Tenji Japanese Buffet @ Solaris Mon't Kiara

Tenji is currently having a lunch promotion for the month of April 2010. RM 49.90++ for lunch, from 12pm till 4pm. 4 hours of gorging, more than enough to stuff your face and leaving the place with a bigger waistline.

The quality of the food offered in Tenji is just so-so. In fact, the sashimi wasn't fresh. The first round I took was ok, but the subsequent replenishments were not appetizing at all. No unagi, no tempura prawns.

Credit has to go to the roast lamb though. The lamb was nicely roasted, tender and full of flavour. The only thing lacking was the mint sauce. Not mint sauce! >.<

If you're a big fan of ice-cream, there's Baskin Robbins and Häagen-Dazs ice-cream for your sweet tooth :P

Now we can cross Tenji off our list, hehe!

Petty Annoyances
These petty annoyances are all over the place these days.

Groups that are too lazy to work for their own good.

Groups that rather depend on handouts and quotas and scream marginalization when they don't get their way (or when told to learn English).

Groups that insist they must defend their rights and not let anyone take nor erode them.

Groups that insist they are the rightful people of this land, and that all others are pendatang.

Groups who feel that they are the sons of God and they are the one and only true beings. And that all others are creation of the Devil perhaps, here to stomp on them.

Groups that form almost 60% of the country's population, and yet insist that they are being marginalized (yes they failed their Maths very bad).

Continue your backward mentality, and let the rest of the world see you from a very bad angle. You're doing a pretty good job by making a mockery out of yourselves.

One day you will realise the world has progressed to greater heights, and you're trailing light years away.

Sakura Sakura • Hataka @ SS 15, Subang Jaya

Sakura~~~ Sakura~~~ Ya yo i no so ra -- wa~~~ (click here for the song)

This song comes to mind when I think about sakura, hehe! Sakura or cherry blossoms, is the national flower of Japan. People always say that one of the best times to visit the land of the rising sun, is during spring, when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom. I hope one day hubby and I are able to make that trip to Japan and witness the blooms for ourselves :D

We made a trip to Sakura Sakura • Hataka over the weekend. This newbie is not hard to find. If you're familiar with the row of shoplots just opposite SDMC (formerly known as SJMC) in Subang Jaya, you'll remember there's a quaint little Japanese restaurant by the name of Shun. Now Shun happens to be one of our favourite Japanese restaurants (we especially love their Shun bento). Unfortunately, Shun is no longer there (bwahhh!) and taking its old location is Sakura Sakura • Hataka.

Sakura Sakura • Hataka.

Hubby and I did ponder though, if the management of Shun rebranded themselves to Sakura Sakura • Hataka, as a few of the waitresses were the same faces. The chefs behind the counter were different though, and the familiar face of the Japanese chef was no longer there. But enough of the people, what about the food quality?

Some of Sakura Sakura • Hataka's bento sets.

There were a selection of bento lunch sets available for lunch hour. Pretty decent stuff, I might add (but no more Shun bento, bwahhhh!). As for the pricing, it was somewhat priced slightly cheaper than Shun. Hubby decided to try their chicken teriyaki set, while I settled for the sashimi set.

The interior of Sakura Sakura • Hataka. Pretty much the former interior of Shun, but with some new wooden fixtures and IKEA lights.

Sakura~~~ Sakura~~~

I spy a little sakura.

Garlic rice. Noms~~~

Before the mains came, we had the salad and chawan mushi. The chawan mushi was excellent! Hubby's teriyaki rice came next. It was quite a pleasant surprise to see garlic fried rice served with the set. Most places would serve normal Japanese rice, but here at Sakura Sakura • Hataka, the bentos were served with an aromatic bowl of garlic fried rice.

Tender slices of teriyaki chicken.

Sashimi bento set.

Wa-lah! My sashimi bento set :D It has a bowl of garlic fried rice, 3 pcs of tempura, a simple California roll, and slices of sashimi. One thing we noticed was that the serving size was a little smaller compared to Shun, but none the less pretty decent quality of food. Oh, the tsuyu for the wasabi was somewhat different too. It didn't look like the normal Japanese light soy sauce you normally get. In fact, it looked more like dark soy sauce LOL!

Salmon sashimi, nom nom nom~

Overall, we both agreed that Sakura Sakura • Hataka is not bad. Service was prompt and polite. A pretty extensive menu to boot with accompanying pictures if you're not sure what to expect. As for the lunch bento pricing, it's higher than Rakuzen, which is located just across the main road.

We still miss Shun though, for they had something on their menu no other places have - SHUN BENTO!

Con Artist
My sister in East Malaysia came face to face with a con artist recently, and lived to tell me about it. Being in the hotel industry, she would come across all sorts of weirdos. This one was really an eye opener though, and I'm glad she had to smarts to identify the goofball that tried to pull a fast one on her.

A certain "Dr", claiming to be some master in teaching people how to maximize their memory, walked into the resort one fine day, uninvited, and asked to speak to the Communications person. It was a Saturday and that already pissed my sister off LOL! So fine, she went to meet this "Dr" fella and found him waiting at the lounge area.

This "Dr" told my sister that he wanted to organise a seminar in the hotel itself, and asked if the hotel would like to be his official venue sponsor. He even asked that the hotel sponsor him the Presidential suite during the duration of his "seminar". In my own sister's thoughts... "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CIPET"...

The "Dr" further explained that, "If you guys sponsor my stay at the Presidential suite, we can look at how you can recover that amount from my training seminar."

Cut to my sister's sibeh tulan face.... >.< style="font-style: italic;">"Dr" could provide a figure, as to how many participants is he expecting to his seminar, and whether or not he can give a guarantee that all participants would stay in the resort. The "Dr" couldn't give an answer at all, and then ding donged a bit about how he writes for the "Daily Express" twice a week, and that a man of his credentials can give the resort credit mention.

My sister's thought bubble: Ma fwak! That's what I think of your credit mention, all Tom Dick and Harry can give me credit mention.

And then this "Dr" started playing TV interviews about HIMSELF. Started showing file clippings about HIMSELF. Mind you, the clippings were so old, that NST has changed their masthead TWICE. He even added that he conducted a seminar in another big name resort in East Malaysia 9 years ago, and they had a lot of coverage due to his seminar. So my sister again asked him to show some newspaper clippings of that particular seminar he mentioned, and he kept quiet... and then replied that he didn't have it with him.

Mind you, this "Dr" didn't even have a business card on him. He claimed he was on vacation so he didn't bring any with him. Ok, we give that to you.

My sister enlightened me on this later that evening, and I did some Googling and found loads of write-ups on this guy. Turns out, he's a scammer and has been going around scamming people. So if any of you guys come across this person, please be very very wary of his motives. His name is Dr Timothy Koh Ming Kwang.

http://www.kohmingkwang.org/
http://www.fraudwatchers.org/forums/showthread.php?t=6121
http://www.scam.com/showthread.php?t=20527

Maru

Oli wants Maru~~~~ :PpPpPpP

Image from Lovemeow.com

Japanese Lunch @ Genji, PJ Hilton

A group of us headed towards the other side of the world (LOL! Private joke here :P) for lunch recently. It was a treat from the boss, after all that hard work and effort the team has put into a big project. The last time I was in Genji was a few months back with some friends, for their weekend buffet spread.

Genji's ala carte menu.

Genji's bento fair for the month of April - June 2010. Has your eyeballs popped out yet?

Some appetizer. Fail.

While waiting for our food to arrive, we munched on the little appetizers on our table. This was a mixture of shredded carrot, coupled with some seaweed and jellyfish. The seaweed was hard. I don't know if it's meant to be that hard, but it's freaking hard.

Hana bento (RM 85).

A colleague of mine had the Hana bento set. It has soft shell crab, maki (hand roll), some slices of sashimi, and sabayaki (grilled saba).

Sushi bento set RM 90).

Another colleague and I decided to share a bento set, which was a good thing because it came with a bowl of soba. This set has mixed sushi, maki (hand roll), slices of sashimi and some bean curd sushi.

Honestly, Genji's ala carte menu is very over priced. Perhaps being in the hotel justifies their pricing. But really, for that kind of pricing, you would expect better quality food, right? I personally felt that their sashimi was not very good nor fresh to begin with. Seriously, their weekend buffet spread is a way better deal compared to their ala carte menu. Even the sashimi served during the buffet is of better quality!

Kaki chilli mayo - Baked oyster in chilli mayo RM 14/pc).

This was probably the highlight of the entire lunch. At RM 14 a pop, the oysters were quite large and flavourful. Thanks to the chilli mayo of course. Squeeze a dash of lemon juice and this aphrodisiac is gorgeous to the tongue.

I would go back to Genji again, but only for their weekend buffet. Ala carte fail.

A New Challenge To Myself
I got myself all paranoid recently, after reading an article in the newspapers. I know, silly Oli :P But it also reminded me of a plan that I've constantly pushed aside for most part of last year. Yes, I'm guilt of procrastination, much like most people our there.

Now, after some careful reading, I've decided to throw myself into this new challenge. It's an 8-weeks programme, and for most parts, the first 2 weeks is usually the hardest (because getting started is always the hardest). This is going to be quite a challenge for me, for it's something I've never really quite done before. Not on this scale. And I hope I can find the determination inside me to make it through the 8 weeks. I know I have it in me. I just need to find it...!

I want to improve myself. I want to be better. This is for me. And it starts today.

Poor Poor Customer Service From SIC
Hubby and I were back in hubby's hometown up north, for the annual Qing Ming festival. Hubby received a text message on Friday night, from a family friend, asking him if he would like to catch the Malaysian Grand Prix live.

OF COURSE WANT LAH! SUMMORE GRANDSTAND TICKETS WOI!

So we came back to KL a day ahead of schedule, so that hubby didn't have to rush so much. Moreover, the boys decided that it's best to take the SkyBus to the race circuit. Now this is where the complain starts.

While still in SP, hubby checked out the many ways he and our friend can make their way to Sepang. Driving was an option, however, parking was going to be a major problem due to the bad traffic there. Another alternative was taking the bus there. After checking out some alternatives, hubby realised that they can take the SkyBus there, departing from 1Utama. How convenient. So hubby made a phone call to this number at SIC (Sepang International Circuit) just to check out the details of the SkyBus. Guess what...?

The people manning the phone lines cannot speak a decent word of English. WTF!

When hubby realised the other guy on the line was struggling with the language, he switched language to Bee Em. To which the guy started blabbering in Bee Em, but it was as though they were so disorganized about the arrangements. Fine.

So we drove back to KL on a Friday, and detoured to 1Utama to check out the SkyBus counter. To our surprised, the counter was closed. Again hubby made a phone call to SIC to check with them again, and again the people were like kelam-kabut. How pathetic. If the organisers of SIC really want this Grand Prix to attract more tourists, they sure as hell are doing a fucked on job. Firstly, you should hire Customer Service personnel that can speak decent English to man the phone lines. You're catering to the world, man! What, you're in Malaysia so you cannot cakap Bahasa orang putih, is that it? So you expect the orang putih, orang German, orang Jepun, orang America, orang British and the many other nationalities that come into the country for this event, to speak Bee Em?

Vents aside, hubby made a direct call to SkyBus and they were smart enough the give hubby the right information and the boys boarded the bus at 1Utama en route to SIC this afternoon. And as I'm blogging about this, hubby and our family friend are already at the Grandstand somewhere, patiently anticipating for the Malaysian Formula 1 Grand Prix to begin. It's hubby's first time there, and I'm glad he has the chance to experience the race live this year :) Thanks again to our family friend, Eric Gan (you rawk!).

Random Conversation
After watching "How to train your pet dragon" movie with some girlfriends...

Oli: I want a pet dragon :p

Hubby: OK, tomorrow we go buy one.

Damn layan LOL!

.................................................................................................................................

The next morning....

Hubby: *puts both index fingers on his head*.... There, you have your pet dragon....

Oli: .... -_-".... ROTFL!!!