A season of celebrations ...

I celebrate my 200th 199th post with a toast to the celebrative season to the recent Birthday babies (of Oct, Nov and Dec) and since Christmas and New Year is just around the corner. The past few months has just been hectic with weekends after weekends of birthday celebrations, dinners and as usual, work! Hence, the absence from the blogging sphere! 

Anyways, last weekend was spent at Hajime, an authentic Japanese restaurant and by far, one of best Japanese restaurants in town in conjunction of M's birthday (an old fren of mine). 

It was certainly worth the visit, food was fantastic and the highlight of the night would definitely be the Fugu (pufferfish) sashimi - a seasonal dish. Thanks to the waiter's recommendation since it was Fugu season currently, it was certainly all nods for the Fugu sashimi.

Fugu can be lethally poisonous due to its tetrodotoxin, therefore has to be carefully prepared to remove toxic parts and to avoid contaminating the meat.^[1] The restaurant preparation of fugu is strictly controlled by the law in Japan and several other countries, and only chefs who have qualified through rigorous training are allowed to deal with the fish.^[1][2] However, the domestic preparation occasionally leads to accidental death.^[2] Fugu is served as sashimi andchirinabe.^[2] Some consider the liver the tastiest part but it is also the most poisonous, and serving the fugu liver in restaurants was banned in Japan in 1984.Fugu has become one of the most celebrated and notorious dishes in Japanese cuisine. 

                                                                                          ( plucked from Wikipedia)

* The exotic dish*

A dish or shall I say, an experience of a lifetime that one must try at least once despite the damage to the pocket. It has the soft chewy texture to it and the stuffs in the centre (centre of the pic) was jelly-like. Everyone was still alive at the end of the meal, so kudos to the chef for the good preparation skills. 

Excuse me for the absence of food porn! My camera needs to be admitted to Sony hospital but it's been months and I still have not found the time to do so. Boo!!! I guess it's time for a new camera .. *lol* .. have my eyes on the Canon S90 or the G12. 

* Canon S90 *

* Canon Powershot G12 (pics from dpreview.com) *

Btw, there was a surprise awaiting this morning at the workplace. Guess what? Christmas pressies from the Company - Crabtree and Evelyn's La Source set and Jusco vouchers worth RM90 for everyone. Hooray~

The eyes are giving up on me now.. Time to crash. Nite to all .. ZZZzzzzzz

Konichiwa Weekend Brunch @ Iketeru, Hilton KL + Harlow's day ...

It's been ages since I last blogged, anyways, been swamped with the new job and all. The bestie came to the City for Halloween's Day celebration, equipped with her cheerleader outfit (and her homemade 'pom poms'). Prior to the evening chill out session, we indulged a bit at Iketeru, Hilton KL. 

* Sashimi galore *

* Agedeshi tofu *

* Grilled salmon head with salt *

* Scallop and prawn teppanyaki *

* Asparagus bacon *

* Mini shabu shabu *

* Macha (green tea) ice cream with red bean paste *

* Fruit shiratama *

* Cod fish porridge *

Konichiwa Weekend Brunch is available during the weekends from 12 pm to 230 pm and costs rm113++ per person. For those with the discount card, they will be able to enjoy a whooping 50% disc. I would say my first visit to Iketeru back in 2007 left me in awe but this time around, I noticed the severe reduction in quality. Oh well! Probably because it's an all-u-can-eat buffet hence, the reduction in quality. Hopefully they still maintain their ala-carte standards. 

I need to stay off Japanese food for some time because the past 2 weeks it's been Japanese all the way. My favourite cousine no longer appeals to me.. Boo!!! It was a pretty satisfying Saturday though. Chilling out and relaxing. As the sun sets, we got ready in preparation to head downtown for some Halloween fun. 

* Sexy devil + Cheerleader *

* Halloween @ twentyOne, Changkat (one of my fav chillout place downtown) *

* Me and the 'balls' *

* Cheers *

* Ewww...gross! *

* With the ghost guy *

* Yeah baby! Vampires , ghosts etc .. *

* With Darth Vader and the sexy Nurse *

Changkat turned out to be pretty happening on Harlow's nite, with Volkswagon's event in conjunction with Halloween and the highlight of the day was MOST of the people dressed up. Pretty cool and fun night out! On a lower note, the one's that dressed up were mostly foreigners. Hellooo fellow Malaysians!! Let's put in more effort next year!! Same goes to me.. I do feel bit disappointed at myself though, I was supposed to have a pair of black wings (which I didn't have the time to hunt for it). Plus, there were too many devils all over. Nonetheless, it was definitely good fun. I vow to put in more effort next year. Till then ...

~ Happy Halloween's Day ~

X

A Slice of Heaven@ Jaya One ..

Stumbled upon this delightful bakery (located at a few shops next to Cold Storage), whom I've heard, read and been longing to visit for ages but never seem to be able to make it til date, while I was in desperate search of decent and presentable mooncakes for my customers. It was the eve of Mooncake festival and I had to get some last minutes gifts for some pharmacists.  Though the mission was slightly deviated from mooncakes to cakes, it was definitely worth the purchase. I had a tough time choosing because the choices were mouthwatering and everything looks heavenly. 

My choices for the day was:-

* Red Velvet Slice *

* 3PLE Expresso Brownie (with tonnes of choc chips and nuts but a tad sweet for my liking) *

* Chocolate Durian (my all time fav!!) *

I must say, the Chocolate Durian just blew my mind off.. Definitely a 'must-try'!!! The richness and texture of the cake was a slice of heaven for sure. Totally a true definition of the bakery!!! Can't wait to try out the other flavours available .. 

MMmm, think I shall pay another visit tomorrow ... *salivating at the thought of the delicious cakes awaiting me* ....

Chilling with the Couzie - Day 2

Day 2 - Changkat & Sg. Wang

Our day started late as Couzie had a hair cut and I went for the pre-employment medical check-up. So by the time we reached downtown, it was almost 4+. Us being us, cocktails were desperately needed after a long, hot afternoon. We headed to TwentyOne @ Changkat (one of my fav's place in Changkat) for a drinky or...two before we began the spree in Sg. Wang.

* Mojitos and Special Calamari with Ginger Dipping *

* It was Happy Hour and it was Buy 1 Free 1 (whoopee!!!), so we had another round of Cosmos before heading to Sg. Wang .. check out Couzie's new haircut!! *

Sg. Wang has always been too chaotic for my liking, however, much to my surprise, I did find some good buys. As for the Couzie, he literally went mad there and couldn't pull the plug. Everything was a steal and such a bargain for him. Haha ... He was practically beaming and vowed to go back for more as we finally made an exit from the mall. We decided to have dinner at Yoko's (@ Changkat Bukit Bintang) and I desperately needed to take a leak. Plus, we couldn't decide on which restaurant so we took a random pick.

* Dragon Maki roll (super huge) & surprisingly, delicious!! *

* Okonomiyaki *

* Takoyaki ( a huge disappointment compared to the other 2 amazing dishes) *

For a random pick, Yoko's turned out to be pretty alright. However, 2 consecutive days of cocktails and shopping has definitely left us exhausted. After a gin and tonic each, we headed to Subang, had to drop off Couzie. They (other Couzie and her frenz) were heading for Perhentian that night. I literally knocked off when I reached my pad. It was barely 11pm. Haha .. Who knew shopping and chilling could be this exhausting? .. 

X

Chilling with the Couzie - Day 1

The precious Couzie has arrived from Melbourne!!! 

Day 1 - MidValley and Gardens:

(Morning - Ehem! It's actually brunch @ Fah Kee, Seremban ;P )

* Fishball noodle soup (kuey teow) @ Seremban *

We were literally starving by the time we left the house, so we did a pit-stop to this oldie for a bowl of noodle soup before heading to KL! 

( Noon @ MidValley )

* A drinky @ delicious before we began our shopping spree *

* Cocktails, of course!! Caprioska for Couzie plus shoestring fries with aeoli (aeoli was a major disappointment!!) *

* Thailicious for me (pretty refreshing but bit stingy on the vodka though ;P) *

* Pretty nice place to chill despite the hot humid weather & we can't be separated from our BB's ..lol .. *

(Tea time @ Alexis, The Gardens )

* One of my fav's, a subtle place to relax and have a bite & drinks of course *

We were feeling a bit peckish, so we ordered some sides to share ...

* Rocket and Parmesan Salad (again, they could've been more generous on the Parmesan) *

* Roasted potatoes - Yummy!! My fav sides @ Alexis *

* Our drinkies - Cold, glass of beer for me and choc shake for Couzie (he decided to take a break from alcohol) *

After Alexis, we were contemplating whether to continue to walk around or save some energy for tomorrow and head for Happy Hour instead. The latter won. So, Zouk Cafe was the next place of destination.

(Happy Hour @ Zouk Cafe, The Gardens)

* Check this out : Happy Hour promo - Buy 1 free 1 *

* Gin & tonic - Erm! We had 3 glasses of these babies each. Chill, much? Totally!!! *

Around 8pm, we decided to head to Ninja Joes @ Northpoint for dinner but little did we know what we were about to encounter... The god damn place WAS CLOSED!!! Frustrating, 'coz we had to lug ourselves from Gardens to MidValley to Northpoint. Long journey!!! I guess business wasn't good so they decided to close the place plus, location wise was bad because Northpoint was a very quiet place to have a Japanese Izakaya. Hence, dinner was at Xenri, Old Klang Road instead. A major consolation, I must say!!

(Dinner @ Xenri D'RiverView)

* We decided to sit at the bar instead of the boring tables at the bottom .. *

* Fresh seafoods *

* More alcohol - Cold Sake! *

* Appetiser - Hanpen Cheese Age (Fried Japanese Fish Cake Stuffed with Cheese)  .. This stuff is amazingggg... Love it!! Must try!! *

 

* Sashimi of course is A MUST!!! *

* Inaniwa Udon - Delicious!! We had ours cold .. You can eat it hot too! *

* Watana Ebi Maki (Tempura Prawn Roll with Tanuki) *

* Couzie wanted dessert so we ordered the Sesame Ice-Cream ... Thumbs up!! *

I must say, Xenri has definitely entered my list of 'Must-try' Japanese Restaurants. Am totally satisfied, both food wise and service too!! Oh! Fyi, they have buffet promotions on Sunday, all-u-can-eat at RM50++. Worth a try!! What an amazing chill out day!!! The day ended with the famous Hokkien Mee supper @ Jalan 222. I'm stuffed for the day, that's for sure!! 

p/s:- Another amazing thing is I DID NOT purchase anything!! *pat on the back* Hahaha... See! I do have self-control.. though I almost (but didn't) did splurge on the pair of metal green Aldo's that I've been eyeing on.