Category Archives: Friends

celebration, Food, Friends, Halal, Hotels, Kuala Lumpur

Staycation at Dorsett KL Hotel & Hi-Tea at Majestic Hotel KL

February 19, 2019 thammelissa 5 Comments

2018 marked our 10th Anniversary. A decade old of friendship.

We started off as virtual friends through a wedding forum called Malaysia Brides. Back then we were all doing preparations for our wedding. 10 years later we are now busy with our own children. 😀

Although we do not meet each other that often now, but we still keep in touch via social media. Thus our life is not as carefree as before, but celebrating our 10 years Anniversary is in our MUST DO list.

Choosing KL as the destination would be more convenient and easily achieved.

We looked forward for the day to come. Because its gonna be a kid-free day for 3 of us. Thanks to Ashley who did all the reservation!

The agenda was Hotel Stay, Hi-Tea, Shopping, Makan and tidur. 😀

Our one night staycation at Dorsett Kuala Lumpur. It is located at the heart of KL Golden Triangle. Nearest shopping mall is Pavilion KL which is about 5-10 minutes walk.

The Deluxe Premier room size: 38m2 /409 sq. ft. is spacious.

However the en-suite bathroom walk-in rain shower is kinda small.

Nice packaging of a complete set of bath toiletries.

After getting a quick rest in our room, we proceeded to our planned hi-tea. Using the e-hailing service, we went for hi-tea at The Majestic Hotel KL. There are several rooms allowing you to have hi-tea with different kind of atmosphere. We chose the ‘Drawing Room’. The interior of Drawing Room has a taste of English +Colonial ambiance.

While waiting for the Waiter to bring our tea set, and the room was still vacant, why not take some nice photos here.

The Hi-Tea set priced at RM85 per pax includes one English Tea.

Tray No. 1

Tray No. 2. The 3 tier tray was filled with desserts, pastries, sandwiches and scones.

Whilst hot savory items were served in a separate metal box.

Mini desserts

Scones served with cream and jam. Their scones texture is different from scones I’ve tried before. Its not crumbly type. But more towards doughy type.

Thanks to the Hotel staff for taking this nice photo of us. Felt like a rich tai tai enjoying hi-tea session. I like the ambiance. I like the service. But I felt the food were just average.

That night, the gals decided to surprise me with a birthday gift. Their plan was to leave it on the white bedspread bed so that I would notice it after I came out from bathroom. But being a short sighted person without spectacle, all images are blur. I continue chit chatting with them as though nothing was around me. To cut a long story short, all of us burst out laughing and more laughter at the end. LOL!

Thank you for pampering me on my birthday!! ♥

We woke up early the next morning and went for the hotel’s breakfast. Guess which plate belongs to me? hehe…Of course the bigger amount one lor. The breakfast selections was alright. I felt the Nasi Lemak was quite nice.

Before time for check-out, kill time with more wefie . 😀

In the early days, we named ourselves as Powerpuff Girls. That was during the time when we don’t have kids yet. Then later we changed to “Danger! Poison Inside!” mainly because we like to poison each other with online shopping, offers & etc. We shop anything from tupperware, pots, food, clothing. Hence we often ended up with small and big bags of loots purchased on behalf 😀

Dear Ashley & Wanyi,

I treasure our friendship.

Although I do not rant much nor talk about my problems, but when I need to speak out, you girls will be my first listener.

I miss our carefree life. But we can’t turn back time. We laughed alot when we spend time during holidays.

Besides that, you all are my translator when I need to read Chinese characters. 😀
Hope our friendship will remain till we grow old with white hair.

Bangkok, Friends, THAILAND, Travel

Bangkok Day 3 (Pratunam, Baiyoke Fashion Wholesale, Big C Supermarket, Central World, Talad Neon Night Market)

April 16, 2018 thammelissa 4 Comments

Our hotel is just an alley away from Pratunam Morning Market. The street gets busy as early as 4am. The morning market will closes early too. At about 10-11am.

The streets are filled with street food and clothing. Mostly are female clothing, minimal of children and men’s clothing.

Assorted cooked dishes.

The Thai grilled pork from this stall was delicious. If I’m not mistaken, it was just 100 baht?

Porridge with condiments was delicious too.

Trying the Bangkok popular rubber slipper, brand Monobo. It is very comfortable and lasting wear.

Not much bargaining is allowed here because most of the prices are quite low. You can get better deal if you purchase 2 or 3 items at once. (wholesale price)

We are now walking towards the Pratunam Market. (red signboard is Baiyoke Tower)

Pratunam Wholesale Market is filled with shops and tiny stalls flowing over to the sidewalks and extending all the way to Baiyoke Towers I and Baiyoke Towers II on Ratchaprarop Soi 3.

As you can see the crowd especially during weekends. It was so packed and I felt that I am in a maze. You can also see people dragging their luggage size bags to fill their loots. Try to avoid entering this area on weekends.

Pratunam Market

Opening Hours: 24 hours (retail shops open from 10:00 – 21:00)

Location: Intersection of Ratchaprop and Petchburi roads to Ratchaprarop Soi 3

Big C Supermarket.

Depending on which part of Pratunam you are, walking from Pratunam to Big C Supermarket will take around 5~15 minutes.

Opening Hours: 09:00 – 23:00

Location: Ratchadamri Road (opposite CentralWorld)

BTS: Chidlom

Big C is one of the biggest supermarket chains in Thailand. Most of the people come to Big C Supermarket, visiting the supermarket is to shop for the local products. Wide range of products with good deals.

You may refer to this link on what is best to bring home.

https://thailand.tripcanvas.co/bangkok/must-buy-snacks-big-c-supercenter/

Well, if you didn’t get a chance to visit this supermarket, you can also easily grabbed some of the above local snacks from 7-Eleven convenience stores which are easily spotted around Bangkok.

Central World is just opposite of Big C Supermarket.

World Food Expo which went on from 23 Mar 2017 – 09 Apr 2017, held at the entrance of Central World.

Street Food and Food trucks will operate their business throughout the 18 days of the event.

There were also other activities going on, plus cooking demonstration. But we are more interested to eat! Especially the local Thai food 😀

Time to indulge in more local delicacies. (but its more pricey)

In the evening, we decided to check out Palladium Night Market.

Located outside of Palladium World Shopping Centre slightly opposite from Platinum Shopping Mall. We seem to get different operation hours from the internet. We were here at around 7pm. However we noticed that not many stalls were there. Moreover it does not attracts us. We did not want to waste much time there. Hence, we decided to walk over to Talad Neon Night Market which is just around 10 minutes.

We felt that Talad Neon Night Market has more stuffs that suit our liking. A night market that not only focus on clothing. But also handmade items which can personalize names…best to get as souvenirs or gifts, not forgetting there are also food stalls.

Haircut at a night market? Very artistic.

Last round of shopping before we head home the next day. Bangkok is a shop and eat place. You can shop endlessly and you can eat endlessly.

Snacks stall.

We are checking out what to have for dinner.

My friend wanted Salt Baked Fish. So am I. Therefore we settled ourselves at this stall, named Pen Hnung Grill Fish & Seafood.

The grilled talapia fish was big and meaty! Only 260 baht. Compliment with raw vegetables and chili dipping sauce. The chili dipping sauce was awesome.

Grilled Seafood Set (Small) – 399 baht.

Mixed of cockles, prawns, squids, mussels.

Before I end this post, there is something you should take note when you travel.

Day 3 was really a bad day and also unforgettable day!!

My backpack was slashed! Indirectly should be I got robbed!

Where?

at Pratunam Wholesale Baiyoke Tower. Refer to above photo where I did mentioned about the crowded place and maze like area.

It was also my carelessness for carrying a backpack with my belongings. If you need to carry a backpack putting your important belongings, carry it front facing.

I felt I was being pushed as I was sandwiched in between the crowd.

I didn’t thought further. Little did I know, my backpack has such long slash as I wanted to fetch my wallet to pay a dress.

My wallet and mobile phone is gone! My friend tried calling my number. But couldn’t get through anymore.

I was like WTF! Why am I so careless. Why does it happen to me. I felt like crying but in shocked stage.

Luckily I still have my passport.

Hotel staffs were helpful to get a person to send me to and fro the nearest police station to file a police report. I even offered a small tipping to him although he was reluctant to accept. In the police station, there was another tourist who was crying while making her police report too. She was robbed too.

This police report is very important for me to come back Malaysia to redo my identity card without having to pay for penalty. Besides that, it is also useful to claim insurance from the travel insurance that I’ve purchased before the trip.

Chatuchak is also another popular place for bag slashed. The thieves are really professional!

I do hope the local authority there would do something to tighten the security and safety of the popular spots.

Bangkok, Friends, THAILAND, Travel

Bangkok Day 2 (Wat Arun, Wat Intharawihan, Erawan Shrine, Siam Square One, Terminal 21)

April 12, 2018 thammelissa 6 Comments

Day 2 weather was good. Warm but not too sunny. We started Day 2 by joining a half day tour to several destinations arranged by the tour agent. We began our journey from hotel to Wat Arun by Van then transferred to pier.

Driving through the bustling city with heavy jams, hence it took us almost 30 minutes to reach the destination.

Located on the west side of Chao Praya River (opposite Tha Thien Pier). Hence a shuttle boat/ferry is required to cross over.

It was just a short distance.

From Sapphan Taksin boat pier you can take a river boat/ferry that stops at pier 8.

Panoramic view from Wat Arun.

The temple is open daily from 08:30 to 17:30.

Front entrance of the “Ordination Hall”. There are two demons, or temple guardian figures.

Apparently, Wat Arun is known as “Temple of Dawn”.

Wat Arun is a Buddhist temple.

The temple derives its name from the Hindu god Aruna, often personified as the radiations of the rising sun. Wat Arun is among the best known of Thailand’s landmarks and the first light of the morning reflects off the surface of the temple.

Thai King passed away on October 13, 2016. The King was a very respected person. Hence the Thais would mourn for a year before their beloved King was cremated a year later.

The main feature of Wat Arun is its central prang (Khmer-style tower) which is encrusted with colorful porcelain.

For the foreigners, the temple charges an entrance fee of 50 baht.

There were several souvenir stalls in front of this temple. My friend and I stumbled upon this stall which offers rental of Thai traditional costume with photoshoot. The fee was 20 200 baht/person.

From Wat Arun, we were then transferred to Wat Intharawihan. The traveling time was about 20 minutes.

Wat Intharawihan or Wat Intharavihan is a wat located in the Phra Nakhon District of Bangkok.

Every colors (candles) comes with a different meaning/purpose. But all are of good cause.

The main attraction of this temple will be this 32 meters high, 10 meters wide standing Buddha.

The Wat Intharawihan is open daily from 8:30 am until 8 pm. Admission is free.

Coincidentally the temple was having a ceremony. We spotted many monks there.

They also offered free food to the public. The rice in soup was delicious!

We then proceed to gemstone factory. HAHAHA!! I knew this is a trick of every tour. They will anyhow bring us to some buying place. Anyway, we get to watch how a stone is handcrafted into a beautiful gem and made as jewellery.

*Do not ask me if I left this place empty handed. LOL LOL!

Our half day tour ended here. At Erawan Shrine.

Erawan Shrine, is a shrine in Bangkok, Thailand, that houses a statue of Phra Phrom (four-faced Brahma), the Thai representation of the Hindu god of creation Lord Brahma. A popular worship statue that draw people all over the world to do their prayers here.

Road side traders selling birds in cages.

Thai dance performance.

Since Erawan Shrine is located nearby Central World shopping mall, therefore we settled a quick lunch at the Mcdonalds. One thing you must not miss at Bangkok’s McD would be the ‘pork burger’ lar.

Getting to Siam Square One from Erawan Shrine was not tough. Using the skybridge linking from Central World to Siam Square. By foot it take around 10 minutes.

Our intention here was to visit Hello Kitty House Bangkok.

*duck cafe spotted*

This area is more fashionable and also filled with youngsters.

There were flea market going on during our visit. Varieties of selling items. From handcrafts to food.

Our next stop and final stop for the day will be to Terminal 21.

Hoop on to BTS from “Siam” station to “Asok”. The fare is 30 baht. Traveling time was about 15 minutes including some walking.

For tourists, you may collect a ‘tourist privilege card’ from the information counter to enjoy some discount from participating outlets.

Terminal 21 is a one floor one theme shopping mall. The concept is market streets of the world. It is decorated based on well-known streets in cities such as Rome, Paris, Tokyo, London, Istanbul.

1st Floor – Tokyo

4th Floor – San Francisco (City)

Food court is located at 5th floor. It is known as food court Pier 21. You are required to purchase a prepaid card from the assigned counter. The balance money in the card is refundable. There are varieties of food at this food court. However my choice of food court still Siam Paragon’s. 🙂

Since this is a theme mall, even the toilets are designed with themes. Perhaps a toilet hopping at Terminal 21 mall? hehe….

Clothing here are more expensive if you compared them with Platinum Mall.

There goes Day 2. My friend and I, we felt too tired to travel back to our hotel via BTS + walking. Therefore we sat tuk tuk, which was available at the entrance of the mall. Remember to ask the price before getting in.

Friends, Hokkaido, JAPAN, Travel

Visit Shiroi Koibito Park, Sapporo

April 5, 2018 thammelissa 7 Comments

Shiroi Koibito Park is a theme park by Ishiya, a local chocolate company. However this theme park doesn’t involve any thrill rides. It is more like a fairy tale world! Of gardens with beautiful flowers, candies, chocolates and European-style Tudor Building.

How to get here:-

By Subway

Get off at Miyanosawa Station on the Tozai Subway Line.( Approx. 20 min. from Odori Station )
( Approx. 10 min. on foot from Miyanosawa Station )

By Bus

From JR Sapporo Bus Terminal ( Otaru direction )
Get off at the Nishimachi kita 20-chome bus stop. ( Chuo bus or JR bus )
( Approx. 10 min. on foot from Miyanosawa Station )

By Car

Take the Hokkaido Expressway ( Sapporo Junction ) from New Chitose Airport.
( Approx. 10 min. from Shinkawa IC )
( Approx. 60 min. from New Chitose Airport to Shiroi Koibito Park. )

The atmosphere in here is totally contrast to the surroundings outside.

There’s no admission fee for this park.

**For areas with admission fees.

I’m pretty sure Children would love this place too. Because there are many areas for them to explore.

The English-style courtyard is filled with colorful roses and the beautiful scenery of rose arches, and a fountain. Some roses bloom later, so the garden is colorful until late October.
About 120 types of 200 stamps of roses, such as the English rose and the classic rose.

But the best time to see more blooms would be during the Summer.

Shiroi Koibito Park housed Shiroi Koibito Factory where this well-known Hokkaido confectionery is produced, the park also has a cafe to allow visitors to savor Ishiya’s original sweets, the Cookiecraft Studio (where you can try making your own Shiroi Koibito cookies).

Shiroi Koibito Park is divided into two areas: the large outdoor amusement facilities and the indoor factory tour facilities. However the indoor factory tour requires admission fee. (We skipped the tour and cookie deco)

The Sapporo Automaton Clock Tower, or Gran Meister, stands as the symbol of this park. Every hourly, different characters come out to perform a parade (musical show) known as the Chocolate Carnival for spectators. It’s a must-see!

grand staircase leading us to 2nd floor.

This is where we locate Old-style Children’s ToyBox.

A whole lot of toys collections.

We then head down to the souvenir shop (Tudor House) at 1st floor.

You will not leave home empty handed without visiting the souvenir shop.

Jar of Mix Candy / Jar of Stripe Mix Candy

Large size ( 200g ) : ¥ 1,404

Small size ( 75g ) : ¥ 648

Middle Bag Candy / Small Bag Candy

Middle bag ( 60g ) ¥ 432 ( Incl. Tax )

Small bag ( 30g ) ¥ 216

You can purchase these colorful and lovely candies from Candy Labo.

Besides purchasing them, you can also get the opportunity to see candy artisans make a variety of designs by combining differently colored candies.

What is the specialty here?

Langue de chat

A langue de chat is a french baked cookie with a light texture that easily melts in your mouth. The dough is made by mixing equal amounts of sugar and butter that has softened at room temperature, and adding flour, egg white and vanilla. The dough is formed into long, thin bars and baked in the oven.

You can also get your favorite photo to be printed on the cookie tin.

36-cookie tin ¥3,075(incl. tax, with photo)

54-cookie tin ¥4,345(incl. tax, with photo)

A box of “Mi-Fu-Yu” which I purchased here.

6 pc : ¥ 761 ( Incl. tax ) 12 pc : ¥ 1,522 ( Incl. tax )

It is a wafer biscuit coated with milky chocolate, which tasted good!We also met Pepper, the humanoid robot. Kids got fascinated seeing Pepper.

Soft serve ice cream, a popular dessert here. Priced at ¥ 300, served in a cone. The milky and creamy soft serve ice cream here, I gotta be honest….I felt that the Mcdonald’s soft serve ice cream is much creamier! 😀 Sorry…..

We had our Ice Cream from Takeout counter at Tudor House. But if you want to enjoy your ice cream with scenery, you can do it at Courtyard Shirakaba Station. Unfortunately it was raining, therefore we had to settled it indoor.

Other than that, you can also have your meal at Restaurant Owls, with views over Consadole Sapporo’s training field.

this walkway is so romantic.

Some random flowers I shot here. Felt so romantic surrounded with beautiful flowers.

Bringing home some sweet memories, I would say that the Garden is breathtaking and spectacular. If you are a garden person and loves a relaxing place, you can consider including this place into your itinerary. Otherwise, you may skip it. Besides that, I also enjoyed taking photos of every nice spots.

Shiroi Koibito Park

Address：Miyanosawa 2-jo 2-chome, Nishi-ku, Sapporo 063-0052

Opening Hours:-

Factory Tour of Shiroi Koibito

9：00～18：00 ( Last admittance / 17:00 )

Souvenir Shop

9：00～19：00

Website: www.shiroikoibitopark.jp/english

Friends, MALAYSIA

Dinosaurs Alive in Kuala Lumpur 2017

August 4, 2017 thammelissa 2 Comments

Do you still remember the movie Jurrasic Park at year 1993 directed by Steven Spielberg? I watched it when I was a kid. I felt it was the best movie that I’ve ever watched those days.

Last month, my Unimate Jeanly mentioned about “Dinosaurs Alive in KL”. Without hesitation, we ended up with gathering cum dinosaurs tour. On the other hand, Siew Sian was so sporting to even book train tickets to travel from Butterworth to KL together with her children to make this gathering happen.

A week before the meeting date, I told Jet that mummy is bringing you to watch dinosaurs. He hooray-ed with excitement. But I think I am more excited than him. 😀

Located at Malaysia Tourism Centre (Matic) in Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur is where they gonna homed these dinosaurs. This exhibition was held from 14 July 2017 for 6 months period.

A sight of T-Rex with roaring sound was placed above the tent, with buildings of KL as background. “T-Rex Takes Over KL”!

Ticket Price:-

Adult: RM75
Adult MyKad: RM50

Child (3 – 12 years): RM45

Child MyKad (3 – 12 years): RM30
Child Under 3 years: Free

Seniors (Over 60 years): RM50
Seniors MyKad (Over 60 years): RM40

Special Needs: RM25
Special Needs Carer: RM25

Groups (10 or more): 10% Discount
School Groups (20 or more): RM25
For Malaysians with MyKad, you could enjoy the special rate.

As we entered the hall, we were greeted by the huge T-Rex and Sauropod, with much roaring sound. The hall looks like Avatar world. LOL! With neon lights, forest like surroundings and crickets sound.

In an air-conditioned big tent, there’s over 40 life-size, primordial creatures with life-like reptilian skin. They roar, breathe and stomp.

If you begin from the right side, there’s an inflatable playground for the kids to have fun.

There were total of 3 inflatable playground here.

A typical Sauropod had a large barrel-shaped body, a long neck, a small head, and a long, powerful tail. It stood on four tree-trunk like legs.

Information about the species of dinosaur is shown here too.

There were some games with prize. But each game was priced at RM10.

This game is RM10 for 3 balls. You gotto aim the balls into the dinosaur mouth in order to win prize. However if you failed to aim any, you will still get a stalk of toy flower. 🙂

Play the role of paleontologist at price of RM10.

Special outfit and tools are provided. Then you get to bring home the mini size fossil.

A glimpse of Ceratopsians (Horned, Frilled Dinosaurs).

Velociraptor(Meat Eater) and Iguanodon(Plant Eater).

For some light refreshment, there’s also some food stalls with seating tables and chairs.

Other than that, you can also watch the video documentary. (on the right of picture)

Pick your lucky dinosaur game at RM10. Every dinosaur will have a number under its feet. The numbers will indicate the prize.

Jet chose the green dinosaur. Let’s see what he got.

Jet’s number fall into the group of ‘7, 9 , 11’. Therefore he got a ball! 😀

Although there’s a fee of RM10 for each of the above mentioned game and activities, but this sand art activity is free of charge. Hence you see the crowd here.

There were only 3 designs to choose. All the designs are of dinosaurs which is related to this exhibition.

Jet did the sand art by himself with some guidance from me.

He proudly showed his completed art work.

Stegosauria was a group of armored dinosaurs that had rows bony of plates running along their backs.

Hadrosaurids are also known as ‘duck-billed’ dinosaurs on account of their wide mouth parts. Many Hadrosaurids were able to walk on both two and four feet, using all four feet when grazing, but using two feet to run.

Gifts and Souvenirs counter, so that you will not go home empty handed. Goodie bag at price RM70 with dinosaurs merchandises 😀

A group photo with Jeanly & Siew Sian, together with our children.

I didn’t get the chance on the assembling dinosaur bone wood craft which was free too (the crowd area at the background) because Jet starting to fuss.

Verdict:

Toilet facility is available here.

We parked our car at the car park area opposite to (Matic) for RM2 (weekend). Total spending time was about 2+ hours. This dinosaur exhibition has draw much crowd from families with children. The curiosity and excitement to watch huge size dinosaurs, also a good introduction towards Jurassic world. Quite fun also lar, when you watches the macho T-Rex roaring. Staffs are quite friendly and attentive. However I felt that the price is abit high. Would love that if the price is inclusive of all activities inside. Imagine if you have a big family. That would be a big sum.

Address: The Lanai, Malaysia Tourism Centre (MaTiC), Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur

Time: 10 am to 10 pm daily

Ticket Hotline: 03-2170 6333

Website :

www.dinosaursalive.asia

background information

A short video I made about the dinosaurs. Hope you enjoy watching it. 🙂

Cafe, Dessert, Food, Friends, Grill Chicken, Midvalley, Non Pork, Pasta

Dazzling Cafe @Midvalley Megamall

May 29, 2017 thammelissa 1 Comment

**This premise is no longer available. It has been take over by Tokyo Secret Cafe.

The spot of for Gardens Lifestyle Cafe has been replaced by a well known cafe originate from Taiwan.

Dazzling Cafe is the name.

As quoted by Dazzling Cafe, it has been named one of the most famous cafes in Taiwan. Hence it is commonly frequented by celebrities and socialites and has been crowned as “A Celebrity Hotspot.”

Not only famous for its media personalities, but it is also renowned for its chic and classy interior decor.

I do agree that this cafe looks elegant and classy yet trendy. I guessed it also attracts much attention from shoppers because it is located near the link bridge connecting both Midvalley Megamall and The Gardens Mall. The bunny ears chairs looked catchy.

Turquoise & Grey color decorative flowers covering the wall and handrail towards the loaf area making it a nice backdrop for photo shooting.

Dazzling Cafe also serves All Day Breakfast

There wasn’t much choice of ‘main course’ dish. I was told that the Honey Toast is good and its their popular dessert here. Hmmm….that makes me think, most likely people come here for their dessert or during tea break.

We started off with Mentaiko Spaghetti with Cream Sauce RM29.90. It is a recommended dish shown on the menu. Mentaiko is Pollock Roe, tossed in the al-dente creamy spaghetti topped with nori seaweed. A few scallops were added to it. I like the crunchy roe texture on every bite of my spaghetti.

We also ordered a set of All day Breakfast. We chose Classic Big Breakfast RM25, which consist of grilled sausage, beef bacon, baked beans, sauteed mushrooms, grilled tomatoes, and scrambled eggs. The big breakfast was just alright. Quite normal I felt.

For the main course, we also ordered a Oven Roasted Whole Chicken Leg RM30.90. Roasted chicken paired with garlic cream spinach, sauteed mushroom. The chicken was tasty and tender. I do like the garlic cream spinach sauce eaten with the chicken. However I find the sauce abit salty.

Last but not least, we end our meal with the signature toast, Dazzling Classic Honey Toast RM20.90. Cubes of thick toast were stacked up in 2 layers, then topped with a scoop of Häagen-Dazs ice cream and dripping strawberry sauce. The toast was slightly warm, a lil crust on the outer layer but fluffy and soft inside. I could taste the hint butter in it too. Was the yellow creamy thing, some sort of custard? Because it tasted like custard to me. 🙂 Anyway, the toast was very nice to be eaten with ice cream.

We wrapped up the meal with a lovely group photo taken here at Dazzling Cafe.

Verdict: Dazzling Cafe has nice ambiance. A nice dining place with friends and family. Food prices are on the high side. The only thing that I would love to re-visit is for the Honey Toast.

Dazzling Cafe
F-001, Midvalley Megamall
75, Lingkaran Syed Putra, Mid Valley City, 58000 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

*solely based on writer's own opinion*
*price stated exclude 10% service charge 6% GST*

Food, Friends, Halal, Italian, Pasta, Pizza, The Spring

Lunch @Italiannies, The Gardens Mall

December 11, 2013 thammelissa 20 Comments

My latest meet up with my girlfriends was lunch at Italiannies, The Gardens Mall. It has been a long time since the last time I dine in Italiannies. I had a good experience with the food and service at Italiannies, Sunway Pyramid back then.

Italiannies, The Gardens has relocate to this new location. One floor below the previous location. Pretty spacious.

Nic and I arrived first. So, we decided to get a seat while we wait for Ash & Yi to come. While waiting, we were served with these complimentary bread. Next to it is a plate filled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

This is currently new on their menu. 7 wonders of pizza. Upon ordering pizza from this menu, you can add on drink (mountain dew pitch black) or dessert (panna cotta) at a cheaper price.

We chose Barbeque Smoked Duck Pizza (RM35.90)

Smoked duck breast with a barbeque base, topped with peaches, onions, chili flakes, mozzarella cheese & arugula.

Thin and crispy crust. I like the smoked duck breast. But I thought the topping could be a lil extra. Don’t you think the topping is too sikit?

Quattro Platter (RM37.90)

A combination of risotto balls, calamari, fried lemon cheesy balls and zucchini strings. Complete with Marinara sauce and Alfredo sauce for dipping.

This was served as ‘starters’. Quattro Platter is ideal for sharing. I like everything that was served on this plate. Except for fried lemon cheesy balls. I find that the cheese taste was too strong. May be because I’m not really a cheese person 😀

Classic Carbonara (RM37.90) – Regular

Fettuccine pasta tossed in Parmesan cream sauce with ~~smoked beef bacon~~ chicken and fresh button mushroom.

The al-dente Carbonara Fettucine was nice and not too cloying. However we were quite surprise that a popular Italian restaurant uses ready made pastas that we could easily purchase in boxes from the supermarket instead of doing from scratch. Is this a common practice in other Italian restaurants too?

Nic kept her promise and brought us her homemade kimchi. It was very nice. I had almost half of it. hahaha…. *janji ditepati*! TQ Nic 🙂

Ash on the other hand also planned to bring some muffins. Unfortunately, she said the result of her muffins were not pretty. So, she decided not to bring. Its okay….. we can still sample them in future rite? hehe….

Overall : The food was not bad. Unfortunately the service was quite bad. In terms of when we asked for a glass of plain water, we gotto ask again and again from different person because its like so difficult to serve a glass of water. When came to bill…. we were told dunno what system was down. So, they gotto do manual calculation, via calculator. Calculate the wrong amount for us! Aduhhh….

Let’s not ruin the day with some petty stuffs. Our group photo together with our ‘big boss’ Abel jai! LOL!

We saw benefit was having a roadshow and there was a nice pastel color backdrop. We thought it would be nice to use as the background for our group photo. Unfortunately we couldn’t ‘catch’ anyone to take photo for us. So, we ended up cam-whoring ourselves. LOL!

4 siao char bo having cam-whore!! 😀 😀

Italiannies The Gardens

Lot F-215, First Floor, The Gardens
Mid Valley City, Lingkara Syed Putra
59200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
tel: +603 – 2283 3675
email: usersupport@italiannies.com.my

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celebration, Friends

Lousy Food but Great Outing @Green Box Karaoke Seremban

September 3, 2013 thammelissa 15 Comments

This month is gonna be Yee Mei’s wedding. So, together with Wei Chi & Bee See..we planned to meet up over the weekend. So bored with yam cha all the time. This round we decided to go for a karaoke session. Wei Chi called and made an advanced reservation for a room for 4 at Green Box Seremban. We chose to go during lunch session, the karaoke session lasted 3 hours. Price starts from RM16++ to RM20++ depending on the food we ordered. Inclusive of refillable drinks, soup of the day and 3 hours K-session.

Wei Chi, Bee See & Yee Mei (BTB)… they are my friends since Secondary School. Exception for Wei Chi… knew her since Primary 3. Still keeping in touch…despite everyone has their own life, not bad right 😉

Bee See and Wei Chi had American Breakfast (RM16++).. look so normal rite?

Yee Mei and I had Cantonese Style Noodle (RM18++)…. alot of MSG taste! Chicken meat was tough too. Can’t expect much from this kind of place. Or just this outlet?? I remembered food at Red Box @The Gardens Mall was not that bad.

A plate of sliced watermelon was served as well.

That day, the counter served lotus root soup and also green bean soup. The lotus root soup was so tasty… more on MSG taste 😀 While the green bean soup look so dilute *meh*

Honestly, I couldn’t catch up with these days new songs. I still tune on the radio everyday. Yet… its like I don’t really recall what’s the latest song now. Other than those K-pop which I don’t understand a single word besides Sarangheyo. LOL!! So, guess what…. the whole 3 hours…we were singing songs mostly by Backstreet Boys, N’Sync, Britney Spears, Savage Garden, Spice Girls…. OMG!!

Anyway….we did had a great time lar… That aunty Bee See kept saying; “I can’t sing…I dunno how to sing” yet she sang with us too what! 😀

Duckies in pool!

After our K-Session, we were given 3 chances in 10 seconds to fish these duckies from the pool. Hmm….reminds me of those kids fun fair!

10 seconds was too quick!! We only managed to get 2 duckies. Minimum 3 to entitle to get vouchers from green box. Aikkksss…..

Great outing with you ladies… 😉

Friends, MALAYSIA, Melaka, Travel

Play Tourist…..at Melaka

May 30, 2013 thammelissa 15 Comments

Lets play tourist in Melaka! Just like them….hehe…

Visit tourists spot, take photos like a tourist, eat like a tourist, speak like a tourist…….

After visiting Zoo Melaka, to watch giraffe..we head to Melaka town. It was on weekday, so the crowd was lesser compared to peak seasons ie: long weekends.

Melaka is known as “Bandar Bersejarah” (Historical Town). Therefore Melaka is commonly chosen as the location for ‘rombongan sambil belajar’ during my school days. Is your school the same too?

We parked our car at this open air car park opposite St. Francis Xavier’s Church and walk over to Jonker Street for lunch. Hmm…not far..just about 5 minutes of walking distance.

Boat ride at Melaka river. Not sure what’s the price for a ride.

Noticed some new hotels here.

Wow….Hard Rock Cafe is now at Melaka!

At Jonker Walk on a sunny afternoon.

We wanted to come here for lunch. At Hoe Kee Chicken Rice to let my friends savor the Chicken Rice Ball. Too bad their chicken rice ball has ran out of order. They only have loose rice. Which I thought it wouldn’t be any special if we order loose rice. So, we decided to go to another shop. If I’m not mistaken, there are 3 or 4 shops serving chicken rice ball at Jonker Walk. Perhaps there are more.

We ended up settling our lunch at Famosa Chicken Rice Ball. I wasn’t quite satisfied with my lunch here. The chicken rice ball were not that tasty and firm as Hoe Kee. While that plate of roasted pork (siew yuk) was quite dry. T_T

Fancy stuffs that I’ve spotted along Jonker Walk. They are for sale.

This is one of my favorite Durian Cendol at Lao Qian Ice Cafe located at Jonker Walk.

Ochado is now available at Jonker Walk!

I like its nostalgic furnishing.

The Stadhuys at the heart of the historic quarter of Malaka.

We are on our way to St. Paul’s Church, skipping the museums. hehe…

St Paul’s Chuch is the church ruins located on top of St. Paul’s Hill. It was originally built in 1521, by the Portuguese. It became a fortress in 1567, until 1596. After the Dutch siege it became St Paul’s, before it was known as Nossa Senhora da Annunciada (Our Lady of Annunciation). It has been used as a burial ground for the Dutch.

In 1952, a statue of St. Francis Xavier was erected in front of the ruins of the church in commemoration of the 400th anniversary of his sojourn in Malacca. A day after the statue was consecrated, a large casuarina tree fell on it, breaking off its right arm. Incidentally, the right forearm of Xavier was detached in 1614 as a relic

View from St. Paul’s Church; Melaka town, Menara Taming Sari, the sea…and did you spotted a Star Cruise?

Interior of the church with Old Portuguese tombstones leaned against the wall.

Ahh…do you recall these? I used to buy it as souvenirs for my friends. You can request to write names or any wordings as long as the space is sufficient.

Remains of the old Portuguese fort A Famosa around St Paul’s Hill.

Then we walked to Menara Taming Sari with the fare of RM10 (for Malaysians) The 110 metre viewing tower was designed based on the legendary Taming Sari Keris. It will be the 1st tower in the country to have a fully revolving structure. The air-conditioned viewing cabin will be able to accommodate 66 people at one time.

And my friend bought this group photo for RM35! Huhuhu….

We were all quite exhausted walking the whole day..lazy to walk back to where we parked our car. Moreover we would like to experience the trishaw ride. I’m impressed on how they decorated their trishaw. Looks like wedding car. LOL!! A ride from Menara Taming back to The Stadhuys, the fare was RM15. During peak season, they’ll doubled the price!

Night scene of Melaka River, The Stadhuys, St. Francis Xavier’s Church.

We had our dinner at Portuguese Settlement, Melaka. We went to Restaurant No.88. One of our friend was having sore throat. Therefore we did not order any spicy dish. Else the Portuguese style cooking is pretty good. Above we had Butter Prawns (fresh and juicy prawns coated with creamy sauce), Fried Calamari(crunchy calamari with crispy batter), Salted Egg Crabs (not my liking.)

Mission accomplished! Alex’s friends has stepped into Melaka city although we do not have much time to cover more places. 😉

Food, Friends, Halal, Sunway Pyramid, Western

Good Food + Good Companion @T.G.I. Friday’s, Sunway Pyramid

April 2, 2013 thammelissa 19 Comments

Do you agree that good food and good companion are equally important?

I actually knew this group of friends since year 2008 through a wedding forum. Never expect we could maintain the friendship from virtual friends to good friends. Not forgetting Nicole and Vivian..just that we hardly get together at the same time.

It is not just friendship between both Ashley and Wanyi….we also get our HB to involve. Never expect our HBs can get along well too. Nevertheless, we even went for overseas trip together. Despite the hectic life…we still make some effort to have dinner or sometimes to a short trip.

On our recent meeting, we actually planned to have dinner at Itallianiese. Unfortunately Itallianiese at Sunway Pyramid has moved its business to Paradigm Mall. Therefore we had to make a sudden change of venue. With agreement from everyone, we then decided to go to T.G.I. Friday’s. Guess many of you are already familiar with T.G.I. Friday’s. 😉

The dining area.

I like how they deco the wall, with vintage stuffs.

From Left: Strawberry Lemonade Slush (RM10.90), Green Apple Slush (RM10.90), Blue Raspberry Slush (RM10.90), Cranberry Fizz (RM8.90).

All the above drinks are cold and refreshing!

They are currently having this promo of 2 course meal for RM29.90. Consist of an appetizer and a main course. *selected choice as above*. I find this a good deal. Therefore we decided to order 2 sets of this.

Appetizer A:- Fried Mozzarella (Mozzarella cheese coated in special Italian-style breading, deep fried and served with rich marinara sauce.)

Appetizer B:- Bruschetta (Toasted garlic butter Ciabatta bread topped with garlic and fresh roma tomato-basil salsa and drizzled with balsamic glaze).

Main Course A:- Chicken Fingers (Hand battered chicken tenders, golden fried and served with crispy fries and honey mustard for dipping.) The crispy battered chicken fingers are nice, the meat are tender and not dry too.

Main Course B:- Key West Whitefish (A roasted mild whitefish topped with sparkling citrus splash, served with seasonal vegetables and herb rice). Among the rest, I actually like this the most. The fish fillet was fresh, the gravy was tasty and the rice was flavorful.

Garlic Spaghetti Vegetali (add Blackened Cajun Shrimp) – RM26.90.

Spaghetti gently tossed with extra virgin oil, fresh broccoli, tomatoes, garlic, basil, Parmesan cheese and garnished with crispy basil leaf.

Tossed Tomato Basil Chicken (RM27.90)

Sliced, chargrilled chicken breast served over linguine pasta tossed in a fresh tomato basil salsa. Garnished with zesty Balsamic glaze.

Honestly, I felt that both pastas we had here were just average. Nothing great.

Additional side order of Buffalo Wings. Juicy and succulent chicken wings were finger licking good!

Good Food + Good Companion = Good Day! ^_^

Myself, Ashley & Wanyi.

Abel was the star of the day. *center of attention*

Everyone was taking turn to carry him.

*dessert at Hui Lau Shan* Hhmmm….Abel will going to be a foodie soon. HAHA!

T.G.I. Friday's

Lot OB3-F-1, F-2 & F2.92, First Floor,
Sunway Pyramid
No. 3, Jalan PJS 11/15,
46150 Petaling Jaya, Selangor,
Malaysia.
Tel: 03 – 5635 3780

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