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Grand Malay Restaurant

Grand Malay Restaurant is a buffet style establishment located at Jalan Satok catering to the lunch crowd. It is also known as Restauran Anak Melayu Sarawak which translates roughly to the Restaurant of the Malay people of Sarawak. I was there with a group of my coworkers and a client.

The place is located on the first floor of a non-descript flight of stairs. The doors form the arching entrance to the unassuming restaurant, which has a reputation from good Malay cuisine.

The place seems to be working on a booking basis. One minute there was no one, and in the next, people were jostling to get a prime position in the buffet line. The interior is decorated with minimal fanfare...just clean table linen with a Malay inspired piece in the middle.

This is the start of the buffet line. Here you can see the obligatory steamed rice, Malay style fried noodles, bamboo cooked in coconut milk and mixed vegetables.

Further down the line, there's an assortment of raw vegetables (ulam) which I had a portion of. The sauce that comes with it lends the ulam with a healthy Oomph! There's also soup and very good rojak.

One of the small dishes contains umai (raw fish slivers marinated in chilli and other spices), which the chef urged us to try. It was good. There are also some vegetables, stewed beef, curry chicken, assam fish and clams.

The end of the line offers rose syrup or orange juice.

Here's a look at my heaped plate. I had a bit of everything.

The dessert table offers bananas (the small, sweeter variety), pandan agar agar, a big cauldron of very fine tasting bubur cha cha, banana bread, and lime oranges.

The buffet ended with the waitress serving steaming hot cups of strong coffee.

Grand Malay Restaurant comes highly recommended by Sufian, one of my coworkers. I don't know how much the buffet charge per head though, since my CTO paid the bill.

Posted in Food reviews by Huai Bin at 05:16 PM Permalink | Comments (25)

LL Banana Leaf review

LL Banana Leaf is a place serving South Indian food. This establishment has been around for quite some time and it is famous for its banana leaf rice, which is said to be the most authentic and best South Indian fare around these parts.

There is a wide variety of dishes to choose from. These are the dishes that you choose to complement the banana leaf rice. We had green curry chicken, chicken masala, tandoori chicken and lamb curry.

The most interesting experience of LL Banana Leaf is when an actual banana leaf is folded on your table and the waiter starts to pile on the various condiments that come with banana leaf rice on the banana leaf in small, neat piles.

There is complimentary mango chutney and other things I couldn't identify. We were also given a cracker, the actual name of which eludes me right now.

The process is then repeated by another waiter, this time bearing gifts of steamed rice. The waiter scoops out bowls of steaming rice from a large rice container and this is refillable. The service here is good; the rice person goes from table to table, offering to replenish depleted stocks of rice.

This is the view of the final banana leaf presentation. There are various condiments, rice and a cracker on the side of the naked banana leaf.

These are the dishes that we had.

Naturally, it's best washed down with a nice, cold glass of mango lassi. It's a yoghurt based drink that tastes great! I love the mango lassi here.

LL Banana Leaf is a great place to go for authentic South Indian food. Go for the banana leaf experience itself, it nothing else.

Posted in Food reviews by Huai Bin at 12:30 PM Permalink | Comments (30)

Arnott's Stikko Fingers

This is Arnott's Stikko Fingers. It's great for the times you don't have time to eat.

I got this from Penny, one of my coworkers. It's milk vanilla wafer sticks. I've been running around the whole day, and I'm off to another appointment. Food for people on the go, indeed.

Posted in Snacks by Huai Bin at 02:03 PM Permalink | Comments (5)

Chix floss egg roll

This is chix floss egg roll. I forward a proposal to behead the person to coined the term chix in place of chicken.

Chicken floss egg roll looks like a solid roll of omelet egg filled with chicken floss. It costs RM 1.70 each at Taka bakery. It's good for breakfast, these things.

It opens up to reveal soft a soft bread roll, slathered with that semen consistency Special Sauce (okay, so it's mayo :p). The egg covers the entire pastry, providing a chewy texture to the chix floss egg roll. The bread roll is covered with mayo and given a generous dusting of chicken floss at the sides.

It's divine.

Posted in Snacks by Huai Bin at 07:48 AM Permalink | Comments (32)

cilipadi review

This is cilipadi - a place that serves mainly Malay food. We went there for lunch since I've never been here before. The place serves Malay style fried rice as its flagship dish. There are a wide variety of different variants and styles of cooking to choose from.

This is Nasi Goreng Kampung. It's described as "Spicy fried rice with egg, prawn, vegetables, and chicken. Sufian ordered this dish and it tastes good - spicy and nice.

This is Seafood Claypot Rice. It's served in a clay pot and came piping hot. The infused flavors are excellent and they don't skimp on the seafood. Elvinna's order - this is the best dish that I tasted during lunch.

This is Nasi Aruk. I ordered this one and it's described as Sarawak style fried rice with egg, prawn, vegetables and chicken. It tasted less spicy than Sufian but it has a hint of other spices in it. It came with a sunny side up egg, half done, just the way I like it.

This is Belacan Fried Rice which Robyn ordered. It's fried rice with "prawn paste" (that's belacan), egg, chicken, squid, prawn and green vegetables. The belacan is good, it always goes well with fried rice.

L-R: Sufian, Robyn, Huai Bin (me) and Elvinna.

cilipadi - the name is derived from the small chilies which diminutive nature will surprise you with the intensity of the hot chilli. It's a great place for lunch.

Posted in Food reviews by Huai Bin at 01:23 PM Permalink | Comments (24)

Taiwan Siau Jou (Taiwan Porridge)

Taiwan Siau Jou translates to Taiwan Porridge (or congee if you want to be anal about it). It's just opposite where I work and it's an eating establishment that specializes in...porridge. Seriously.

This is what the interior looks like. I went for lunch with a couple of my coworkers. I actually went from person to person and asked "Who wants some porridge?". ;) It seems that porridge is not very popular for lunch. Hell, I wouldn't have gone if I didn't want to review the place.

Taiwan Siau Jou has a large choice of dishes to choose from, to complement the porridge. You basically choose what you want and you get a bowl of congee to go with the choices. It's a very unusual system for me. There are dishes that you wouldn't normally relate to porridge...meat dishes, vegetable dishes, you name it...

This is the main dish - watery porridge (congee). It comes with bits of sweet potatoes and tapioca embedded.

Here's what the three of us shared for lunch. The choices are varied to allow an accurate review of the establishment.

This is a Chinese style meat loaf (roll?) sliced and served with chili sauce.

We also ordered some vegetables - this is kacang botol.

Here's a staple for congee dishes - pork floss.

This is another classic complement - century eggs with slices of ginger.

We also had a meat dish made with minced pork. It came with a generous portion of gravy.

This is the final meat based dish - it's spare ribs in sauce.

Here's the Huygens Asia lunch crew.
L-R: Elvinna, Mancy, Huai Bin (me).

Taiwan Siau Jou is a great place for a light lunch. It won't put you into a post-lunch coma like other lunch options will. ;)

Posted in Food reviews by Huai Bin at 01:20 PM Permalink | Comments (29)

KFC Popcorn Chicken Shake

KFC has launched another new product line based on their popcorn chicken. This time, it's called the Popcorn Chicken Shake - I presume some advertising d00d thought that Popcorn Chicken Shake (with an inverted e) would speak the target demographic more effectively. ;)

The promotional tagline goes "The more you shake it, the better it gets!"

This is very disturbing considering the numerous instances of pictures depicting a boyish persona doing a "Look ma! I'm shaking the Popcorn Chicken Shake using a hand under my crotch!" maneuver, which I'm sure is an advanced trick managed only by high level Popcorn Chicken Shaking enthusiasts.

Well, I wanted to try all four flavors so I ordered all of them. The first one is free, there's a RM 0.50 charge for additional sachets. Popcorn Chicken Shake. It comes in a customized cup, which is the 22 oz cup that you usually get served drinks by. It's made of the same material and only the top is different - this one has a Starbucks like dome cover, but without any holes.

Popcorn Chicken Shake is basically Popcorn Chicken, which has been used in many KFC products before. This time, it comes with flavor sachets to add...well, flavor to the popcorn chicken. There are four available flavor sachets - fiery Curry, zesty BBQ, tangy Tomato and authentic Tomyam. Again, I'm not sure what the KFC promotion department is thinking with this "caps only on the second word" thing. I thought l33t sp34k died in the 90's.

The popcorn chicken comes in the usual box and I poured it into the Popcorn Chicken Shake cup.

I tore up and poured all four flavor sachets into it...

...and I shook! My friends gawped with admiration (or maybe it was embarrassment) when I tried the expert level "One handed shaking it under my crotch" maneuver. It resulted in this mess. The powdered flavor sachets were evenly distributed amongst the popcorn chicken.

I nearly died of Chinese Restaurant Syndrome from the excessive MSG content from four flavor sachets. I'm still recovering, but I'm not impressed with this new KFC offering.

Shake it, baby...

Posted in Fast Food Inc. by Huai Bin at 11:09 AM Permalink | Comments (25)

Lauder's finest scotch whisky

Lauder's blended scotch whisky comes in red packaging. This is a duty free 1 liter bottle of this fine ethanol product from Scotland. I had kept this in my room and forgot all about it until when I was packing to come back to Kuching. Imagine that! Ethanol products go forgotten in the sixthseal.com household! I could hardly believe my own eyes when I saw this premium scotch from God knows when sitting lonely in my table, which coincidentally was covered with cloth.

I suspect my mother had put that supposed "dust filter" on, for nefarious purposes. What a sight to behold when I flipped up the cloth and found this gem, which I immediately packed and earmarked for consumption in Kuching. ;)

The bottle looks beautiful! It's molded with concave areas on the four sides of the bottle with the label at the bottom. Very unique. Nice to see, nice to hold, once broken, considered sold!

Lauder's scotch is a product of Scotland and contains 43% alcohol. It's a 1L bottle coz it was purchased by my dad from one of his trips - only duty free liquor are sold in 1L bottles. I don't know why my dad buys liquor coz he doesn't display them and he doesn't drink. I take it that he's purchasing it for my drinking pleasure. Heh! Thanks dad! ;)

It tastes really great...premium scotch is always wonderful, compared to the el cheapo alcohol I'm forced to drink right now due to dire financial straits. This one has a nice aroma, with complex flavors and a nice bite. Nice is the word to describe it. The bottle is so beautifully designed that it's almost too good to drink...

I said almost. ;)

Posted in Ethanol and tobacco by Huai Bin at 07:40 AM Permalink | Comments (17)

Pentium M 1.5 Ghz (715) - my new notebook

I bought a notebook at Micromedia in Sibu. I was struggling between two ASUS models - the new A3000N (Centrino, integrated camera/microphone) and another model based on the ATI Radeon 9100 IGP chipset before finally choosing the latter. It looks better due to its 15.1 inch LCD compared to the A3000N 14.1 inch (which makes it look too small). I also wanted it to be a desktop replacement and the 128 MB graphics card does well in that.

It's not full Centrino system, but it's running on a Pentium M 1.5 Ghz CPU (Dothan) and off the top of my head it has IEEE 802.11b/g, an Agere dial up modem and a LAN port. It also has 4 USB 2.0 ports, an IR port and two IEEE 1394 (FireWire) ports. I upped to RAM to 512 MB and I'm surprised at the fast speed of the Pentium M 1.5 processor. It came with a bundled optical USB mouse and the obligatory pack. I also got a thumb drive as a free gift.

I also got a 256 MB Apacer MP3 player which also doubles as a thumb drive. It all cost less than 5k. Before anyone jumps on me, I don't have that much money to shell out on a notebook. However, since my home PC died, I am in severe need of a personal computing system and I went for a notebook due to its portability and I can use it for work as well. I'm paying for this on a two year installment plan, first year interest free, and the second with interest. That means I shell out about RM 179 or so every month, through a third-party (the notebook was purchased and paid in full at the retailer).

This is the one of the proprietors of Micromedia - Miss (?) Ling. Thanks for being very helpful and willing to put up with me doing a hard bargain. :)

This is the sixthseal.com notebook in action.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 01:25 PM Permalink | Comments (30)

Full Body Condom

This silvery pack contains a revolutionary product known as a full body condom. I got it for RM 12.50 - well worth the price, if you factor in the total area of coverage. ;)

Here's the contents of the full body comdom. It has the red "full body condom" itself and an Operator's Manual.

The manual proclaims this product as "The Choice of a Safe Generation". Heh! This is Brit humor at its best, although this product is manufactured in the US.

It shows step by step "instructions" on how to...er, don the condom, as it were. The first step shows a divine entity and a caricature of a man having the Fear of God (TM) struck into him in a series of hilarious pictures.

The second step shows outrageous and totally rib cracking funny text and pictures proclaiming the "protection" this full body condom provides.

Here's the third step...

...the fourth,

and the final step. I'll let you read the manual yourself, it made me laugh so hard.

This is the actual "full body condom" - a gag which is made from a red thick plastic bin liner with a hole cut out on top.

Well, being the safe sex proponent that I am, I tried out this magnificent product that will ensure protection (though at what cost, I'm yet to ascertain ;)).

I'll tell you something...this full body condom is a tight fit, no pun intended. ;)

I finally got it on...it's so hot in there, they weren't kidding in the manual.

I must say that I find the full body condom to be extremally restrictive for any activity...that's my new haircut btw...

I couldn't manage to keep it on for more than a minute...at least it tore off easy. ;)

Full body condom - it's a wonderful concept, but ultimately fails in the deployment stage. Heh!

Posted in Hmm... by Huai Bin at 02:27 PM Permalink | Comments (42)

Spanish Fly experience report

This is a cinnamon flavoured pillow of the infamous Spanish fly, which is supposedly an aphrodisiac that will send people into throes of orgasmic pleasure. Authentic Spanish fly preparations contains cantharides (also known as cantarides, which is made from the crushed wings of the Cantharis vesicatoria beetle, otherwise known as the Spanish fly.

I bought a "pillow" (twist off pack) of this for RM 25 and the proprietor told me that it'll "make the girl feel hot all over". I told him I intended to consume this myself, in my never ending quest for experience of potentially recreational substances. ;) Well, he told me I'll basically feel the same effects, but I did a bit of research beforehand to see what it actually is.

Spanish fly is supposed to "work" as an aphrodisiac by irritating the urogenital tract, which would simulate arousal. This is where the legendary aphrodisiac properties comes from - cantharides is used in breeding farm animals by making them "feel" like they're sexually stimulated due to the irritation of the genitals.

I decided to experiment with this substance and twisted open the top and consumed the thick syrup consistency Spanish Fly liquid. It tasted sickly sweet, but it's not that bad and I emptied the whole pillow in a swallow. Here's the experience report:

T+ 0:45 - I felt slightly "hot" at around T +0:45 but the feeling is not "hot" as in sexually stimulated, but "hot" as in hyperthermia. There seems to be some weak stimulant inside, probably caffeine or ephedra.

T+ 1:00 - I feel itchy "down there". :p No, don't get me wrong, it's not sexual arousal, but a real itch.

T+ 1:30 - Facial flushing is present, as well as a general burning sensation on the face. Still no evidence of the Spanish Fly working.

T+ 3:30 - I had forgotten that I took the Spanish Fly preparation until I took a piss. It felt slightly uncomfortable.

T+ 6:00 - I'm filing this under "Bunk". There's no evidence of aphrodisiac action at all, but it does seem to have a little cantharides in it. I just said it's bunk coz I refute its supposed aphrodisiac qualities.

This particular product does seems to have a little cantharides (the active ingredient of Spanish Fly preparations) from the qualitative itch, and a slight discomfort during the two times I took a piss during the 6 hour period. Since this is an isolated experiment, I cannot state whether this is a "reverse placebo" effect or otherwise. There are no after effects on the second day (this morning) except I do remember having a sleep erection (the ones you get when you're sleeping) that won't go down. *cough*

However, I must make it clear that my experience with this particular "Spanish Fly" product leads me to state that it has no recreational potential whatsoever. The initial mild "hot flushing" effect is quite enjoyable, but you can emulate that with any old weak stimulant, like phentermine.

P/S - Beware priapism - it seems that this can cause it. :p

Posted in Interesting by Huai Bin at 10:35 AM Permalink | Comments (39)

Guylian Opus chocolate review

Guylian Opus is the Belgian chocolate manufacturer's boxed set that features six distinctive pieces named after the musical creations of illustrious composers from the likes of Bach and Mozart.

There are two sets of six different pieces of chocolate in the box, mirrored and held in place in sunken receptacles. The box flips up to reveal the composer and piece that each chocolate piece is dubbed and what it contains. I found this unwrapped chocolate box in the pantry, no one intends to eat it, so I did.

Guylian Opus Taste notes:

Verdi - Aida
Smooth Truffle Filling
The sphinx inspired design looks good. The truffle filling tastes good too, but it's a little predictable.

Mozart - The Magic Flute
Noisette - Cappuccino - Roasted Hazelnut
This is one of the more beautiful and intricately designed pieces. It's a burst of sweet chocolate followed by a surprise hazelnut slice crunch, with a coffee aftertaste. This one is one of the gems.

Puccini - Madame Butterfly
Crème Orange Cream
The complex light-dark shade and butterfly piece is probably the most aesthetically pleasing piece of chocolate. The filling is disappointing though, but that can be attributed to my personal tastes. I don't like orange filled chocolates.

Beethoven - Moonlight Sonata
Crème Cappuccino Cream
The design is inspired by the yin-yang symbol and has two musical notes imprinted on it. It's really good, the cappuccino cream filling tastes wonderful!

Bach - Toccata and Fugue
Gianduja
This piece is a simple chocolate block with stripes of white. I don't know what gianduja is, but it tastes like Nutella to me.

Massenet - Manon
Chocomousse
This is one of the more disappointing offers in the Guylian Opus series. The mousse is feathery and airy, but it's not distinctive enough to write home about. I won't even consider sending a postcard.

Donizetti - The Daughter of the Regiment
Noisette - Praline - Roasted Hazelnut
It tastes like the Mozart chocolate, but there's no hazelnut in this one. The Guylian Opus box has two sets of each and I ate both...and both are hazelnut-less (is there such a word?). Where my hazelnut?

Gounod - Romeo and Juliet
Nougat - Praline
This gold foil wrapped heart shape chocolate piece looks to be the premier offering in the chocolate box set, as such wrapped pieces usually are. It let me down...it's just a soft nougat chocolate with no distinctive notes.

There, I've finished playing Chocolate Connoisseur. ;)

Jesus, somebody please pass me an insulin shot...

Posted in Snacks by Huai Bin at 01:35 PM Permalink | Comments (19)

Photo tag @ Kuching Airport

I saw a group of people taking shots and I took a shot of them as well. It's interesting to take photos of people taking photos - it's like looking into an infinate mirror. Well, the girl noticed me and took a photo of me as well. Heh!

Photo tag is fun when it's spontaneous with strangers.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 10:35 PM Permalink | Comments (3)

We shall make paper edible and ink taste like fruit!

I just had a divine inspiration from the comments in the Xiao Pa Wang post [sixthseal.com] by Patrick. We shall make paper edible and ink taste like food (well, fruits first) instead of tasting like ink! Calling all angel investors, we are prepared to launch this radical (well, maybe not so radical) concept to the masses and deploy it as soon as possible!

The idea is to infuse the color ink toners in laser jet printers to taste like fruits. This will be done by replacing the standard ink with food coloring and flavoring. Red will taste like strawberries! Blue will taste like blueberries! Imagine the staggering possibilities!

And that's just the start; we can have swappable Taste Toners (TM) - spicy ones, sweet ones, even custom Taste Toners made for certain cuisines. A "Drinks: Coffee Taste Toner (TM)" will print out cups of coffee that taste like espressos, cappuccinos etc depending on how dark you print the shade as. Frappacinos is also possible if you freeze the paper beforehand. The possibilities are mind boggling!

Okay, on to other more serious matters, I'll be flying back to Sibu again later today. It's part R&R and part work. I have to fix up a client's deployment over there, but due to the long Raya holidays, I can relax a bit too.

Let's just hope that the plane won't be delayed coz the war effort suddenly decided to load some air to surface missiles en route to Fallujah on a mission like last time...

That would delay my arrival by hours, if not days. ;)

Oh, and I just turned down a 4k job offer in KL. No offence to the well meaning people who made the offer, and my appreciation goes out to all of you. However, I'm staying with Huygens Asia. That's my decision, coz for some reason or other, I've come to think of Huygens Asia as home and the people working here as family.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 10:05 AM Permalink | Comments (11)

Geomantics Survey Consultants

It's like calling garbage collecting personnel Waste Management Executives.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course...

...but fung shui is fong shui is feng shui, no matter what you call it.

Posted in by Huai Bin at 01:28 PM Permalink | Comments (12)

Hong Kong Pau Cafe (Xiao Pa Wang)

Hong Kong Pau Cafe or Xiao Pa Wang is the newly established pau cum dim sum cum bakery cum cafe. It has literally cummed on the...er, stiff *cough* competition along Jalan Padungan, which is famed for having the best paus in town. Hong Kong Pau has just recently opened its doors and the crowds have been thronging to this establishment and haven't stopped ever since. I have noticed a remarkable decrease in patrons to the 6 other pau specialty establishments here ever since this place opened.

Hong Kong Pau Cafe brings about a new light to pau establishments, giving this old industry a complete new makeover. It has a fusion of foods to choose from and cool al fresco *smacks myself upside the head* seating arrangements to the side.

The place only serves one type of pau - char siew pau or pork bun, but they also have a remarkable array of dim sum offerings featured in front. Their dim sum repertoire contains about 20 odd dishes of dim sum offerings - more than most other dim sum places here offers.

Xiao Pa Wang's most prominent area is to bakery to the side. Finally, we have a bakery with seating arrangements! Xiao Pa Wang serves all sorts of innovative and imaginative (for Kuching, anyway) pastries and baked goods.

We finally have pork floss rolls! w00t! It tastes about the same as Bread Story/Bread Talk offerings; it's the secret semen-consistency type sauce that gives pork floss rolls the oomph! ;)

There is also a small heated oven to the side where they serve all sorts of pies - strawberry pies, blackberry pies, egg cream pie, curry chicken pie etc. The list goes on and the menu keeps changing.

I have visited this establishment many, many times. I have ate here and had some to go, before writing this review because I believe this place deserves a proper review due to it's innovative (for Kuching) nature.

The flagship offering - the paus or buns are always warm and fluffy. I've never had a hard crust one from here, you know, the leftovers which have grown tough. This place serves fresh paus all that time.

Here's a look at the inside - the filling is just nice and the fluffy small bun goes well with it.

The most famous offering from the bakery here is undoubtedly the pork ham. It's a piece of ham wrapped in a swirl of soft pastry and the illustrious semen type filling with coriander to top it off. I'm telling you, that semen mixture that's all the rage in bakeries nowadays is great!

This is the blueberry pie. The crust is flakey and the filling tastes good, not artificial, like from a jam jar.

Here's the egg cream pie, it tastes like a cross between an egg tart and a cream pie.

The pastries can be ordered to go as well, and this place has the proper packaging for everything, unlike other bakeries.

This is the chocolate roll. It's a phallic looking pastry with a flaky crust and a nice cocoa filling. It's not too sweet, which is great, the cocoa tastes like real unsweetened cocoa.

This is the lotus pastry. It's also spherical and contains lotus paste. It's good, but I won't rate it as great. It's certainly better than most offerings from Kuching, I'll tell you that.

Here's the strawberry pie - exactly like the blueberry pie, but with strawberry filling. It's good, better than I expected.

This is one of their new menu offerings - it's called a pork bun or something, it has bacon or ham folded inside the pastry and a generous dollop of that Special Sauce (TM) on top. I love that stuff.

Hong Kong Pau Cafe or Xiao Pa Wang gets two thumbs up from me. The place changes its offerings regularly so there's always something new each time you go, while retaining the old classics that everyone loves. The service here is extremely nice, the girls are friendly, and the place just offers good food, all the time. Oh, and I think they read the blog coz the girls called me yesterday.

Posted in Food reviews by Huai Bin at 11:36 AM Permalink | Comments (27)

Dark Benediction

The calm before the storm

Something wicked this way comes...

Posted in by Huai Bin at 02:54 PM Permalink | Comments (25)

Piccolo Mondo review

Piccolo Mondo is the quasi Italian restaurant located at Mid Valley Megamall. It has seating on the outside and the inside but its all the same due to the location inside a mall. The tables and chairs outside is a better option if you like to people watch, since you can see a significant portion of the mall and its temporary inhabitants going about like ants in an anthill.

This is from my last KL trip - I forgot that there was another food post until I saw it today.

Piccolo Mondo is more renowned for its pizza, lasagna and tiramisu but we didn't feel like pizza and the tiramisu wasn't ready (we went early), so we chose to have some drinks first while we decided on what to eat.

F.B.I. (Full Blooded Italian) @ RM 17.50
A typical Italian's Mafia drink, consisting of Gelato ice cream, a shot of espresso, Bailey's and Kahlua blended to perfection.

This drink is really good - it has the consistency of a thick milkshake and you can taste the liquor AND the coffee. It's a very nice drink after walking around a mall. I'm not a big fan of malls, I just went coz my gf wanted to buy something.

Sicily Strawberries @ RM 12
Fresh strawberries blended to perfection with coconut, orange, pineapple juice frapped with crushed ice and finished with a hint of Grenadine.

This concoction is a non-alcoholic thirst quencher that my gf ordered. I'll tell you something, Piccolo Mondo really does have good drinks. The fruits are generous and the whole drink just tastes good and is thirst quenching to boot. What more can you ask for? ;)

Calamari Diavola @ RM 20

I wanted to see how the calamari over here fares. This dish is lightly breaded calamari served with a wedge of lemon and dip. It didn't taste all that good, if you want me to be honest.

Il Pollo Alla Valdostana @ RM 30
Pan-fried chicken breast and chicken ham, gratinated with cheese.

This dish of chicken breast and ham cooked inside some sort of thin pancake is dismal, at best. Chicken breast is the part of a chicken I dislike the most but that doesn't account for the bland taste. The vegetables were overcooked and the mashed potatoes makes KFC's mashed potatoes look like haute cuisine...

I can't really say anything nice about Piccolo Mondo's food. The lasagna and pizza, which are their specialties, would have been a better choice. The tiramisu, which was what I really wanted, was still not done by the time I finished my meal, so I didn't manage to sample that as well.

However, there's one thing that redeemed Piccolo Mondo...the drinks. Piccolo Mondo serves really good drinks, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic blends, and they do it well.

Go there for the drinks, if not for the food.

Posted in Food reviews by Huai Bin at 07:51 AM Permalink | Comments (14)

The bone that gave me a boner

I found a nice, juicy bone today...

...and as I sat in the car park, eating it;

It gave me a boner.

Posted in Hmm... by Huai Bin at 03:42 PM Permalink | Comments (14)

Veli Important Person

Translation:
Letak kereta means car park.
Awam means public.
VIP means people with vasoactive intestinal polypeptide.

I guess this is where I turn left. ;)

Posted in by Huai Bin at 07:58 AM Permalink | Comments (11)

Red bill from Telekom - RM 962.23

I received a red colored bill from our beloved national telecommunications provider...it's usually white. "Uh oh, this can't be good," I thought. Red isn't a good color, it's usually reserved for outstanding debts.

Sure enough, it came from the Credit Management Unit of Telekom Malaysia...

In a strange semantics error, it states politely that my Internet and phone server has been pulled (which I already know) and that I have an outstanding debt of RM 962.23, but yet still refers to me as "Our valued customer". Strange, I thought it was well over 1k last time I got a bill. ;)

The other letter I got was postmarked from Alor Setar and contains no return address. I shook it vigorously, fearing anthrax, but it sounded like a harmless booklet. ;)

It's an unsolicited mail from some Buddhist organization and contains a yellow book which I couldn't read...

...but when I flipped casually through the pages, I saw that it's apparently advertising some service which allows you to strike 4D (lottery). Well, slap me on my ass and call me Sally, if it's so easy and you have my address, then why don't you help me pay my bills while you're at it? ;)

Posted in by Huai Bin at 07:59 AM Permalink | Comments (43)

Westwood Continental Cuisine

This is Westwood Continental Cuisine at Jalan Westwood. It's a popular place for continental cuisine since the food is good and the prices are reasonable. I've been here several times before and while their steaks are alright, it's not the best in town. I went with a couple of friends again last night for dinner.

The place is usually packed at night. This is the interior of Westwood Continental Cuisine. They have al fresco (heh) seating arrangements outside as well, and on cool nights, that is much preferable to sitting inside even though the interior is air-conditioned. The lighting is warm and its central location is part of its popularity as well as the good food and reasonable prices. Westwood Continental Cuisine has been operational for quite a while.

I had Ribena 7-Up, which is my "usual" drink over there. It's an interesting concoction of concentrated Ribena (blackberry juice concentrate) topped up with...er, 7-Up. The two goes really well - the Ribena concentrate sits at the bottom while the carbonated 7-Up slowly fizzes away to automatically combine the two. The drink is quite volatile for some reason, you have to be careful not to agitate it too much or bubbly purple foam will threaten to overfloweth on you.

My friends all went there for Fish and Chips. It's a generous portion of batter fried Dory fish served with French fries, Westwood's special tangy tartare sauce and salad. It's RM 9 for a serving, and that's a very good price considering the portion. This dish is very popular due to its price and filling portions.

I went for the Westwood Mixed Grill (lamb, beef, pork) at RM 15.50. I had it done medium and the dish did not disappoint. The beef is done well, as is the pork, but the two is outshined by the delicious lamb. The lamb meat is infused with the gamey flavor that I love and the juice just bursts out of the grilled lamb meat - it retains all of its moisture! Divine...

Westwood Continental Cuisine serves a limited range of menu items, but they know what they do best and all of the menu items are good. The place also has excellent service, better than most of the eating establishments in Kuching. Highly recommended for dinner before a big night out.

Posted in Food reviews by Huai Bin at 07:40 AM Permalink | Comments (12)

Shanghai cured meat and floss snacks

These are individually wrapped niu rou kang from Shanghai, China. It literally translates to "beef meat dried". This are the cured meat slices you see during certain festivities in the Chinese calendar.

The meat is carefully wrapped and lined in a tray, which is then wrapped again and sealed. Nice presentation, classic style of premium Asian snacks. Daniel [blogspot.com], your mom gave this to me when I was at your house yesterday. Send her my regards and tell her it tastes great! :)

The interesting bit about this pork meat and floss is the way they fuse them both together. Cured meat is something like beef jerky, only more tender and still retaining the taste of an animal. Floss is reprocessed meat, usually pork, and is turned into dried pieces of...well, floss that everyone eats for fun. It used to be all the rage to put floss on top of buns and then heating it.

This is a close look at this Shanghai snack. Its cured meat slices fused with liberal amounts of meat floss. I've never seen the likes of it - this one produces an interesting synergy of flavors.

Posted in Snacks by Huai Bin at 07:50 AM Permalink | Comments (19)