Happy Bunny Year!

Happy CNY to all my readers! How's your CNY eve? My CNY eve was nothing much to shout about, just like a normal day to me. Earlier, I did not have any feeling of CNY until the fire crackers bomb-ing repeatedly at night! Been so boring for the whole day that I keep spamming over Twitter, spamming friend's FB wall, etc.

Probably it's the "sick season" where many people fall sick, included me! Ill since Sunday till now, but getting better with bad cough *cough cough*. Has been eating bread for the past two days until I got something from my neighbor!!


Home made Shark Fin Soup!


I know it's a sin to chomp it down but this is the first home made Shark Fin soup I ever had in my life! It's my first time having Shark Fin soup for CNY too! *don't count in those wedding dinner ones*.
Thanks to my neighbor who cooked it and gave us a big bowl to sample her very first time of cooking this. 
The bowl contains generous amount of ingredients such as fresh crab meat, salted egg, slices of ginger, carrots, porky, mushroom slice and the key ingredient-> Shark Fin!! The starch solution and chicken stock made a great combination with other ingredients bringing out a thick broth! Slurpppp! 



Biteful of fresh crab meat!


Dinner time! 

My second Lou Sang 








Favorite Home Made Chicken Floss Roll!! Curi makan 2 biji as am having ulcer, sore throat and cough. =(



Dad brought this along to the restaurant. As if this could cure my cough. :P



My fatty girl afraid of fireworks, wanted to come into the house. 


Anyway, once again happy CNY to all. Wishing everyone have a happy and prosperous Bunny Year, filled with abundance of wealth, health and joy! 





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Hokkaido Ichiba Ice Cream @ The Gardens, Mid Valley City.

Am not much of an ice-cream fan but I do crave for it once in a while. Girls are always having the sweet tooth looking for desserts! *slurppp*

I am actually doing my shopping at the mall, looking for some stuff since it's the season of SALES. Crazy people conquered each and every corner of the mall. I started feeling grumpy as I dislike to squeeze with people and it is so damn pack at the mall! Am even sweating when I shop at my favorite outlet e.g. ZARA, MNG, TOPSHOP, MISS SELFRIDGE, etc. The crowd actually spoiled my mood and I couldn't find anything that suits me.

Out of sudden, Rebecca twitted me to join her at The Gardens to try out the Hokkaido ice-cream. Without further thinking, I dozed off to The Gardens. Hokkaido Ichiba is a japanese restaurant located on the third floor of The Gardens. Understood from Rebecca, Hokkaido Ichiba operates under the same management of Pasta Zanmai and Sushi Zanmai. Hokkaido Ichiba known as the "premium" one as their pricing is more expensive compared to Pasta/Sushi Zanmai.

Let's talk about the ice cream! They have a wide selection of ice cream and sherbets to choose from as well as the toppings. The pricing goes :
Single Scoop 40ml=RM3.80, Single Scoop 60ml=RM4.80, Double Scoops 40mlx2=RM6.80.




I chose the two scoops one as I wanted to try more than one flavor. Chosen my favorite Mango Sherbet and Black Sesame(Goma) RM6.80.Since I wanted to try only the ice cream, might as well try the authentic flavor without adding any toppings. The Mango Sherbet was a little too light in flavoring for my liking, prefer it to be sweet and richer in taste. The Black Sesame was rich in flavor, with bits of black sesame seeds, not too creamy and I love it! It scores better than Mango Sherbet. Anyway, I enjoyed every teaspoonful of velvety soft ice cream from Hokkaido.
You will not feel "jelak" of eating more as the ice cream comes in a very small scoop. Well, some might think that RM3.80 for a small scoop is a little too expensive but hey, you are savouring an imported ice cream. So it is value for money!

Later on, we had a second round of Hokkaido ice cream again as the Adverlets bloggers wanted to sample out the scrumptious Jap ice cream. Since we were so fascinated by the flavors available and there were 8 of us sharing, we decided to order the "Ice Cream Fantasy", with choices of 6 scoops of Hokkaido Ice Cream served on Waffle, RM23.80.


*Sorry couldn't recall the name for each of the flavor. Will update again soon! 


Here's a better resolution from Feeq.




A neat quiet place for you to enjoy your favorite scoops. Well decorated with simple furnitures and great ambiance. You can spend your leisure time here, be it reading, working or hanging out with friends. Love the atmosphere there as it gives a touch of comfort. 



Look! Uniquely decorated beautiful feature wall with different sizes of blocks. Indeed a great piece of artwork.






*I know am not photogenic =(*


Thanks to Rebecca for the photos and Alex for the shots. 


Address : Hokkaido Ichiba
               Lot T-201, Third Floor, The Garden Mall,
               Midvalley City, Lingkaran Syed Putra,
               59200 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel : 03-2283 1060


Food : 6/10
Service : 6.5/10
Pricing : 7/10
Ambiance : 7/10




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Mille Crepe@Austin Chase, The Gardens, MidValley City

Has been craving for Mille Crepe long time ago. Wondering what is Mille Crepe all about? It is a French cake with "mille" meaning "a thousand". It is basically a French dessert made by layers of thin pancake.



French Vanilla Mille Crepe RM13.90
*Sorry for the bad resolution of this pic, took with my iPhone 3GS. Below are the clearer version of pics grabbed from Rebecca. 

The French Vanilla Mille Crepe is made of 20 layers of thin lacy crepes, sandwiched with clouds of Fresh Cream and Vanilla Custard. The top layer is caramelized and lightly fluffed with shavings of vanilla shreds to give it a nice smoky sugary flavor. 

Each bite of the crepe melted in mouth folds a smoky sugar coat with refined layers of thin crepes and whipped cream lightened pastry cream. It was light and fluffy with mousse-like creamy filling, indeed a delicate dessert crepe.
I know it is full of sin doing this for a weight watcher like me! But did not think much of that because there were eight of us sampling a slice of mille crepe. *winked*


I wouldn't say this is heaven until I try out the one in Nadeje Patisserie, Malacca and Food Foundry, PJ. But overall, this piece of pastry scores well. 


There is only 4-5 varieties of Mille Crepe available at Austin Chase for your selection. Beside that, they have other cakes and pastries as well. A recommendation from Xiang, the coffee at Austin Chase was a boost, serving perfect blended premium coffee which is rich and aromatic both in taste. Beating down Starbucks? Definitely return for the coffee! 


Where?
You can always drop by at Austin Chase, The Gardens, MidValley City to sample out the crepe.
Austin Chase
Lot S-208A, Second Floor,
The Gardens, MidValley City,
59200 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel : 03-2282 0512
www.austinchase.my


Food : 7/10
Service : 6/10
Pricing : 5/10
Ambiance : 7/10


Creations of Mille Crepe in Malaysia started off by Humble Beginnings, if you wanted to try more of other flavors, check out their website. Humble Beginnings do not have any shops in Malaysia but they do provide Delivery Service and Pick-Up point service at KL/PJ, JB, Penang Island, Prai and Singapore. Check out www.humblebeginnings.com.my for more infor. 
*Note, Humble Beginnings sells their cakes on a WHOLE instead of slices. 


Another option for Mille Crepe: 
Food Foundry
BG-8, Happy Mansion, Jalan 17/13, 46400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor. 
Tel : 03-7955 3885


Others write-up on Mille Crepe :
Nadeje Patisserie, Malacca by Bangsar-babe
Humble Beginnings' Mille Crepes by Rebecca 


Thanks to Rebecca for recommending this. 


Love,
ElaineSource URL: https://lifestyleartsblogs.blogspot.com/search/label/updates
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Food Tour @ Penang Island

*Sorry for the late post

Craving for local delicacy, therefore headed up to Penang Island for a half day food trip. Sound crazy? Not at all, tagged along the "makan kaki(s)" and here we go. The only disappointing one was the weather, raining all day long or gloomy weather throughout our journey. Or else, we could drop by the beach side.

Anyways, let's move on to the FOODS!! We were heading to Nibong Tebal for the famous Seafood Porridge, unfortunately the shop were closed for two days. So, headed to the island for our lunch! Everyone's stomach start growling, we have to locate the shop for food, plus all the traffic jams at the island. We had our lunch/brunch at 1pm+, hungry max!!

Penang is always full with people everywhere, cars are everywhere, hardly get a proper parking. But this is Penang, the famous spot of major attraction for tourist. 24/7 crowded with madness traffic!!

First station: Kafe Heng Huat @ Lorong Selamat.



Our first plate was the Penang island famous Char Koay Teow(CKT), flat rice noodles fried with prawns, eggs and cockles. We had it at one of the famous CKT shop at Lorong Selamat, Georgetown.  The CKT at Heng Huat comes with large prawns and cockles, tasted abit spicy but that is optional whether you want it to be spicy or not. We were delighted over the sumptuous CKT, it is smooth and infused with umami flavor of prawns. The CKT at Heng Huat has the elusive "wok hei" and delectable flavor. It is flavorsome with big, succulent juicy fresh prawns. Price ranged from RM6.50(small), RM7(medium), RM9(large).


The large plate at RM9! It is expensive for a plate of CKT, moreover it is just a hawker food. But just once in a while :P


Other delicacy from neighboring stall:


 Yam cake

 Fried Oyster/Oh-Chien/Oyster Omelette RM12. 
One of the famous hawker food, Oh-Chien in Hokkien, is a combination of rice flour batter, chives, egg and the main ingredient->oyster, fried in flat griddle over high heat.  Love this plate as the oyster is huge in sizes. It is juicy, simply delightful!





 Carrot cake, crispy on the outside, smooth and sweet on the inner part. Dip with the chili sauce and here you go, YUMMY!!

Chee Cheong Fun(Rice sheet rolls), my very first time encounter with such special Chee Cheong Fun. The Penang style CCF served with prawn paste(Hae Ko in hokkien), topped with sprinkles of sesame seeds. Albeit it was weird on the first try, but you will definitely fall for it! A friend of mine said the Hae Ko sauce tasted like Rojak sauce. Anyways, it is still acceptable for me. 


After filled with all the yummies, it's time for DESSERT! Omg, am full to max but since we are already in Penang, we just stuff ourselves with FOODS. 
Next station: Teowchew Chendul @ Lebuh Keng Kwee, Off Penang Road.

Next hunt is the famous dessert stall, Teochew Chendol, one of Penang delicacy. It consist of strips smooth green pandan noodles made from rice flour, red beans, coconut milks and shaved ice, topped with malacca sugar syrup.

Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendul, no idea why it is Chendul instead of Chendol. :P
NOTE: There are 2 stalls, look for the one adjoining Joo Hooi Cafe. 
Priced at RM1.80 per bowl, if you are having it beside the road. If you prefer to sit than stand, you can always walk into Joo Hooi cafe to have it with a surcharge of RM0.50 per bowl, sums up to RM2.30 per bowl. 


Do some window shopping at 1st Avenue, a new shopping mall at the island. It is still new, not fully open yet, just few shops but still manage to walk around. *psst, for better digestion*. 

 Spotted this shop, cute!



It's dinner time! Had our dinner at Yi Garden Coffee Shop, another famous place for hawker foods! 
It is located at corner of Lorong Selamat and Jln Macalister, right across Sin Chew Daily's office. Only open at night. Closed on Sunday.
Yi Garden Coffee Shop, 150 Jln Macalister
Business hour: 6pm-1030pm



I ordered the dry form Wantan Mee, RM3.50. The Wantan Mee in Penang always topped with Char Siu/BBQ Pork unlike Ipoh version, where you have to order them, or else you will be given the normal ones without any Char Siu. The dry form Wantan Mee at Yi Garden served in soy sauce, sesame oil and mushrooms, topped with barbecued pork and vegetables. By the way, it comes with 3 big wanton, made from minced pork meat and minced prawn, hidden at the bottom. The thin and yummy egg noodles have the elasticity and bouncy to bite. Love it! 



Fried Lala/Clam.

Our second plate of Oh-Chien. The Oh-Chien at Yi Garden was nice as well, but the oyster comes in small size. Anyway, it still remain the freshness of oyster. The fried oyster is crispy at the edges, starchy in the middle with right amount of starch solution to hold ingredients together. 

Venison Noodle/Pan Mee, RM4.30. The deer meat was well cooked in some herbs until it is tender, served with pan mee or handmade wheat flour. Shall have this bowl on my next trip and we will talk more about it! 


Till then, Adiós!


Happy New Year to all!




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Brotzeit Bier Bar & Restaurant

Paid my second visit to this German Restaurant again after it's opening on October. Been missing the food so much! Thanks Jason for the invite. 



The menu



Bavarian dining with wooden benches and leather seats. Well decorated with Christmas tree before eve.



Love the arts on wall



Another eye catching deco 








Ordered Brotzeitflade Speck (Spicy Bacon Pizza), RM30. A thin crust fladenbrot with roasted bacon, onions, vine ripened cherry tomatoes, chili and mozzarella cheese. Better take it when it served hot from kitchen, the thin crust was crunchy enough with a little bit spice only. The portion can feed up to 2-3 adults.

Had some talks with Executive Chef Helmut and he offered us something special, out of the menu! Guess what, he is offering us a dessert from the Christmas Eve menu! Feeling so joyful to be the lucky ones trying out the dessert before hand. It is great to have this chance to preview on this chef made dessert for us. Million thanks to Chef Helmut. By the way, there is an article on Chef Helmut Murmann featured on Lifestyle magazine, Dec issue. Click here to view the article!



Tadaa!! Here it is-> Erfrischung, a refresher before main course. Made up of fruit sherbet with chilled gluhwein. Wondering how he made this, he told us how he did this. Chef Helmut was so kind and approachable, he never reject from answering questions. He always have a wide smile towards customers and totally a zero egoism person! Enjoy the conversation with him.



According to Chef Helmut, Erfrischung is a combination of spice wine, cinnamon, lemon, orange and some sugar. So the taste is came from such simple ingredients where you can simply get them from grocery stores. If you don't have any spice wine, whisky can be the replacement too. Spoonful of sherbet melted in mouth following with the combinations of wine, AWESOME! I want more! This is such a great boost!

Chef Helmut introduced us another dessert from the menu. He said it was white chocolate mousse. I was like : OMG! Because am afraid of the sweetness of white choc! But he convinced me I will like it. Jason told me it looks like ice cream. Am more curious on this so-called white chocolate mousse dessert. Ordered!



Here it is-> Schokolademousse, white chocolate mousse with forest berry sauce, topped with pistachio nuts. The little glass was filled with white mousse and some berry sauce in the bottom. At my first sight, I really thought it was ice-cream! When I spooned over and dipped the berry sauce, it did not melt like ice-cream did! Okay, it was after all a white chocolate as mentioned. It never melt in the mouth rather chewy! Yes, it is chewy and not that sweet! The berry sauce was well done as it is not that sour as what I expected. Realized that German's dessert always made a good combination with plum/berry sauce. Never too sour or too sweet. It suits my liking! 



Since I am dining at a German bierhaus, should not miss out the good beer! German food+German beer=AWESOME! Ordered a 0.3litre Affensaft, Weissbier (wheat beer) with mango juice. Yummy!! To be frank, am always anti beer because beers are always gassy for me. But Brotzeit's fresh brewed beers changed my mind! I love Affensaft! It taste great and not gassy at all! Prolly I love mango juice, that's why am falling in with the Mango flavored Affensaft. They have banana flavor too! Gotta have more Affensaft on my next visit to Brotzeit! 









Since Christmas just 2 days to go, Jason bought some cup cakes for Brotzeit's staff. Again, am lucky to have this opportunity to share the joy with them. This box of cute cup cakes were brought from Wondermilk. They are too cute to be eaten. Chose Snowman for myself, cute max! 


It is my pleasure get to know the boss of Brotzeit, Mr. Mohan Cheong. He is a great boss to be! He is a friendly person, attentive to each and every one of his customer. He is the boss and the waiter as well. He is definitely a good leader, taking order, clearing up tables, etc. Although he was busy walking around and helping out, he still came to our table and say hi. Saw him clear off some tiny dirts/dust from a table, I was like: Wow! This is super-excellent! Not every boss of  fine-dining restaurant can do this. 
He has 2 juniors, which are good helpers as well. Leanne, the daughter was a very cute and funny girl. Nice to talk with and generous enough to lend a helping hand. Chris changed into waiter uniform and start helping at the bar. They are great, providing good hospitality. Bravo!!


Drop by Brotzeit, the Bavarian fine-dining restaurant anytime for awesome food and great beers! You can also call up for reservation on any occasion, be it a birthday party, gatherings or luncheon, etc. It is located at Mid Valley Megamall, if you are exhausted from your shopping, hit Brotzeit for some thirst quencher!


Address: Brotzeit Bier Bar & Restaurant Malaysia,
              G(E)-018, Ground External Floor, 
              Mid Valley Megamall, Mid Valley City,
              Lingkaran Syed Putra, KL.


Contact : (6)03-2287 5516
Business Hours:  Mon-Thurs (11am-12am)
                          Fri-Sat       (11am-1am)
                          Sunday       (11am-12am)


Food : 8.5/10
Service : 9/10
Pricing : 7/10
Ambiance : 7/10


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Christmas Wishlist 2010

Christmas Wishlist 2010:


1. Starbucks 2011 Planner
2. Dresses, Vintage Bags
3. Foundation/Pressed Powder (Chanel/M.A.C)
4. Concealer
5. Watch (Fossil/Omega)

Well, that's all on my wishlist, kinda little compared with last year ones. But anyway, I do not care anything whether it is branded or not, most important is the QUALITY!
Hope to celebrate my Christmas at some fine dining places! No doubt, I always love fine dining although it cost slightly high but it is worth paying for nice food, good hospitality and great ambiance. Yes, I am willing to spend on good food. *just once in awhile*

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Starbucks Coffee, Borders Bookstore @ The Gardens, Mid Valley.

Starbucks has always been my favorite hangout place for the past few years. No doubt, some people will have the thought of needing to pay more than 10bucks just for a cup of coffee is not worth. Somehow, I felt that paying at such price for a cup of coffee is quite worth as you can enjoy the environment, free wifi services, good hospitality from the staff/barista(s), comfortable sofa seats and most importantly coffee of premium blended beans.

Well, you probably can find any branches of Starbucks at any malls in Malaysia, how about Borders Bookstore? Not all state in Malaysia are having this bookstores. Had been paying a few visits to Starbucks, Borders Bookstore at The Gardens, MV lately and I am loving it! You can enjoy free reading of books/magazines from Borders Bookstores besides the other benefits mentioned above. This is the best part because I simply love reading magazines!!

Starbucks aims to be "the third place" after home and place of work/study. It is a place where people would be most welcomed, which means allowing them to sit and relax and "form communities". Who knows you might pop into someone else or just chillax with your besties. By the way, people do not get "chased away" when they have finished their drinks or even left a single drop of coffee in the mug, customers can stay as long as they like. From my very own experience, I had only 2 cups of coffee and end up sitting there from 12pm-12am, till it close. The staff never "shoo" away their customer from the premises when the drinks have been consumed. The staff always put their customers on the priority providing a real good service. Their generosity really impress me till I would take my own cups to the counter rather than waiting the staff to collect them from the table. They are kind and friendly staff where you can always have some small talks with them. Up to now, Starbucks is the coffee retail outlet which provide good hospitality. Love them so much! >.<

I would say Starbucks, Borders Bookstore is a great place to relax because it is located at the end of the bookstore, not much people knowing it. Feeling peace when sitting on the comfortable sofa, enjoying the environment playing Xmas carol (it's Dec!), peaceful enough for me!♥
Drop by at Starbucks, Borders Bookstore @ The Gardens, Mid Valley City if you are looking for peaceful, relaxing hangout places.


Chicken Finger Sandwich RM7 (Request the sandwich to be toasted, bit disappointed as the taste is kinda weird)

 Toffee Nut Frappuccino (New flavor for Christmas 2010) ~ Too sweet for my liking

Signature Hot Chocolate & Banana Chocolate Muffin (Drinks is too sweet while the muffin taste good but they can't get along well, way too full for me) Simply love the muffin, crust in the outside and soft in the inside.^.^

Java Chip & Banana Choc Muffin @ Suria KLCC.
 
Food : 6.5/10
Service : 9/10
Pricing : 7/10 
Ambiance : 7/10Source URL: https://lifestyleartsblogs.blogspot.com/search/label/updates
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