Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Thanks to Mister Potato Rice Crisp and Nuffnang, I was able to catch the game based movie Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Ah, it brings back memory of the first time I played Prince of Persia PC game on my friend's 386 with CGA graphic (that's only 16 colours as versus to now millions of colour).

The screenplay is co-written by the game creator himself, Jordan Mechner. While the villain of the story is easily predictable, what I like is the jumping stunt in the movie which one can find in the Prince of Persia game franchises. Jumping from rooftop to rooftop, climbing on high wall, traps, and even back flipping. It's just like the game came to life :p

Lot's of jumping around.

Princess Tamina played by Gemma Aterton is of course very beautiful indeed. As Eyeris will put it, cleavage rating is 7.5/10 lol. The plot is kind of expected except for some twist in it. Ben Kinsley portrayal of Nizam is marvelous. The other actors and actress is only able to deliver a fair job of acting.

Princess Tamina

Prince of Persia

Well, overall Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a worth while movie to watch in the cinema with some nice CGI and action scene. It's such a waste to watch it on TV even if you have a 42" LCD TV. A canister of Mister Potato Rice Crisps will help during the movie.

Rating: 8/10

House of Tang at One Bangsar

One Bangsar has many restaurants that serves cuisine from different countries. It's like an International affair there. Honestly, I haven't been to One Bangsar even though I drove passed it quite a few times when I passed through Bangsar. Alas, last Wednesday I finally have a chance to dine in one of the restaurant there.

House of Tang, I've read a lot about this Chinese restaurant that serves up some very nice dim sum but I was there last Wednesday for a meal of dinner. Jason, Ai Wei, Christine, Chris, me and three other friends gathered to celebrate Lex's shifting to Singapore without Lex being there. Nah, just kidding, it was just a gathering of us foodies for a makan.

We started off with Braised Seafood in Scallop and Shark’s Fin Soup (瑶柱海味烩鱼翅). With all those ingredients, this is one very rich shark's fin soup. While it tasted not too bad but I still prefer shark's fin soup with clear broth and cooked with Yuen Nam ham.

Braised Seafood in Scallop and Shark’s Fin Soup (瑶柱海味烩鱼翅).

Continue on, we have a little bit for appetizer from the dim sum menu. Unagi Puff with BBQ Sauce (烧汁鳗鱼酥) is one of it's kind of dim sum that I had. The skin is very crispy and the unagi is very easy to bite and juicy too. It's a very interesting and nice dim sum.

Unagi Puff with BBQ Sauce (烧汁鳗鱼酥).

Assam ‘Tom Yam’ Garoupa Fish (亞參冬炎石斑魚) is up next. I must say even though the fish is cooked a little bit too long but the assam 'Tom Yam' sauce saves the day. The sauce goes very well with the fish. I especially like the part where the fish meat has a little bit of fish oil. Nice.

Assam ‘Tom Yam’ Garoupa Fish (亞參冬炎石斑魚)

One of my favourite dish of the night is the Braised Pig Trotter (红烧元蹄). Okaylah, I'm always bias towards pork but this pig trotter is really cooked al dente. While the the meat is tender there's still some chewy collagen beneath the skin. I can taste premium soya sauce was added in the sauce. I ate a lot of this pig trotter even though there are still a few dishes on the way.

Braised Pig Trotter (红烧元蹄).The appearance is so nice.

OMG. Can you see the collagen. LOL.

Let's have some internal organ after we had the trotter. So, Stir Fried Pork Belly with Preserved Vegetables (咸菜炒猪肚) is what we had next. I like that the pork belly is cooked right with the springiness and chewiness still intact but not to hard to chew. I have to say the chef did some steps to treat the preserved vegetables making it not overwhelmingly salty. Just the right saltiness. Thumbs up.

Stir Fried Pork Belly with Preserved Vegetables (咸菜炒猪肚)

Okay. That's quite enough of meat already. Let's have some vegetable to balance up the meal. Shen Jiang Homemade Bean Curd (申江自制豆腐) is just what we needed. Look at the gravy, if not because I was alredy 2/3 full, I will order a bowl of white rice and pour the gravy all over the rice. The homemade bean curd is quite rich with soya bean taste, lightly fried on the outer later yet the inside is still very smooth and soft. I regretted of not ordering the rice now T_T.

Shen Jiang Homemade Bean Curd (申江自制豆腐)

Imagine the soft and smooth tofu with rice.

Let's have more greens. Pigweed Simmered with Whitebait and Wolfberry (银鱼杞子灼苋菜). I can say that this dish is very good for the eyes because there's Wolfberry in it. Very nice vege dish.

Well, lucky I didn't order the rice because the last dish is Fried Yee Mee with Diced Prawns (虾茸干烧伊面). I like the yee mee because it's not soggy, just the right texture yet it has absorbed the sauce. Now I'm really glad I didn't order rice. I also sapu most of the kai lan at the side :p

Fried Yee Mee with Diced Prawns (虾茸干烧伊面)

It's time for dessert. We ordered Herbal Jelly with Water Chestnut and Ginseng Roots (参须龟苓膏炖马蹄) to wash down our meal. The taste of ginseng roots is quite strong but I like it. A good dessert to takes of the heat of having to work night shift for me.

Herbal Jelly with Water Chestnut and Ginseng Roots (参须龟苓膏炖马蹄)

Overall the dinner at House of Tang is very pleasant and the food there is very good. By the way, no MSG is used in preparing the dishes here in House of Tang.



Address:

House of Tang
One Bangsar
No. 63B, Jalan Ara, bangsar Baru, 59100 kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 603 2282 1111 │ Email: dine@houseoftang.com.my
Website: http://www.houseoftang.com.my
Click here for map.

Video Blog of my Bali Trip - Saya Nak Cuti!

Okay. This is a video blog post that I will make for my trip to Bali last month.

Arrived at Denpasar and I took a cab to my hotel Legian Paradiso. (I totally forgot that MAS has arranged a shuttle to the hotel for me FML!)

I visited the Badung Market and Kumbasari Art Market. Street food is of course one of the thing you must try if you are in a street market like this one. Here is a video of the sate ayam packing my order.

On the next day, I took a transport from Jalan Legian to Legian Beach to meet up with the Saya Nak Cuti crew doing shooting there. It cost me RP 50,000 for a distance of about 5KM. -_-

Arrived at Legian Beach but there's still like about 500m away from the bungee jump site. So, I walked on the beach and try to feel the sands. It's been a long time I haven't been to a beach.

Here, watch Juliana doing the full body harness jump. More behind the scenes here.

On the third day, I booked a transport to Ubud, Bali. My primary objective is of course to eat Ibu Oka Babi Guling. LOL.

On the way there, I passed through some beautiful scenary like the one below.

The driver brought me to the branch of Ibu Oka and not the main branch. He told me that I'll have a hard time finding a place to sit in the HQ. Later I found out he was right.

After having a yummy lunch of Ibu Oka Babi Guling rice, I was drove to the Sacred Monkey Forest. The entrance fee is RP 20,000.

I saw this monkey that thought the stone is a coconut or something and try to crack it open.

I saw another monkey that really does crack open a coconut. LOL.

I then went to middle of Ubud and visited Istana Ubud.

Ibu Oka HQ is just opposite Istana Ubud. Look at the crowd.

Business here is so good that a new whole roasted pig have to be cut.

On the 4th day in Bali, I decided it's enough of taking transport, so I walk from the end of Jalan Legian (the hotel I stayed in, Legian Paradiso is near one end) to the other end (estimated about 3KM). There's a lot of things to see in between the walk, one will miss it if taking a cab.

Halfway in Legian Street, I reached the memorial monument on the 1st Bali bombing. Kind of sad looking at all those names and photos on the monument.

Did a bit of shopping on the way.

At the end of Jalan Legian, there will be a T-junction. Turn left to Denpasar town and turn right into Jalan Pantai.

At the end of Jalan Pantai, you'll find Kuta Beach.

Don't forget to drop by Hard Rock Hotel, Bali in Kuta Beach if you likes to collect Hard Rock Cafe merchandises.

Kuta Beach is also full of surfers as in Legian Beach. Actually, both beaches are next to each other. :p

I then spent the rest of my day doing a 5 hours spa in Spa Bali in Jalan Legian, which is only two shops away from Legian Paradiso. As the are havign 50% promotion at that time, so it only cost my about RP 550,000.

It's really worth it.

The 5th and the final day in Bali, the shuttle brought me to the airport and 10 am. It's time to say goodbye to Bali. I met up with Juliana and the rest of the Saya Nak Cuti crew and we checked in together.

Our flight back to KLIA. Malaysian Hospitality 714.

It was a very nice trip to Bali. Thank you MAS for the flight and accommodation. Those that didn't know why can read it here.

Celcom Rewards Grand Prize of RM10,000 to Lucky Media Winner!

Remember that I blog about the Celcom is Back in the Ball Game, Launching the "Blue Vs The Rest" Campaign! Media Nite event a few days ago. I also wrote that I have to go early because there's another event and because of that I have to forgo the lucky draw that got a grand prize of RM 10,000 cash.

Well, I got the news of who won the lucky draw that night. The lucky winner is Rosmalina bte Abdul Kadir, a Feature Writer from KOSMO! It might be me T_T

Well, no worries there because I will still have my chance on winning RM 10,000. All I have to do is collect a Celcom Blue Bear either by:

• Xpax, Celcom Blue & Sukses: Reload a minimum of RM30 and above;
• Celcom Exec: Subscribe to 2 Celcom Exec Savers Packages;
• Celcom Broadband: Sign up for selected Broadband USB modem package or subscribe to a 5GB upgrade plan;
• Channel X: Download RM10 worth of football content, choosing from a wide range of footsie-related Call Me Tones, wallpapers, full songs and news alert amongst many others;
• Blackberry®: Purchase one of the Blackberry® models with Celcom Exec.

I am already a Celcom Broadband subscriber, so all I have to do is purchase additional 5GB of data volumes (just for RM 20) and I'll be eligible to get a Celcom Blue Bear and be in the running for the RM 10,000 cash. Woot! But first I'll have to settle my outstanding Celcom Broandband bill T_T

The media had fun that night.

Now let me win the RM 10,000 daily cash prize before 11 July 2010 when this promotion ends.

TenSho (天勝日本料理) Japanese Restaurant, Wan Chai, Hong Kong

Simon Says: I don't like to drive to the Golden Triangle. Traffic is one thing and another thing is the parking rates there is charged per hour. Good thing now there's KLParking.com to refer to, so that I can really compared the rates and find the best parking spot at different time in the Golden Triangle.

Okay. Time to back track a bit to last year December on my Hong Kong trip. On the 10th day in Hong Kong, I met up with Jane in Mongkok with her friend from Malaysia whom is visiting Hong Kong too. We went to the Lucky Dessert (發記甜品) outlet in Mongkok (I just tried their dessert a night before in their HQ in Sham Tseng).

We passed by this popular street snacks shop in Mongkok. Me and Jane's friend just can resists. I bought smelly tofu and he bought squid tentacles.

Oh my, I miss the fried pork intestines.

It's making me hungry writing this post.

After that, Jane's friend have to meet up with his group. Jane and I will be going to Wan Chai for Japanese food and meet up with her hubby, Maori. According to Jane, TenSho (天勝) Japanese Restaurant was introduced to Maori by his Japanese friend that is working in Hong Kong. It's a Japanese restaurant that a lot of Japanese working in Hong Kong goes to but after the financila crisis, a lot of Japanese working around there went back to Japan. So now the customer is a mixture of locals and Japanese.

Coincidentally, Choi Lan (蔡瀾) was here a few weeks ago to shoot his lifestyle TV program for Hong Kong TVB， 蔡瀾品味. Ten Sho was featured in episode 8, I was able to catch it on TVB.com in Hong Kong. Too bad the TVB online MYTV is only available for those in Hong Kong. If you want to watch it, then you can try this forum here, where direct download is available.

Complimentary appetizer.

On the wall are menu written in Japanese.

Edamame.

The day's specialties written in Chinese. Obviously meant for the locals.

Maori likes to drink sake and beer when eating here.

Tempura.

TenSho has a lot of drinking snacks (dish that meant to go with alcoholic drinks). Maori is very familiar of the specialty dishes.

This is a house specialty, Marinated Tuna Intestine with Cream Cheese & Crackers. The chef here invented this snack, so it's not available in other Japanese restaurant. It is an acquired taste, some may like it very much but some may not like it. But do order this if you are first time here.

Mentaiko. I know Cheesie will love this.

Marinated squid. A bit salty, very good to go down with a beer.

After downing our beer, Maori ordered a bottle of Japanese Shochu (). The owner/partner of the restaurant (whom also is the manager) will come and chat with us and have a drink with us. Which is quite normal for a Japanese restaurant in Japan. I think besides the good Japanese food here, it is the way of things here that attracted so many Japanese in Hong Kong patronizing TenSho.

Maori's favourite is the beef stew.

Once I've tasted it, I know why. The meat is so tender and juicy. All the gravy was absorbed fully by the beef.

Yakitori, we had yakikawa, grilled chicken skin. Another nice dish for ShoChu.

I don't quite remember what dish is this but I think it's barbecued Ox Tongue (Gyutan).

To balanced up the meaty fare, I ordered Sashimi Salada. The chef chose to use vegetable that is in season from Japan.

The raw fish ingredients are flown in freshly from Japan frequently. Hong Kong is very near Japan so the fish is almost as fresh as in Japan. Price is also lower than eating in Malaysia.

Another of the house specialty and Jane's favourite is the Onigiri Yaki (Grilled Rice Ball). Really very special, this is the first time I eat onigiri that is grilled. We ordered fillings with unagi.

Onigiri Yaki.

TenSho is hidden in quite a secluded area in Wan Chai's back alley. Even Jane didn't really remember how to go there and we were walking in the rain. Luckily she remember the road name, we asked around and were able to find it.

Here's a map to TenSho, Wan Chai, Hong Kong. 5 minutes walk from MTR Causeway Bay Station Exit C, or 5 minutes walk from MTR Wanchai Station Exit A1. Look for Jaffe Road (謝斐道).

It's really a very good experience trying out TenSho. There's so many variety of dishes. What we had is not even 5 percent of all the dishes available. Some of the dishes will not be able to be found in Malaysia. Thank you Jane and Maori for treating me such a nice dinner. I may say that this is one of the best Japanese meal I ever had.

Address:

TenSho Japanese Restaurant 天勝日本料理
G/F Kingstown Mansion, 313 - 323 Jaffe Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong. (5 minutes walk from MTR Causeway Bay Station Exit C, or 5 minutes walk from MTR Wanchai Station Exit A1)

香港灣仔謝斐道313 - 323號帝城大廈地下

Tel: +852 25731329

Opening Hours: 1100 – 1430 and 1800 – 2300 Daily

Other Ppl's View:

Deli Prince
Open Rice
Food of Hong Kong & Macao