SuperDAD

 

Dad called me this afternoon when I was at the airport. "What day is today?"
And I answered, "Er... I dunno".
"What ocassion?" He asked.
And I said, "Huh? No ocassion."
"It's my birthday la!"

Oh shit. I totally forgot. I never forget about daddy's birthday and yet I did today. What a terrible daughter I am. I felt so bad that I need to write a post on this before I go to bed tonight. It's already sad to be celebrating his birthday alone overseas and yet this terrible daughter couldn't remember his birthday!

My dad is super cute. Don't you think he reminds you of the character in Pixar's Up? He looks like Carl Fredricksen and I didn't realise that until my sis's friend did the same thing to the picture and post it up on FB.

Dad used to ask this question - "Do you have a bf?"
And I said, "No."
Then, the next day, he asked me the same question again.
And I answered, "You just asked me yesterday. Even if you ask again today, the answer will still be N.O. NO!" 

After that, he stopped asking. I think he had given up hope on me. Heheh... See, my dad is really cute. I love you Lim Ba Ba and have a great birthday!

Loco Mexican Restaurant & Bar @ Changkat Bkt Bintang KL

A fairly new addition on Changkat Bukit Bintang that has taken over Social. From the people who owns Magnificent Fish & Chips, Havana & Racks, they are certainly not new to the business on Changkat. Loco is their new venture which serves Mexican cuisine and lots of margaritas!

Bangsarbabe and Mayanne suggested that we give this place a try when we were deciding where to meet up on Sunday. Since I rarely have Mexican, I don't mind agreeing to their choice of venue. Mexican food is a stranger to me.

Besides food, they serve some pretty interesting margaritas. There's so many choices, I bet you'll want to order all of them! They do serve the famous Jose Cuervo tequila shots at RM10++ and not only it's the first tequila producer, it's also the world's best selling brand btw.

Glass RM28 / Jug RM110

Maybe when we think of Mexico, we'll think of margaritas. It may be the home of margaritas afterall! At Loco, they use 1 shot of Jose Cuervo and 1 shot of Cointreau in all the margaritas. The secret lies in their carefully guarded homemade sour mix which gives the margaritas an authentic and unique tastes. From a list of Pomelo, kiwi, passion fruit, honey, mint, rock melon, strawberry & watermelon, I'm really spoilt for choice. In the end, Mayanne chose a honey margarita and I had a passion fruit one.

The margaritas are really refreshing but the passion fruit flavours are way too subtle. I didn't taste much of the alcohol too and remained all sober the whole night. Nice to have it as an evening drink.

As an entree, we had a bowl of Tortilla Chips. It's served with their house salsa. The green salsa had a really spicy taste which gives our tastebuds a kick! We were snacking on this while waiting for Bangsarbabe.

Shortly after that, she arrived in style. We spotted something on her blue vest and it was a shiny badge that screams "skinny bitch". She is really a skinny bitch! No matter how much she eats, she's still that skinny. Makes me want to hate her! Sarcasm aside, she's really a nice babe!

 

 Me, Bangsarbabe & Mayanne

Since I'm a noob at Mexican food, I'll let these both order the food. All I do was to eat and indulge in the food and drinks!

Quesadillas RM28

A fairly large portion of flour tortilla sandwiched and grilled with cheese, cilantro and avocado. There's also a generous portion of beef and you can dipped it with salsa pico de gallo provided. If you don't fancy beef, there's also an option for chicken and vegetarian. I liked this quesadillas as the tortilla was well-grilled, the meat in it was juicy and it paired very well with the salsa.

Baja Fish Tacos RM30

This is a baked flour tortilla filled with freshly cooked dory fillet, and then garnished with lettuce, jalapenos, salsa pico de gallo, avocado and mayonnaise. The tortilla is very thin and it's soft and thus you won't feel that it's too filling while having the whole taco. The jalapeno in the taco is very little and lucky for me because I can't take food that is too spicy. Quite an interesting dish for me.

 One for the road!

The total bill comes up to about RM 60 per person inclusive of 1 margarita. It's quite affordable and I don't mind coming back again. 

Margarita Madness!!! 

Every Sunday 12pm-5pm
All you can drink Margaritas
All you can eat Food
RM 188++

 Loco Mexican Restaurant & Bar

22 Changkat Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur

 Website

Tel: +603-21428260

More whiskies @ Auld Alliance Singapore

Would I ever get bored visiting Auld Alliance? I don't think I'll ever feel that way. For every visit, I would be able to taste a pour from a few bottles and so far, I've not even drank 10% of what they have in that bar!

As usual, I would let Emmanuel know what type of whisky I would love to try and then he would recommend the bottles. Sometimes I'm in a mood for Japanese whisky, and then some grain whisky or just Islay malts. 

At Auld Alliance, you can even have a soccer ice ball to go with your whisky if you're not used to drinking it neat. Occasionally I would have an ice ball with the whisky to see how has the characteristics changed with some water.

Name: Port Ellen
Distillery: Port Ellen (Islay) 
Bottler: Silver Seal
Type: Single Malt Scotch
Age Statement: 28YO
Alc/Vol: 55.5%

As far as many people are concerned, Port Ellen is one of the great lost distilleries of Scotland. This Port Ellen 1983 has 50 bottles as a joint bottling of the Silver Seal label with their Dutch distributor Whiskybase and the rest with a regular Silver Seal label. In addition, a couple of bottles are bottled for The Auld Alliance bar in Singapore.

This bottle here has a very good nose, it's sophisticated and the peat is subtle. There's leather, vanilla and citrus all intertwined into the bouquet. On the palate, you can taste the liquorice, peat and soot. Not too iodine-nish. The finish is creamy, smooth with long peat. A very good bottle indeed.

This is where you can get the ratings for all the independent bottlings of Port Ellen - click here.

Name: Highland Park
Distillery: Highland Park (Highlands) 
Type: Single Malt Scotch
Age Statement: 14YO
Alc/Vol: 59.8%

This bottle here is given to Emmanuel by a friend. This is a special bottle because it's hand-selected and bottled in Scotland for Dr.Jekyll's Pub in Oslo. In other words, you can't exactly buy this bottle off the shelfs. I'm so lucky that he offered me a glass. Highland Parks have always been one of my favourites. It has a very dark amber hue, with nose of nuts and chocolate. The taste itself is also nutty, sweet and has a little peat.

Name: Talisker 18YO
Distillery: Talisker (Isle of Skye) 
Type: Single Malt Scotch
Age Statement: 18YO
Alc/Vol: 45.8%


The Talisker 18YO has also garnered critical acclaim from numerous awards like the World Whiskies Awards, where it won best whisky in the world in 2007. This bottle here has a rich nose of fruits and dried orange peel. I think it has a stunning balance of peat, spice and sweetness. One of the apparent characteristics of Talisker is its subtle "chilli catch" finish in the aftertaste.

Name: Oban Distillers Edition 1995
Distillery:  Oban (Highlands)
Type: Single Malt Scotch
Age Statement: Distilled in 1995, bottled in 2010
Alc/Vol: 43.0%

Since I have not seen this label for Oban before, I did some research and found that they set aside 300 barrels each year for the Distiller’s Edition, and now 300 barrels a year for the new 18 year-old. The Distiller’s Edition is a yearly release of the usual 14-year Oban which is further matured for 6-18 months in a Montilla Fino sherry butt, which is always a first-fill cask (only held sherry before).

This one here has an amber hue. On the nose, you can get the sort of bitterish, orange zest and hints of smoke. It's a little pungent by the way. Then on the palate, you get a silky texture with some hints of chocolate, spiciness and briny flavours. It's an oaky whisky and the finish has subtle notes of coffee. Worth a try!

 

After so much whisky, I'm glad I still looked sober here.

Auld Alliance
Chijmes, 30 Victoria Street,
#01-08, 187996
Singapore
Tel: +65 6337 2201
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Profound enough?

One of my favourite profound sayings.

Single Grain Whisky at Auld Alliance @ Singapore

Many have come to know about the famous Scotch Single Malt whisky but do you know that besides Single Malts, there's also the Single Grain Whisky?

I went to Auld Alliance on two different trips during my holidays to just try all the grain whisky they have at the bar. Having tried Cameron Bridge, I was not convinced that it was the true representation of what a grain whisky should taste like. But of course I couldn't afford the whole bottle, I just had a pour of each.

This is a description of what I understand about Grain whisky and the difference between it and Malt whisky. Grain whisky is made from any cereal grains. In the past, they use wheat, and sometimes oats and rye but today maize (corn) is widely used. And whisky made from only malted barley (or primarily from malted barley) is called a Malt whisky.

Due to the lightness of grain whisky, it is therefore used as a blending to smooth out the often harsh characteristics of single malts. Did you know that well-aged grain whiskies are released as "single grain whisky" or "blended grain whisky" in Scotland? Even more surprising is that the best of these grain whisky can be held in the same league as single malts!

In Scotland, grain whisky is currently manufactured at 8 distilleries:

• Cameron Bridge Grain Distillery in Fife being the most well-known
• North British Distillery in Gorgie, Edinburgh
• Invergordon Grain Distillery
• Carsebridge Grain Whisky from the distillery of the same name
• Strathclyde Grain Distillery in the Gorbals, Glasgow
• Girvan Grain Distillery
• Starlaw Distillery in Livingston which began production in 2011
• Loch Lomond Distillery in Alexandria

The term "Single Grain Whisky" can be interpreted differently outside Scotland. However, in Scottish terms, a "Single Grain Scotch Whisky" is defined as a Scotch whisky distilled from a fermented mash of one or more grains at a single distillery, in the same way that a "Single Malt Scotch Whisky" refers to a Scotch whisky distilled from a fermented mash of malted barley at a single distillery.

 North British - Decanter Collection  ($46)

Name: North British (Signatory)
Distillery: North British (Lowlands)
Type: Single Grain Scotch Whisky
Age Statement: 45YO
Alc/Vol: 50.7% 

I don't often come across whisky this old because these granpa whiskies burn a hole in my pocket. However, it's a blessing that blends and grains of this age don't cost as much as the single malt whisky. This one here is in a orange hue, has a nose of herbs and some dark fruits. When I sipped it, I can taste the sweetness, the burnt candy and the vanilla. It's indeed a very new taste to me but the texture was smooth with a tinge of peat.

For those who have been drinking single malt whisky, they might not get used to the taste of the single grain whisky.

The Clan Denny 40yo ($40)

Name: The Clan Denny
Distillery: Strathclyde (Lowlands)
Bottler: Douglas Laing
Type: Single Grain Scotch Whisky
Age Statement: 40YO
Alc/Vol: 59.3% 

This is another very old single grain whisky for Douglas Laing's Clan Denny label. This distillery produces around 40 million litres of whisky a year for parent Pernod Ricard's blends. The nose opens with vanilla notes, honey and toffee and then developed into a sweet and spicy character. The palate is sweet and spicy and it reminded me of some creamy hazelnut praline. The finish is typically short, but interestingly dry cinnamon, nuts and spices.

Emmanuel told me that the grain whiskies taste better when aged, just like these 2 which are above 40 years. I find these two very easy to drink and less complicated on the palate. But of course for a typical single malt lover, they might find this a little difficult to stomach.

I believe that the Scotch grain whisky is a little-known treasure of the Scotch whisky industry.

Auld Alliance
Chijmes, 30 Victoria Street,
#01-08, 187996
Singapore
Tel: +65 6337 2201
Facebook

Clumsiness

It's been really a good weekend. There's the good and the bad. The bad thing was - I was really clumsy. My gf and I were having a swim at the pool and then a friend decided to turn up at the place I was staying and have a drink and cigar. So when he arrived, I got out of the pool and have a drink and then dinner together at the poolside bar.

The thing is, we had a cigar and it was a Por Larranaga Petit Corona. And I was busily smoking away in my bikinis and suddenly the cigar slipped and landed on my skin, just a little below my bikini top. I didn't really felt the burning sensation. The next thing I knew, the next day, the place where the ashes landed has caused a minor burn on my skin. Damn it!

Lucky the patch was really small but it still hurts now when I take a shower. The skin has started to peel and now I am hoping it would heal soon as I have another holiday coming up this week! I don't want people staring at me when I'm in my bikini at the pool. Oh gosh!

The moral of the story : Do not smoke when in bikinis.

Rudeness

I know I've been rude not to update my blog for almost 2 weeks. It's not like I've gone into a hiatus but I was really busy flying around. And when I fly, I'll be lazy to blog. Last week, I was away for the whole 7 days and then this week I have Monday at home and then the rest of the week I'll be globe trotting.

There's another story I would love to share on rudeness.

Last week, I was in Singapore (again... I know...) and on the way to the airport to catch my flight back to KL, my gf and I got into this white Mercedes cab. My gf and I were happily chatting in the car about her attending her ex-bf's wedding dinner. She was just sharing about her experience attending that dinner and how weird and awkward it is when the parents of the guy doesn't recognise her anymore after she spotted a short haircut.

Then suddenly, this Uncle just interupted us (in Cantonese, because we were conversing in Cantonese thinking he wouldn't understand) and said "soh chu, soh chu" (literally translated as "stupid piggy"). We were stunned and then without permission, he continued his story and his "wise" advice to us. He told us that if we were to get a wedding invitation for any of our "ex-es" weddings, we should attend and dress to kill. "Make him regret that he dumped you or even if you dumped him". You should look at our reaction at that moment.

He went on telling us that he used to go after so many girls, even all the way to Perak. And we were like - "who cares?!!" Can you just shut up and don't interupt our conversation?

This is the thing about nosy cab drivers. I don't mind him joining the conversation but shouldn't he apologize for interupting? And what's with calling my gf a "soh chu?!!" That's so uncalled for and moreover his Cantonese is not very good but he told us he used to date a girl from Hong Kong. So?!!

That's the most irritating can driver I met in Singapore. But he was very helpful with my super heavy luggage. Sigh...

Imperial Rama & Strawberry Park @ Genting Highlands

 

If you're looking for a twist of Chinese cuisine indulgence, then head over to Imperial Rama Restaurant located at Highlands Hotel, Genting. This is a fine dining restaurant specialising in Thai-Chinese cuisine. Quite a unique food genre, don't you think so?

The interior of Imperial Rama is elegant, contemporary and luxurious. There were fine ornaments, beautiful wall paintings and intricately carved Chinese and Thai partitions for more privacy during dining. The place is spacious and it offers a very comfortable dining ambiance.

 

 

"Shaggy" Mushroom with Truffle Oil Salad

 Interesting to see salad being introduced to the menu of this restaurant. Very delicious and the truffle oil is subtle.

 

Lily Bulbs with Emperor Sprout Orange Salad

There's something enchanting about this salad. No, it's not the pretty flowers that adorned the dish, it's the ingredients. Who would have thought that the Emperor Sprout can create such an appetising salad? I love the crunchy sprouts and that little orange zest that gives the salad a lift in taste. It's citrusy and refreshing. A good start to what followed.

Thai Fish Crackers

The Thai Fish Crackers is not like the prawn crackers that you see in your rojak platter. This Thai Fish crackers are imported and they are so fluffy and crispy. The sauce is like a rojak based sauce with some spiciness and sesame seeds with roughly grounded peanuts. I wished I had some beer to go with these addictive crackers.

Twin Flavour King Prawns

There's two different ways being used to prepared this dish. One side of the king prawn has been fried and coated with Salted Egg Yolk and the other side was baked in Cheese. The dilemma I faced is which to eat first? I ate the cheese first as I think that the salted egg yolk will have a heavier taste and thus should be taken last. I really enjoyed the salted egg yolk prawn as it is crispy on the outside and full of flavour while taken together with the succulent tiger prawn flesh.

Stewed Chicken Essence Soup

Perhaps one of the best dish that I had that afternoon was this humble bowl of chicken soup. Yes, it's just a bowl of chicken soup but the work that goes into making this is no less than ordinary. The chicken meat is blended into fine paste and then steamed and cooked together with the chicken essence. All the goodness in a bowl. The piece of mashed chicken meat is a pleasure to the palate too. One more bowl please?!!

Australian Abalone braised in Curry Sauce

When I saw the Abalone covered with curry sauce, I asked myself - "Are you kidding me?" Curry with Abalone? Really? To my surprise, it turned out pretty well. The curry is not too spicy but more like a tomato based puree with some spices. The taste blends very well with the abalone and on the sides, you'll get the pickled cucumbers and carrots. Very creative indeed.

Steamed Marble Goby Fish with Crispy Ginger and Garlic

This is one of the dish that is a favourite among the Chinese diners. The Marble Goby Fish is known for its smooth flesh and it's luxurious price. The best way to fully savour this fish is by steaming it and maintaining it's natural tastes. The chef uses crispy ginger and garlic in this dish to get rid of the fishy scent and it's indeed a very wonderful piece of fish.

Pork Ribs topped with Blackcurrant Sauce

I believe every 8-10 course Chinsese dinner will not end until you get a dose of carbo. In this case, the carbo is very minimal. The highlight was the pork ribs that was cooked with blackcurrant sauce that makes it sweet and honeyed-like. Too bad I was offered a small piece because it's really delicious. I love that tenderness of the meat coupled with the sweet sauce. On the side, there's a bit of rice cooked with crabmeat and topped with dry scallop flakes.

Durian Tempura with Lemongrass Jelly

If you don't take Durians for whatever reasons, you'll have to take this dessert. There were a few of us who doesn't consume durians for its not-so-pleasant-smell reasons but ended up giving this dessert a try. It's really delicious and the smell wasn't too pungent as well. I think this is worth trying and the lemongrass jelly will help you to digest better after all the food.

Must Eat @ Imperial Rama

That's why it isn't a surprise to see  Imperial Rama bagging so many awards at the MIGF 2011. Some of these awards include Most Outstanding Cuisine, Most Outstanding Appetiser and Most Outstanding Dessert!

Imperial Rama's culinary masterpiece combines the delicate finesse of Chinese creations with the flamboyant, appetising flavours of Thai cuisine to create that distinctive dining experience. Their secret to such dazzling cuisine is its balance of two cultures that inspire the dishes. The chef himself is a very friendly guy whom is not afraid to share his experiences with us. It was indeed a very fun afternoon at the restaurant.

Imperial Rama

Level 2, Highlands Hotel

Website

Lunch (Daily)
12.00 noon - 2.30pm

Dinner (Daily)
6.00pm - 9.30pm

We had so much to eat during lunch that we really need some exercise!

  

 We took the Genting Skyway and headed down to Goh Tong Jaya to visit the Strawberry Park!

  

It's our first time visiting the Strawberry Park at Genting as we all didn't know that this place existed. Well, I'm glad that now I do. All you need to do is to wait for the shuttle of this Strawberry Park at the entrance of the Genting Skyway and it'll take you to the park directly.

Huai Bin had a good time snacking on the strawberries at the farm. I think he easily gobbled 4 or 5 of them?!! At the same time, you can also buy some fresh produce there such as mushrooms, vegetables and fruit jams.

  

 If you like flowers, there's flowers to pose with such as roses and morning glory.

They make beautiful background don't they?

At last, one picture to show how happy we were!