1 year!!??!?

My gosh, it has been more than 1 year since my last posting. I must say that I am a little dissapointed with myself. There is a cantonese saying about the new ... you know what I mean. If you dont, nevermind-lar.

London was fantastic and Paris was just beautiful. In Paris, we loved the French food we had at L'Epin Dupin (11, rue Dupin, Paris 75006 France, +33 1 4222 6456) and the pastries from Fauchon (Place de la Madelaine) the most. But as they say, its hard to taste bad food in Paris! I must say, I have a new view on French food.

Later...

Hideki Bangsar

Apa-lar. I thought she suggested Hajime, which I blogged about earlier this year - so I said I am not going to pay money for food there, coz its just not worth it.

Okok- my fault, Hideki is it? Ok lar, I had quite good memories there and she wanted her sesame ramen and her Maki (this time she ordered the Hideki Maki). I ordered the RM50 a set Sashimi and Udon set. Yea yea yea, boring sets but I just like to have all the food they serve in the set.

But I must say this time, my set wasn't that good. The sashimi didn't taste that fresh and the Udon noodles was plain and bland. But her sasame ramen was superb, I thought. I swore that if I come here again, I would ONLY order the sasame ramen, full stop.

Price 4/5, Taste 2.5/5, Atmosphere 3/5, Service 4/5 (we were the only customers on a wet Thrusday night)

Vietnam Passion - Chulan Sq

Now we have tried this place before and it didn't really impress us the last time. However, traffic was awful in town as for some reason or other, they closed Bkt Bintang Road. So we ended up at this place again. I must say, what a stroke of luck. Food was great, service fantastic (very polite ever smiling waiters and waitresses) and not bad atmosphere (except for there was something wrong with the air conditioning so there was a smell of chlorine in the front area). Anyway, to the food, we shared a mango salad (quite refreshing and yummy), prawn and pork omletter (very very yummy, their specialty - I have no idea what is the Vietnamese name for this dish), a mix platter of grilled meats (squid, chic & beef - I requested for no prawn otherwise they wld have served it too) and pho (acc to the boy, it was very good). They were very accommodating as I requested a change with one of the dishes. Also something that caught my eye which looked yummilicious - beef stew with bread. We were so stuffed! Very good food, great service, shame abt the problem with the aircon.

Price 3/5, Taste 4/5, Atmosphere 3/5, Service 4.5/5 (I am stingy/have very high stds so we shall see which restaurant deserves a 5!)

Porto Romano - Tmn Tun

Also another branch of a place we have tried before (the original is on the ground floor Crown Princess hotel - in a corner area facing Jln Tun Razak). We sort of knew what to expect in terms of the food quality so coming here was just testing out to see if this branch's quality measures up to the original. We seem to do this a lot! (i.e. go to branches of the original places - sometimes w disastrous results - see entry on La Risata, Medan Damansara). Anyway, for appetisers, we shared grilled veg (doused in olive oil and balsamic vinegar), had mushroom soup as well as seafood soup. I had beef bacon sphag carbonaro, my friend had seafood pasta, he had salmon fettucini, all pretty standard good quality fare. Nothing near the standards of La Risata Ampang mind you but not bad. Apparently a little pricey for Tmn Tun standards. The place had a couple of tables occupied but I don't if it will survive in the long run. As for dessert, we gelato and panna cotta to round out the meal.

Price 3/5, Taste 3.5/5, Atmosphere 4/5 (his rating, I wld have rated it a 3), Service 3.5/5

Santai - Taman Tun

We always come here for good decently priced Malay food. It's always packed full of locals from around the Taman. Good place to chill out, catch up with friends and the best part is, it's walking distance to a great dvd place. Since it's so hard to find dvd shops in this town, thank goodness for the Tmn Tun shop where I can get my monthly fix. This time round, we had tom yam soup, fried fish (with chilli sauce I think - basically very spicy, every bite I ate, I had to drink water), kangkong belacan, telur dadar etc. Very standard dishes, well cooked so it was just what we expected.

Price 2/5, Taste 4/5, Atmosphere 3/5, Service 2/5 (Service is normally quite good but this time round our waiter wasn't the brightest bulb)

El Cerdo

A very popular restaurant located on Changkat Bukit Bintang. It proudly calls itself a place for nose to tail eating. Used to be located at a much smaller venue on Changkat Tong Shin. It recently moved to this larger location a few months back. Atmosphere was rather noisy, demographics seem to more towards the 30-55 year old crowd (in our assessment, lots of aunties and uncles), tons of pictures of piggys everywhere. Anyway, was the food any good? Yea it was, I had a small roast pork knuckle and he had ribs. Good but pricey yeah. It was very much in the Deutsche Hauus type of pricing. I suppose since pork is not readily available here, it gives them an excuse to jack up the prices. I think the next time we go back, we should try the roast piglet, it looks quite interesting. They throw plates on the floor after using it to cut up the piggy! Don't know if I can stand the sight of a dead piggy staring at me while I eat but these are the sacrifices one must make to try good food!

Price 4/5, Taste 4/5, Atmosphere 3/5 (would have been higher had it not been for the big table of uncles and aunties making so much noise), Service 3.5/5

La Risata

Human twins, The PETRONAS twin towers etc. Well, not exactly 100% alike, but when you hear the word twin, you would think they are at more similar than not.

The success of McDonalds, Burger King, Starbucks, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf and other fast food (and drink) outlets is partly due to the fact that they serve consistent food (and drink) everywhere you go in the world. So, where exactly am I getting at- get to the point mate. Ok ok.

Feeling hungry (very) we left the office for dinner on a Friday night (9pm). We agreed that morning that ok-lar, since we have not had Italian for some time (2 weeks!!! can you imagine), we would go to our usual old fav, La Risata. But this time we would want to go to the "main" branch in Medan Damansara. We arrived and parked near to Gills (serves North Indian cuisine) and rather quickly proceeded to La Risata.

I order the sea bass and she ordered the "Melt in Your Mouth Potato Gnocchi with a Four Cheese Sauce". I must say that the fish was so bad, I seriously considered not finishing it, but I did-lar, coz I always always finish my food, unless it is inedible. I tried her Gnocchi and melt it didn't in my mouth. I wonder I can sue them for that. We compared the food at this 'joint' to the heavenly true italian restaurant in Ampang - their "twin" and our conclusion was other than the fact that the menu and the interior deco is the same, nothing else was.

To add to the bad food that we had, there was this American guy sitting in the next table that talked non-stop very loudly and was being obnoxious (God - he likes the sound of his own voice she would say).

And the service was bad too.

Another place that do not deserve any rating. Oh my god, I still can't believe that I finish the fish ... eiyoooo...... uuuuu ......

Oh ya, the RM18 Sangria was so bad, she only took a sip of it and left it there. Naturally, I took it and finish it lar - with my nose closed (didn't-lar but wanted to).

Sigh... what a waste.

Complacent

The word "complacent" is defined in the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary as "calmly satsfied with oneself, one's work, etc". I think a lot of us live being complacent with what we do, where we are etc., which is not a bad thing.

In the context of work, the thing that I find quite annoying is that people are being complacent and hope for something more in return. They underperform and expect a bonus or a pay rise. The skills shortage in the industry has become so critical that the firms are rewarding these people as well, in the hope that they will not leave the firm. This is so dangerous as it promotes a "complacent" environment. In my view, to build a strong team we need to be take a strong stand and reduce "complacent" environment. Yes, we are all guilty of it every now and then, well its every now and then and not always.

Signing off... 10:02am

Monte's

This joint is located at the Bangsar Shopping Centre up the hill from trendy Bangsar. I just didn't feel like Chili's and this was the next 'best' compromise I guess.

There is this annoying waiter, well at least to me. "Would you like to order now"" and we said "No give us a minute". Then he said "Would you like to order some drinks now?" and we said "Not now, please give us a minute". He went to serve the next table and after like, 5 seconds came back to our table and ask us "Would you like to order now, maybe drinks first?". You wouldn't want to see my face now, trying to remembered how annoying it was.

The peppermint lamb was well season, but everything else was not. Everything includes the side vegetables, potatoes etc.

My lamb shank is something you would want to AVOID all together. IF you are forced to go to Monte's, I would suggest that you order the salad and quietly move on to the next restaurant. Just tell them you are on a diet. They may just not believe you, just tell them you have just gone to the gym and the fitness instructor told you that you have 40% body fat! Trust me, they would understand and symphatise with you. Maybe even encourage you to eat more of the green grass.

Some bloggers said that the escargot is to die for. I trully believe that if a place can serve such bad lamb shank, mashed potatoes, side steamed vegetables I can't believe they can do anything well. Except salad, lar.

Avoid avoid avoid avoid, I would pay you money to avoid this place-lar. Yes, its that bad. No ratings deserved.

Delicious Cafe - 1 Utama

We normally have lunch or dinner at Delicious Cafe Bangsar, so this is the first time trying the brunch at the outlet in 1U। Place was packed as always, which wasn't surprising since there aren't that many good cafes for food in 1U (in my opinion!). Anyway, we ordered breakfast set (eggs on toast, hash brown), seafood med salad, calamari and a ricotta cheese pancake. All in all, food was average. I've had better breakfast sets at Le Bodega, the ceaser salad's a lot better than the seafood med version, calamari was so-so and my friend says she can make better ricotta cheese pancakes! I think we would have been better off with our usual orders of pastas, burgers, ceaser salad and yummy desserts. Those they tend to be able to do quite well.

Other places that have good breakfast sets - Le Bodega (all day breakfast at the Telawi branch, only until noon at BSC), Alexis (Jalan Ampang, BSC, Telawi - I have yet to try, heard it's good)

Price 3/5, Taste 3/5(this time, normally 3.5/5), Atmosphere 3/5, Service 3/5

F1 - Australian GP

What can I say more ..... tsk tsk ... Kimi Kimi Kimi Oi Oi Oi

This is definitely a superb combo, many more to come mate! See you in Sepang.

Rakuzen - Plaza Damas

We have always gone to the branch in Raja Chulan for our fix of Japanese food. Food's decent, good atmosphere, so we decided to check out the newest branch in Plaza Damas. First thing that struck us about the difference between this one and the Raja Chulan one was that this is very popular! The reason for this comment is that we arrived at 7pm and were told that the only available table for us had to be vacated by 8.15pm. Otherwise, they couldn't accommodate us. Obviously, this didn't sit too well with us since we kinda like a leisurely dinner without being pressed for time. Anyway, we decided to risk it and agreed to a table. The setting here is a little different from the Raja Chulan branch. Here, they have cramped many tables together in a very confined area. We were shown to a tiny booth/table in an area with 6 booths. I immediately felt claustophobic and wanted to leave as soon as possible. In sharp contrast, the Raja Chulan branch has lots of space and a much more modern feel to it. Maybe it was our fault for not booking and getting stuck in the suckiest bit of the restaurant!

In terms of food, we ordered our standard dishes, tried and tested many times @ Chulan Square. Me - tempura udon and a soft shell crab handroll, him - teppanyaki set. Food taste was pretty much the same as the other so no complaints there. Service was prompt but then again, not as friendly as yup you guessed it... Chulan Square!

Price 3/5, Taste 4/5, Atmosphere 3/5, Service 3/5

The New Moghul House - Changkat Bukit Bintang

Not one of our more successful outings in terms of new places to try frankly. Just a little history on this north indian place.... There used to be another Moghul House which we loved on Changkat Bukit Bintang that re-located to Changkat Tong Shin. After a couple of months at the new location, it closed and we never knew what became of it. They had a steady flow of customers (combination of both tourists and expats who lived in the area) in the old location. With the new location, the restaurant never really took off. Anyway, recently, the new Moghul House opened in Changkat Bukit Bintang. I assumed the management in the old place decided to move back to the more successful location. Read a review on the place, apparently it has been featured in lonely planet's guide to Malaysia as a reasonably priced good food place to go. So, I thought it was worth another visit....

In summary, we were very disappointed with the food. We had 2 different types of naan (cheese & garlic), palak paneer (spinach & cheese), an eggplant dish and a mutton dish (both indian names I cannot recall). The naans were crisp and thin which were good. We weren't so keen on the other dishes though. It was unfortunate. Service was very courteous and helpful, atmosphere and decor - a vast improvement from the last time. Shame about the food. I still think places like Saffron (Sri Hatamas), although technically not exactly north indian is a lot better and more reasonably priced than Moghul House... the hunt for a good reasonably priced north indian place continues.

To note: Other exceptional north indian steeper priced restaurants in town can be found at Taj in Crown Princess Hotel, Passage Thru' India & Bombay Palace (opposite The American Embassy) also located on Jalan Tun Razak.

Price 3/5, Taste 2/5, Atmosphere 3/5, Service 3/5

Cava - Bangsar

Cava

We were suppose to go to Opus for some good Italian food, but there was only one table available ..... outside with 'those' people. OK, better not otherwise I will get very agitated.

Walked down and thought we would give this place a try, Mediterranean food ... tapas ... do I feel like it. Hey, they have steak. Been wanting to have steak for a few days .... hmmm ..... ok, why not, lets give it a try.

We had the Cava No. 1 and Sangria, supposedly their speciality. Hmmm .... I had better (also cheaper Sangria ... at La Risatta). Was not allowed to order the Prime Grill, coz she wants to have that. Ok fine, I will settle with the tenderloin, knowing that I would take half of her prime grill anyway, hehehe ....

Yes, yes, yes... the service was great. Attention to detail, responsive, prompt service etc etc. BUt more importantly, how was the food, you would ask. Well, my steak was done to perfection, medium rare. But somehow, the taste wasn't there. I tried the Prime Grill, hmmm .... and thought mine was better. I sincerely thought the steak at Victoria Station was much better. Yes, yes many would not agree. But if you want to try it out, lets have the Best Steak in Town challenge!

Day 1, visit Cava and try their Prime Grill - their signature, best cut. Day 2 (ok, lar maybe Day 3 or 4 ), visit Victoria Station and order the US tenderloin. Day 5, try La Risatta's. Give me your honest opinion. I personally would rank La Risatta as No. 1, the best place for steak in town, followed by VS (close 2nd) and Cava at 10th spot. Who occupies 3rd to 9th, you ask? Well, no one, in my opinion.

Price 4/5, Taste 2.5/5, Atmosphere 4/5,Service 5/5

G'morn to mummy!

Cal signing in at 8:10am

Young Pair End M'sia's 25-year Wait For All England Men's Doubles Title - News 12 March 2007

About to go to sleep, but the last webpage I visit before I do is normally http://bernama.com

http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news_sports.php?id=250730

Woohooo... I hope this is the start of better things to come and not the end.

Singning off mate, Monday - 14 March 2007 at 00:41

GLCs - News 11 March 2007

It was an almost perfect morning for me, until I read this http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/3/11/nation/17113577&sec=nation

"We are insulted", well so am I (but at what you are saying)!! Who do they take instructions from? Who do they act for? Is this part of their KPI? C'mon, let them concentrate on what some of them are trying to do, I don't want my money to go into the drain mate. Its my money too you know, now that I pay taxes.

Pray pray pray ...

Black Tea

I won't claim to know very much about black tea [if you want to know more, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea] I am starting to experiment some some. I am trying out both BOH Cameronian Gold Blend and Dilmah (Ceylon's Finest Tea?), pretty good black tea vs. Lipton Yellow Labels (try drinking it, if you can without sugar and you would know what I mean).Ho

Hajime - Jalan Damai, Off Jalan Tun Razak (look for the fugu)

This is a new (2 months old only) Japanese restaurant located at Jalan Damai, off Jalan Tun Razak. The dishes are very different from other places, but wasn't my best experience of Japanese food. Maybe is the food that we ordered .... yes, maybe. We shall give it another try in a couple of months time - you see, its not the sort of place where you would go often - you know what I mean.

I had the udon, which was not the normal fat noodles that I had elsewhere - different. I also order the wagyu beef with mushrooms - well, safe to say that I had better (at the Aoyama The Green Room, Sri Hartamas). She order the Ladies set (aka the "GREEDY" set). Of couse she couldn't finish it and I had to help (reluctantly, sigh). We were so full. Desserts? My my of course, there is always room for deserts. We had wasabi ice-cream, which I think is an acquired taste.

Price 4/5, Taste 3/4, Atmosphere 4/5, Service 4/5

Hajime
No. 64, Jalan Damai
Off Jalan Tun Razak
55000 Kuala Lumpur
Tel number: 6-03-21430073