Saturday 30 June 2007

Prego, Westin Hotel

*Nokia's Boulevard* ringtone....

Stephen : Hello.....gracie!

Grace : Stephen, wanna have dinner together tonight? Suggest somewhere nice lar..sick of eating around PJ area. Is there any nice food in KL?

Stephen : OK..let's have dinner together but I am not sure where got nice food in KL lar! Let me ask around and then we decide later.

Grace : Ok!! Let me call Rachel they all....

After a round of voting conducted by Rachel, we decided to have dinner at Prego, an Italian restaurant in Westin Hotel situated in Jalan Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur.



Prego is a fine dining restaurant and the environment is quite classy. The waiters and waitress are very friendly as well. We also noticed that from time to time, the waiter or waitress will drop something and they will start clapping. They did it on purpose to create a fun atmosphere. The seats or sofa are very cosy and comfortable. It's a good place to have dinner if you are being forced to have dinner with someone boring because you can doze off easily because it's so comfortable. Hahaha...



There were 7 of us in Prego.
Rachel, Shuan Yoong, Joachim...



Sze Mei, Grace Ch'ng...



her boyfriend,
Ze Yoon and me, the photographer.



Like other Italian restaurants, they served bread first as starters.



The bread is kinda hard so you can just use your hand and eat the bread. Don't even think of being polite by slicing the bread into smaller pieces. I prefer the Italiannies bread somehow but Prego has this tomato *something* sauce (we forgot the name) and it tasted very good.




The "Cha Pou" or teapot lady for the night, Grace. She had Jasmine Golden Tea (RM8.00) throughout the dinner.



Crazy Ze Yoon ordered a glass of Bloody Mary. I tried and it burned my throat abit. The feeling is like drinking a bottle of chilli sauce with water. The drink is called PREGO MARY (RM33.00) , sky vodka infused with home-made Bloody Mary mix. Finished with celery salt, a rib of fresh celery and a ripe cherry tomato.



The rest went for plain ice water instead because the drinks are very pricey. Plain water is good for health..
Anyway, Sze Mei had ARRABBIATA (RM19.00), fresh herbs, garlic and spicy tomato sauce.



I didn't know what to choose because of the varieties on the menu and I don't understand how the food looks like because it's all in Italian name. Yes.. katak di bawah tempurung. Perhaps not, because I am sure my friends don't know as well unless they have been here before. Why can't they just put pictures in the menu?!?!
Finally, I chose POMODORINI (RM20.00), the ingredients are cherry tomato, marjoraon, shallot and ricotta cheese. I chose this dish because of the word Cherry. Reminds me of my friend who was sick at home while I am having dinner at Prego. This dish is dedicated to her. Hahaha..



Joachim, Rachel and Shuan Yoong decided to order a pizza and cabonara and share among themselves. How romantic..
CALZONE BOMBA (RM28.00), turkey ham, zucchini, basil, mozarella and tomato.



PREGO CABONARA (RM22.00), beef, bacon, egg yolk, cream and parmesan.



Ze Yoon had NASONE (RM36.00), King prawns, arugula, chilli and extra virgin olive oil.



Ch'ng Susien had AGLIO OLIO E PEPERONCINO (RM18.00), extra virgin olive oil, chilli fakes, parsley and garlic.


After we finished our own dishes, the waitress appeared behind me and
Waitress : Excuse me, would you like to try our pizza?
Rachel : Err... is this pizza on the house?
Waitress : Err..on the house? This is Westin Hotel.
7 of us : What we meant was, is this FREE or sample ah??
Waitress : Yea yea..it's FREEEE.
7 of us : Ok... we want to try!!!
Too bad..she only gave us a few pieces. All of us must share among each other.


Not bad lar. It's very cheesy and if you wanna try. Can just go to the mamak nearby your house and ask for Roti Canai yang ranggup dan letak banyak cheese .....mesti dalam segitiga punya bentuk!!


After the waiter collected the plates etc.. he asked if we would like coffee or tea. Without thinking much, I said, "Yes, coffee please." Shit, this cup of coffee actually cost me RM 11.00. Damn regret saying those 3 words.



Throughout the dinner, there were at least 3-4 tables celebrating birthdays. So I was wondering, why not we get them to sing for us also?
Stephen : Grace, usually they give free cake for those who celebrate birthday here rite? We do the same also lar. Among all of us, the nearest birthday boy or girl is Rachel. Her birthday is May 21st. We just tell them that we celebrating a VERY BELATED BIRTHDAY lar. Maybe we can get a free cake!!! Muahahhaa...
Grace : Can also..haha..we are not lying what. It's really belated birthday anyway. Stephen, you go talk to the waiter since you brought up this evil plan.
After 15 minutes, the waiters and waitress came to our table and sang their own version of Happy Birthday and gave Rachel a piece of ice cream cake...



Yea!!! The evil plan was a success. Rachel happily blew her the candle on the cake and yea, HAPPY BELATED 21st Birthday.

They also gave each of us a plastic red "nose" to replace our nose. In a way, make us look like a clown.







I think Ze Yoon's PREGO MARY increased his metabolism rate. He took the menu once again and searched for the dessert page. He ordered a dessert named GRONDUIOTTODI TORINO (RM19.00), hazelnut chocolate from Turin topped with hazelnut ice cream.


The bill came and the total was around RM 276.00 and guess what. My evil plan backfired. They charged us RM 19.00 for the ice-cream cake.

Well, looking at the price of the food and drinks, you should know that everything tasted good and delicious but the portion was quite small. It's a nice experience and nice place to have fine dining once in the blue moon. Oh ya, don't forget about the 15% tax (govt and service tax).
The night ended with Grace Ch'ng in syok sendiri mood.



Friday 29 June 2007

Restaurant Kelana Seafood Centre, Kelana Jaya

Thanks to the management of Oilfab Sdn Bhd and completion of the project awarded by Newfield, everyone who contributed to the project gets to attend the dinner at Restaurant Kelana Seafood Centre. Sad to say, this is my first visit to the restaurant because I always think that the price of the dishes there are very expensive.



How often do you experience the moment of being served by your finance manager? Well, I just experienced it by seeing. Nah..just joking. We are all friends when we are outside.



Here comes the first dish. The usual 4 seasons crap they named it. Probably 4 seasons meant sour, sweet, spicy and TASTELESS!!! LOL



This dish actually tasted normal. Nothing to shout about.



Sharkfin soup!!! Tasted quite good.





Until a weird looking dish being placed on the table by the waiter. I have never seen such dish being prepared in this way before. A fish being covered by green colour paste.



It actually tasted quite good also. Haha..its spicy and sweet. Thumbs up.


Next dish, roasted lamb. I don't really like to eat lamb because of the muttony taste.



But because the meat are being roasted well, the muttony taste wasn't that strong so it was OK!



Next, sweet and spicy prawns. My colleagues said that the prawns were not fresh but I still find it tasty.


I had 5-6 prawns , I think. Hehehe..



Okays, the following dishes were getting crapy and crappier! Yes the dish looked nice but it seriously tasted super weird!!



NO TASTE punya fried rice.



The dessert tasted super sweet. As if they added syrup or sugar water. Or they just put in those canned fruits with syrup. Who knows..



The price of each table actually costs RM 540.50. I personally think it's bloody expensive and the dinner wasn't that great. My colleagues had the same thoughts too.
Probably that's the reason why this man was placed at the exit to show you the way out.



Won't come back here again unless it's free. Hahaha.

Tuesday 26 June 2007

Restoran Super Kitchen, Kuala Lumpur.

Went to look for Sze Mei and her colleague, Sabrina for lunch in KL. Since Mei wanted to buy us lunch to celebrate her hard-fought confirmation in PWC, we decided to eat in Maju Junction but it was freaking jam.

Stephen: Wei..very jam lar...how lar? I don't want to be late for my interview lar. It's at 3pm and now already 1:45pm. I wanna go there earlier lar.

Sze Mei: Told you to eat at the coffeshop outside PWC lor..you pulak wanna come here!

Stephen: Isn't that the corner that lead us to where we had the chilli pan mee last time?

Sze Mei: Yes..dont you turn inside there..Today is freaking hot and I dont want to eat there.

Stephen: I don't care.

Sze Mei: ......... #$#@# ^%$!!!!

Actually along the road, there are 2 restaurants selling the same food which is chilli pan mee. The one I went to last time, was hot and without air-cond so we decided to try out the one with air-cond.



Everytable has at least a glass of herbal tea (RM1.00). Follow only lar....but tasted normal only. My mom's herbal tea is much nicer.



Must eat your pan mee with these!!! Spice up your lunch... hehehe



For your info, this shop only sells Pan Mee, either with soup or the dry Pan Mee (RM4.00). Don't try to be funny and ask for Wan Tan Mee.



Looks quite small bowl but it's quite filling. No matter if you order dry or with soup, it comes with an egg and as for the dry Pan Mee, it comes with a small bowl of soup with pork meat balls.



The last time I went to the restaurant opposite, Mei lied to me.


Sze Mei : Don't so mafan lar...Just take the dry Pan Mee. They only sell dry one. No soup!!

Stephen : What the?!?! Sigh..sad lar..wanna try the soup also cannot.

But today, Sabrina told me that both restaurants do sell soup and dry Pan Mee. I felt so stupid for believing Sze Mei. Big Liar!! Anyway, of course i chose the one with soup (RM4.00).



Overall, taste very delicious also. Worth giving it a try. Definitely will come this place again because everytime I look at the pictures, I will feel hungry within seconds.

Restoran Super Kitchen
33, Jalan Dewan Sultan Sulaiman 1
Off Jalan T.A.R
50300 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-26970998

One more thing, very hard to find parking around that area. I once parked in a private area and I was being called APAK by an uncle. #%*&^@&!!!

Monday 25 June 2007

Island Cafe, SS2

Monday afternoon, my makan kaki, Grace Ch'ng decided to have dinner together and insisted that she wanted to eat steamboat. Only towards evening, smart Sze Mei told us that Hau Xiang Lai Steamboat Restaurant is closed on every Monday because of SS2's Pasar Malam. Quickly we had to change plan so I suggested Island Cafe because of it's variety in food and drinks etc. Sze Mei and myself have been to ISLAND CAFE a few times but Grace Ch'ng, not even once.

Due to my previous visit to Island Cafe and successfully surpassed the RM 50 mark in the bill, I'm entitled to one small basket of fries on my next visit. So today, I exercised my option.

Just normal french fries.



Here comes the interesting part, Island Cafe have almost 80++ kinds of drinks. Sze Mei's favourite is none other than LEMON RIBENA. According to her, this is the perfect drink if you feel very thirsty. I tried Lemon Ribena before and ended up ordering another glass of Honey Ribena as my second drink. The one below is LEMON RIBENA (RM 4.50).



As for my drink, i went ahead with CHOCOLATE CHIPS MILKSHAKE (RM 6.00) because of Rachel Low's recommendation. Both the girls tried and gave me the yummy look. I don't need to say anything else, of course the drink tastes good and kinda milky. No wonder, Rachel's lovin it. For me, I felt its almost like McD's McFlurry. Anyway, you should try.



As for Grace, she chose boring Orange Juice (RM 4.50) because she just recovered from some sickness so she decided to have a healthy beverage. She said the drink was OK~lah and very fresh because still tastes sour. Look at her "desperate" hand.



Grace had CHAMPAGNE SAUCE RICE (chicken, fish or seafood) and she chose Chicken which tasted like lemon chicken and light sourish. She also commented that the more you eat, the more you feel like eating. Hahaha.. anyway, you can choose either chicken (RM7.90), fish (RM 8.90) or seafood (RM 9.90). Chef recommendation anyway.



Mine was labelled "MUST TRY" so I obeyed the menu. It's BUTTER SAUCE RICE (chicken, fish or seafood). Among the comments that I got from them was it tasted exactly like butter prawn, more milky and the gravy is thick. Pricing is the same as the above. Not bad..next time, you must obey the menu too.



Sze Mei's choice was kinda special because the fried rice is served in a bamboo. She chose BAMBOO CHICKEN CHOP RICE (RM 11.90). Her comment was rather predictable. Normal, so-so only and nothing special except the BAMBOO. Hahaha...


Total bill is RM 42.70 and of course additional 10% service charge and 5% Govt tax which comes up to RM 49.11. And if you still remember, if you dine in and your bill exceeds RM 50, you get a stamp on your receipt and you will get a free basket of fries.
Our bill was RM0.89 short!!!! I tried my very best to convince the waitress to give me the stamp but all she could do was LAUGH FOR NO FREAKING REASON for 20 seconds. I told her to add ice for me into my drink and charge me additional RM 1 and she LAUGHED non stop again. Sigh, pay the bill only-lar. Next trip, no free fries just because of RM 0.89 short.

Overall, Island Cafe is a nice place to hang out on any day as they also provide customers card games, chess and magazines. Monday night they have promotion for beers. RM 30 for 6 bottles of small Carlsberg. Definitely a nice place to catch up with your friends.


ISLAND CAFE
NO : 2, JALAN SS2/61
47300 PETALING JAYA
SELANGOR DARUL EHSAN
TEL: 03-78778652