A-Lone Diner Event & Travel Special: The 7th Gold Ribbon Grant-A-Wish Campaign 2015 at Perdana Botanical Garden, Kuala Lumpur (KL)

I actually wanted to participate in the Grant-A-Wish campaign by being a donor but decided against it when I saw what I need to fulfill as gifts. I had a great fear in not only being a spectacle in front of people while giving my gift to the underprivileged but also a fear of getting a gift that may not fit the size of the kid or a design that the kid won't like. LOL. Sure I can appoint a representative to give my gift but you do realize I'm A-Lone Diner who don't even have people wanting to hang out with me most of the time let alone asking them to run my errands? It's a silly fear but it's one that overwhelms me incredibly. And so I mainly decided to be an observer rather than a participant.

It's held at the Perdana Botanical Garden, Kuala Lumpur which is the first time I'm hearing about this place. Looking at it's website, it got me very interested to venture around at the garden surroundings in addition to attending the event.

Saturday came and the haze was back at a very bad level. But I was so pumped up to go anyway I went ahead. Finding the entrance was like a maze but I reached near the venue and saw many of the volunteers at the front. The guy spoke to me on where to best park my car as the entry over that place they're manning are not allowed for public to drive in (that's what I gather from the little bit of Mandarin I know. LOL). I drove further down and eventually came to a parking area and so I parked there.

As I exited my car, I spotted a place to eat but the problem is it looks like some kind of lone food court kind of stall. That put me off greatly as I was imagining a cafe-like atmosphere would be ideal in this kind of location but no, there's none. And so I followed the "yellow brick road" to begin my journey into the park.

As I move in more and more, I find some nice place to had a bit of a lookaround. The entry that I went in was very deserted, nobody around, totally empty like a ghost town. Moving further in, you see some buggy parking area and some signboards from previous events that weren't cleared. I walked further in and still no signs of life till I approached the Sunken Garden. To tell you the truth, this was the only place that's the best. It's the only garden like atmosphere that looks the most beautiful out of the whole park. And it was the first stop that I encountered. LOL.

There were also many gate enclosures which sealed off some particular area and section which I have no idea why. There's totally nothing much in there anyway so it's not that intriguing to go into. I stumbled upon a map of the place and took a snapshot of it to refer to as I walk. I first went into the Herb Garden but it was a total disappointment. There's totally nothing there to see. Sure you can have a look at the different herb names there but the arrangement and landscaping of the place were almost non-existence. There's zero effort in beautifying the so-called garden.

So I walked on further in order to get to the event. I could hear distant and faint announcements and move along towards there. As I go on, I keep getting distracted to deviate to the left and to the right to see what that path there leads to. I'm quite put off by the many constructions that's ongoing at the park. It looks like they're trying to erect more things than I can see greeneries. I arrived at the boathouse and it looks very dilapidated. The condition of the jetty looks rickety and I don't remember seeing any boat docked anywhere. But I do remember seeing a river which the boat suppose to run through.

As I draw closer to the sound that's blasted through a microphone, I realized that it wasn't from the Grant-A-Wish event. It was rather from a truck making sound checks that's getting ready for an event. There's a lot of construction going on and a few small lorries unloading the goods in preparation of this other event which looks great on it's setting up of their unfinished area.

I trudge on further to go to the Grant-A-Wish foundation event and finally arrived at the lake area. Over at the lake area, there were some ducks that were swimming in the pond in flocks. I decided to head back a little as the Deer Park caught my eye. Inside the Deer Park looks a little more pleasant than the other pathetic park and the good thing about this park is that it houses some Mouse-deers. Mouse-deers are also called Chevrotain. In Malaysia, it's mostly known as Kancil. LOL. It took me a while to remember what their English names were. The mouse-deers were housed in some glass entrapment. and they're quite difficult to spot if you're just walking by. You've got to take your time in stopping at the glass cage to really peer inside since the sun light hits and reflects on the surface. Around the Deer Park, there's also other wire cages all around. Upon peering in to see what it contains, I found out that they were only roosters. Why they wanna house roosters all around is beyond me. It's not like they're endangered or anything. The deer park seems to move further up the hill which I decided not to go there after seeing from a distance that there don't seem to have much of anything interesting.

I headed back towards the lake and move towards the Grant-A-Wish campaign event. Over there, there were many people in the ROLF (Rainbow of Life Forces) T-shirts and there were people fanning furiously over the seated kids all around. They seem to be seated in groups and according to their respective orphanages and there's one smaller section giving out gives and taking photographs with the donor and the kids while a much bigger section that has a microphone with them were announcing the kids and donors name to match them up so they can go to the front to exchange hands on the gifts. I can see some musical instruments lying around but since they're still giving out gifts, I guess the buskers weren't performing yet. I grew bored of watching the gift giving ceremony after a while and felt really hot there due to the lack of wind blowing in that area and decided to head off further around the park to see. By the way, the ROLF community (which I see consists of a lot of volunteers) do this every year in addition to other kinds of charitable activities. You can check out on what's next and offer a helping hand at their home page: http://rolfcommunity.org/

As I walk around at the very huge garden (which I was actually really lost and don't really know where I am), I was determined to find that waterfall area that I saw earlier on the map. I eventually found it and it proved to be a really big disappointment. It didn't look as nice as I envisioned it. In fact, the mini-waterfall at the Deer Park looks way much better. The only good thing about this waterfall is the soothing gushing sounds of the water falling from the rocks.

Tired, hungry, thirsty and hot, I was feeling very dizzy and couldn't really walk straight after finding the waterfall. So I decided to head back to the car. But I had a huge problem. I have wandered off so much in circles that I forgot where's my car! And so I wandered aimlessly at the direction I assume would be where my car is. Along the way, I found out that the Amphitheatre was also under construction. This park is not new right? It's been here some time right? What's with all the construction going on? It's as if this place is not ready at all. I staggered around and soon found a familiar territory which I remembered passing at. I followed the trail and managed to go back to where the kids playgrounds were and luckily got back to my car.

This place dashed my hopes of a nice quiet serene park surrounded by lush greens where you can enjoy a quiet sit down time at the benches. Instead, all I found were many ongoing constructions, many unnatural items that aren't acclimated to nature, a very unappealing view of the surroundings and with the haze around, it just worsen the outdoor experience. If you ever wanna come to this place, just stay at the Sunken Garden and head on inside the Deer Garden to see a real life mouse-deer. Other than that, there's nothing appealing about this place, not even the main lake of the garden.

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A-Lone Diner Movie Special: The Intern (2015)

Although I didn't really watch this movie on my own and was with a couple friend of mine, technically, I'm still alone because I intruded upon my friend's movie date night. LOL. It was a very last minute invitation and I accepted it since they say they didn't mind having me along and so I zoom over to the shopping mall to catch the show with them with seconds to spare.

The movie is about Ben Whittaker (Robert De Niro) who's a senior citizen that has retired from a phone book company and is a widower. Ever since the lost of his wife he had tried to be a part of society by doing a lot of activities like practicing yoga, taking Mandarin classes and even try to form a habit by having his daily coffee at the local Starbucks at a certain time. But none seems to be working and he felt really disconnected with society (sounds familiar to me). One day he stumbled upon a flyer that was put up indicating of a hip young online shopping company called "About the Fit" and are looking for senior citizen to fill the role of interns. And so, Ben undertook the task of applying for the job because he misses the structure of work and this is the thing that he's looking for to help him keep moving and be a part of something.

The company was founded by Jules Ostin (Anne Hathaway) who built the company on her own and has a very hands on approach to everything about the company from detailing on website design to how to pack the clothing into a parcel at warehouse. She also has her quirks of loving to ride a bicycle to travel in the office from one end to the other (which by the way, never showed this idea anymore after 2 scenes of this) and everyone says that she's hard to work with (although from the portrayal I gather, she seems to be sweet and pleasant who gets along with her employees just fine just that at times she demands work to be done and is fickle but she asks in a reasonable and polite way).

So Ben goes through the motion of the interview and was hired as an intern. He was assign to be under Jules Ostin which in the beginning, she tried to persuade Ben to take a transfer to another department due to Jules feeling that it would not work between her and Ben because she don't know how to handle older people and is a very independent person hence there won't be much work for him to do under her. Ben insisted to remain under her and for a period of time, there was nothing that she had tasked Ben to do, nothing at all. Eventually, Ben nosed around and done a few things out of his own initiative and also got himself to be her driver when he caught her driver taking a swig of alcohol.

From nothing to do to literally being the boss' PA, Ben went from cleaning a stain to taking her kid to a function and being a cheerleader to Jules as well.

During that time, the shareholders pressured Jules to take on a CEO to run the company and so Jules reluctantly agreed to meet with potential CEO candidates. Amidst of her work etiquette being threatened, she also face problems with her marriage having a cheating stay-at-home husband and hope that hiring a CEO would resolve this issue allowing her to spend more time with her family.

I quite like this movie. It's heartfelt, it's moving, it's touching. It has an old-fashion's touch to a modern setting. Robert De Niro played his character well and is always the level headed, composed and organized person who always says the right things at the right time except for the time he accompanied Jules to San Francisco where she poured her personal marriage problems on him in a breakdown and that's the only time he didn't know how to respond to her and his facial expressions betrayed him on what he's thinking and feeling. His character although initially started off as someone I can relate to, feelings of disconnection from the world and society as a whole, then eventually turned into this perfect role model whom you know it's impossible to follow.

Anne Hathaway is almost perfect for the role which I would say is only second to perhaps Reese Witherspoon. I could see Reese Witherspoon being a more perfect fit for this role of a strong independent business woman where in the middle of her rising success the fangs of a crumbling marriage is showing and is only supported over the comfort words and actions of Ben Whittaker.

I also find that the movie strangely revolves around a suburban paradise of white upper class humans. There's literally no black people in the movie. LOL. Not that it matters to me. Anyway, I rate the movie 4 out of 5 stars.

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A-Lone Diner Movie Special: Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015)

Although I never saw the first installment "Hotel Transylvania", it's not difficult to follow what the show is about to come up to speed.

Basically, all I know was that the main character is a vampire and he opened a hotel for monsters, demons, ghouls and the freakish likes of that so that they can roam freely after his wife was killed by an angry mob. However, one time, there was a family of humans that mistakenly went to the hotel and in the end, the vampire and his friends all accepted humans. His daughter Mavis fell in love with the human slacker kid which comes to our second installment of this movie.

Mavis and the slacker kid, Johnny, had a baby and the vampire father Dracula was eager to teach the baby, Dennis to be a vampire. However, Mavis had other ideas since to her Dennis is not a vampire and just a normal human baby, she was thinking that it would be great to live where Johnny grew up at which is Santa Cruz. Johnny wanted to stay to and went with what Dracula transpired which is Johnny to take Mavis to his parents place and scout out the area first since they were gonna move there to raise Dennis.

During that period, Dracula was left in charge of Dennis to take care of him that's when Dracula with the help of his friends takes Dennis to be trained as a vampire by showing him how his friends and him used to do things.

This movie bores me to death. I fade in and out of my thoughts throughout the movie and attempts at cracking jokes and laughing gag left me feeling that I've lost my funny bone because laughing at it would mean I'm forcing it. There are 1 or 2 funny moments that deserve a chuckle but it's quite weak in their attempt.

For me I would say avoid this movie at all cost. It lacks depth material in it's storyline and there's not much in it that is funny. The movie is quickly easily forgotten and the only good part is near the ending that last about 10-15 minutes maybe? I would rate this movie 1.5 out of 5.

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A-Lone Diner Event Special: Woman of Worth Celebration with Starworld

Interestingly, I was invited to go for the event Woman of Worth Celebration with Starworld. The dresscode was Corporate Chic (which was relayed to me as Corporate Attire. Same difference, I guess?) and so in order to show my respect for the event, I turned up in a tie and blazer.

I wore the tie to work and throughout the entire day, I had people none stop asking me or commenting me about my tie until I am speechless. LOL. I literally didn't respond to some because I just don't know how to. I hope they don't find me too rude in doing so. >.<

Anyway, so there I was at the event as awkward as it may seem, I felt pretty psyched up to go to the event even though it's meant more for women and it started quite early, 5:30pm registration. So I left work early, around 4:30pm(?) because it's located all the way at Le Meridien KL. Got a little bit of trouble trying to locate the hotel but eventually managed to and parked at the place. Initially was thinking of taking the LRT there but since I'm in a tie and blazer, I preferred not to and drove all the way there.

I arrived around 6pm and at the hotel lobby, I met one of my friend who's also attending the event. We went up together and registered there. During that time, it was still too early to enter the hall at Pool Bar & Grill @ 8 that's located on the 8th floor of Le Meridien so we were just lingering at the reception location at over there met my other 2 friends as well. One of them was the motivational speaker of the event which came to me as a surprise.

Over at the reception area, there's a photo wall where the photographer will take your picture where later on it will be printed for you to keep as a momento. I had some canapes where they were serving and when the time came, I entered the hall and sat at the table that I was designated which is away from my friends. LOL. However, I did meet some lovely new people at the event and it reminded me of why I love attending events. Some buns were served for us as starters with a slab of butter laid out should you ever wanna use it. I noticed that some were served with plain buns while some had multigrain like mine. I was hungry so I chowed down on the bun as soon as it was dispatched to me.

Anita was the emcee of the evening and they started off with motivational talks from Low Ngai Yuen and Choo Mei Sze. They also served food during those talks which started off with the Caprese Salad. The Caprese Salad contains spinach, Swiss Cheese and a Smoked Duck Quiche. The presentation of the dish was sensational and I like how the salad tasted. The Smoked Duck Quiche is made mainly the star of the dish with the spinach and Swiss Cheese complementing it nicely.

The main course for the evening turns out to be the Barramundi Provencale. It has wilted greens, pea risotto al salto, tomato emulsion and of course, the Barramundi fish. I know what risotto is but what is risotto al salto? Upon googling this, it's actually tossed risotto in a skillet. The more expert chef would toss it using free hand while others may use a lid to flip it over. Dinner was excellent. I didn't even know I was eating a pea risotto as it didn't taste like peas. I thought it was rice. They were generous in portioning the Barramundi fish which filled me up a lot. The fish was cooked nicely for mine (although I heard some were undercooked) and the tomato emulsion greatly enhance the fish.

Before dessert were served and Paula Malai Ali to give her motivational speech, there was a dessert making demonstration by Le Meridien's pastry chef Loh Mee Foong. She was so jovial with her campy way of speaking. It was such a joy to hear her speak. While she makes away with her dessert, I had a tray of her creations laid out in front of me.

There were 5 items on it and they are:
1) Blackberry Cheese Tart
2) Cinnamon Sugar Churros
3) Orange Chiffon Lemon Curd
4) Brownies Chocolate Mascarpone
5) Tiramisu in glass shooters.
The blackberry combines well with the cheese tart as a whole. Cinnamon Sugar Churros nothing much to shout about but tasted fine. I quite like the Orange Chiffon Lemon Curd with it's exciting taste that leans from sweet to sour one way and then the other. The Brownies Chocolate Mascarpone is my favorite among all. It contains hidden nuts that provided a bit of a crunch and taste while the Tiramisu is a little disappointing for me because it's so wet at the bottom. I think probably it's been left out of the fridge so long after freezing it instead of chilling whereby precipitation crept at the bottom and formed a puddle. But all in all, her dessert works for me. It's also good that it's not too sweet and has the right balance to it unlike a lot of other places dessert.

The night then awarded the best dressed and proceeded with the pre-premiere screening of Scandal Season 5 episode 1. The night ended with a lucky draw and we were then dispersed. They also gave an awesome goodie bag.

It was such a lovely event which reminded me of the joys of attending events. :)

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Village Roast Duck, The Gardens Mall, Mid Valley City, Kuala Lumpur (KL)

Address:
LG-205, LG Floor, The Gardens Mall, Lingkaran Syed Putra, 59200 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Daily, 10am - 10pm (I presume. Mall opening times?)

Time Visited:
6pm, weekends on Saturday.

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
House Special Fried Ricec and Fresh Apple Juice

After a long day of walking around at Mid Valley, I decided to detour towards Village Roast Duck to try the food there. At first, I felt quite intimidated to walk in because it look so posh and catered for big families instead of a party for 1 but after mustering up a bit of courage from walking around a few times (looking suspiciously like an idiot or someone that has a bomb), I let the lady in the front seat me as a one person diner.

There weren't a whole lot of choices if you're gonna dine alone because most of it are dishes to order and probably less than 10 items in the menu that are either fried rice or noodle dishes. And so I go for the most basic of all and ordered fried rice with an apple juice to go with it.

The Apple Juice was pleasantly delightful. You can tell that it's freshly squeezed apples and that it's authentic. There's a little bit of a salty taste that intermingles with the sweet taste that makes this drink worthwhile to go for. Just a little after that, I was served with a vegetable soup which I found out that it's complimentary and am given to all customers who dine there.

The soup although is not over the top, it does show it's characteristics clearly and is strong in it's taste. Not bad for a free soup in contrast to the many restaurants that serve their watered down soup for free.

The Fried Rice appeared longer than I expected and I was looking forward to devour it due to my hungriness. Fried rice usually look plain in nature no matter how you try to beautify it. The only thing you can do is decorate it with the vegetables around it and so I can see a bit of an effort on their part to do so but it still looks pretty plain. I was hoping being a posh restaurant like this, it would have the fried rice quality like Din Tai Fung which I love it. Unfortunately, the fried rice falls short of my expectation. It's decent but it lacks the wow factor. Merely your usual plain fried rice. That's some tough cracker-y bits in it which I'm not sure what it is. Maybe pork rind but I can't be sure. It's just tasteless and really tough to bite on and annoying as hell to bite at it because it's so hard. Or maybe because I have no teeth. LOL.

Aside from it being fried with lots of ingredients, this kind of fried rice taste can easily be obtained from any Chinese restaurant outside for 3 times less the price. It may be much more unhealthy and less fresher ingredients but it taste just as good if not better.

In addition to free soup, all diners are given a free dessert as well. Gui Ling Gau. There should be an accompanying honey to sweeten it up but I'm not sure why I was the only one who wasn't serve with it and so I couldn't pour any on my dessert to sweeten it up. Anyway, it didn't matter. It's not bitter anyway and taste good on it's own. Soft jelly texture but firm enough to not fall apart as a whole.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM32.50. RM18.90 for the fried rice, RM9 for the Apple Juice and 10% service charge with 6% GST imposed.

Final Verdict:
6/10. Although I quite like the ambiance, it's a little intimidating for a person of one too. The fried rice was nothing spectacular and I could go for similar fried rice elsewhere for 3 times less for the price I paid for but I like their Apple Juice. It's much better than the one I had at Metal Box, Empire Damansara.

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A-Lone Diner Event Special: 9th Wedding Expo 2015 & Thailand Week 2015

After watching the movie Hitman, I lingered around the Mid Valley premise and wandered off into the Convention Centre area. Over there, during that time, there's the Wedding Expo and the Thailand Week being hosted. And so I went in to take a look around.

Should you register at the booth, you'll get a free gift and a goodie bag before entering and that would easily enable you to carry those pamphlets and flyers that's been passed around at the Expo.

It may seem awkward for a loner like me to walk in to a wedding expo but I did it because it reminded me of the time when I went in a wedding expo and actually found it interesting with the many pretty decors and the fancy setup of booths around the place. My friends that time had a good laugh at me for going in a wedding expo that time but it's okay. I found it funny myself. LOL.

However, this time around, there's nothing much to see. Aside from the pretty wedding dresses at dead center, those indoors were less than impressive in their setup. In fact, I find the expo quite uninviting and looks pale and stale. Very unappealing unlike the impression I had years ago where I look with eagerness with the vivid and detailed colors that painted each individual booths along with attractive arrangements like fake wedding cakes setup with mannequins in tuxedos and wedding dresses as decoration. There's even a jazz band playing at the front of a stage during that time and it pleasantly serenaded the area as soothing background music.

This time around, the dresses that are on display at booths looks pretty jaded and there's practically zero effort rendered to beautify it. Still, it didn't stop garnering the many couples that flocked to the place to get their quotations on their wedding. The place were filled with couples seated with an adviser on tailoring their request before giving them a quotation. There were so many people in most booths, that most of it has no more place left to sit on and some will need to wait before they get their turn.

There were also various hotel booths setup but those practically attracted no one. This fair mainly reminds me of a job fair where it's not setup to impress at all. At least a job fair has some of the big companies having their booth setup with a little more glamorous design and elegant details but as for the wedding expo, nothing is impressive.

I started to make my way to the Authentic Thai expo instead with quite an impression at the front with some hand carving going on. But as you past the front entrance, it's just plain boring. Booth after booth after booth with the same design with some having some products on display while most don't and merely consist of signages indicating what is the company name and perhaps a little on what it does.

The most intriguing to me was probably the free Thai massage being given out which kinda reminds me of the free massages being given when I attended Carlsberg's "Where's the Party?" The next most intriguing things were probably the various food snacks and the Doi Chaang coffee booth but the thing is all of the snacks and food products are either something I wouldn't dare touch to eat or are items that is pretty much something you've seen in our local supermarket before. There were also some games for the public to participate in order for them to win prizes and some show on stage but during my time there, it was just after one and before another starts.

So in the end, I just skim along quickly and made my exit.

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The Apartment, The Curve, Mutiara Damansara, Petaling Jaya (PJ)

Address:
Lot 72, 73 & 74
Ground Floor, Western Courtyard
(next to TGI Fridays)
The Curve Shopping Centre, No. 6, Jalan PJU 7/3,
Mutiara Damansara, 47800 
Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Opening Hours:
Daily, 10am - 12am

Time Visited:
6:30pm. Monday night.

Attire worn:
Business

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Lipton Ice Lemon Tea and a Flatbread with Keftedes

School holiday is approaching and expected clear roads ahead. Not that my route is filled with traffic jams but on occasions, I do venture out of the norm in search of food to ever oh so enliven up my meaningless existence that can barely be called as life. Anyway, today was a day that I do just that by going to The Curve's The Apartment.

Though not the first time being here, it is however, the first time in trying out just dining there. On previous occasions it was all event based hence it's merely catering food from them. Those times were only marred with the scars of not so great food. But I can't expect much if it's catering because this means that they cooked in bulk which would bring down the quality of the food in comparison to preparing an individual dish.

The Apartment at The Curve situates below a bar upstairs which is connected. I approached the entrance with a Maitre D there but was totally ignored by her. With that attitude, I walked in by myself instead and sat myself down. In consolation, I was chased down by a waiter with a menu and left it with me when I had chosen my desired place.

The Apartment does offer a posh like settings but the pricing is a little under for that kind of environment. But then again, this is not exactly a fine dining restaurant but rather one that merely looks like it. Their service certainly do not reflect so. The dim lights that brighten up the surroundings barely help my now poor eyesight but I guess this sets a romantic mood. I quite enjoy the charm of the place especially with the table that I placed myself at. It was the nearest to the convection oven and one of the staff manning the pastry section was baking some cakes. Each time he opens the oven door, I get a good whiff of the cakes good smell and am happy with that odor lingering around me.

The ice lemon tea as demonstrated by the menu mentions it's the brand Lipton which means it's merely the bottled version and was confirmed by my taste buds as I started to drink it. I do applaud of their efforts in making it nicer by throwing in a slice of lemon and some white liquid at the bottom which I have no idea what that is. It may sound horrid as per my description above, but I assure you, it's probably just lemon or lime juice poured in it. It couldn't have been syrup because drinking right at the source of it produced no sweet taste whatsoever but a lime like or lemon like type of sourishness hence my conclusion albeit a very mild and subtle taste. In any case, it didn't deviate at all from the taste straight from the bottle and certainly wouldn't be much value at double it's original price even though it looks really pleasant.

The Flatbread with Keftedes took a bit of a waiting till it reached me. I was curious on what Keftedes was as this is my very first time hearing this word let alone know what kind of food it is. After doing a bit of a research, I found out that Keftedes is actually a Greek Meatball. In this version with the Flatbread, the Keftedes were depicted as Greek Spiced Lamb Meatballs. I noticed that it is incredibly tiny in it's size just like how Chinese fishballs or pork balls are. I wonder if Keftedes were supposed to be that small? I'm not sure since I've never had these before and from the picture Google provided me, it looks much bigger. Eating those meatballs didn't come out with any unique taste that I've never tasted before hence it's not really new to me. The Flatbread as usual can only produce one type of taste and the texture was how it's supposed to be but the thing that draws my attention the most is the vegetables that's put in the mix with the others. It's actually Acar Timun (Spicy Cucumber Pickles). I'm not really a fan of Acar Timun but this was okay, acceptable and I'm able to finish it off. It's interesting that they categorize this dish as a sandwich.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM31.25. Lipton Ice Lemon Tea costs RM6.90 and the Flatbread with Keftedes costs RM19.90. 10% service charge applies along with 6% GST.

Final Verdict:
6.5/10. I must admit I do like the ambiance especially getting whiffs of the cake blowing my way but I would like their service to be better. Although the lady that snubbed me at the door did thank me as I left, I'm still a bit bothered on how they seat their customers. Whilst dining, I noticed that all their customers at the front door show themselves in instead of the Maitre D asking a table for how many persons. Nonetheless, 6:30pm on a weekday at The Curve has very few people around and is clearly a time where a lone diner can easily get a place without any hassle.

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A-Lone Diner Movie Special: Hitman: Agent 47 (2015)

Again found myself at Mid Valley Megamall and decided to watch a movie. At first was thinking of going to The Gardens GSC Signature to watch then I remembered GSC Signature are all couple type seats. LOL. Don't want to disrupt their business by just getting a ticket for one when clearly their seating arrangements are all in couple format, hence I started to move to Mid Valley Megamalls GSC instead. Although their exterior had changed with the renovation, their halls remained the same, cramp and small and near to the screen.

After much contemplation on what to have for my brunch, I again settled for fast food which turned out to be McDonald's. McDonald's seems to have shrunk in size. From a 2-storey occupancy to just a corner below GSC. I grew very afraid of unable to secure a seating since it's such a popular choice with the shopper but relief to get a table after I ordering and bringing my tray of food to the eating area.

Once finished, I headed on upstairs to see what movie I should watch. I initially wanted to go for Pawn Sacrifice since the review ranked it highly and it involves 2 of my interests, insanity (which I believe I am slowly deteriorating to a worse condition) and chess, but the next movie only starts at 4pm. Unwilling to wait such a long time just for the movie, I decided on a movie that's most closest to the time I was there and it turned out to be Hitman: Agent 47.

The movie starts like a Resident Evil film with someone narrating on the story of how a super agent project kicked off (kinda like Captain America) and soon learning that it was gonna be weaponized and how the Agents without any love and compassion and emotions programmed in them, they were the perfect cold-blooded killing machine (kinda like the training to be cold blooded killers like Naked Weapon). So the project was shut down by the genius behind it and the agents were killed off one by one. Those that survived, disappeared off the face of the earth.

Many years later, a powerful corporation tries to revive the project and managed to create an indestructible epidermis skin against bullets but in order to be successful in creating super agents, they need to find Litvenko, the genius behind the agent project and their only lead is by locating her daughter who seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth. Her daughter on the other hand has no recollection of why she wanted to find Litvenko unbeknownst to her that he's her father and went on the very little lead that she had and tries to narrow down and pinpoint his location.

Meanwhile, one fine night, an agent by the name of Agent 47 managed to track her down but because of her premonition and clairvoyance ability to see into the future, she started off running before the agent manages to get into her apartment. She was then being chased down by Agent 47 but at the same time, a man (whom later we know to work for the powerful corporation) offered to aid her or else she will be killed by the agent.

Agent 47 later bested the handsome young man and took Litvenko's daughter, Katia, into custody. When Katia awoke, she found herself in a bizarre situation due to the Agent's clear cut and direct no-nonsense explanation which led to Katia being trained in a life or death situation to get out of and soon discovered that she's actually part of the agent program too, only thing is she's the better version being agent 90 but has yet to hone her skills to the max.

So together with Agent 47, they went off to find Litvenko and to put a stop to the powerful conglomerate.

I can see a lot of different references in the movie to other movies. It's kind of like a number of movies put together in this movie. I've already mentioned parts of it resembling Captain America, Resident Evil and Naked Weapon. There's also parts where I can relate to Terminator, Mission Impossible, Transporter, and the ever slow motion movement of The Matrix and not forgetting Bourne Identity.

The movie was a little of a bore and had many logical flaws although all it went on was basing on the video game but I love their action sequence. That's the reason I wanted to watch the movie anyway, for it's action sequence since I already know the movie is crap. However, the juicy part only came on 1 hour into the movie. Before that, there's barely any action at all. So all in all, I would say it's a so-so movie and I merely love it for the action sequence that resembles from other movies and so I rate it 2.5 out of 5.

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A-Lone Diner Event Special: Heineken Presents JUICE 13th Anniversary 'A+V' Party

After satisfying my caffeine cravings and a quick dessert, I walked over to my intended destination to attend the JUICE 13th Anniversary party at Black Box, Publika. When i got to the entrance, there's a long line awaiting entry. Why there is so is very much unknown to me but I lined up anyway. LOL.

There's a lady with a polaroid camera asking the attendees to take pictures so that they can submit the photo for a contest or something. I'm not sure what it's entirely about because I was only half listening to what she was saying as my ADD-like symptom kicked in at full gear that night. I saw a friend of mine at the entrance and waved to him when I confirmed that it was him but lost him in the crowd after entry. The long line occasionally cleared in batches as I was still left wondering why such an odd entry. I pretty soon found out that it was because mostly were stuck registering as VIP or media at the reception area where they had to find their names in the very long list of guests. As for the rest, there's a guy giving out wristbands for entry like nobody's business and didn't bother to really check if you're really in the non-VIP guest list. After all, this was supposed to be an invites-only party. Hmm.

In the very enclosed and dark space of Black Box, it was bustling with humanoids everywhere. There were hardly any space as many people's mission were to get in, grab their beer and head out. I was lost amongst the crowd as I try to navigate to the area where I can collect my beer. The DJ set at the stage in front with the very big cinematic screen was a hopeless locale to get to since most of the stationary people just assembles there and it would be fearful to squeeze through a crowd that's wildly bouncing around less you want to be hit by flailing hands and accidental missteps. As I followed a narrow path of opening between crowds, I was misled to an area where I saw some booze but were signaled by the guy manning that area pointing me to the actual location on where I can redeem mine. That corner that I merely followed the opening to turns out to be only selling beverages and not for giving out. After moving to the right direction, I finally got mine thanks to 2 ladies that are Heineken ambassadors for the night.

The night were filled with tunes mixed by BlackWorm, Shelhiel, VMPRMYTH | YAHNA and Pradana while the visual board were the creations of Zulamran Hilmi, Syazwan and The Tomoe. The night turned into a blur to me even though I only downed 1 bottle of beer but the buzz in my head was great with the noise from the sound system and the hypnotic visual effect aiding to achieve that level quickly. I soon find myself really stoned and though my legs felt tired, I was unable to move much from the spot that I was standing. People pass me from all directions in a blur of motion and was nearly knocked off my feet once but a guy caught hold of me and steadied me. Haha. I felt a little out of place because I felt so old as I see so many younglings probably most of them in their college days and some maybe just started work not too long and only one guy that I saw resembles around my uncle age but he seems to be having a good time. Acting like a college kid and holding his own as he starts careening around the dance floor.

As I regain my composure, before I left the premise, I had a lookaround the venue. The crowd had already thinned out a lot by then and there's more room to navigate the surroundings. A boxy setting at the back of the hall that I passed but hadn't notice was actually a giant kaleidoscope where you sit on a seat and observe the kaleidoscope in action as you turn the handle around.

On the left corner of the hall sits a photo booth that the vain individuals had taken an interest too but I passed on that since there's a line awaiting for their turn.

Filled a little more young at heart being at the event, I left at a gleeful nature and went home feeling really energetic and didn't manage to sleep till 4am came about.

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Coffee Stain by Joseph, Publika, Solaris Dutamas, Kuala Lumpur (KL)

Address:
D4-G3-01, Solaris Dutamas,, 50480 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Mon-Thu:
9:30 am-11:00 pm
Fri-Sun:
9:30 am-12:00 am

Time Visited:
9:30pm, baffled on why it was on a Tuesday night and then I recalled that it was a public holiday the day after. No wonder I thought that it was a Friday.

Attire worn:
Business.

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Latte and a Strawberry Waffle

Before heading off to a party, I stopped by at Coffee Stain by Joseph for a quick dessert and coffee since I still have plenty of time. It was just after a fast food dinner at Mid Valley with some Carls Jr.. Mid Valley had changed so drastically, I got a little flustered trying to figure out what to try and was checking out the new outlets that were situated at the newly renovated sections but in the end decided to just go for fast food as none of it were appealing at all and I just got reminded of the time where I worked near KLCC.

During those times, I would almost always walked out of the hotel that I worked for and usually to KLCC to have a lookaround even though food were provided for. And at KLCC, the place would be so darn packed with people that I would lose my appetite just seeing at the crowd of people and would just head back to the hotel without having a meal at all. I can't remember the number of days that I worked there without actually eating any lunch because I just lose my appetite upon seeing the crowd of people. I just know, it's a lot of times.

So here I was at the party venue area and deciding on desserts to go for. I saw that Coffee Stain by Joseph has some unique coffee which is a creation of their own and many went with that ice cube coffee where you pour milk over it to dissolve it. They call it Cool Cube. Their cold brew also looks interesting to go for. But I'm not interested in those that day. All I did was went back to basics and that is the Latte. I also ordered their Strawberry Waffle to try. They put together the same ingredients for waffles as for pancakes so you choose between wanting a pancake to go with the toppings or a waffle.

Latte arrived and a sip I took. Good. Nice gourmet coffee. The moderate coffee taste satisfied my caffeine craving and the milk ratio is perfect. This is the kind of coffee taste that I've gotten used to loving all the time.

After some time later, the waffle arrives. Their plates, saucer and cup matched so perfectly that it looks beautiful. The plating of the waffle too is a work of art which I appreciated. The waffles were a bit too sweet for me with what I believe to be jam on top. Along with the sugar powder dusted all over, it pushed the sweetness over the top. I had to mellow it down with sips of coffee in between bites. As for the actual strawberries itself, they weren't that sweet but enough to consider as good enough to bite and not sour. With the many sweet taste going around, the strawberries were actually a good mix. This may not be the best waffle, but it is rather good.

As for the ambiance, it's a nice place to just unwind. Although there isn't much of a view, the cafe itself is pleasant enough in it's surrounding interior and the lighting sets a calm mood. An almost romantic setting.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM29.95. RM11.95 for the latte and RM18 for the waffle including 6% GST.

Final Verdict:
8/10. I quite love this place. The coffee and the dessert win me over. Inside looks great and is a total difference from the horrors of the outside. The staff are friendly and serves you with a warm smile. Also, it opens till late night which is great if I ever want to have a cup of coffee during the later part of the nights.

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WHISK Espresso Bar + Bake Shop, Outpost, 1 Utama Shopping Centre, Bandar Utama (BU), Petaling Jaya (PJ)

Address:
G139 1 Utama Shopping Centre, 1 Lebuh Bandar Utama, 47800 Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Mon-Thu:
10:00 am-10:00 pm
Fri-Sat:
10:00 am-10:30 pm
Sun:
10:00 am-10:00 pm

Time Visited:
7:45pm, Monday Night

Attire worn:
Business

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
A Latte. That's all.

After walking down memory lane eating at Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks, I still had some time left before redeeming my complimentary movie tickets and decided to have a cup of coffee over at Whisk, Outpost which is a coffee place I frequent at Empire Shopping Gallery, Subang Jaya.

As for the one in 1 Utama, I have never been there. Hence, it took me quite some time before I manage to pinpoint it's location. It's actually at the new Old Wing and is hidden from the main walkway because it is at an aisle location where it leads to an exit door.

But I must say, it is such a big place compared to the one that they had at Empire Shopping Gallery, Subang Jaya. It's probably 5 times it's size! But then again, over at the Empire Shopping Gallery, Subang Jaya, it looks more like a kiosk setting with it's half shop establishment.

The ambiance of this place has a wooden appeal and unlike it's Subang Jaya counterpart, this place's water is self service at the center pillar where a tap dispenses the drinking water and glasses are in place for you to take to fill it up. As I paid the due charge and plonk myself down at one of it's bench fixtures, I gaze upon the few patrons that are around. A one lone person on the laptop doing his work. 2 persons at another far end, discussing on what was on the laptop screen. What intrigued me the most was the 2 gentlemen on my left. One had a walking stick to aid his walk while the other wears glasses and has long hair. The one with the walking stick seems to be encouraging the guy with glasses and trying to motivate him out of his depressed state. I soon found out that all the patrons are friends of the barista and I'm the only one who's a complete stranger. LOL.

My latte arrived later on and I got to sipping on my drink. It's unsurprisingly similar in taste with the other branch with their unique blend of coffee and their perfect milk to coffee ratio. The taste that I grew to love and has knocked Empire Subang's EspressoLab as my most favorite coffee joint to go to when I'm there for lunch. EspressoLab used to be my most favorite place to go to where I'm there for lunch but after the Barista that I know left, the coffee just isn't the same anymore. It's just not the same coffee taste that I once loved anymore. Hence, the overtaken place by Whisk.

This place is nice to chill and relax with a nice peace and quiet surrounding. The area is seldom walked by 1 Utama shoppers because there's only the few shops there and it's all eateries which adds to the quietness.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM11.65. A little dearer than other cafes and imposes a 6% GST charge.

Final Verdict:
7/10. Nice place to chill, nice coffee. Just wish the price is not that expensive.

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Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks, 1 Utama Shopping Centre, Bandar Utama (BU), Petaling Jaya (PJ)

Address:
Lot 312A
1 Utama Shopping Center
No.1 Lebuh Bandar Utama,
Bandar Utama City Centre,
Bandar Utama
47800 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor Darul Ehsan,
Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Daily, 10am-10pm

Time Visited:
6:30pm, Monday night

Attire worn:
Business

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Handmade Oyster Mee Sua and XXL Crispy Chicken

The story of Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks is partially written in it's name. Taiwan is known for it's street food where the hawkers ply their trade on night markets with their food trucks and their makeshift stalls. Taiwanese is known to flock and gather around where most are a buy and eat as you walk while some do have seatings for you to eat your food while some require you to just stand around since you won't be eating it long anyway as it is a snack. Hence the concept draws from there and thus came out with Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks. Shilin is a very popular place in Taipei due to the night market where street snacks such as these thrive.

I remember a long time ago, some years back, I was with a friend and we were gonna watch a movie. If I recall correctly, it's Ip Man and we somehow managed to get free tickets thanks to her. We were thinking of what to eat and at that time, I had no idea at all. She then suggested to me Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks. That time, it was below where TGV was before their renovation. During that period, I would always avoid eating at kiosk like locations such as Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks, Seaweed Club, Oyster King and the likes but since she suggested and she said it's actually quite nice, I gave it a try. So we both headed off and sat at one of those bar stools as their kiosk like shop merely consists of limited bar settings where you sit in a row with the cashier and server is in front of you. Kinda like Japanese ramen shop, only way smaller. I remember not knowing what to order and ask my friend for opinion and just go with her suggestions. LOL. Good times. Quite miss having such fun times with her.

And now at present times, Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks has relocated to the New Wing of 1 Utama and at the lower ground section. Upon traversing the aisles of 1 Utama unsure of what to eat, I passed by Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks and immediately the memories filled my mind. I was instantly drawn to make the decision to eat there.

This time around, the kiosk like settings has expanded. There's seatings behind the cashier counter where you order your food and also some tables and chairs set up opposite of the cashier next to the escalator. Also, they've do away with the bar like seatings. There's completely none anymore.

I ordered what I remembered eating the last time around a few years ago, the Mee Sua and the crispy chicken. I waited patiently for it as I took a seat at one of the vacant tables. They brought the mee sua to me once they've scooped it out of the big pot and placed the necessary ingredients on top of it. I can't remember how it used to look like but this sure looks delicious. You can clearly see the oysters, the shreds of chicken and some greens on it. Also a dollop of chili since I said I want spicy. Mixed it all up and ate it up. Can't remember how's the taste like a long time back but I remember agreeing with my friend that it is tasty. Now, trying it again with no recollection of how it actually taste like, I would say it is tasty.

Then came the crispy chicken. This too I remembered is tasty but vaguely remembered how it taste like. Now, again once more seeing it, it looks huge. No wonder it's called XXL. It tasted good but more floury with the batter outside than the chicken. But there still is a good portion of chicken meat and the level of spiciness in it is quite hot once you delve deeper into it. This is because of the pepper that's on the chicken. The chili powder that's sprinkled on the chicken is of bearable level but the pepper puts it over the top. In fact, it's like a surprise attack since you can't really see the pepper unless you really observe carefully. There's some bones in it which I don't recall the last time I ate it. Maybe because the last time I didn't eat the XXL chicken? I don't know. I don't remember.

Total Wallet Damage:
All in all RM15.50 only! It's cheap. RM7.50 for the Mee Sua and RM8 for the chicken. All inclusive of GST 6%.

Final Verdict:
7/10. But I must warn you, this place has very limited seatings and on weekends where the crowd of people throng to shopping malls, most eating outlets including this is sometimes seen full to the brim. This place brings back some great memories to me. However, as I got lost in those memories and accidentally stumbled on some old emails, more memories of more individuals started flooding. I feel so sad now with all those flashbacks and wish that I could relive it once again.

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