Bangkok 26-29 March 2008

Went to Bangkok for a business trip a couple a week ago... Was there to catch the 2008 Bangkok Motorshow as well as visit some suppliers...

Just wanted to share some photos of the trip...

First up... the Volvo C30....Quite a queer looking hatchback... not in Malaysia yet I think... but it will come soon.....


Next was Ford... Erm....cant remember it's name... only wanted the picture of the car itself but the girls just refuse to move away.... :(

Now this one is a newbie in the pick-up segment... The Xenon by Tata... their previous pick-up which was real ugly bombed in our malaysian market but this new model might give they a little boost...
On to the quirky concept cars.... Almost all of the concept cars were hybrids... seems like the whole world is becoming more and more concerned for the environment... and they rightfully should.. we have only one earth...

Overall the motorshow was kind of a let down... it was very similar to the Malaysian motorshow which I felt lacked anything really interesting... according to my colleague, this year was not as good as the past years... well just my luck to be sent to the lousiest year wan... :( Can you imagine, even the brand ambassadors were not pretty... some were downright frightening... looked more like hookers than ambassadors... (oops... hope none of them read this... hehe!!)

Well, apart from the motorshow I also visited some suppliers... found a real cute stone elephant at one of them... just wanted to post that pic too... heheh!! Isn't it adorable? hehe!!

Cookie came through with its fortune....

Yesterday, the fortune from the fortune cookie came true... well not exactly as how I expected it to be but nevertheless... It was a fortune come true...
Expectations of me are now higher than ever.... It just builds on every year.... hopefully I can surpass the expectations every year too... but without burning out my candle... :)
Gambate to me!!!

Busy, busy, busy....

Wah... my schedule is packed this month and next... wont have much time to blog so forgive me...
I just came back from a business trip to Bangkok and will be going again next week... Following week I will be going off for a 8 days Taiwan Tour (this is personal obviously) and after that going to Guangzhou for another business trip...

Lets just hope I dun fall sick in between... ;)

Another yummy place...

Once again I had the opportunity to try out a new place on other ppl's expense.. hehe!! so nice.. :)
But once again not to embarass myself I was not able to get a visual representative of what I have eaten...

Where did I eat?



Yup... the place is called REUNION and it is situated in Bangsar Village II on the second floor on the opposite end of MPH.... This place was highly recommended and it has live up and above its recommendation... They served supposely simply home cook style cantonese food but excellently executed... :) Once again I shall attempt to whet your pallete with a written description....

We started of the meal with seaweed soup cooked with seafood and egg flower (direct translation)... this was just nicely done... not too salty or full of Ajinamoto nor was it too fishy tasting coz the seafood was fresh... a refreshing soup to drink.. just like mum's cooking literally.. Next came a platter of "Char Siew & Siew Yok"... This also was particularly good.. the Char Siew was really tasty... Althought some say it is better than the Oversea one but for me I would put them on par which was still good since Oversea Char Siew is most wellknown... The siew yok was without the thick layer of fat which was really good... Next came the Roasted Duck... The skin was crispy but surprising the meat was still tender and succulent... a far cry from the rough and dry meat you usually get when the skin is too crisps from over frying.. Up next was the vegetable.. nothing much to say... all vegetables are about the same but I must say they didnt serve up some super fat and bitter tasting kailan.. theirs were thinner which is to my personal taste... After that, a stir fry beef dish came our way... now this was really tasty and tender.. yum yum.. :) Next came something that was very special.. it is not something you find in a high end restaurant or the larger establishments. We had steam mince pork which is a typical home cook dish which usually you find in the 'chap farn' line up as well... Although a normal dish, it tasted much better than the ones in the coffeeshop... but of course my mum's one is better no doubt.. hehe!!

We then went on to have a seafood claypot which was filled with scallop, fish maw, sea cucumber and broccoli... This was also stewed to perfection.. the fish maw and sea cucumber was not chewy at all (reasons why I dont usually eat them...)... they were tender and to a certain extent have the effect of a melt in your mouth kinda feel coz you didnt need too many chews to swallow... We also had a braised abalone, fish maw and fish stomach dish... once again cook to just the right degree making it easy on your jaw but not losing the original taste inherent of it... Next up we had steam prawns with egg white... the prawns were really fresh... it was a simply dish that showcased the freshness and sweetness of the prawns itself...

Everything was not too overbearing or powerful in taste... I suppose that is why it is supposedly like the home cooked version.. free of Ajinamoto.. hehe!!

I thought we were done since that was all that was ordered... but apparently I was mistaken.. as another 2 dishes were serve... apparently they were ordered later on additionally.. funnily... the first dish was shark's fin soup with crab meat... something that usually comes in the beginning of the meal rather than the end... This is one of my favourite.... It didnt have all those rubbish which restaurants like TT like to put in... it was just simple... sharkfin and crab meat in the broth... and it was delicious... Last dish of the day... salted egg prawn... this has never been my favourite dish coz I dont like the yolk of the salted egg but one bite and I was surprised... there was this thin coating around the prawn which makes it crispy and it wasnt heavily ladden with the salted egg which made it really quite good...

So that was the end of my yummy meal.. I ended it with a bowl of 'gwai leng gou' which was not so great... I am a fan of the "Kwong Woh Tong" version so this one just didnt do it for me.. it was overly bitter... I think they tried to prove the point of 'quality ingredients used' too much in this dish... haha!! it tasted like the black drink that you get when you go to a chinese medicinal shop and tell them you have a sorethroat... haha!!

Oh.. we had wine too.. apparently good wine.. I cant tell how good is good.. but it tasted good... however I think I prefer the one in Nero Teca...

All in all a great meal.. highly recommended... should try....

We each had a fortune cookie at the end and my fortune was aptly timed...

Dont you think so?
Bonus is coming up... heheh!!

Really Good Italian Food...

Where? At a place called Nero Teca along Lorong Ceylon...

Too bad I didnt get a chance to snap photos during dinner coz it was a business dinner... whatever that was ordered would have been rarely repeated since everything was off the menu and recommended by the chef... Food is really good... the quality of it is superb... and what else is good is that they are not stingy on the portions.. everything was ample except for the desserts which were a bit on the tiny side...

Lets just see whether my description would make you salivate.. It was seafood day so be prepared....

While ordering we had the usual basket of bread... there was forcacia, panini and some crackers served with olive oil/vinegar/chopped garlic... the dip although normal tasted a tad different in a good way...

For appetizers, we started off with a platter of deep fried seafood... it had jumbo prawns, soft shell crabs and squids... Then we had a bowl of black mussels directly from Italy cooked in a generous pouring of white wine... the mussels were just nice bite sizes and juicy with every bite... the white wine truly complimented the mussels (this is really something coming from a person who doesnt eat mussels)...then we had a ham, cheese and antipasto platter... there was some ham, salami, 5 selections of cheese and 3 antipastos... the ham and salami were all real good and I especially like the sun dried tomatoes with anchovies...finally we had aglio olio tagliatelle which was a hint too spicy to me as it overcame all other flavours....

As our food was served, we also opted for a full body red wine which was quite good.. dont ask me the name.. it was way too long to remember...

Then our mains were served... first up was this huge platter of seafood tagliatelle which was full of mussels, clams, jumbo prawns and topped with a lobster cooked in white wine again.. the seafood was good but the pasta was a bit too drenched in seafood taste for me.. it became seafoody (my term la..)... second up we had another giant platter of grilled seafood... This time we has a large serving of red snapper, loads of mussels and clams, jumbo prawns and 2 lobsters... fuuh!! this platter was huge.. I really wished i could have whipped out my camera and snap a photo... this dish was really good... grilled to perfection, everything had a hint of grilled flavour without overpowering the sweetness of the seafood itself... along with this we also had a smaller portion of tagliatelle with funghi!! This was my favourite... I just love mushrooms and the combination of cream and mushroom was just nice... not too overbearing or too heavy that you cant take more than a few bites...

Somewhere in between, we ordered another bottle of red wine with an even more heavier taste.. but it was better than the first....

Now, for desserts... since there was only 6 of us and a mountain of food... we were stuffed when it came to desserts but not wanting to leave without trying the desserts, we decided to share...we ordered a portion of creme brulee which was really nice... it has a nice refreshing hint of lemon which was not common in most creme brulee elsewhere...we also had a tiramisu which was just nice... and a chocolate cake ala mode which was not too great...

Last off... we were told not to leave without trying their coffee so we did.. I had a cuppucino and surprisingly... I liked it.. I am not much of a coffee person so I just ordered something for the sake of it but lo behold.. I was surprised.... the cuppucino was really good.. :)

As we asked for the bill, we were given a final treat... a shot of lemon liquer on the house... this one I liked.... the lemon kinda difuses the hit of alchohol when you down it in one shot.. so it was quite soothing to drink...

All in all.. this place in highly recommended.... will make sure I take some photographs next time I go... for more details... visit www.neroteca.com