California Pizza Kitchen, KLCC

I was at California Pizza Kitchen (CPK) last week to taste their Chinese New Year menu that will launched for the Double Happiness Celebration. Yes. Coincidentally this year Chinese New Year day 1 is also Valentine's Day. So, it will be a headache for those couples that is still in courtship. To celebrate CNY with family or to go out for a romantic dinner with bf/gf. Come to CPK and u can have it both. CNY menu for the family and Valentine's Day menu eat with lover lol.

There's a Special Dinner Menu for Two during 13th and 14th of Feb 2010. Cost only RM 88++, it comes with choice of selected half size salad , a choice of selected one pizza and one pasta and a choice of two glasses of mocktails or sparkling wine.

Let me recommend some of the choices that you can pick. We'll start with salads.

Fresh lettuce, so healthy right. My highly recommended salad. LOL. Just kidding.

It's a Lettuce Wraps. Comes with the lettuce is the stir-fried diced chicken and shrimp. Take a piece of lettuce leaf, put in some of the diced meat and a bit of the special Thai chili sauce. Wrap it and voila. Great food.

Rating: 3.5/5

The Miso Salad is my favourite. It's very refreshing and not overly tasting. The miso is just nice. The natural sweetness from the thinly sliced cabbage just made the whole salad fresher. One thing I noticed that the ingredients in the salad in CPK is cut into small small pieces so that I only have to use my fork to eat rather than have to cut the vegetable with a knife.

Rating: 4/5

The Thai Crunch Salad that I tried was added with avocado which is and add on option. For, avocado loving freak like me will surely opt for the add on. The salad suace used here is a bit peanut butterish. The salad tasted somewhat like gado-gado. So, we all concur that it might as well be call Bali Crunch Salad lol. Nevertheless, it's very good, maybe it's because of the avocado lol.

Rating: 4/5

The last salad I tasted is the Chinese Chicken Salad. Sauce tasted like Hoisin sauce was used as the dressing. This is the most heavy tasted salad of all. That is why I toasted the salad evenly. For people that like heavy taste dressing this might be a choice that they can pick.

Rating: 3/5

Next is the Kung Po Spaghetti. Optional of chicken or shrimp or both lol. I tasted a bean paste in the sauce. A very nice fusion of the East and the West. I prefer it to be a little bit more spicier. A very appetizing dish.

Rating: 3.75/5

Next noodle dish is the Garlic Noodle. A very Chinese style noodle dish because it uses yellow noodle instead of spaghetti but the condiment used with more of the Western style like broccoli and bell peppers. It tasted like longevity noodle for me, while Coco like it very much because she said it's like "mun yee min".

We were then treated with one of CPK best seller. The Peking Duck Pizza. Another fusion that make the pizza not so pizza lol. Low fat cheese is used, so ladies don't worry about the diet. It will be better if the crispy thingy were put at the side instead of on the pizza. More spring onion will be good. It's my personal taste. Some people might like it the other way around.

Rating: 3.5/5

One thing to note that the hot sauce used here is not your normal brand of Tabasco. The hot sauce here is imported from Mexico called Cholula. You might not be able to find it in other restaurant.

Lastly, we were all treated with dessert. Too bad Sue have to go off early so she missed the very nice Red Velvet Cake and Tiramisu. Red Velvet cake is actually dragon fruit mixed with chocolate hence the taste is a bit chocolaty. I love their Tiramisu the most. It has very strong rum taste instead of coffee like some Tiramisu I ate before in other restaurants. Those that like chocolate will probably fell in love with their Chocolate Souffle Cake. Rich in chocolate and top with optional vanila ice-cream it's a dessert to die for. Coming here for the dessert alone is worth a try.

Tiramisu: Rating: 4.5/5
Red Velvet: Rating 4/5
Chocolate Souffle Cake: Rating 4/5

Red Velvet Cake

Tiramisu

Yann and the Ruthles Eater were the other two bloggers there. Nice meeting you Sue and Ruth for the first time. Say hi to your aunt for me too Ruth.

Address:

California Pizza Kitchen
Lot #140, Level 1, Suria KLCC
50088 Kuala Lumpur
* Mall is located at the Petronas Twin Tower
Tel: (+603) 2382 0512
Fax: (+603) 2382 0516
Business Hours: 11:30a.m. - 11:00p.m. daily (last order @ 10:30p.m.)
Website: www.cpk.com

Flymas.mobi is as easy as doing The Peter Chao

Malaysia Airlines recently launched their new mobile services that one can access using mobile phone by going to Flymas.mobi. Not only you can book your flight using your mobile phone with Flymas.mobi, you will also be able to check-in, choose your seat, trace your baggage and board your flight by showing the 2D barcode boarding pass that will be sent to your mobile phone.

This is a video I made showing how easy it is to use Flymas.mobi:



I did the video portraying Peter Chao, whom video channel became an instant hit and now is a Youtube celebrity. You can make a video of yourself and join the Flymas.mobi Video contest. The Grand Prize is 2X return tickets to Istanbul. First Prize also got 2X return tickets to Tokyo/Seoul. Closing date for this contest is 11.59pm, 5 Feb 2010. So don't wait, make video now. Seow outside!!!

My Dream in the Year of the Tiger

Going this 4th of February, we will transition in to the year of Metal Tiger which by the way Tiger is Yang Wood element. According my Bazi chart, I am a Day Master of Bing Fire born in the Autumn month, which makes me a weak Bing Fire. I need Fire and Wood to make my chart better. So, in general the year of Metal Tiger with the Yang Wood element there should be good for me. Let's hope so. Also hope that the Tiger clash with the Monkey in my month won't be that great effect. Hopefully the wood element still have something left lol.

So, the year of the Tiger I should have a better luck. Then it's time to make my dream comes true. One of my dream is to visit Japan. During college time, I got hooked on Japanese drama such as Long Vacation, which made me got interested in the Japanese language. So, I went to take up Japanese classes in ICLS, KL Plaza. I learn for about 2 and a half years. I took weekly classes, two and a half year is really not much. I can speak, read and write simple Japanese. Ask Cheesie, I can communicate with Taka-san quite well lol.

Speaking of Cheesie, I missed the opportunity to join the Hokkaido home-stay that cost only around RM 5,000 that was partly organized by her last year. So, this year my dream is to join the home-stay in Hokkaido. Partly so that I can practice my rusty Japanese. Mostly is of course the food in Hokkaido is one of the best in Japan.

Hokkaido giant crab

Hokkaido also famous for it's ice-cream because of the fresh milk produced there.

Besides eating, Hokkaido also has a lot of beautiful places with very awesome scenery. One of the it is the Lavender field in Furano. I saw the Hong Kong movie Lavender and wanted to visit a lavender field after watching it.

There are so much more in Japan to visit. Such as the pachinko, Bandai museum, anything manga and anime and etc. Now that Tiger Beer and Nuffnang is having the Tiger Run event and giving out RM 8,888 worth of dream, I must take this opportunity to get this dream to come true. If I can finish first in the finishing line that is :p

New Beggar's Delicious Restaurant, Ijok

Last Saturday, WackyBecky invited me to join her and her friends for a meal of beggar's chicken in Ijok. I don't know where is Ijok so I met them in Kelana Jaya first. Only then she told me that Ijok is actually before Kuala Selangor. -_- It will be much nearer going there from my house which is near Kepong. It also started to rain cats and dogs in LDP all the way to NKVE.

It's quite easy to go to Ijok. If you are from PJ area, go into NKVE from the Tropicana toll. Drive towards Sg. Buloh. From the Sg. Buloh exit turn left into Sg. Buloh and follow the sign to Kuala Selangor. Just all the way straight after you see Ijok sign, still go straight then look out on your left for the New Beggar's Delicious Restaurant signage, turn left into a trunk road. After turning in, you'll notice that you're going into a palm oil estate. About 1 minute drive later you'll see New Beggar's Delicious Restaurant on your right. If you're coming from Kepong, just follow the Sg. Buloh road from the cross road that turn left will be LDP. Go straight using the fly over towards Sg. Buloh.

Purple crackers. We didn't eat though.

It's quite cool to eat in some faraway place from the city. It's feels so peaceful here. Then I thought, it will be nice to have a BlackBerry here so that I can take picture and upload to my Twitter. Best of all is I'm using Xpax, which is now having the Xpax Big Freekin Sales. For the BlackBerry Advance (2.5G) is just RM 2.50/day. If I use it for 5 consecutive weekdays and I'll get Free BlackBerry Access on Saturday and Sunday. Free Twittering and Facebooking all the way. Also can check on my location using Google Maps if I got lost lol. Especially since Xpax got a very wide coverage so I think Ijok should have no problem.

Doing a quick calculation, if every weekday I use Xpax BlackBerry Advance to access Internet for like 20 days of weekday. I get weekend for free. So it comes down to RM 50 per month only for the data access. Which is cool for me because I seldom use voice call. I mostly SMS, Twitter and Facebooking only lol. I also can check my Gmail with the integrated mail services from BlackBerry push mail services. What more I can use MSN to chat with my friends in Ijok. Just as I was thinking about it WackyBecky suddenly pull me from my thought. She wanted to see where that beggar's chicken is cooked.

So, I ask one of the staff there using Cantonese. Later we found out they speaks Hokkien, which WackyBecky can speak, she's from Penang. As we were led to the cooking area, which is behind the house of the owner, the boss is already starting to open our orders of beggar's chicken, beggar's duck, beggar's pork knuckle and beggar's fish from the harden mud.

We then make our way to the oven area behind the house.

This is where the beggar's (insert meat) is cooked.

They use wood for the fire.

It needs about 4 hours to cook the beggar's chicken (RM 41). So, the chicken is expected to be very tender. Chinese herb is used to cook it. It's like herbal chicken, just that the way they cook it is different. Not too bad.

Rate: 3.5/5

Beggar's Chicken.

The favourite for all of us is the pork knuckle (RM 41). Oh my god, it literally melts in your mouth. It don't feels very fatty at all. The yam that it cooks with absorb all the gravy and pork goodness, so you must try the yam too. Sinfully goodness.

Rating: 4.5/5

Beggar's Pork Knuckle.

The glutinous rice is another favourite. It is like a very big bah chang. WackyBecky told me that there's about 10 salty egg yolks inside, also with shitake and pork meat. The aroma is a bit different from the normal bah chang. Maybe it's because this one is baked instead of steamed. It's also not watery like the steamed version.

Rating: 4/5

Glutinous rice.

The beggar's duck (RM45) tasted not like your usual duck. The gamey taste is not that strong already and the texture feels more like chicken rather than duck. The gravy goes very well with the duck. We all voted that the duck is better than the chicken lol.

Rating: 4/5

Beggar's duck.

The stuffed fish (RM 33) is the last to come. All the fish meat are taken out to make fish paste and the stuffed back to the fish. After baking it, the fish are deep fried. Hence the fish skin is very crispy and there's still a bit of fish meat sticking on it. So when you bite into it, you'll find 3 different layer of texture. The fish paste is full of real fish meat too not floury at all.

Rating: 4/5

Stuffed fish.

We ordered another plate of stir-fried potato leaf (RM 8) because we thinkg that we have to balance all the meat with some green. The vegetable is very fresh and not old at all.

Stir-fried potato leaf.

It's a wonderful meal with some wonderful people in a wonderful place that is quite close to nature.

Guess where the fish came from? If the fish here is not fresh, I don't know where is.

I guess the owner is a Koi enthusiast too.

Old school toilet. It's better now, they have flush. 20 years ago, place like this where got flush.

There's no signboard on the restaurant.

Address:

New Beggar's Delicious Restaurant
Ijok, Selangor Darul Ehsan
Tel: 03-3279 1936 or 019 317 3687

GPS Coordinates:
N: 101 25' 8.7"
E: 3 18' 24.0"

Reservation is a must because of the time taken to prepare the dishes. Your mobile no. will be your reservation no. You'll get scolded if you don't show up after you booked.

Wacoal-Sensuala Calendar Girl Launch Party

Updates: All passes been given out. Thank you.

I got 12 passes to give out for Wacoal-Sensuala Calendar Girl Launch Party.

I'll be giving out a pair for passes to the first 6 people that leave a comment here. Please also include your name and email address. Pinky Liew the 1st Runner-up of Malaysian Dreamgirl 2 and Jeslyn Lee the regular model for Nikonian Academy photograph shoot are two of the 14 finalists. I think there will be girls wearing lingerie and doing catwalk on the stage there. Come leave your details in the comment if you want to get the pair of passes.

Wacoal-Sensuala Calendar Girl Launch Party

Date: Thursday, 28th January 2010
Time: 7pm
Venue: Mist Club, Bangsar

There will be a fashion show, dance performances and few other naughty surprises. Drinks and refreshments will be served.

About Sensuala Calendar Girl

Sensuala, a line of lingerie created by lingerie specialist Wacoal, initiated the Sensuala Calendar Girl search competition in 2009 to discover 12 gorgeous girls to grace its alluring Wallpaper Calendar 2010.

The 12 sizzling Sensuala Calendar Girl finalists and Sensuala's brand new wallpaper calendar will be unveiled at the Launch Party. The night also marks the launch of Sensuala's new logo and official website.

Visit http://sensualalingerie.com for more.

花園餐廳 Garden Restaurant、Hong Kong

Okay. Continue with my Hong Kong Eatravel^TM post. On the fifth day, I went to lunch with my aunt and my cousin brother Keith. Yum cha in Yuen Long. I follow my aunt's maid to take the bus to Yuen Long. She had to go to the market to buy some fruits.

Typical Hong Kong wet market.

When we walked out of the market, I saw this shop selling economy rice. I didn't know that Hong Kong also go economy rice kind of style. The queue is quite long too.

This is the light railway in Yuen Long. Very convenient. Can change to West Railway in the Yuen Long Station. Then from the West Railway can change to MTR in Lai Chi Kok Station.

After that, I finally met up with my aunt and she brought me to this restaurant called 喜尚嘉喜宴會廳 (Plentiful Delight Banquet) that serve not only dim sum but also got Japanese food like sashimi and sushi. It's very a very big restaurant. Which is kind of rare in Hong Kong.

There's a lot of live seafood too in the restaurant's aquarium.

Lobster.

Fresh abalone.

Plentiful Delight Banquet.

Some of the food I had is;

Uni sushi (Sea Urchin Sushi)

Har Gao (Prawn Dumpling)

Fresh Prawn Chee Cheong Fun. I like the premium soya sauce used.

Friend spring roll.

Char Leong (Chee Cheong Fun wrap yao char kwai)

Bamboo beef balls.

Pork belly bun.

Roasted goose thigh noodle. They don't have lai fun.

Shark-fin dumpling.

Lotus paste bun. A must try. It's not too sweet and the bun skin is very nice.

Police van. If PDRM put more of this van on the street, I sure crime rate will go down.

After the fulfilling meal, Keith took me to the bus stop to take a bus to Tsim Sha Tsui. This is his ride.

No lah just kidding. Keith drives a Porsche Carrera not a Lamborghini.

I took the bus from Yuen Long and half an hour later I reached Tsim Sha Tsui. I went to Waterfront. There's a shopping center here call Elements. You can opt to take the MTR to Kowloon Station and the exit is Elements.

I came here to find Jane whom is staying in one of the condo there with her Hong Kong husband Maori. The security in the condo is so tight. There's already a checkpoint near the gate before I even go in to the area.

Jane's cat Mao Mao.

I followed Jane to Elements to take the birthday cake that she ordered for Maori's birthday the next day. I saw a Charcoal Swiss Roll that looks very tempting but I didn't buy it. Have to save money lol.

After putting the cake into the fridge, we then took a shuttle bus from the condo to Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui. We went to the Star House to look for a Swiss Travel Multi Adaptor for my cousin Elaine. Alas, I didn't buy it either because the one we found doesn't have USB. We then went to Esprit Outlet. The clothes there are so damn affordable. I can't help but bought a long sleeves shirt. It cost HKD 250, original priced at HKD 499.

We had coffee at Starbucks. When it's time for dinner. Jane suggested to go try the soya sauce steak lol, in the other words Hong Kong Style steak. One of the more popular Hong Kong Style Steak House is 花園餐廳 Garden Restaurant. There's a few outlet in Hong Kong. One of it is in Tsim Sha Tsui.

When you order any steak, it will come with the meal bun. Jane told me the bun is very nice. It's very fluffy. I suspect she came here for the bun instead of the steak lol.

You can opt of cream corn soup or Russian broth.

I ordered the Wagyu Steak Set, HKD 102.

All the steak came in sizzling style.

Now I know where Kim Gary copied their steak set from.

I ordered my Wagyu steak to be medium-well, which I regretted because the hot plate cooked my medium-well to well done lol. Should have opted for medium-rare.

Let's dig in.

Well, the steak is nothing to wow about but it is the culture that I wanted to try. I can always go to Kim Gary now if I miss the soya sauce steak.

Tea or coffee that goes with the set.

Jane is so nice to pick up the tab. Thank you Jane. When you come to Malaysia I'll treat you Kim Gary lol.

Address:

花園餐廳 Garden Restaurant
尖沙咀廣東道122-126號中港中心地庫
122-126, China Hong Kong Center Basement,
Canton Road, Tsim Sha Tsui
Hong Kong

Tel: 852-2375 5825

Click here for the other branches address.