Paradise City...

... where the grass is green and the girls are pretty. Or more commonly known as Phuket, Thailand where the family n I went for the past 4 days and 3 nights. Didn't really know what to expect since I've not been here for ages. Our flight was at 6.55am which meant leaving home at 3.30am which meant sleep for only 3 hours for me. Flight only took about an hour fifteen minutes in which we arrived at about 7.20 local time.


You know it's gonna be an awesome trip...

And you know your holiday is gonna be awesome when your ride from the airport to the hotel is a Mitsubishi Evo 7 (I think)! And as expected, the driver thought he was the dude from Taxi, driving in-out-in-out. I for one was enthralled by the ride cos hey, if you're in a sports car, expect a ride like one right? Apparently but unsurprisingly though, my parents weren't too amused. About half an hour later we checked into the hotel which to my delight is right across the street from the famous Patong beach! For RM800 a person (including flight tix), the room we got was actually pretty nice.


Walkway to our hotel...

After that, we went out to do what most Malaysian's do on trips: jalan-jalan cari makan! Happen to pass an advert by the beach about a beach party going on for the duration I was there. And walking down a little more, I noticed that the stage was less than 50m from my hotel, talk about location x3!! Although I'm not much of a clubber and don't enjoy dancing, if I didn't go to this event, it will be a waste for sure!


Our timing couldn't be any better...

As we walked further down the street, it reminded me a lot of Chee Cheong Kai right here in KL cos of the many small shops selling fake goods like sunglasses, watches, shirts, jerseys, shoes and touristy stuff. One thing different though was between every 3-4 shops of those, sure got a massage parlour. Some looked 'professional' and legit while others looked dodgy and might even provide 'extra service'!


Safety first!...

Walking down a little further, we decided to try some local food at a restaurant on the beach. See, not many places back home where you can have good food with sand on your feet no? So we ordered some Pad Thai (their version of char kueay teow), papaya salad, seafood fried rice and some chicken soup kuey teow. The pad thai and papaya salad were that good that even when it burnt my mouth with the heat, I kept wanting more! The fried rice on the other hand, was in a league of its own. Being someone who loves fried rice and can make a pretty mean fried rice dish, this one totally pawns all before I've tasted - I think they must've added some fish sauce and sesame oil into the rice cos it was damn flavourful! Coupled with the fresh prawns and squid, absolutely awesome!


Things kicked off to a great start with the best fried rice I've tasted...

After a hearty brunch, we walked some more along a street where there were a LOT of bars and gogo clubs on either side but during the day, not much activity. My mom however, decided she wanted to have some beer to quench the thirst... at 1030am! Haha... and you people wonder why I like to drink and how I can hold my liquor (though I'm in NO way implying my parents are alcoholics k)! Once we finished our drinks, there was only one thing on my mind: SLEEP! So I headed back to the room for some much needed sleep while they went to the pool I think.


Patong Beach road day and night, right across our hotel...

Later in the evening, we walked along the beach, with me hoping to see some nudies (!) but sadly, all the hot young girls were all covered up at the appropriate areas... aih... Nvm la, went for the next best thing: food hunting. And there were many food stalls set up along the beach facing the street but since it was early, not many were open. Saw some local Thai food like pad thai, papaya salad, mango with sticky rice (awesome!) and some kuihs. Kept walking until I saw this:


Stopped dead in my tracks when I saw this...

RIBS!! Immediately told my dad that we HAVE to get some. Not that cheap though, counting by weight, a small portion in the picture below cost me 100baht (which is slightly more than RM11). Then again, the food here is not cheap, mostly KL-Bangsar-PJ prices but awesomeness is almost guaranteed!


Having ribs by the beach, can life get any better?...

For dessert (yes, tea time oso got dessert!) we had some mango with sticky rice which was just superb. I'm pretty sure its cos of the Thai rice lah, every rice dish here is just brilliant! There were also many stalls selling cocktails and beer there. I have to say, if the food was expensive, the drinks however, are cheap! 1 can/mug of beer only costs about RM4-5 while a bottle is only RM5-6. The cocktails were about RM9 a cup and I was on a mission to try as many as I could while I was there, hoping to get some inspirations for recipes along the way :D. And by the end of the trip, I must've sampled drank at least 6 different cocktails!


Apparently with a Mai Thai, it can...

Once we were done with that, we walked along the street, soaking in the sights and sounds. I was rather surprised that the Ang Moh tourists outnumber the locals by at least 25:1. Us Asians lagi no need to say lah... Felt more like in a place like Australia than Thailand actually, though I'm not complaining at all! haha.. far from it!!


Street carts have good food as well...

And unsurprisingly because of the influx of ang mohs, there were many western restaurants and chains like Burger King, McD, Starbucks, Pizza Hut, Haagen Daz, Subway (even phuket can hav, Mlk leh???) and loads of italian, western joints. We saw this cart on the street selling crepes and out of curiosity or rather greed, bought a Nutella+banana and a Lemon+sugar crepe. For RM4, not bad I have to say... especially the lemon one... tangy and refreshing!


Above: Nutella+Banana crepe Below: Lemon+Sugar crepe

After that we headed back to the hotel for some rest before dinner where we went to this authentic Italian restaurant called Marco Polo. You may wonder, how can there be an authentic Italian restaurant in Phuket? Well, if the owners and cook are Italian, that's enough for me. Still being quite filled from the day, we only ordered 1 starter of Prosciutto (Italian ham) with fresh mozzarella, 2 pizzas (one cheese and pepperoni and the other simple tomatoes, basil and cheese) and 1 fried squid dish.


Open pizza oven...

The ham dish was good though I my expectation of the cheese was rather let down. Possibly cos it was still cold so it couldn't stretch as much as I wanted. Though the very same cheese in the pizza manage to do just that. It was a good meal though I'm sure I could make pizzas as good if not better than those :P. For dessert, we had dark chocolate and Amaretto gelato which was good, wonder if it was home made o.O...


Clockwise from left: Prusciutto w/cheese, pepperoni cheese pizza, fried calamari, basil tomato cheese pizza

After dinner, we walked again to the street with bars and go-go clubs. And true enough, during the night, the whole street lit up with people. They literally closed that stretch of road so people were walking all over with promoters trying to drag you into those clubs all about as well. And we could see girls (?) dancing on poles from above. Not really interested cos you can never be too sure if what you see is what you get. I think there are more ladyboy dancers than actual female dancers!! But none the less, the view from the street was one to behold. Didn't get to go to the beach party that night partially cos was too tired and had to wake up early for the island hopping tour the next day.


Breakfast of champions...

Had to wake up at 6am the next day for breakfast before we went island hopping and snorkelling. Usually when I watch travel shows on tv, the host always says don't bother eating hotel food as the best food is usually right outside your doorstep. Sad to say, I did not follow this though breakfast at the hotel was pretty good. Pork sausages with cheese, freshly cooked omelettes with ham, cheese and mushrooms, BACON, ham, roasted potatoes, pretty good eh?


One packed beach...

So the rest of our day was taken up going to hotspots around Phuket which included Koh Phi Phi where they filmed The Beach starring LeoDiCap. Such a small stretch of sand yet so many people.. wtf.. Then we went for some snorkelling in the sea as well as at some nearby island. How I wish I had a water proof camera. There were so many fishes with bright and brilliant colours, even saw a parrot fish the size of my dog (maybe slightly bigger) with rainbow colours!!


Gorgeous looking fishes...

For dinner that night, we went to this Thai restaurant down the street called Savoey which is one letter short of a famous restaurant called the Savoy in London owned by Gordon Ramsay! We ordered a Green Curry Chicken, Fried Red Snapper with Garlic n black pepper sauce, Kangkung with Chilli, Tom Yam soup and Crab Tanghoon. The one I loved most has to be the green curry! Simply awesome.. and the tom yam and kangkung dishes were like most thai dishes, spicy but you still want more even though it burns!!


Clockwise from left: Tom yam soup, green curry chicken, fried red snapper, kangkung

After dinner and some walking, the family decided to head back and sleep. I on the other hand was determined to get to that beach party, so with cocktail in one hand, headed to the beach where the music was pumping. Although it was about 1030pm there still weren't many people but slowly and surely more n more people arrived. From what I can see, I might be the only Asian besides those Thai girls (or ladyboys) and I couldn't be happier!! The crowd was awesome, and the women were hot!! And more importantly sporting!! They don't seem to have a problem dancing up to me, taking pictures and sharing drinks!! I guess trying to pick them up would spoil the whole mood of the occasion cos almost every other white dude was looking at me with that 'WTF' look while they couldn't hook them in. If only the people back here are as good sports, I'd consider going more often :P.


Our hotel lighted up...

The next day was more of a relaxed day where I manage to sleep in till about 9am (yes, dats considered sleeping in in my household). The family wanted to search for somewhere good to get a Thai massage so we walked to this mall area where they went for a 2 hour massage. Me on the other hand opted for 1 hour foot massage and 1 hour Thai massage. The foot massage was a welcome as I walked/danced till my feet hurt! Though my calfs hurt more after the massage :(. The Thai massage was actually quite satisfying feeling all the joints in my body go *crack*. Mom and sis whined that their bones almost broke la, stomach almost come out la.. etc..


Looks ordinary but tastes sublime...

Next we went to the local market to have a look. I must say I am very impressed with the variety of produce they have there as well as how clean the market is! Saw racks of ribs hanging by the butcher stall and asked my mom how come I don't see that back home. Apparently, back home, they only cut ribs to make 'Pai Kuat soup' and bak kut teh so if I want whole ribs, gotta order... bummer! If you think going to the market back home was 'lawatan sambil belajar'... Even I couldn't name quite a number of fresh produce!


Octopus and calamari galore... oh and a big bowl of smoking sauce!!

Anyways, spent the rest of the day sleeping in while the family went for more walking around the area. Dinner that night was all about street food. And it doesn't get any more convenient having rows of food stalls right opposite your hotel. So what else, bantai la... went and got some ribs, seafood pad thai, baked squid and sotong in some potent chilli sauce and baked salted fish. My mom initially said it wouldn't be nice but I've seen this on tv before and the way its prepared, the skin of the fish is completely covered in sea salt for preserving the fish as well as for flavour. Once its done on the grill, the guy cuts open the skin to reveal the succulent, juicy and well seasoned meat inside! And it only cost RM15-20 a fish!! I could eat that all day!


Beach party which was held every night I was there... brilliant!!

Several cocktails later, I headed to the beach party where moreorless of the same thing occured: loads of people dancing the night away to good music, fireworks, fire shows and more beautiful women!! ahh life.. though I noticed that the guys there tend to keep in better shape as I noticed more guys with 6 packs than girls with hourglass figures!! The party ended at about 2am and I had to wake up at 5am to catch my flight back!! But the sacrifice of sleep was well worth it!!


Would probably see the green fairy after this...

And its not like I've not functioned with less than 4 hours of sleep before. So we arrived at the airport at around 6am for our 8am flight. Went to the duty free and what I saw made my sleepy eyes awake: ABSINTH! The stuff of legend. The stuff no one else I know (barring Ant) dares to drink cos too pussy (points at Yong and DonN). I noticed 3 things on the bottle: 1) 70%alco! 2) only 500ml and 3) costs about RM170!! So not worth my money larr.. instead the duty free shop was also having offer of selected spirits where buy 2 for a lower price (see, m'sia where got these sorta promos wan!!). So deciding between 2 bottles of tequila for Rm100, 2 bottles of Smirnoff for RM90 or 2 bottles of Skyy for RM90.... Headed home with the latter instead simply because I've not tested it before!!

So there it is, my trip to paradise city, where the grass what little there is is green, the beach is white, the food is awesome and the girls sure are pretty!!

Ribs@Oasis Revisited and A Trip Up North...

A couple of weeks ago, the quartet of batman, Dr.Ng and zhou and me made our 'annual' food trip to Penang. And since it was the good dr,'s first time on this trip, we promised this will be one he won't soon forget... most probably because we'd be carrying a few extra kilos back. But the night before the road trip, batman and me decided to bring the 2 fellas to Ribs@Oasis which brought us jaw dropping dishes like the Reverse Burger and German Pork Knuckle. DonN joined us for dinner but due to other plans, he ffk-ed us for Penang...


Lamb Salad... quite the appetizing starter...

This time round, I decided to try the BBQ Baby Back Ribs whilst Yong and Zhou went for the Inverse Burger. Dr.Ng took the Roasted Lamb and DonN settled for some Beef Pasta. We also ordered a Lamb Salad as to balance out the meat with some greens... haha.. but with lamb inside there, not much point eh?


The roasted lamb was very tasty...

The salad was the first to arrive and the verdict overall was good, the slices of lamb were just nicely cooked and still very juicy. Then our mains arrived, the ribs I had were so succulent and tasty that it almost melted off its bone! Dr.Ng's lamb was quite good as well though Zhou seemed to have some problem with his fries, to which he said it sucked but all in all a very good dinner. Wanted to take them out for frogs porridge @ SS2 but both of them were too chicken to try..


First time trying ribs outside, quite fittingly awesome...

Anyways, the next morning we headed out on the road as early as 7 am just to eat breakfast at Ipoh. Most people know that breakfast there means only one thing: dim sum and its only a matter of which of the 3 places you choose to eat. We chose to go to Yoke Fook Moon which is down the road from the more famous but more expensive Foh San. We whacked a lot of dishes but the most memorable ones were the har kao, some bacon wrapped thing, prawn rolls and the
fah sang tong sui which was very thick and creamy. Expected to pay quite a bit for this but all in all it was about RM19 per person.


Proves the point that anything wrapped in bacon is good...

We then stopped for some original Ipoh white coffee before resuming our trip up north. Reached the hotel at around 2 and after that it was our usual routine to visit our usual haunts along the trip which were goggles auntie's Char Kuay Teow @ Lorong Selamat (its now RM9 per plate!!), cendol and laksa @ Penang Road, Frankie Pizza and Chicken Rice @ Pulau Tikus, few minutes walk from our hotel, Nortram Food Court @ dunno where and Maccalister Lane off Macallister Road where we had some really kick ass satay babi @RM1 a stick... talk about holy frick on a stick!


Auntie wasn't wearing goggles anymore, probably contacts from charging us RM9 a plate...

Other places we went to this time were Salted Chicken @ Jalan Burma (which is supposed to be 'the' thing in Ipoh), Duck egg Char Kuay Teow Sing Hwa few rows from the salted chicken place and Roti Babi @ Gurney Drive which I think will be made one of the mandatory stops from now... cos eating it there and tapao-ing it are 2 totally different dishes. Oh Dr.Ng and me also dengan semangat woke up at 8 am for breakfast to try what is supposedly the best wan tan mee on the island nearby though I have to say, the verdict is still out on that. But at least the girl selling the curry mee is quite chun/cute loh, so much so it made me order 1 bowl =.='... The other 2 were still sleeping at the time, wasted guys, wasted...


Sometimes, a cute server goes hand in hand with the good food...

Oh on this trip, at least it was not just all us guys as batman's friend Lorraine tagged along for some of our makan sessions. There were some awkward moments, many funny moments, and many more funny AND bashing batman moments when she was around. Haha, oh happy days. Though she did kick our ass twice at Citidels even though it was her first time playing it =.='. The rest of our free time consists of that, going to cc to whoop some zombie ass and some much needed rest. And since batman wanted to rest sooo much, we missed the United v Westham game which what was described as a blinder of a game... haiz...


Deep fried goodness...

On the way back, traffic was surprisingly smooth which we took advantage of by stopping for some ice cream @ Baskin Robbins. Since it was independence day, ice cream was at a 31% discount! In the end we manage to reach KL surprisingly before dinner time. One last stop for the food trail was at Ming Tien Food Court @ Taman Megah where we ordered so much, you'd think we hadn't eaten for a day...


Maccalister road never fails to deliver on awesome food...

And that is how to gain weight the pleasurable way in 4 days... All in all a great trip with laughs, breaking laws, scouting for chicks, and of course food... oh, all pics courtesy of Dr. Ng... till the next adventure!

You Know It's Gonna Be An Awesome Vid When...

1) You have ninjas and a hot knight in shining armour...

Sometimes being captured and tortured by a gang of ninjas ain't that bad... especially if you have a hot babe like Charlize Theron coming to save your ass on every occasion. I swear Brandon Flowers (Stefie says its an odd name LOL) gets captured on purpose a lot for this! Heck, I know I would!!!


Although the ninjas are quite unninja like... so noob wan...

2) You have Megan Fox in skimpy outfits literally on fire...

Yes some might say she doesn't have all that natural beauty n what not.. but with a smokin' hot body like that, we'd be willing to see through that...

Ladies and Gentlemen, We've Just Been Slash-ed...

Last Thursday, one of the biggest acts in rock n' roll history came down to Sunway Lagoon to rock out to the hordes of thirsty fans, depraved of a good rock concert in ages! For those who don't know who Slash is, I feel sorry for you, for those who do, you'd probably know him best from his days in Guns n' Roses that brought us massive hits like Sweet Child o' Mine, Paradise City, Welcome to the Jungle and November Rain. In the music community, he's considered as a rock god, plain and simple explanation... I think I've mentioned this is a previous post.. hmm


You know you're at a rock concert when the colour of choice is black...

Anyways, the day finally came (which thankfully, didn't rain or get raided by PAS/UMNO ppl) for me to meet one of my idols in music and DonN was the only other person I knew who was into this genre of music. So by 5pm, we were already at the venue. Thinking it was still early, we decided to grab a bite before lining up which turned out to be a slight mistake as by 6, the place was entrance to SL was quite packed with all sorts of rock fans and metal heads, and the show was suppose to start at 7.

I decided not to bring my camera along that day for the fear of getting it stolen or broken so sorry for the minimal and sad looking pictures (from my phone camera). And besides, I'd be too busy rocking my brains out to take pics \m/. Right, it was already 630 pm and still no one was getting in, the crowd understandably, was getting impatient. Some were drinking beer and liquor before the concert even started! DonN somehow found this a little disturbing... dude, its a rock concert, wtf u expect man... I think only by 645 did they open the gates and that also took bloody slow cos they had to scan the bar codes of the printed tickets...


Crappy pic #1 but my view was much clearer...

Needles to say, we got in late but in truth I didn't mind la cos all we missed was the opening act by Amy Search. I think the poor fella must've been having one of those wtf moments playing to a near empty crowd as most of us got in only at around 750. But surprisingly we manage to get pretty good standing places in the crowd, kinda front of the stage with almost no room to move d. So many people packed like sardines with body heat coming out waiting for the man of the moment to come out.

And when he finally did, the crowd went bonkers !! There he was, one of the greats in the flesh!! Something I'd equate to watching United play here last year! He kicked things off with a song from his solo album followed by several old school tracks such as Night Train and some of his Velvet Revolver songs... I'm sad to admit that I'm not a huge Gn'R fan so much of his older songs I didn't know but never the less, the headbanging and devil horns in the air kept going on and on...


That Myles dude really had style and swagger...

FYI, the songs on his solo album were recorded with many other artists like M.Shadows, Iggy Pop and even Fergie(!) so of course, it be almost impossible to bring them all here. So he brought along Myles Kennedy from Alter Bridge who sang 2 tracks on the album to sing on all the vocals in the concert. And credit to him, he did a brilliant job belting out those high pitch Gn'R tracks as well as songs sung by other artists. Hey, who needs Axl huh? Oh, even he knew we don't get that much rock acts in the nation... now that's sad...

Coincidently my favourite track of Slash's new album was sung by Myles called Starlight. And it was one of the best performances of the night I thought. But the crowed really went berserk when after a little solo by Slash, the intro of Sweet Child o' Mine started playing. Everyone was literally jumping up and down, singing along to every word! I thought I saw a look of awe in Myles's face when that happened... hahaha...


Here they are playin Sweet Child o' Mine, not my vid though...

So after about an hour of sweeping solos, power vocals and near deafness of the audience, they went of stage for and encore performance which was quite fittingly, Paradise City. When the lights went out after that, we were all still buzzing, sweating and still couldn't believe that we were entertained by Slash, the man with the stellar top hat that most guitarist dream of being.


What a way to end the night... again vid not mine...

In a nutshell, the performances was mind blowing but the organizing was well below par. Something I thought we Malaysians have moved on, see when I wanna be proven wrong about my scepticism oso kenot. Entry was one thing, getting out was another big mess, here jam, there jam. I think it took me nearly 1 hour just to get out from the stage to the car park to the highway...

I can safely check out one of the acts I wanna see in my lifetime. Now the big question is as posed by DonN: When la Metallica gonna come? If the answer is never, then a night out with Slash more than satisfied our thirst for good music!

Football and Parties Go Hand In Hand...

Last Sunday was the finals of the World Cup and unless you were in a coma or just living under one huge coconut shell, you'd definitely know about it. The main question was not who will win, cos well, some octopus already gave us the answer to that, but where to watch this global event. Somehow, watching the finals on your laptop isn't good enough...


Where were you watching the finals?...

So thanks to Aaron's persistence, the both of us plus our 'driver' Andy manage to get VIP passes to a street party @ Bangsar. Where exactly is it you might ask? Well, they closed down 1 whole street just for it a few rows behind the McD's, so if you were somehow in that area, you'd know for sure. Oh another crucial decision to go here instead of any other mamak was that for VIP pass holders, there were free flow drinks!! Don't need a second invitation there...


Hot girls serving us cold beers... wonder which tastes nicer...

We reached there around 8 and the first thing we noticed was, boy the line getting in is long (it almost stretched to the main road outside!). Luckily the friend had 'lubang' for getting us the passes so we didn't have to queue with the rest. Wah, already felt like a VIP... There were a lot of things going on there: face paintings, games, performances, etc. but the first stop for us was the VIP area where the drinks were served.


Shakira certainly got tanned on her trip to Africa...

Though once we were there, we soon realized that there were a LOT of VIPs as the area was jam packed and getting in line for drinks took way too long for supposedly VIP area only. They did serve Carlsberg from the can (good to know it ain't watered down) and Barcadi with Coke or Ginger Ale. I manage to make friends with the bartender and got him to triple up (at least) the amount of Barcadi we had in our drinks! Now that's good bar-tending!


Some of the games there, someone went home with a Lotus Elise...

Oh, surprisingly there were quite a number of friends that I didn't know liked football showed up at the party... I suppose you can't hide from a good party eh? Manage to grab a bite at a nearby mamak before making our rounds at the drinks area again. Mind you it was way before midnite at that time. How we were gonna stay sober for the match was a big question at that moment.


Always wanted to have my face painted...

Well, luckily there were people dancing on the streets like it was in a club so we joined in and worked out some sweats... haha, never sweated like this before a match before... So by around 2am everyone started to quiet down and gather round the several big screens that were erected for the very purpose. Most of them manage to find a seat but I had to stand for the match cos some dude behind me puked on the floor -.-'. Luckily din kena me..


Saying the street was jam packed is an understatement...

So as the national anthems rang and the match got started, we all know what happened in the end thanks to heroics from San Iker and Don Andreas. I have to say, there were questionable decisions but it wasn't as bad as a disallowed goal that would totally ruin the spectacle and in the end, the best and deserving team won. I might have lost the bet to batman, but I think the bragging and taunting rights were worth way way more than that (at least for the next 2 years!).


Everyone was ready for the big match...

So the 1 month of sleepless nights, noisy good for nothing vuvuzelas, listening and reading on Facebook about 'fans' who come out once every 4 years rambling about the games, blaming/worshipping of a mollusk that 'predicts' results is over. And thank *insert object of worship here* for that. Now we can get back to some regular football programming after another month of well deserved rest. Let the transfer rumour mill begin!


Congratulations to La Furia Roja...

This was the first time I supported a country from start to end with passion and luckily they won. The World Cup for me can be summed into some simple words : Vuvuzelas, Jabulani, horrible officials, upsets and SPAIN!! Wanted to write this post entirely in Spanish as a tribute to the winning team but my Spanish is as limited as my Hainanese :P...

Slash-ing The Ninja...

As mentioned in the last post, this is a continuation of a 2 part eventful day for me... well 3 but I don't want to talk about the penalty shoot-out contest organized by The Star which me and Batman took part but totally sucked at.


Guess who's going to see Slash...

Anyways, DonN and me went to Tropicana Mall to buy Slash tickets for his show/gig/concert in August. Who is Slash? Well, if you for some unexplainable reason don't know who this one time member of Guns 'n Roses is, go shoot urself... or better yet, go Wiki la... The term 'guitar god' rightfully suits this guy and he's probably the only person cool enough to pull of a top hat look. Oh he's in town to promote his new album which really rocks as well as playing some tunes from his Gn'R days. Can't wait...


One creative menu... wonder how big is the boss...

Well before we bought the tickets, DonN introduced a pork burger to me with a rather intriguing name... Its called, and I kid you not, Ninja Joe's Pork Burger. Now the first thing that came into my mind wasn't the name of the joint but the fact that there is actually a pork burger joint in a mall (I'm sure you catch my drift as to why). Anyways, what's even more interesting is the menu they have. Really cracked me open with laughter weh.


The ninja hut...

Ninja Joe is not what I would call a gourmet burger but at RM5.50 a ninja, it isn't exactly cheap like those burgers outside 7E. Since it is a pork burger, I was all too keen to try it. It actually is really a pretty simple burger with the size slightly bigger than the failed Colonel Burger @ KFC with just lettuce, a slice of tomato, the pork patty and a sauce of your choice. Guess its to go with the whole ninja thing of being light and minimal.


Sometimes, less really is more...

The verdict? Probably the best burger under 10 bucks for me. The meat was juicy and packed with flavour and they used a sweet bun and it matched rather well. I have to say, it is even better than a McChicken and a Fillet o' Fish. So if you happen to find yourself in Tropicana Mall, do try this burger... Won't regret wan I promise!

Of Food and Football...

What a weekend it was! Germany totally smashing Aregentina to bits to the tune of Don't Cry For Me Argentina while Spain barely made it through in the match where there were 2 saved penalties in the space of less than 10 mins apart... Literally from joy to heartache to joy again when Villa scored... Prior to that, DonN and me decided to finally check out Jarrod & Rawlins after ages of talking bout going there. Again, batman was missing cos his parents came up, though that wouldn't be his initial excuse...


Quite literally a stones' throw away from HELP College...

Anyways, getting there might be a problem for those who aren't familiar with the area but luckily for us, it was situated literally across the street from my college! I knew it was near by, but I didn't know it was THIS near... though I don't think I can afford to come here for lunch every now and again la...


Not often you see a restaurant with their own deli inside...

Its one of those places where they converted a 3 story house (there seems to be a lot of those in this area) to a restaurant a bar area, a proper dining area, a garden area and even its own deli! I was really impressed by their selection of processed meats. Next time wanna do BBQ in KL, this is the place to get fresh produce!


These little piggies didn't get to go home...

The main reason we wanted to come to this place was because they served Guinness infused dishes which have gotten some pretty rave reviews from some sites I've visited. Usually I don't like to drink the stout (esp when not ice cold) but I'm eager to try how well it goes in food. And I've read that they had very good Pigs in a Blanket which is actually sausages wrapped in bacon, so we decided to have that for appetizers. Sadly though, it didn't come out as nice as I was hoping for. It was nice and tasty but I expected much more from this dish... Maybe expected too much already? Probably if they'd use some prosciutto or Parma ham, it would've rocked more!


In this context, 'lovely piece of meat' is acceptable...

DonN ordered a Guinness Steak Pie @ RM29++ while I got a Guinness glazed rib eye steak @ RM38++ which I think is rather reasonable since its usually 50++ else where. It took awhile for our dishes to come though. But the wait was well worth it as my steak was cook to perfection though it was already kinda cold to my liking =/. However, it was still tasty and I could taste the Guinness in the sauce, it gives a kinda bitter after taste that goes rather well with the dish. Portion wise, it was just nice as after having that and the starter, I was pretty full.


Comfort food for me...

DonN's pie was good as well... the meat was very tender and juicy though I couldn't get much of the Guinness flavour but it surely is worth the try. Though it's not that different than the pie my mom makes, which for those lucky enough to eat my mom's cooking, knows its a compliment! At first he didn't think it was enough for him but by the time he finished it with a healthy helping of mash potatoes, he humbly retracted his words and said he was 'damn full'.


A few more ageing steps and this will be apple cider vinegar...

And what better way to accompany a hearty meal than a nice glass of beer... In this case, Strongbow Cider. First time trying cider, to me it really tasted like a very unsweetened version of Zapple but I like it a lot! Easy to go down and not bitter !! No wonder Sanctuary wasn't having this as part of their buy 1 free 2 promo, else I'd drink this all night long! Next time I come here (maybe for lunch) I wanna try their burgers which are said (again) to be damn chun...

Later that night, we went to a bar in Bangsar call The SmokeHouse to watch the game. Their happy hour rates were quite good, RM50 for 4 pints of Carlsberg! Oh that day was also when I spent a heck of a lot of cash... Frightened me sial... And DonN intro-ed me to Ninja Joe's Pork Burger ... More on that next time...