Food Review: House of KoloMee@D’Piazza Mall Penang

I was told by a friend earlier that there is another restaurant that serves good Sarawakian food in Penang but I had yet to try it. Then, coincidentally I found the place. Since that one afternoon the boyfriend drove us to Bayan Baru area, we decided to try its food. The owner is the same as the owner of The Carpenter Street. We managed to speak with the owner and it seems that he is no longer managing The Carpenter Street anymore.

As you enter the restaurant, you will see the menu displayed on the wall on your left. It shows clearly how you can place your order as there are no waiter or waitresses serving you.

Once you understood the progress, you are to walk further inside the restaurant to place your order at this touch-screen device. The owner works in Intel (his wife manages the restaurant) and therefore, he did the programming himself. Pretty cool, huh?

A ticket will be printed once you had done with your order. Collect the ticket and wait for your number to be displayed to collect your order at the counter.

As shown on the picture above, they provide free flow of drinks at just RM1.00 per glass and there is a complimentary soup for the customers. Awesome, right?

I ordered Original Kolo Mee with my favourite red Char Siew sauce. I do not fancy kolo mee but because of the red Char Siew sauce, I will take it. It was really good – the combination of the sauce with the minced meat is indescribable.

The boyfriend, on the other hand, ordered just the ordinary Original Kolo Mee. The noodles’ texture was alright but the taste is not strong enough. We gave the owner our feedback and he requested us to come back again to try its Original Kolo Mee again. Therefore, stay tuned for our next visit to House of KoloMee!

Food Review: Sushi Zento@Precinct 10, Penang

It was our 600th days together that day and he decided to make the day a bit different. I did not know that he was going to bring me out for dinner as I had my dinner at home. We went to Sushi Zento, Precinct 10. Actually I had been to a few Japanese restaurants in Penang and I could not find a place that is comparable to Sushi Zanmai. Guess what? I have finally found it!

We ordered a few dishes and they are all pretty good. The first dish was Buta Reisei (sliced pork). You should eat it with a sauce that came together.

Next was Umi Budou (sea grapes), a special order that is not in the menu. Now, please take note that special orders have special price. Therefore, think twice before you order, okay? This Umi Budou is the smallest and also the most expensive dish of all the dishes that we ordered.

The third dish was Komitamago to Bacon Salada. It is basically a salad with bacon so there is nothing extraordinary about this dish. I was just too full so I ordered salad whereas the boyfriend ordered Kyushu Ramen.

Finally the moment that I had been waiting for – Rolls Royce Roll and it did not let me down. They are not cheapskates with the sushi’s filling therefore once you had a mouthful of it, you do not feel like something is missing.

Now I have a place to go to when I am craving for good sushi. However, I still miss Sushi Zanmai.

Review: Watch Out! A Male Staff of Heritage Hotel Ipoh Caught Peeping Inside the Ladies!

This incident had brought a big impact on me. I was supposed to enjoy this one-day trip in Ipoh with my friends and this happened. I spent all night at the police station and missed out all the fun that my friends were having.

Up until now, when I closed my eyes to sleep, I can still recall what had happened inside the ladies.

It is a big trauma for me!

Hopefully time will heal..

Therefore, please spend a few minutes to continue reading if you want to protect yourselves (to ladies) and to protect your beloveds (to ladies and gents). This is a real story of mine..

 

Heritage Hotel Ipoh

Lobby - Female Toilet

My friends and I reached Heritage Hotel Ipoh on 1st September 2012, at about 3.00pm. We were at the lobby, waiting for the receptionists to work on our bookings. Seeing a few of my female friends went to the toilet, I decided to go after.

I was alone, thinking nothing bad will happen since we are in a hotel. It is a high-rated hotel and I saw local artistes earlier checked-in at this particular hotel as well. There were a group local actors and actresses who stayed there for a night as there's a fan-meeting function at Kampar. As I went into the ladies, I check on each cubicle, looking for the "squatting" one. There are four cubicles in total. However, there is no "squatting" cubicle. Therefore, after getting the toilet roll at the end of the ladies, I walked back and went into the first cubicle.

I was done (but still sitting on the toilet seat) and I saw a shadow walked pass the door in front of me. There was no footsteps' sound at all. There was no sound of the door opened and closed just like when I first came in as well. I knew something was wrong.

I took the hose and run the water inside the toilet (I was still sitting). Then I put the hose back and looked up to my left. I stared blankly at the ceiling and...

I SAW A PAIR OF FREAKING EYES LOOKING DOWN AT ME!

I was so frightened and the first thing I did was to SCREAM though I knew no one may not be able to hear me. Plus, I did not bring anything with me, including my handphone! At least it scared him and he ran outside. I stood there for a while, scared that maybe another person may still be outside waiting for me.

When I ran outside, I asked my friends if they saw a man ran out of the toilet. They did not see anyone. The guys then reported to the security guard. We were not allowed to watch the CCTV even though we requested. I went back to my room at about 3.50pm when the security guard called us at about 4.00pm. They asked us to go to one of their meeting rooms on the first floor.

The management had watched the CCTV and the culprit is one of the hotel's staff. The lady in charge of this issue at that time was Ms. Karen Boey Wang Mun, the Executive Housekeeper(she claimed herself as the Housekeeper Manager). They managed to bring the culprit in after we requested. 

This particular culprit is from Nepal! We were not even sure if he has a working permit in Malaysia. They did not want us to make a police report ourselves and to spread this case, wanting to take care of the hotel's image since Heritage Hotel Ipoh is a 4-star hotel. Therefore they offered to solve this case internally.

We voiced out what would satisfy me since we were supposed to have a happy trip in Ipoh until this happened - to give me and my friends a free night stay (10 rooms in total). Unfortunately, they are not willing to accommodate what we wanted and instead, give us a ridiculous counter offer! – Offer one free night stay for ONE room and free buffet for me and my friends as an entertainment – after she had a discussion with the “manager”. She did not want to reveal who the “manager on duty” was and the contact number of this “manager”. What a cowardly action!

Since we could not get into an agreement, I requested the hotel to write an apology letter with the hotel’s letter head. The person then told us off that if we wanted to report to the police, we could go ahead. It was already 7.00pm by then. We were pretty sure that this may not be the first incident since they were able to handle this issue so calmly.

Anyway, what the fuck? Who's the victim over here? And they think we cannot afford ONE night and buffet?! What made me even mad is the lady said the following:

"Fortunately I am being honest here" - meaning she could have hidden the CCTV and denied everything! And even hid her staff!

"No one knows what exactly happened inside" - WTF! Meaning I created it?!

Therefore I chose not to continue to negotiate anything with the hotel management and went ahead to make a report at the police station after dinner. I was emotionally stable by then.

After I was done making a statement with an inspector, I went back to the hotel with the inspector to take some pictures of the place where the incident happened. It was my first time to take a ride inside a police car.

The police statement I made

That’s the washroom

The culprit could have run inside here after I screamed

After that, all I wanted was to get back to Penang as soon as possible. I reached home at about 4.30am. It had been a long day.

Therefore, I want to share this bad experience of mine to everyone that it pays off to be vigilant no matter where you are. Ladies, just get a friend or two with you if you wanted to go to the ladies and gents, please follow them and wait for them right outside the ladies.

Photobook Review: Fisheyephotobooks

Back in June, I bought a photobook deal from Groupon and the merchant is Fisheyephotobooks. According to “How It Works”, I should receive my photobook within 21 working days after I had successfully submitted my order. I successfully submitted my order on June 29th, 2012 which means I should be receiving my photobook by July 30th, 2012. I waited with no complaints at all. However, after 21 working days, I did not receive my photobook at all. Therefore, I decided to drop an email to them and sadly, no response from them.

I went to Fisheyephotobooks’ Facebook page and since they occasionally update their page, I decided to post my inquiry on their wall as shown below. I am not alone - there are many unhappy customers who complained on Fisheye’s after-sales service and late delivery.

Also, like what the other customers had experienced, my posts got deleted and no one had gotten back to me on my order – neither in email nor Facebook. I posted four posts in total, including the post above, and it got deleted as shown below:

Unless you are fine to wait for months for your order to reach your doorstep, do place your valuable order with other companies: Photobookmart, Pixajoy and Wedoo Photobook. I had personally placed my order with them. Not only their delivery was efficient and fast, the quality of their photobooks are up to expectation.

Currently Fisheyephotobooks is having another deal with Groupon. It is totally up to your decision whether to purchase the deal. Up until now, I have not received my photobook from Fisheyephotoooks.

The pictures below show the details of my fourth wall post. I was smart to take screenshots of it. You will not be able to find it on their wall. They had deleted it.

Food Review: La France Cafe

La France Café used to operate at Northam Beach Café but now they had moved to Irrawaddy Road. Initially we wanted to go to Inn Café but it was so crowded that we decided to try out the new place. Well, it was not that bad though.

He ordered smoked salmon spaghetti. As you can see from above, we did not see much salmon though. However, taste wise, it was alright.

For the best dish for the night, it was mine! I ordered red wine marinated chicken. His sister actually ordered white wine marinated chicken but mine was better. Therefore, if you happened to go over for dinner, order this! You will not regret it.

Overall the experience was good and the ambience was nice. Price wise, it is on average. However, it is definitely a place where I will go again to try out other dishes.

Food Review: Kaffa Kafe Revisited!

It was our second visit to Kaffa Kafe in Straits Quay. During our last visit there, they gave us a very good impression on what they serve.

Their Vietnamese Lemongrass Chicken Salad is good so, we ordered this dish again.

His steak and trust me, it was good. The portion is satisfactory.

And as for my grilled chicken, the gravy was too sweet that I got a bit sick of this dish.

Anyway, if you are ever going to Straits Quay and wanted to eat or drink something, do drop by Kaffa Kafe. They provide nice ambience and it is not overpriced.

Food Review: P.E.A. Heritage Bistro

It was one of the dinners where we had it at Penang Eurasian Association Heritage Bistro. I had been going to this place alone for numerous times and even its regular customers could recognise me. However, that is where I met nice people in Penang. Therefore, I have been very eager to bring him over.

He loves beef so, he ordered teriyaki steak with blue cheese. He is not the ‘cheese’ person but at least he could finish it. How? Will let you know below.

On the other hand, I ordered grilled lamb with mint sauce. It was really good. Oh, did you see that mint sauce? He actually dipped his steak into the sauce and loving it. As for me, I found mint sauce tastes weird but I prefer his blue cheese. Therefore, we were like exchanging our sauce and finished our food.

This place has other great food as well and I love the ambience. It is a great place for friends to hang out. Unfortunately they are not here. Else this would turn out to be my second Cabanna. They should know what I am talking about.

Food Review: Cheers Restaurant & Bierhaus Revisited!

We went back to Cheers again, this time to redeem the voucher we bought online. This time we finally printed the voucher. What was the menu for the night?

We had a pint of German beer. Of course I finished my share but, unexpectedly, I did not finish the boyfie’s share. Yeah, he did not finish his but he is not the person who drinks and that is what I love about him. Consequently, I drink less too. Don’t get me wrong, it is a good change.

We had fried mushrooms as our appetiser. We were just worried that the main course will not be enough. Well, there was nothing so special about it. Just mushrooms being fried and that’s that.

Here come our main course, Crackling pork knuckles. No, we did not do the smashing-the-plates practice. I wish I did though. It was good but the portion is small. Not sure if it is because we bought the deal online or it is this small. If it is, this portion is not worth RM45 though but it was a good food experience.

Food Review: YEA Japanese Barbeque & Shabu Shabu@Penang Times Square

It was one fine afternoon when the boyfie and I were heading to Penang Times Square to have our brunch at Full House. After we alighted the car, I saw this interesting restaurant, YEA Japanese Barbeque & Shabu Shabu.

We were curious but thought the place was closed as the door was closed tight until someone walked out of the restaurant. This place was opened not up to one week. We decided to try this place instead.

It is an interesting set-up with marble stone for barbeque. They said it is more hygienic and easy to clean. There will be someone to help and serve you at the very beginning. Later, you will have to do it on your own.

Since it is a buffet, it is an all-you-can-eat with the price of RM48++ per person. With wide range of food to choose from, we enjoyed the meal a lot. They have desserts’ booth too! I still remember how full we were and we did not even go for dinner after. This is a great place if you want to enjoy food and have fun with your friends.

Food Review: Cheers Restaurant & Bierhaus

It was one of those days when we wanted to try out new food in a new restaurant in town. We knew Cheers from JackCow and it is located quite close to Gurney Plaza. Cheers is a nice place to have booze and snacks while hanging out with friends.

That night, I was not into alcohol and so, I ordered a hot chocolate. Nothing special about it. Mehhh..

I ordered handmade meatballs as our appetizer and guess what? I so regretted about it. Not because it sucks but there ain’t anything special about it either.

One of our main courses is King Ribs. It was juicy and just nice. However, it had a weird thing beneath it. Not really sure what it was but it was not that bad.

Our other main course was Braised Pork Belly. It was not that great but at least we tried out something different. 

Overall, the meal was okay but, we are coming back soon to redeem our deal with Cheers so, stay tuned!

Click here on directions. 

Food Review: Strawberry Forever

One of my friends recommended me to try out this place and after finding out where it is located, I asked the boyfie out for dinner. It is actually very close to where we stay so it was not difficult for us to find the place.

By the look of its interior, I believe most girls would love this place. However, I find this place a bit weird. Maybe it is too reddish and pinkish. Not my cup of tea. Then by looking at its menu, urm, the food does not look convincing.

And I was right. The food was wrong. The place was wrong. Everything just seems so wrong!

We then gave the desserts a try and tried their most recommended strawberry pie. It looks good from the outside, right? However, to my horror, it does not taste right.

We ordered Mango Souffle or something but, it failed to change our minds of not coming to Strawberry Forever again. Unless you want the food to ruin your day. This thing was tasteless.

Am I being too picky? I guess not. Kuala Lumpur must have spoiled my food intake. So far I have not found a place comparable to Sushi Zanmai, Moo Cow, Seoul Korean and Levain Boulangarie. Maybe those are the reasons that I should go back once in a while.

Click here if you want to go Strawberry Forever.