A-Lone Diner Event Special: Sime Darby LPGA 2015

Golfers are such hardworking creatures (not to be mistaken with gophers). The doors open for the public from a 7:30am onwards and knowing my habit of not wanting to wake up so early on a weekend, I open my eyes when 9:30am came. Contemplating as to whether to head for breakfast or straight to KLGCC (that's where the tournament is held) and take my breakfast there, I soon settled for coffee at home instead.

Departed from my place at around close to 11am, I soon reached the vicinity of KLGCC half an hour later. During that late hour of the morning, you can see the very many numbers of cars parked along the side of the road and stretches all the way towards KLGCC and beyond. I think it's probably a 10km stretch because it's from the entrance side of the road all the way till the end where the border to TTDI is. I parked at where the TTDI area is (if I'd known, I'd straight drive to TTDI and park there which is much nearer) and seeing some of the uncles that's clearly golf enthusiast awaiting for something, I concluded that there must be shuttles towards the main venue. And sure enough, there are shuttles available which was a relief for me because it would be crazy to walk all the way there. LOL. From the amount of cars there with all the car parks filled and the side of the road almost filled to the brim with only probably 10% more spaces available, I gathered there must be thousands of people there.

Sure enough, upon reaching KLGCC itself and got my pass, the first thing I saw over there is the Courtyard area consisting of the many food stalls prepared by their Chef Arnold. Heck, there's always a head chef over there to oversee the operations as well as his minions do the cooking and serving. Dishes over there are capped at RM10 a dish so the portions are proportionally smaller than a normal usual dish. The Courtyard is filled to the brim with people with no vacant tables as far as the eye can see. I didn't obtain any food from the Courtyard area and remembered my objective being here to visit the food trucks. There were 6 food trucks in total that are there for the LPGA event which are:
1) Cowboys Food Truck
2) Burger Giler Power
3) Ken's Food Truck
4) Thyme Out
5) Wheeloaf and
6) The Malaysian Ninja Truck

Originally, I had planned to try out from 3 of the food trucks but due to my very bad failing memory, I forgot what was I gonna have and proceeded to try from Burger Giler Power and Cowboys Food Truck. Before doing so, there was a nice angel (read: Somersby babe) that started handing out free Somersby for passersby to try and I manage to get one. :D

Before I tried the food trucks' food, I went to explore further. The Chip-4-Charity was generally a dead place. From the outside you'd think that there's nothing going on inside but from the inside there's actually people there awaiting for somebody to come along and do the Chip-4-Charity thing. The Chip-4-Charity is actually an area for you to play in order to win some prizes like a complementary weekend pass but then again, it's already the weekend and whoever is there already had their passes anyway. No wonder there's nobody around to play it. LOL. In addition to that, every participant will get a free Magnum ice cream which is quite a deal since it's only RM5 for 5 balls and the Magnum ice cream costs exactly RM5 there. In addition to that, there's also a chance to win other prizes. There are 2 games. 1 is to drive the ball to a specific painted area and another is to be the one that drives the ball the furthest thus calling it the Longest Drive Challenge. That area is super hot being cooped up in a tent with no ventilation. I wonder how those people manning that station even stand it. The charity is for breast cancer research. In fact, every RM5 Magnum purchased the proceeds go there as well.

I soon had the Burger Giler Power's chicken cheese burger to try. The burger is rather plain looking with minimal vegetable save from the charcoal burger bun. In fact, I didn't see much cheese on it so I guess the cheesy part would probably derive from the sauce. The chicken patty wasn't anything out of the ordinary for me. It just taste like charbroiled teriyaki chicken. Hence I wasn't that impress with Burger Giler Power. I then walked in to the sponsor village to have a look. People were on a mad buying frenzy at the MST section while the One World Hotel and Auto Bavaria stand at rather quiet pace. A most noteworthy thing that I saw were cotton candy being shaped into a lovely flower with a very jovial and friendly person grabbing the attention of passersby. That of course is for charity.

Besides the Courtyard, there were also lesser food and drinks canopy area setup along KLGCC.

After dropping by at Sponsor Village, I headed out towards the golf course to have a look at the tournament. I settled to see the group consisting of Ha Na Jang who was at the lead after Round 2 along with Xi Yu Lin and Inbee Park, the no. 1 women's golfer in the Rolex Ranking and 2nd in the CME Ranking. After watching that one hole, I decided to give up and return to the Courtyard area due to it being too hot for me. LOL.

This time around, I decided to try Cowboys Food Truck. I asked the friendly person who's outside the truck that takes orders what is their bestseller and he told me that it's their Wings, Chicken Wings with Nachos. I wasn't feeling like eating Chicken Wings and so I went with their next best thing which is the Beef Chili Cheese Hotdog with Nachos. The hotdog was awesome. I can see why their Beef Chili Cheese is unique. It's no A&W hot dog but their Beef Chili Cheese has their own brand of flavor to it. Amidst the usual chili flavor there resides a sweetness to it. With the squirts of cheese condiment on top it completes it. It may be called chili but you know these chilis aren't the spicy kind. The only gripe I have is with the nachos. It's merely there to provide some crunchiness. I didn't really taste anything in the nachos. Maybe it's overpowered by the awesome taste of the beef chili and hotdog.

After that stint of eating and the heat, it left me parched and dry. And so I obtained a Somersby at the Courtyard. The 2 Somersby Girls that are manning the booth seem to be glum and gloomy. LOL. I hardly see smiles on them unlike that one individual who passed me the free one earlier on.

Anyway, there seems to be a very big difference from the day before where I went to claim my tickets and the day of the event. During the day that I went to claim my tickets, I seemed to be approached by a lot of strangers who happily chatted with me. I guess it must be due to that wide smile I had on that day. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said on the day of the LPGA. People around me don't seem to be that friendly even though I carry that same smile with me. I had to invite that stranger and told him that it's okay to sit at my table because I'm only a person of one. And during that whole time he seemed so uncomfortable with his son until his friend came along. And like I said before the 2 Somersby Girls just seemed so gloomy. Hardly a smile. The emcee was having a good time singing along with the music and stuff until she saw me. Her appearance totally changed. I guess I must be looking like a hermit or some hobo that day since everyone around me just seems to have a mood change when they see me. LOL. Well, except that one girl who gave me free Somersby. Haha. Oh well. That's life for an overthinking loner like me.

P.S: If you're interested more on Food Truck food there's a Food Truck Festival held every 1st and 3rd weekend of the month at Dataran Merdeka. Open on every 1st and 3rd Saturday and Sunday where Saturday it's open from 9pm-1am and Sunday 6:30am-9:30am.

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Caffe Crema, Plaza Mont Kiara, Mont Kiara, Kuala Lumpur (KL)

Address:
E01-02, Plaza Mont Kiara, Block E, 2 Jalan Kiara, Mont Kiara, Mont Kiara, 50480 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Daily, 8am - 7pm.

Time Visited:
4pm. A halfday Friday.

Attire worn:
Business

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Ginger Lemongrass Tea and Salted Caramel Crepe

Such a busy Friday for me. Initially was thinking of going to the Sime Darby LPGA 2015 at KLGCC so I went to get my complimentary pass at Mongoose Asia in KL. When I got back to PJ area, it was already close to 3:30pm. I decided to go with my original plan and try new places instead of going to the Golf Tournament and savor the food trucks there because my passes were weekend passes and it's only valid on Saturday and Sunday. And so I headed to Caffe Crema at Plaza Mont Kiara.

Ah, it's so weird to be back here again after so many years. Years ago, I used to work here with a parking spot reserved specially for me and my office sitting on top of one of the buildings. Penthouse baby!! LOL. The downside is that things are so darn expensive here and if you want cheaper food, the only alternative is to walk across to Desa Sri Hartamas which I usually avoid due to it being rather hot to walk all the way there. Driving there is such a hassle even though last time you can turn to the right from the traffic light because it's just not a straightforward road. In addition to that, you have to compete with parking spaces. So I always settled to eat at Plaza Mont Kiara most of the time. There was once colleagues showed me the hidden food court at the 2nd floor of one of the buildings but that place is so stuffy and congested and cramp. Plus even though it's a food court with cheaper food, it's still more expensive than other areas. Now, returning to Plaza Mont Kiara, I found that it has completely changed it's outlook. The many shops I've seen before has now turned into many eateries that are unfamiliar to me. Hell, even the Lecka-Lecka is no more. But one things for sure. McDonald's will always be there and I guess along with the Alliance bank. LOL.

I walked around to find Caffe Crema and before I knew it, it appeared right in front of me without me noticing. Sign boards weren't so apparent but sufficient for you to spot it. After all, they only open until seven. Seeing this new place got me wishing that I was working back here. But then again, back then, my salary was way much lower and all I do is struggle to find cheap food. Kinda like the time I struggled to find food that make me want to eat instead of losing my appetite when I was working at KLCC area.

Caffe Crema utilizes their space ingeniously. Despite a very small place, yet they manage to make it work with great table layout and it looks great too. They mentioned that they use recycled wood as their fixtures and from what I see, it's still pretty solid. They present their dishes and drinks in a very photogenic way. My cake came in a wooden spatula/spade/shovel which makes shifting it very easy and the tea had a lovely layout before you on a wooden tray. This reminds me of the time I went to the Whiskey Bar and they laid out the necessary items to you which means whiskey is a serious business to them. LOL. Similarly, this had a pot of hot water on the left most, followed by the tea infuser on a small glass tray and a stop watch, and finally the empty tea cup. It was oh so pretty. The tea infuser is shaped like a conical pyramid with a 'leaf' attached to it with a string. It's ideal shape is designed for the tea pot the top part of the tea infuser will be jutting out. This will be easy for you to just lift the tea infuser by the 'leaf' and the cover with come off as well where you can pour your tea without needing to worry the cover coming off. The stop watch is to time the precise 6 minute of the tea being in your hot water. I guess that's the optimum for it to extract the flavor out from the tea leaves? I guess so. Their teas are organic. The cup too is designed to fit exactly the amount of water inside the pot and has a very wide opening. This allows the tea to cool down for drinking considerably fast.

The Salted Caramel crepe hardly taste anything of salted caramel. I find the taste too mild for me. I would love it if it were more balance throughout the whole crepe but it's not. The caramel is mostly on top and the only part that tasted most of salted caramel is the nuts on top. Other than that, there's no such taste or I should say less of that taste throughout the crepe. The crepe is nice and soft and layered (duh!) but I still like Nadeje's crepes the most. Their original flavor is to die for. Many people mentioned that their standard has drop. I wonder how much of it is true. I just know that it's filled with people with a lot of people waiting to get a table. LOL.

Anyway, as for the Ginger Lemongrass Tea, it's more of lemongrass than ginger. There's not much zing taste to it. The kick of ginger and lemongrass is minimal and it's safe to say the ginger taste is non-existent to me. But that very well may be a good thing for me because I don't like ginger. LOL. But then again, there was once I ordered ginger tea for some reason out of the blue and I seemed to be loving it for some strange reason. I guess my taste buds may have changed.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM26.50. I find this place a bit pricey for their cakes and beverage. But I can't really blame them because Plaza Mont Kiara is known to be a very high rental place. Usually, things around here are much more expensive than a lot of area due to this place being mostly an expat's area. Nevertheless, there's no GST nor service charge. Yet the tea has come to the price of RM13. An amusing thing I noted is that the receipt contains a section Tips/Gratuity in it.

Final Verdict:
7/10. Although things are a bit pricier and the food and drinks to me is just average (not sure about the coffee. Maybe their coffee is really good since they are after all specializing in coffee) but the ambiance and the presentation of things warrants them up to a 7. They deserve to be called a boutique cafe.

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Poolside, Grand Hyatt Hotel, Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC), Kuala Lumpur (KL)

Address:
Level 2, Grand Hyatt Hotel, 12, Jalan Pinang, Kuala Lumpur City Centre, 50450 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Daily, 8.30am-10.30pm

Time Visited:
Around 1pm. A chilling and hazy Saturday

Attire worn:
Casual. But not casual enough for a dip in the infinity pool.

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Fried Calamari and a glass of Sauvignon Blanc, Saint Clair, Marlborough, New Zealand

The haze was quite bad on that day and yet I pressed on to this location determined to try and chill and relax in a very tumultuous moment in my life.

I knew the hotel Grand Hyatt is closeby to KLCC at the Aquaria side but can't really remember seeing it at all. And so I asked for directions at the counter and the person over there pointed out to me at the same direction as I've imagined. Over at above the Aquaria area, I can see an arrow pointing to the left side saying Grand Hyatt but yet I was still clueless as I couldn't spot any sign saying Grand Hyatt. In the end, I walked out to the main road and started walking towards the direction of the arrow. I finally found out that it's just next door. And so I approach inwards to the hotel lobby.

During that time, I was a little baffled as the fire alarm were sounding but everyone seemed to be so cool and calm, guests and staff. I was wondering is it because their system is having problems? I soon saw a small sign indoors saying to not panic as it's just a fire drill. Some fire drill this turn out to be. The fire alarm was very irritating too. But remembering what was my objective being there, I tried searching on how to get to Poolside. I soon grew impatient and ask the guest relation officer instead which escorted me to the lift that leads to Poolside. Pity the woman. She almost trip on the steps even though she's an employee there. Quite happy that she took me all the way to the lift instead of just telling me the directions which is very cool.

Over at the pool area, I saw that the haze can be seen that it's really bad and decided to stay a little more indoor towards the fans and stuff instead of being closer to the pool. The place was a dead ghost town with only 2 brave guests sunbathing in the haze. I was unsure as to whether it's really opened since there's not a living soul in sight and the employees seem to be hidden behind at maybe the kitchen area. Pretty soon, I spotted somebody and asked the masked woman if they're open. She nodded and I proceeded to pick a spot to sit on. The pool at Grand Hyatt is an infinity pool overlooking the cafe at the building next door assumingly, KLCC Convention Center area.

The menu was brought to me and it didn't differ from their website at all. I wonder if they ever change their menu. Their menu is waterproofed with a hard casing hence it's a very heavy menu. LOL. I had no idea why they love lingering at the back of the house where the kitchen is but I'm guessing maybe because of the haze? Anyway, signaled for their attention when I was ready to order and went for the Calamari and the Sauvignon Blanc White Wine.

They certainly took their time in preparing my order but I was in no hurry anyway so no harm done. If it wasn't for the haze, the view of the pool would be fantastic. Even though the weather wasn't quite the ideal one, it did calm my demeanor and has a very relaxing setting. And with the lack of people abound, it probably had contributed to this factor just as much.

I was first served with the wine. It was fruity, grapish and strong tannin aftertaste. But nonetheless it was a good wine. Well worth the money. I wish I could have more after the first sip but I slowly savored and enjoyed it's enjoyable taste.

Calamari arrived much later and it was served in a conical cup thing. Eating it on it's on proved to be lovely. Dipping on the sauces merely ruins the taste. It's best ate plain. Or if you want to, just dip a very small portion. Each fried calamari is easy to pop in your mouth like a popcorn. Once I started eating one, I just gotta have more and more and more until it's finally all gone. Really good stuff despite the lackadaisical service and the longer than usual wait. It was worth it. I guess you really pay for what you get because despite such a small portion of things, it comes with a hefty price tag.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM78. RM20.58 for the Calamari, RM46.31 for the glass of Sauvignon Blanc, 6% GST and 10% service charge with a rounding up of 1 sen.

Final Verdict:
7/10. Nice place to chill. Just too bad during the time I went, the haze was bad. Not many people there contributes to the peace and quiet. the sound of continuous flow of water is very soothing and helps with relaxation. The problem is it's a bit hot due to Malaysian weather. But that's where the pool comes into play. You're suppose to take a dip because of the heat. LOL.

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Ah Lye Curry Fish Head, SS19, Subang Jaya, Selangor

Address:
28 Jalan SS 19/1G, 47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Mon–Sun:
Noon–3:00 PM
5:00 PM–10:00 PM

Time Visited:
About 12:30pm. One Thursday afternoon

Attire worn:
Business

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
The Curry Fish Head of course, some vegetables and a drink (kam kat. Lime with sour plum?)

Ok. I'm not so well verse in my Cantonese when it comes to food so this focal point will be the Curry Fish Head which is their signature dish.

Hearing that the portion served is minimum for two persons, I had no choice but to bring my 2 colleagues along (1 won't go without inviting the other). So forgive me, technically, this isn't exactly A-Lone Diner material where the perspective should come from a person dining alone at a given restaurant.

Anyway, I was very tempted to try this Curry Fish Head and so I headed off to this place in SS19, Subang Jaya. Not very sure of it's exact location, I used the GPS system to locate it. I soon found out it's near my old clients place who is/was a doctor. The place is hidden in a row of shops that is inside a residential area for some reason and seems to be the only restaurant there. You need to pass a security check point and leave through an auto gate when you want to go there. What's more, the signboard is not very easy to see being black in color with red fonts. I bet, nighttime you won't even be able to see the sign at all. LOL.

Arriving at such an ideal time, there were some tables occupied but plenty more space to go. We sat ourselves down and the guy who limps came to take our orders. Of course, I straightaway stated that I wanted the curry fish head which is the main reason of me finding this place. We also ordered some vegetables to balance up. You know, typical of women. As for my drink, I ordered kam kat. My colleagues were slightly annoyed at me when I started taking photos of the food with my phone. LOL. I just ignored them and let them chat among themselves throughout the entire course of the meal until they ask me a question, then I snap out of my zone and would ask them to repeat the question since I'm not listening. Haha.

Of course, the whole of it were eaten with rice like any typical Chinese restaurant. The curry fish head has a massive looking amount of ingredients in it. At first bite, the Curry Fish Head didn't emit any taste that's out of the ordinary and I was thinking oh, it's just ordinary. The curry is mild not spicy at all but you still get the curry taste of it. As I dig more into it, I find that the curry gets more and more addictive to consume and leaving me craving for more. I didn't care much of the ingredients inside the curry fish head all that matters the most is the curry itself. Just that with the rice is actually enough for me to want more. My only gripe about it is that there's very little fish to eat despite being called curry fish head. But then again, a fish head don't have a lot of meat in it anyway and I guess they don't really put fish meat in it besides the fish head.

The rest were just as normal. Vegetables were okay and passable. The Kam Kat is nice and has a whole sour plum fruit at the bottom. It's not the preserved one, it's the actual fruit which makes the drink nicer than a lot of other coffee shops.

My other 2 colleagues were enticed to order rojak to try but I refrain from eating it since I'm not really a fan of rojak and this is something new that they're actually trying to do. I took one of it and found out that I didn't like it at all. It has a very weird taste to it and the sauce is very very thick but it didn't taste like your normal kind. Maybe because it's more pungent.

Although I may not be dining alone there, I did notice a man that went there to dine on his own. Of course he didn't go for the curry fish head since that may be too much for him but he went with the fried rice.

I may wanna try dining on my own here by having the curry fish head all to myself. XD

Total Wallet Damage:
All in all, RM64.50. 3 plates of rice, curry fish head, a plate of vegetable, 3 drinks and a plate of rojak.

Final Verdict:
7/10. Geez. Recently most of the places is a 7 out of ten to me. This curry fish head is highly addictive to me. Even after my meal, I've been thinking about it almost the whole day. But I just wish they would give more meat. It may look alot but it's just okra and tofu pok (dried beancurd) a lot. Fish, just a little bit from the head. I think I took all of the fish and my colleagues didn't get any. LOL.

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Naughty Nuri's, Desa Sri Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur (KL)

Address:
No.2, Ground Floor, 20/70A,, Jalan Sri Hartamas 22, Desa Sri Hartamas, 50480 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Daily 12pm-12am.

Time Visited:
At 3:30pm. Wednesday afternoon after the rain.

Attire worn:
Business

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Asam Boi Mojito and Naughty Nuri's BBQ Pork Loin.

Actually, I rushed to this place from Plan B, Bangsar because I had made a reservation for 1 using offpeak.my. LOL. I had blog about offpeak.my before last time in my events blog but in the end it was cancelled due to my blogging standards not up to what they're looking for and so the blog posts were never published. I'm actually quite please of Naughty Nuri's staff personally calling me up to inform me that today their kitchen will be closed at 2:30pm and so there will only be grilled BBQ items available while the rest of the items will not be available. She ask me on whether would I like to change my reservation time which I refused and am fine with just their BBQ items being available at that time. She also confirm on how many pax would it be since I only put a reservation for 1 person. XD Very interesting to find out that there's actually a person reserving a space for 1 at an offpeak hour. The real reason on why I made a reservation even though it's redundant is because offpeak.my offered a 10% off from the total bill. I couldn't refuse since I wanted to go there anyway and therefore made the reservation. I still find it funny that I did that, reserving a place for 1 person. Haha.

Anyway, I got there in the nick of time and was lucky enough to get a place when a car came out from his parking lot which is just quite near to the restaurant. I happily took his place and paid for my parking. Just as well since there were traffic warden summoning some cars.

I got to the place and took a seat at the non-smoking section which is just a small area that's considered indoors with an air curtain to separate it from the other outer section. The outer section is huge and extends to the back area that leads to the other road.

The seats weren't that comfortable with it being wooden and so it's kinda hard. My Asam Boi Mojito came fairly quick and maybe because I was preoccupied with my phone when it happened. I noticed that the staff mainly consists of Filipinos with their heavy accent that makes it quite difficult for me to understand even when I was talking to one of them on the phone. The Asam Boi Mojito looks fantastic with 2 Asam Bois sitting atop an iceberg-like structure which is ice that's floating on top of the mojito drink. The problem with this is that the water really does overflow most of the time and you'll find spillage occurring where the liquid will overflow onto the table. Even the coaster there could not prevent the leakage much and is drenched with the mojito drink. LOL. Especially on a hot day like today after the light rain, the ice melts even faster and you're forced to drink it up fast. The drink was very salty and sourish. Very strong Asam Boi taste. Sips of it is manageable but when you're trying to prevent it from constantly overflowing, you try to drink as much as you can to empty more. More than one gulp proves too forceful in it's taste and it's too much for me to handle. Although it's a Mojito, I hardly felt the alcohol at all. Maybe there were none at all since alcoholic beverages doesn't qualify for the 10% discount.

The Pork Loin also came in an acceptable amount of waiting time but then again, it is offpeak hours where staff outnumbers patrons. The Naughty Nuri's BBQ Pork Loin was delicious but it's too salty. Herein lies the problem that I had put myself into. The pork loin is too salty and I want to wash it down with some drink. Unfortunately, my drink is also salty and it doesn't give me the relief I want at all. Had I knew that it was this salty, I would've opted for a sweet drink. The pork loin is served with a unique sauce that is very spicy, as spicy as Cili Padi and has the taste that is similar to those that is poured over rojak. Only this one is 10 times spicier. Even though I just dip a very small area in it, it's spiciness will linger on your tongue.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM55.60. Asam Boi Mojito RM28 and Pork Loins RM25 (my drink is dearer than my food. LOL). There's 10% discount on the subtotal which amounts to (RM5.30) and has 10% service charge and 6% GST with a rounding of minus 2 sen.

Final Verdict:
7.8/10. The food and drink is yummy but a little too salty for my taste. I was clamoring for something sweet and in the end when I got home, I drank a big bottle of water to quench my thirst. LOL. The staff calling me up to inform that the kitchen closes at 2.30pm is a nice touch that I very much appreciated. That shows that they truly are very attentive. The ambiance is okay but a bit too hot for me and the seats a bit too uncomfortable. Other than that everything is fine and this is a nice place to chill for drinks. Just don't expect to easily find a spot when it's peak hours. You can try the communal table if you're a diner of one, but peak hours are known to fill up the place good.

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Plan B, Bangsar Village I, Bangsar Baru, Kuala Lumpur (KL)

Address:
G5, Ground Floor
Bangsar Village 1
No.1 Jalan Telawi Satu
Bangsar Baru
59100 Kuala Lumpur

Opening Hours:
Sunday - Thursday
9:00am - 12:00am
11:00pm: Kitchen last order
11:30pm: Bar last order
Friday, Saturday & Eve of Public Holiday
9:00am - 1:00am
11:00pm: Kitchen last order
12:30am: Bar last order

Time Visited:
About 2pm. Wednesday lunchtime.

Attire worn:
Business

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
Ice Chocolate and The Loaded Club Sandwich

That Wednesday was my day off and I decided to take a drive to Bangsar Village to try out something over there. I went over the directory to browse for something interesting. In the end, I didn't find much of anything that interest me over at Bangsar Village II and so I decided to crossover to Bangsar Village I. Over at Bangsar Village I, I again browse at the directory over there to find something of interest. Unfortunately, there's nothing much either and so running short of time, I decided to go for plan b at Plan B instead. XD

Over there, it was a crowded lunch session with many donned in business suits filling up the seats at the outlet. There were a limited few number of vacant seats and so I took the spot that's at the entrance that's been sanctioned for a party of two.

A short while came the wait staff and I ask for the menu when he was ready to take my order unknown that I have not receive my list of food and beverage to choose from. Once settled, I decided to go for the Ice Chocolate and the Loaded Club Sandwich.

The Ice Chocolate took a moderate level of waiting till it arrived at my table and I was duly surprised of what it consists of. Instead of just a chocolate drink with ice in it, it's actually topped with an ice cream with some chocolate powder on top. Although I find that the ice cream lacks in taste to have any interaction with the chocolate drink, the good thing is that it smoothens up the taste and it enriches it a little. This fills me up quite a bit even before having a bite of the Loaded Club Sandwich.

The Loaded Club Sandwich took quite a bit of time for it to arrive. It even arrived later than the 2 tables' orders that came after me. The Loaded Club Sandwich looks huge when it arrived. It's really loaded with ingredients. The fillings consists of Grilled Pesto Chicken, Crispy Turkey Bacon, Tomato, Avocado, homemade egg mayo and it comes with a side of french fries and house salad. The house salad is mainly made up of lettuce with some rocket leaves and some pine nuts (if I'm not mistaken). To tell you the truth, the Ice Chocolate was enough to fill me up what's more this big portion of a sandwich. The taste of the sandwich as a whole is satisfactory. The Crispy Turkey Bacon is a bit annoying at biting. I know they wanna put it in to add a bit of a crunch but I find it a bit too hard for my taste. Maybe because I don't have many teeth to bite. LOL. The Grilled Pesto Chicken although has a great taste, it's unfortunately too dry. I had to constantly take sips of water to moisten it up. Thank god they provide a bottle of drinking water. The salad has a teensy weensy bit of a wasabi taste in it. Other than that, everything is perfectly in order. The avacado they provided were huge about 2/3 of the bread size and the egg mayo has a generous portion spread onto it till it overflows.

Overall, it's a very satisfactory and value for money item even though it's just a sandwich. It's filling, it's full of ingredients and it's tasty. I only wish the pesto chicken were more moist and succulent instead of dry. Because the rest of the other ingredients are dry products too.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM45.00. Ice chocolate is RM12 and the sandwich is RM33 including 6% GST. No service charge imposed.

Final Verdict:
7.1/10. This Plan B outlet at Bangsar is a little bit better than the Paradigm Mall Branch in terms of service during peak period. Other than that, the rest of the things are just as the equivalent of the Paradigm Mall Branch.

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A-Lone Diner Event Special: 1st Selangor Wellness Living Expo 2015

Headed off to Sunway Pyramid specifically for this 1st Selangor Wellness Living Expo 2015 instead of the newly launched Hello Kitty Cafe located downstairs. But I did go around at the Hello Kitty Cafe to see how many people are lining up to try it and from what I saw, it was manageable. During that time, I was there around 12pm and judging from the crowd and the space constraint along with the assumption of the turnover rate about 30 minutes to an hour for a table, I'd say if I were to line up at that moment, it would probably take me around earliest 4pm to be seated. LOL. Anyway, the interior didn't look as nice as I pictured it.

I didn't notice that this was the first Selangor wellness exhibition until I saw my goodie bag having a 1 that looks like a seven. LOL. To my surprise, I'm quite fascinated by this event. It did pique my interest even though I'm used to be known as a guy who live life on the edge and never care about taking care of my health or eat healthy. But I guess partially I was there because I know it's about high time I try to look into my health issues instead of ignoring it since it's affecting my daily living now.

Unlike other public events that I been to, this time I decided to register and obtain a goodie bag before embarking on a visual and hearing feast on what is being offered at this expo. I approached the registration counter and I didn't know what to say so the woman at the table told ask me I want to register is it? And proceeded to ask whether I have a name card. I flick out one of my old blog name card and handed over to her which she took it with wide eyes. After a momentary pause, she stated whether can they keep the card and to my puzzlement I replied affirmatively. She explained that she asked is because my name card looks expensive. LOL. Haven't garnered such a respond over my name card in such a long while due to me not blogging on my events blog anymore.

After receiving my goodie bag, I straightaway went into the hall where the Health Talks were given. The ushers were very helpful ensuring on where I wanna go and also explained to me on the layout of the place. What wasn't really that good though is that there's no signage indicating that the expo is further in if you come up from the escalator of Sunway Pyramid to the Convention Centre.

When I entered the hall where the Health Talks were given, Dr. Chong Kuoh Ren was giving his talk on the topic of Common Myths and Misconceptions in Fertility. The audience listen with a keen ear and there was a lively Q&A session at the end.

The talks then break into a 1 hour interval which I took the opportunity to look around at the exhibition hall. Seeing that this exhibition is handled by Tourism Selangor, there are about 2 booths that doesn't relate to Health and Wellness Living but more towards tourism hence the odd booths there. One would be the Tourism Selangor booth themselves which took the most prominent position of all which is directly in front of the entrance while the other is the Thai Odyssey booth where they're giving out free massages.

There were not many exhibitors there most likely due to this being the first ever such exhibition handled by Tourism Malaysia but the big popular medical facility names were there such as Pantai Hospital, Sunway Medical Centre giving out free health checks to visitors. There's also a booth that caught my eye that's having a more traditional approach and it looks like it's doing some kind of massage and relaxation therapy at their booth.

The most engaging booth to me would be the Medifoods booth where they took a proactive approach towards the expo visitors. There was this game to guess the type of beans that are in a container and the type of ingredients in another container and finally coming to a guess how much sugar is in the displayed products. After doing so, you are entitled to a lucky draw to win a prize. I also got to know that they have restaurants on their organic food and one is inside SJMC itself. Come to think about it, I vaguely remember my boss telling me about it since one of my colleague is vegan. I browsed through their menu and would like to try out their food one day.

After having a cup of coffee downstairs, I proceeded to go back to the Health Talks. During that time, Mr. Aaron Ang Aun Yuan of Mediplex was giving a talk on Principles of Healthy Cooking. This seems to have almost filled the hall out with him giving out many interesting points as if it's a cooking class and many eager to find out more when the Q&A session wasn't long enough.

The last talk that I attended before I decided to head home was by Dr. Chong Chin Kooi on the topic of Uterine Fibroid: the Most Common Benign Tumors in the Uterus. What is the Implication on Women's Health and Fertility? Dr. Chong seems to be less fluent in his speech and often hard to grasp for me on what he was saying. As he warmed up at the podium, it's easier to understand his speech which I think English may not be his main language. The topic that was presented by Dr. Chong merely touched the surface of it, a general overview on Uterine Fibroid, it's effect and treatments on it, and yet he did blurt out with a lot of medical jargons. During his talk, a quick Google on the topic revealed that although his general overview on Uterine Fibroid is informative enough and is relevant, it's not updated enough. He did say that he's not going into detail about it anyway so I guess time constraint may be the factor of omitting some info.

During Dr. Chong's lecture, I noticed some young audience among those seated had no interest at all in listening and were either sleeping, playing with their phone or just talking with their friends. I have no idea why do they even bother to be there in the first place if they're not there to listen. It's not like they're forced to sit through it or they've paid for it. It's just a free talk for interested people and yet there they are? I wouldn't say they had nothing better to do too because if they really don't, there's a shopping mall downstairs. Wouldn't it be better to have a walkaround or sit somewhere down there and chill instead of disrespecting the speaker? Kids these days. -.-

After that, I decided to head on home as I don't want to spend too much time at Sunway Pyramid or else I'll become a permanent fixture there. LOL.

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