height to your liking.

Arrived Hualien station

After the 3 hours of non stop sightseeing and picha taking (took few hundreds pichas just sitting in the train =____=) train ride, we finally arrived Hualien.  We didn’t get to play cards because we are so sakai with the sceneries. LOL

Hualien road

Hualien is unlike Taipei, where there are cars everywhere! This part of Hualien is more like the country side city. All you see from here are trucks, buses and very few cars = NO TRAFFIC JAM

restaurant for lunch

We had lunch in this restaurant just opposite Hualien Railway Station. Don’t ask me what is the restaurant’s name because I don’t know (I can’t read Chinese,) but you can figure it out by looking at the restaurant’s name on top of the building.

Fruits sold in the restaurant

They even sell fruits at the entrance of the restaurant. Everywhere also can berbusiness.

Now, into the food business…

Hualien is the largest county in Taiwan and is located on the mountainous eastern coastline of Taiwan. Hence, we get to taste the different side of Taiwan. According to the tour guide, the village taste, in other words, the kampung style cooking.

Spicy sauce

Everyone had a serving of the spicy sauce to go with the dishes. It’s pretty spicy and tasted like sambal minus the belacan.

brown rice

We were served brown rice. It’s red in color and it is exactly the same as the ones we find locally. The shape of the rice is slightly different from ours. It’s short and rounder, whereas the local brown rice we have is long and thin.

chicken soup

We had wintermelon, red dates and wolfberries chicken soup. It is a clear and yummy soup.

red dates and wolfberries

steamed fish

The fish is very fresh and the gravy tasted real good with the rice.

The round thing sitting on the fish is some kind of fruit in Taiwan and according to the rest, it tasted sour like sour plum. hmm… mysterious mini ball.

sauted veggie

Similar to our local veggies.

Okay.. So it is here I am in the meat dilemma. I can’t remember which is the venison or lamb or ostrich meat =x

meat with onions and spring onions

wild guess, this should be the venison meat.

some meat with fern leaf

wild guess #2, this should be the lamb or ostrich meat with the fern leaf.

fern leaf

The fern leaf cooked with the meat is really that fern leaf we normally see sitting on trees leeching on the trees nutrients, that fern leaf! Its texture is slimy and similar to midin and ti wang miaw. Super slimy!

fern bud

The “bud” or the baby leaf looks like the midin head. lol.. It is crispy! Looks like bird head. =x

pork ribs

Oh boy! This is like the nicest pork ribs I’ve ever tasted! It is hong something pai kut. The porkie is very tender and juicy. Slurps~

seafood with greens

Crispy celery with seafood of fish fillet and squid. Also sedaps.

glutinous rice

The glutinous rice with dried shrimps on top and mushrooms and porkie on the inside. Not bad not bad.

glutinous rice

I had a spoonful of it. Don’t want to take too much rice because I….

steamed prawns

….want to eat more prawns :3

prawn heads

I is ji lucky yi xia lo.. (I’m very lucky) Because bro and I sat with the senior citizens and most of them don’t eat prawns. High cholesterol bah..

prawn heads

Hogged the whole plate of prawns to myself :3 sibeh happy. For this, I classified lunch in Hualien as the best one. LOL!!

If you ask how’s the food in Taiwan? Will you get used to it and etc… Aiyo, their food is like ours lah. So, if you travel to Taiwan, you don’t have to worry about food as they tasted the same. Don’t need to pack Maggi Mee to Taiwan. There are plenty of food to taste and they are very sedaps one. Don’t need to worry about getting tummy upset due to the food and etc. JUST EAT!

oranges for dessert

Throughout the whole tour, we are served with oranges as dessert in almost all the restaurants we dine in. blerk..

ice cream for dessert

Being the not-orange-for-dessert-again-please, Bro and I bought ice cream from the restaurant. Meiji ice cream wei!

meiji ice creams

Even the packing looks so nice. Recyclable some more.

MEIJI A-CHINO

Vanilla ice-cream coated with chocolate and nuts. Tasted far better than Magnum. =x

MEIJI HI-BLACK

Chocolate ice cream coated with black chocolate. Super NAIS!!

enjoy by squating

Then, we sat by the roadside in the cold weather while waiting for the rest to get ready (toilet visit).

The other relatives who saw us enjoying our ice cream by the roadside, jumped back into the restaurant to get some too. LOL

ice cream cone

cone case

If only Sugarbun can also come up with something like this! lol..

red bean ice cream

Real red bean ice cream! They said it’s very nice. So, it is very nice lorh..

reflection

We had to finish our ice cream before going into the coach. The tour guide doesn’t allow us eating ice cream inside, afraid that we are 3 years old that we might dirty the seats. bleh…

Done with our ice cream, we continued our tour to the Tarako Gorge . The scenery there are super nice! I shall share that in another post

#Random picha of the day:

Kou Ke Kou Le

Super slim and long Coca-Cola from Taiwan.

Wanted to continue posting on my Taiwan trip, but decided to show of my yesterday’s breakfast :3

I went to Foody Goody Cafe, Tabuan Stutong Commercial Centre for breakfast yesterday. Never tried the laksa there because I always berlaksa at Fat Cat Cafe, when I’m in that area.

Foody Goody Cafe is located in the same “arch” as Kuching Specialist Hospital. View map. It is very easy to spot the coffeeshop. Same row as the hospital, with long red signboard.

Kopi-O @ RM0.90

The Kopi-O (black coffee) is harum (nice fragrance). :3~~ Yea, still can find 90 cents kopi-o in Kuching.

Among all the foody goody stalls, one of the most happening one is the laksa stall.

Laksa @ RM4.00

According to @Myremi from Mum-Mum, the laksa stall is like a factory! It is true that they have at least 8 person operating the stall: 2 person prepare the ingredients, 1 cook, 5 servers. Under her sharp observation, she shared, “i timed it once. 3 bowls = 5 min. and they run out of food by 10-10:30 am. open 7 am”. I didn’t need to wait for more than 10 minutes for my order, even when it’s on a Sunday morning (where business is extra good).

So many prawnies!

The laksa (normal) comes with at least 8 prawns! That’s quite a lot for an ordinary bowl of laksa.

Big vs Small

Bro ordered BIG laksa. The portion of the BIG laksa is the same as the normal ones, just size of the prawn is different.

Lime and Sambal

The laksa comes with lime and spicy sambal – not to my liking because it has a weird after taste =x

Well, the laksa itself is pretty spicy already, don’t need to add the sambal to make it spicier.

4 sticks of Yew Char Kueh @ RM2.00 (50 cents each)

There is this Kuih stall just outside the coffeeshop. They sell freshly made yew char kueh. Who could resist it? We ordered four sticks of yew char kueh for three persons (big eaters maa).

Yew Char Kueh dippings

The yew char kueh goes supremely well with the laksa soup. You guys should give it a try. I tak tipu (no cheat) one.  This can fill up your tank if you think the laksa noodle/beehoon is too little for you.

After finishing our laksa, our tummy felt a little dissatisfied as there are still plenty of space in it. =X

Han Chi Peng & Yew Char Kueh

So, we went to the kuih stall for more yew char kueh, han chi peng (something like cinnamon roll), yew char kueh with the sweet filling, and lek tau suan (mung bean soup aka sticky split green bean dessert). All for RM4.90 only!

Yew Char Kueh with sweet filling

I thought I would be the one saying, “doesn’t this reminds you of something?”, instead, my marther said it out loud first. *wipes sweat*

Lek Tau Suan

The lek tau suan is very nice just that it is too sweet. Definitely need to eat it with yew char kueh. Plus, I had another round of this lek tau suan for lunch yesterday :3

#Random:

Cash Register

Saw this cash register at the porridge stall. You don’t laugh, okay? *lamao*

]]> http://annna.net/foody-goody-tabuan-stutong-commercial-centre/feed/ 20 http://annna.net/the-launching-of-the-star-sarawak-edition/ http://annna.net/the-launching-of-the-star-sarawak-edition/#comments Sat, 13 Mar 2010 01:30:15 +0000 annna http://annna.net/?p=4736 Last Sunday (March 7, 2010), I was at the Spring to witness the launching of The Star Sarawak Edition with Allen, Fahriee and Norman. We went there as kelehfei to cover the event.

The Gunners....pick your size

The Star Sarawak Edition was officially launched by YB Datuk Amar Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Johari bin Tun Abang Haji Openg, Minister of Housing and Urban Development Sarawak, representing YAB Chief Minister of Sarawak. YB was accompanied by The Star’s Executive Deputy Chairman Dato’ Clement Hii, Datin Linda Ngiam, Mr Ng Beng Lye, Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai and Mr. Rajah during the launching.

Dato' Clement Hii & YB on the stage

The event started with registration of invited guests and members of the media. The invited guests were mostly from business organisations and associations. I went over to register as a Media. :3

Registration Counter

Each registrants received a copy of The Star and an envelope consisting of one month FREE subscription of The Star and 10% discount voucher to shop at LEA Centre.

FREE copy of The Star Sarawak Edition of the day

While waiting for the arrival of the VVIPs, guests were seated and entertained by the Sarawak Cultural Village’s ethno-fusion band, Tuku Kame.

Tuku Kame entertaining guests

Upon the arrival of the VVIPs, Silas, emcee of the day,  gave a short introduction of The Star Sarawak Edition.

Emcee of the day, Silas

Then, there’s the opening speech by Dato’ Clement Hii.

Welcome address speech by Dato' Clement Hii

“The Sarawak edition will be presenting local stories and events in a fresh, exciting and comprehensive manner. The main focus of The Star Sarawak edition will solely be on Sarawak alone and our readers will be able to receive a copy of their newspaper by six in the morning daily at a price much lower than previously.” – Dato’ Clement Hii

Abang Jo's turn

YB expressed his impression on The Star Sarawak Edition during his speech, “I was impressed to see The Star at my breakfast table this morning. Normally we have to wait till about 1pm for the paper, but today it came together with the other papers at 7.30am.”

Launching via laptop on the stage

Abang Jo was accompanied by Dato’ Clement and Datin Linda during the launching.

View of the launching from the registration counter

The press conference took place after the launching.

Press Conference with the Media

There were refreshments prepared for the guests and media.

food to feed the guests and media

Someone arrived on time for the food..

Kenny: Just in time

The food they prepared for guests and media (mostly nyonya kuih):

Egg sandwiches

Rojak

Chai Kueh

Kuih Melaka

Curry puffs

some coconut kuih

Nasi Pulut Panggang

Tropical fruits

There were chill out session which include games and quiz. There were giving out 7 units of Celcom Vodafone USB modem stick. I won one unit on the first round :3

My stick

Fahriee, don’t jealous, k? lol

After that one round of quiz session, Hafiz, the Juara of Akademi Fantasia Season 7, made an appearance on stage and sang a couple of songs.

Hafiz, Juara Akademi Fantasia 7

Hafiz looks like Fahriee kan kan kan?

From left to right: Norman, Allen, Me, Fahriee, Bongkersz

We met Bongkersz during the launching. Nice to meet you, Bongkersz!

* * * * *

The Star Roadshow will be at the Spring from March 7 till 14, 2010. There are promotions and mysterious gifts to be redeemed. Visit The Star Circulation Counter and check out The Star Sarawak Edition subscription offers (valid for a limited time only)!

Package A
Subscribe 2 months + get 1 month FREE at only RM56 (save RM52!)

Package B
Subscribe 8 months + get 4 months FREE at only RM224 (save RM209!)

* From 7th to 14th March, Package B subscribers will also receive a special gift: a Starbucks voucher or two free music lessons from Maestro Music School (on first-come-first-served basis)

I’ve calculated, if you subscribe for the promotional packages, you are paying less than RM0.70 only for a copy of The Star! Subscribe now and jimat!

Triple beds

Mum, bro and I shared a room. So, we got the triple room for three. The bed is super comfy! Almost didn’t want to get out of it when bro and I were watching TV while waiting for the rest to get ready.

The see through bathroom

The bathroom damn sexy lorh. See the shadow? That’s where the shower is. Plus, they have this 400ml “Lux” shower gel attached with the shower. So, you can lather yourself up with more shower gel. hakhakhak…

After we checked-in to our respective rooms, we went out for a stroll. Initially, we were just planning to cross the road and buy something from Family Mart (24 hours convenient store) which is just across the road from our hotel. When we saw a coffeeshop not far from it, we ended up having supper in that coffeeshop called “Yong He Dou Jiang”.

Yong He Dou Jiang, Taoyuan

I forgotten to take a picha of the signboard but I managed to locate the shop from google map, and best of all, Google Map Taiwan has 3D satelite images!!!!!! How to not love Taiwan the IT advance country?

How come our Malaysian google map don’t have such 3d images geh?

Anyway, if you google for Yong He Dou Jiang, Taiwan, you will find lots of Yong He Dou Jiang in different districts in Taiwan. It’s such a common name that you only recognize the shop by its location.

Menu in Chinese

Now, here’s the trouble we (Mum, Bro and I) Bananas (don’t know how to read Chinese characters) faced throughout the whole trip in Taiwan. Everything is in Chinese! We would be able to sample more Taiwanese delicacies if it’s not more the Bananaisme. T____T Fortunately, we went with relatives who reads Chinese unlike us cina sesat.

Anyway, as you can see from the menu, there are so much to choose from, if we had black hole in our tummy, we would have ordered them all. So, to keep things simple, we just order whatever we see.

Of puffs and pastries

These puffs and pastries are the Yong He Dou Jiang’s specialties. There were all freshly made on that particular day.

Curry puffs

Yam puffs/balls

Special type of baked sandwich

This special type of sandwich is super freshly made. We witnessed how it is done. Simply eye opening experience.

The making of the special sandwich

Plain Mantou

And of course, there’s also the “traditional” bun, plain mantou. Normally, eaten with hot soya milk or hot tea in the Chinese kung fu movies. *LOL*

Soya bean milk

The soya bean milk, the everyone’s favourite hot drink (not mine because I don’t take soya bean). According to them, it is very delicious like very fresh and not too sweet. I tried a sip and………almost fainted. Hot tea is good for me.

They also serve this bean bean soups:

Soya bean soup

something peanut soup

This one smells like peanut butter in hot water. LOL.. Saw someone having it with the yew char kueh.

Yew Char Kueh

The yew char kueh is simply the best! It is very long and crispy. Super nice and tasted better than the ones we buy from the Kuching Festival. We had a lot of this.

Still undecided on what else to try, we peeked at what our Taiwanese neighbours wre having, and we kinda followed. So, we can get to taste like the locals. =x

Family having supper

These are the copycated menus:

Xiao Long Bao

The Xiao Long Bao is like steamed dumplings but in the shape of mini bao. Also, the taste is pretty similar to “Guo Tieh” (wok dumplings), just juicier. At every bite you take, the juice inside would flow out and it is extremely hot! On our first attempt (which was during dinner), most of us burnt our tongue while having this mini bao.

sweet juicy porkie inside

The hot steamy outer skin with hot sweet juicy and tender porkie inside. *licks lip*

Some noodles with egg on top

Then, there’s this plate of noodles we saw our Taiwanese neighbour enjoying to the very bits! So, we reckoned it should be very sedaps and we ordered one.

egg done right

The “egg bag” (egg white wrapping around the egg yolk like a bag) sitting on top of the noodles is superb. The yolk is not overcooked and still very jellyish waiting to be poked. I was so tempted to poke it and let it flow into the noodle, mix it and take a bite.

Oriental Spaghetti

I’m not sure what exactly is the name of the noodle, so I call it the oriental spaghetti. Simply because the thickness and texture of the noodles is similar to spaghetti and the taste, well, Asianised bolognese without tomato paste and replacing minced beef with pork.

The lost Chinaman

To me, I don’t quite like the oriental spaghetti. But for bro, he enjoyed it like our neighbour.

After our fulfilling supper, we headed over to Family Mart for some Taiwan Beer and Papaya Milk .

Taiwan Beer (NT49; approx. RM5.40)

Uni-President Papaya Milk (NT33; approx. RM3.60)

Slept late that night and had to woke up very early in the morning the next day at 6.30am! T____T A train to catch. Next on, our train ride.. chuuuu..chuuu…chuuuu…

Kuala Lumpur to Taipei via AirAsia X

I went to Taiwan for vacation with my family during Chinese New Year 2010. Last CNY, we went to Jakarta. Comparing both the vacation, gotta admit that I enjoyed my trip in Jakarta more. Reason being, the vacation in Taiwan was superly rush (everyday move to new city, new hotel. Very short time to shop – practically can’t enjoy shopping).

Taipei, Taiwan

Anyway, I managed to sort out some pichas on Day 1 of my trip but I won’t be able to update the whole trip in details, otherwise, Dine with Annna would be Traveling Taiwan with Annna. *LAMAO* Well, I took more than 2,800 pichas (350 pichas a day in average) and I can’t possibly post them all up here. However, I’m sharing the pichas (still uploading) in Facebook and you may check it out to have an idea how the 8 days tour in Taiwan is like.

Map captured from AirAsia X screen

The 8 days tour covers 4 cities in Taiwan, namely Taipei, Kaohsiung, Hualien, and Taichung. Altogether, I think we visited approximately 20 (plus minus) tourist spots. We visited several famous temples and also those “tourist marketing” spots which makes us sit in a classroom to listen to some herbal stories and how good they are, namely, Ling Zhi, Deer plasenta, pearl powder, royal jelly and etc.. Not cheap lah! All those costs < RM1,000. To me, visiting those places are a waste of time because I have no interest in them, except sampling those expensive stuff. Plus, not like I can afford any of them. Piff.. Those time should be properly spent in night markets or shopping malls where NT (Taiwan dollars) are fairly well spent.

Few "thousands" richer

Anyway, I’ll just highlight some places of MY interest and MY makaning (eating/dining) experience in Taiwan. So, just bear with the sudden change of nationality of this blog and feel free to comment or enquire about the trip.

me at the National Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall

Upon arrival, we were brought to the National Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. We spent most of our time there taking pichas and me, camwhoring around.

Long neck & Co.

They have dinosaurs in Taiwan. *LOL*

They have this beautiful garden on the other side of the area. We were like sakais children who visited the garden of candies when we saw the Sakura trees (cherry blossoms).

Sakura trees

Sakura flowers

Love the sunset effects here. <3

We had dinner our first dinner in Taiwan at Taroko Restaurant. It was an eight course meal and it was a really good meal.

To-raku Restaurant

After dinner, we were brought to Shihlin Market, as if dinner was not fulfilling (how can not get fat).

Shihlin Night Market, Taipei

Shihlin Night Market is located in the Shilin District of Taipei City, Taiwan. It is considered as one of the biggest and well known night market in Taipei. There are 2 parts of the market; Eateries and Clothes. They are both just accross the road and we need to walk across via the underground bridge to get to the other side. Oh, jaywalking is a very serious offence in Taiwan.

The famous Super Big Chicken Chop Stall

The most popular food in Shihlin Night Market (according to our tour guide) is the Super Big Chicken Chop. It is NT50 (approximately RM5.50) for a gigantic piece of deep fried chicken fillet with seasoned powder on it.

The uber long queue

#Tips to shop for food in Taiwan: the longer the queue, the better the food. If you see a stall with a long queue, the food sold there must be good.

Needless to say, we joined the queue to have a taste of the popular chicken chop. It was a long queue, bro volunteered to wait in line while I hunt for the other Taiwan delicacies: Pearl Milk Tea and Taiwan sausages.

The satisfied brother

The long wait was paid off. Bro was satisfied with the chicken despite the long wait.

Crispy on the outside, tender and juicy on the inside *thumbs up*

I took a few bites off the chicken chop and it is indeed very good! Now I know why it is so popular.

Since Taiwan is the pioneer of pearl milk tea, it is the first item in our must have list. While bro was waiting for the chicken chop, I went to the next stalls (both left and right side of the chick chop stall) to buy a glass of pearl milk tea – original flavour.

Drink stall on the left side of the Chick Chop stall

Drink stall on the right side of the Chick Chop stall

The size is like Starbucks Venti and the price is averagely NT30-35 (RM3.30-3.80) each.

Verdict: Kuching’s pearl milk tea is much nicer =X

Another must have item in our list was the Taiwan sausage:

Ta Chang Bao Xiao Chang

There were many sizes of sausages to choose from. From big to small. The big ones are sold by weight and then, cut into smaller pieces for easy chewing. As for the small ones, they are slightly bigger than the ones we have in Kuching.

Taiwan BIG sausages

Pricewise, they are pretty slightly more expensive by a few-ty cents. How funny, right? And we thought we would be able to enjoy cheaper Taiwan sausages since they are from Taiwan. Small ones cost NT25 (approximately RM2.75). Big ones cost NT100 (approximately RM11).

Verdict: Even though it is slightly more expensive, but tastewise, it is supremely yummy! Worth the price you paid for it.

Giant white bittergourd

The week before I leave for Taiwan, my colleagues recommended that white bittergourd juice it is a must try. I gave the “ewww..” face and they assured me that it is not bitter. Despite their assurance, I was still reluctant to try it. But mum bought it and I stole a sip to try.

Verdict: Not bitter, yet sweet and very very very refreshing!

Real white bittergourd

In case you don’t know how white bittergourd looks like, I took a picha of it (above). It looks fake and even feels fake! But it’s the real thing.

Lemon tea

They have a lot of this kinda drinks – something something tea. Didn’t try them because we had so much to try in hands.

These are among the look see look see inside the night market – eateries side:

The crowd inside Shihlin Night Market - Eateries side

So many signboards to blind the banana readers

Then, we stumbled upon this one Oyster Omelet stall with lots of “Corner wit Love” pichas at the signboards.

Some pichas of the stall with the stars from Corner with Love

Corner with Love cover with the celebs' autographs

Could this be the famous oh-ah-jien from the drama? We didn’t try it due to the time as we need to queue for it and that we had to leave the place to check-in to our hotel for the night. T___________T <CIS!!!)

The Oyster Omelet smells so good~

The oyster omelet smells so good, while the stinky tofu is damn smelly!

The 1 mile away smellable Chou Tofu (Stinky Tofu)

Varieties of food

Spicy Stinky Tofu

Since we don’t have the time to queue for the oyster omelet, I went to buy a packet of this stinky tofu since every corner of the night market, there is at least one stall of it. So, I reckoned that I should at least give it a try.

P/S: I don’t eat tofu.

Spicy Stinky Tofu @ NT50 (approx. RM5.50)

Verdict: The smell is already a killer. The taste is suicidal. First and the last try for this. *strangles self*

Here are some pichas of the other part of the night market which is just across the road from the above.

some cow tongue pancake

the other part of the night market with more shopping - clothes & accessories

preserved fruit stalls

About 5 minutes walk from the night market, there is this huge wholesale-like fruit stall which sells all varieties of Taiwan fruits.

fresh fruit stall

After loitering for about 1 hour an a half at Shihlin Night Market, we gathered at our coach on time and we were brought to our first night stay at Holiday Inn Express. As if the night was not tiring enough, we went out to loiter on our own after throwing our luggage in the room.

The supper part, will be in the next post…

Dinner was at Topspot – ABC Stall. One of the best spot for seafood at an affordable price.

Bamboo Clam

This bamboo clam is one of my favourite seafood! Love it to the max when it is cooked with curry powder. *YumYum*

Sea Needle/Ambal

It is also known as Sea Needle or Ambal in Malay language.

Andre's Tooot

That night, I learnt that within the group, it is known as Andre’s something. *swt*

Crispy Oyster Omelet

The Crispy Oyster Omelet is so gigantic! It practically took up half of the space on the lazy susan.

Prawnies <3

I didn’t know that Amiey is allergic to prawns. I know a few friends who are allergic to prawns and sad to say, that they can’t take prawns, but at the same time *evil grin* more for me to eat. In a cover cover manner, “I shall eat your portion for your sake”. JK only..

Crispy prawns

The prawns are big and fresh *slurps* Love the crispy skin and normally, I eat the skin as well….if they are crispy.

Sea Cucumber Soup

As if dinner is not seafoodful enough, Cyril had ordered the Sea Cucumber soup!

Apart from seafood, of course there are veggies to balance the meal.

Fried Midin with Belacan

Mixed Veggies

And there’s meat as well.

Lemon Chicken

The lemon chicken is delicious. The portion for all dishes are so big, we couldn’t finish the chicken.

Pandan Coconut

Nothing beats the freshness of the coconut juice! A great combo of seafood and coconut. Even with beer also best lah, but I prefer coconut juice. It is sweet and refreshing~

Sweet Coconut

After the fulfilling dinner, we took a group picha. The waiter helped to take this picha.

For Project 365

From left to right: Cyril, Amiey, Ron, Fahriee (the only white T), Me, Irene and Andre.

The group picha taken looks so………….weird.

Camwhore #1: Where's Ron?

Camwhore #2: All in

Still camwhore pichas are the best.

Jam in parking lots

The evening did not end there. We had “fun” jammed in the parking lots. Apparently someone parked their car in their own convenience and hence, made the way out complicated and caused a massive jam in the parking lots. Throughout the jam, some of us were on twitter. Yours truly was the typical kiasu tweeple, she tweeted the whole time till she left the place. *champion*

Standby change

I even prepared some changes, so I can just pay for the parking ticket and F1 home.

Extra payment

As expected, the extra wait in the jam cost us an extra 50 cents. Ron even suggested that we repark our car, and we go over to Pica for a drink till the jam settles. lol

idiot

When I reached the payment booth, needless to say, I effed.

Anyway, let’s not let the jam distract us from the main topic.

I wish Amiey all the best and good luck in her studies. Hang in there, girl! It’s a new place, new environment and a place nothing near like  home. Always take care and update your twitter often yea!

XOXO

]]> http://annna.net/amieyalens-farewell-dinner-at-topspot/feed/ 5 http://annna.net/mischievous-grin/ http://annna.net/mischievous-grin/#comments Tue, 19 Jan 2010 01:25:44 +0000 annna http://annna.net/?p=4553

She is hungry.

Last weekend was our Company’s 7th Annual Dinner at Pullman Kuching. There were lots and lots and lots of food and pichas taken that night. Viewed quite a number of albums in the sharing folders and decided to post this picha as a teaser before I have the time to update on the night itself.

Thanks to Cheong for the picha I leeched from the sharing folder. Ngekngekngek

Will update more on the annual dinner (food of course)…….soon….saya harap (I hope). *keeps fingers crossed*

Chong & Low Cafe, BDC

This time round, I tried something different instead of the handmade noodles. I ordered laksa because the aroma of the laksa soup haunted my mind! It says, “eat me! eat me!”

Siang Hen Laksa

Apart from Laksa, they do sell nasi lemak, curry rice and many more. Multi-food stall.

Laksa condiment

They serve this special laksa sambal condiment and lime with spoon and chopsticks before serving me laksa.

Love the lighting

This is my first time tasting such laksa condiment. It’s not the typical spicy sambal with belacan in it. It is very very different from those we normally had.

Extra condiment

Because it looked so special, I bet it is good. So, I ordered an extra one =X *Greedy*

fried onions

It is actually fried onions with spicy sauce. Tastes great with lime juice and even better when mixed in the laksa.

Laksa @ RM3.50

The laksa is like any ordinary laksa. The taste is slightly mild BUT when mixed with the special condiment,  the spicyness kicks in and it tasted real good. That fried onions thingy is addictive!

Laksa

I am very hungry now. I will come again for Siang Hen Laksa. Anyone?