#76 : Makan Kitchen at Double Tree

Courtesy of Double Tree's Flavor of Penang promotion, I am pleased to be able to bring my parents and brother along to dine at Makan Kitchen, located at the 11th floor of Double Tree by Hilton hotel.



"Makan Kitchen is a unique dining experience that offers no less than six of Malaysia’s most popular and distinctive cuisines. Besides the more well-known Malay, Chinese and Indian, we also specialise in lesser-known exotic cuisines of Kristang, Nyonya, and Iban. A rich variety of flavours is presented in three interactive kitchens and the dining experience is further enhanced with our distinct dining areas, including our unique long house seating as well as several private dining rooms."

Taken from Makan Kitchen Website

Upon reservation, we managed to get our table easily, and the staffs there were very helpful in making us feel welcomed there. A buffet style dinner, we sampled all the dishes, from Malay to Chinese, from Indian to Nyonya.


The variation of food is definitely there, with the ambiance and service, this buffet is definitely a dining experience to remember. The quality of the food is definitely quite authentic, my favorite is definitely from the Indian cuisine and the one I least enjoyed was the Malay cuisine, simply because the variation itself for the Malay cuisine is not diverse enough.


Would I want to come back for seconds? Probably if there is a special promotion or food fair, because I would want to see what else Makan Kitchen has in stall for us :)

Additional Info
Breakfast: 6am to 10.30am
Lunch: 12pm to 2.30pm
Dinner: 6.30pm to 10.30pm
*All day dining menu available 11am to midnight

Getting there
Doubletree by Hilton, Kuala Lumpur
The Intermark
182 Jalan Tun Razak,
Kuala Lumpur,
50400 Malaysia

Contacts
Tel: 60-3-2172-7272
Fax: 60-3-2172-7590
email: KULDT.fbreservations@hilton.com

#80 : Lai Ching Yuen - MIGF 2011

Courtesy of MIGF, I managed to take this opportunity to bring my cousin sister (for a belated birthday treat) to a fine dining lunch experience over at Lai Ching Yuen, (荔晶园) Grand Millennium KL. Located just next to Pavillion, this place is easily accessible, aside from being stuck in the jam on a Saturday afternoon.

Cousin Janice

Lai Ching Yuen has an oriental motive interior and it's clad in lavish looking furniture. The service is perhaps not to their best, as it was almost 2pm which is why the servings seems to be rushed.

Interior of Lai Ching Yuen

However, putting the food into the spotlight, we were pampered with a 6-course meal, which totally emphasized why under the helm of Chef Leong Weng Heng, Lai Ching Yuen deserves a coveted spot in MIGF 2011.

Chef Leong. Image courtesy of MIGF

The appetizer displayed fresh scallops cooked to perfection dressed with mayonnaise sauce and assorted fruits (strawberries and melons, if memory serves) and seafood spring rolls. I personally liked my scallops to be served cold as per scallop salad is concerned, but having said that the meal is likely better off with hot since we're talking about cooked scallop. The spring roll lifts the dish, crispy and sumptuous right to the last bite.

Crispy Seafood Spring Roll & Scallop Salad with Assorted Fruit Served in Golden Cup

The soup is truly a treasure, richly double boiled with chicken, fish maw, sea cucumber, & scallops. Though I don't exactly taste the coconut's contribution to the dish, the sweetness and flavor of the soup leaves you crave for more.

Double-boiled Sea Treasures in Whole Coconut

I personally liked the next dish, which was a baked filo wrapped sea perch with mushrooms and broccoli. The filo crumbles as the knife cuts through the moist sea perch. The plating of this dish is not that impressive, but the sea perch saved the dish overall.

Baked Fillet of Sea Perch with Wild Mushrooms Wrapped with Crispy Filo

The vegetable portion of this six course is vibrant in presentation, and pleasing to the eye. Spinach infused tofu, with crab meat and chicken broth brings the home cooking feel into an avant garde fine dining experience.

Steamed Home-made Spinach Bean Curd with Chinese Wine Topped with Fresh Crab Meat

The fried rice dish is sinful. It screams 大炒 (fried dishes with big fire, 'big fry' if literally translated) all over and the dish is elevated with the cubed goose livers for the special flavor and pine nuts for the crunchy texture with the rice. I would return here again anytime just for this dish.

Fried Rice with Minced Goose Liver and Pine Nuts

The course ended with a dessert of avocado puree and durian custard shaped into a rabbit. The puree has that raw flavor which was a little put off, not to its full potential I must say for this dish. The custard though is so eye pleasing I felt guilty eating the poor fella.

Combination of Avocado Purée with Durian Custard Rabbit Dumpling

We may get a better dining experience had we gone there a bit earlier (nearing to opening hour if possible). But nevertheless, it speaks to its true credential in MIGF, kudos to the kitchen crew and the Chef! I may return Lai Ching Yuen in the near future, would love to have a dimsum experience here.

Additional Information

Full Festival Menu:
RM 268 ++ per person with wine
RM 158++ per person without wine

Lai Ching Yuen
Grand Millennium Kuala Lumpur
Level 1, 160, Jalan Bukit Bintang
55100 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: +603 2117 4180

29/10/2011

#83 : Birthday Eve with Maroon 5

I was all grins when I.M.Magazine selected my entry as one of the 2 winners to witness Maroon 5 Live in Malaysia. On my birthday eve this year, I was accompanied with a friend, Paavitha to Stadium Putra, Bukit Jalil for the concert. (Check here for my Birthday event entry)

Winning entries

Tickets to the show

VIP entry #trollface (They're actually collectable tags)

Even getting in the stadium was a long queue, and as predicted the audience standing area was packed, really packed.

Stadium Putra entrance

Concert banner

The hype was further intensified when the band kicked off the concert, that’s when the rock zone went on frenzy. Being in the rock zone myself, I felt that the excitement was infectious.

It didn’t take long before the crowd went cheered even louder when lead Adam Levine came on. Clad in a simple brown tee and jeans, it didn’t even take an extravagant stage settings or dancers for him to create the hysteria among us.

Enthusiastic fan, whoever you are

When I said they put on a show, they really did. Adam and team belted out their famous hits, This Love, Harder to Breathe, Won’t Go Home Without You, Sunday Morning and more. They also performed songs from their latest album, Hands all Over like Misery and Stutter.

Levine definitely knows how to handle his crowds, at one point the audience at the VIP zone were getting physical at each other for unknown reasons, he gave his gentle advice to them from the stage to be nice to each other #likeaboss. Levine is such a ladies’ man as well, the ones who went crazy that day were mainly chicks, and aunties, whichever suits them.

This is probably the best pre birthday gift I’ve ever received, special thanks to I.M.Magazine again and to Maroon 5, get your butts back to Malaysia again soon :)

#85 : Gelora Emosi

Beribu bintang di langit
Kini menghilang
Meraba aku dalam kelam
Rembulan mengambang
Kini makin suram
Pudar ilhamku tanpa arah

Kini segalanya telah berubah
Cintamu hanya memori indah
Ku ditinggalkan kesepian
Pilu hatiku
Kembalilah kepadaku
Selamilah jiwa ini yang terluka
Ikatan kita berdua

Kau tahu betapa kusayang padamu
Hanya bidadari sebagai ganti
Hanya takdir menentukan ia
Oh belaian jiwa

Cintaku bukan di atas kertas
Cintaku getaran yang sama
Tak perlu dipaksa
Tak perlu dicari
Kerna ku yakin ada jawabnya...
Andai ku bisa merubah semua
Hingga tiada orang terluka
Tapi tak mungkin
Ku tak berdaya
Hanya yakin menunggu jawapnya

Bagai...
Sepasang sayap tak terlihat
Umpama mimpi yang tersimpan
Jadi rintik-rintik hujan
Menciptakan
Awan yang terpilu

Mengapa harus cinta...cinta tegarkan hatiku
Tak mau sesuatu merenggut engkau
Naluriku berkata
Tak ingin terulang lagi
Kehilangan cinta hati
Bagai raga tak bernyawa
Kelu ada yang berpisah oh
Tak ku mungkin mengerti
Mengapa harus kasih
Pastikan jua berakhir sayang
Tak sanggup ku menanggung pilu ini

Tiada lagi yang ku harapkan
Tiada lagi yang ku impikan
Biar aku sendiri tanpa diri mu
Tiada lagi kata cintamu
Takkan lagi ku bersama mu
Biar ku simpan semua
Kenangan ku bersamamu

Yang terindah dalam hidupku
Namun takkan mudah bagiku
Meninggalkan jejak hidupku
Yang telah terukir abadi
Sebagai kenangan yang terindah

Walau ke hujung dunia...kekasihku
Walau di hujung waktu
Takkan pudar cintaku...untukmu
Andai ada ruang di hatimu
Inginku menjadi kekasihmu
Mengecapi cinta Ke akhir usia
Dalam suka dan di dalam duka
Ingin aku bersamamu Kekasihku.

Credits to Man Bai, Misha Omar, Carefree/Innuendo, Dato Siti Nurhaliza, Ning Baizura, Vince, Jaclyn Victor, Mayang Sari/Amy Search, Samson, Syafinaz Selamat

#86 : Quarter of a Century

0000.30.0.48.60.00

Right after attending the Maroon 5 concert the night before, I was thinking that my birthday on the 30th of April would be an equal if not extravagant event to the concert. I was asking too much right? Anyway, no one really bothered to organize anything so the entire day time was spent online and resting at home.

Until Wai Ming and Jaslin called me out.

It may not be a party, but having the company of two close friends is more than I can ask for.
We started off with dinner and planned for karaoke @ Sunway Giza. Since this was an impromptu birthday event, no proper cake was bought but we improvised with some mini cakes from Full House.

Relieving myself before the k session

Cakes from Full House

We even had time for some Starkers over at OverTime, which boosts our mood to a full blast karaoke session. Some things in life are appreciated when you least expected them, thanks guys :)

My 1st Starker

Western Herbal Tea

Thomas with a familiar pose.

Releasing steam

Birthday Wish :)

PS: Special thanks to my cousin Janice for another karaoke session few days after :)

All images are courtesy of Jaslin & Wai Ming