Zipangu - Shangri-La, Kuala Lumpur

Weeks ago, I was invited, along with my wine buddy Boris, to Shangri-La for dinner. Courtesy of Shangri-La Director of Marketing Danny.

Shangri-La recently just did some renovation and has never looked more spectacular.




That night we chose the infamous award winning Japanese restaurant Zipangu to spend the evening.




We started off with some of the most delectable imported sushi that as appetizers.




Why delectable? Because at a staggering cost of RM98 per plate of Tuna sashimi, it bloody well be, that's why.




It was really soft. Melts in your mouth almost, though I have to say the best tuna sashimi I have tasted is still in Tokyo Tsukiji market. However their salmon sashimi was living up to every bit of the Japanese standard.


The meal was paired with German Spatlese (sweet wine) (I know, it's not suitable to pair with main courses, but I like the wine, sue me) from one of the most impressive collections wine cellar in a hotel I have witnessed. It's not everyday you get to choose a bottle, any bottle, from the shelf of a hotel's wine cellar (you know, they are bloody expensive for one, and limited secondly).

I was simply estastic to be surrounded by the stacks and stacks wine that night, if I would have my way, I would have popped at least 5 bottles that night. But I managed to restrain my will. It was hard, very hard.

Next off, we have Unagi Egg Roll maki.



These were decent, not a big big fan of sushi as I always find them too rice-y (I don't eat rice).


And then my favourite of all. The Unagi Kabayaki. Soft, sweet, and simpy orgasmic.




My two dining associates ordered the soft shell crab temaki, which I didn't try but still couldn't resist taking a photo.




Then we had shitake mushrooms for small bites. These were yummy. :D




But what took the cake that night was the, suprisingly, chawanmushi.




According to Boris, if one wants to know how good a Japanese restaurant's food is, just try their chawanmushi. True enough, these must be the softest softest softest, soft like feather!, egg pudding? tofu? i have laid my tongue on!! The texture was remarkable.




They didn't melt, they just turned to liquid in my mouth. It was superb.


I ended my meal for my favourite Japanese dessert. Red bean on macha (green tea) ice cream.




It tasted like Hagan Daaz green tea ice cream, which I have always vouched my life for.

Sigh, you know, I miss my sweet Spatlese. One day, I am so going to get my own wine cellar damn it. ONE day.



Zipangu Recognition:
“Best Oriental Restaurant", 14TH Malaysia Tourism Awards, 2003-2004
“Best Japanese Restaurant", Hospitality Asia Platinum Awards , 2003-2004

Phone: 603 2074 3900

Opening Hours:
Lunch: noon – 2.30pm (Mon - Fri) / 11.30am - 2.30pm (Sat, Sun & Public Holidays)
Dinner: 6.30pm – 10.30pm

Location:
Level 1, Shangri-La
11 Jalan Sultan Ismail
50250 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia

Dress Code:
Smart casual

Somboon Seafood, Bangkok

If you're ever in Bangkok, you have to dine at one of our (see how I'm already begining to use "our" instead of "their", I think symptoms of staying in Bangkok for too long is showing. sawadeeka~) best restaurants.

Somboon Seafood. So well known, even the Japanese royalties have dined here before.


(too lazy to post the photo of the Japanese royalty I took, only realised I haven't edited that after I close photoshop)


Their signature dish is the infamous Fried Curry Crab.


as shown on the menu


which I didn't get to try because my host (or dining partner) does not eat crabs. Weird I know.

Oh well, I was having too much spicy food on my recent trip to the Northeastern Thailand so wanted something easy for the evening. *still recovering from my food poisoning* (mentally I mean)

I ordered the honey braised pork ribs with vege.




Which was really good in my opinion, sweet, but not overly sweet. Vege's good.

Next we had the baked grouper (is it a grouper?).




This was exceptionally fresh, good, fleshy, soft and not overly baked. Everything was just right!

When you flip open the fillets, you will find the chef actually spread a layers of garlic butter all over the fish before baking them. Making it very fragrant and juicy.


pardon the shaky hands.. too eager to feast


some simple asparagus for an easy palate.




Nothing to shout about. But it was not bad.


The garlic fried prawns was lovely though.




Love the fried garlic and parsley at the side. The prawns were cut in half for easy peeling. Though I would have preferred something lighter that night (you know, like non-fried). But it was good nonetheless.

My dessert was what finished off a good meal.




Coconut and chocolate ice cream. The coconut ice cream was, somehow, exceptionally fragrant. It has like very pungent sweet floral smell, though I can't quite put to a word whether I like it or not. But chocolate ice cream always set things right. :)


I won't give rating to this restaurant. I would love to go back to try the fried curry crab one day before setting a final score.

The bill came up to 1,070 bhat (RM107). Pretty cheap considering there was a whole fish and plentiful of prawns.


Careful of any fake somboon seafood restaurant as there's a lot in Bangkok here I heard (yes, it's THAT famous). There're only five branches, so do check out the website (in the link at the top of the entry).



Somboon Surawong

169,169/7-12 Surawong Rd.,Suriyawong, Bangrak, Bangkok 10500

Tel. 02-233-3104Fax. 02-234-4499


I dined at the Somboon in Ratchada road (today), the address was obtained from Makankings blog.

48kg?!

Remember this girl?




from this movie?




Her name is Kim Ah-joong (김아중). In the movie she played this really fat 200 pound ugly woman, Jenny




who fell in love with her singing managing director who used her for her voice to make this singer really famous.


The focal point of the movie, however, is that she lost a hell lot of weight and the sudden attention she gets when she evolves into this sudden beauty that everyone would die and get shot for, and also the sudden attention she gets from everyone and anyone.




I love movies like this. I really do love to watch people who had suffered in the past turns out brilliantly and thrives in life better than ever.

Despite the double standard-ness one usually see in society, how the average treats uglier people and all. I still love movie with a happy endings, that revolves about losing weight and becoming gorgeous. LOVE IT!

Motivates me you know.

But anyway, I was watching this movie again on my laptop today, I saw this scene where the director and producer were trying to lobby the idea of introducing Jenny as a new artiste, I saw a glimpse of the power point which they were projecting on Jenny's profile.




What caught my eyes was her said height and weight.

Take a closer look:
Height: 170cm
Weight: 48kg


HOLY SHIT. I'M 170CM TOO!
YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME?!

48KG!! THAT IS DAMN SKINNY WEI! omg, I think I am going to faint. And the said character is the same age as me too! born in 1984.

I don't it's just a movie, but there has to be some facts in it right? I mean they can't fake a person's weight on screen right?

Let's have a look at her again.




Geez. fine. so she is really skinny. but she is fit!! HOT in fact!

But 48?! That is like. like.. like... skinning me alive! I I I....

Will I look like that when I become 48kg? mmm...


I think I will be going on a salad diet from now onwards. that's it! Salads everyday it is!! No meat, no fat, none! Salads and tofu. Yup, or maybe with fish (since Sashimi ain't cheap and Jusco's too far to walk to everyday).




Yup salads.

Not salads with meat.




Just plain simple tasteless salads.




mm.. this doesn't look appetizing at all...

*demotivated*




OKAY! Motivated!!!! *hold fist tightly*

Everyday salads, here I come!




I think I should paste her photos all over my room to remind meself every single meal, what do you think?




O.. and seeing her hair makes me wanna dye my hair black again. :D

Water Snake Village, Guangzhou

Fine, so you guys say Tao Ju Ju is not the best yum cha (or dim sum) place in Guangzhou, well, different people different opinion.




I decided to venture to other locally claimed best yum cha restaurant in Guangzhou. After some snooping around, I found myself in front of Guangzhou's infamous Water Snake Village aka "Shui She Chun" in Mandarin.




Inside the "village" (or food court centre), you can sit in the open air or the enclosed where aircond will bless you from the merciless heat outside (considering it was June when I went). Next to you you will find a teapot waiting to be filled with your selected tea.




They don't have my favourite Osmanthus tea ("Gui Hua Cha") so I have to settle for Chrysanthemum.




"It's ok~~" though much to my dismay I couldn't enjoy my favourite tea break with my favourite tea. Tea is a big thing in China afterall, and it has somehow incorporated part of that culture into me.

There was a long list of dim sum and other yum cha dishes I could choose from, which was difficult, as when you're in another country, the price of the dish is no longer your main concern but rather the taste of it.




I decided, for the sake of my food and diet blog and the sake of experience, to go for more dishes that I could normally handle, of course without the intention to actually finsih all of them.

I started off with the not-so-conventional dish. (Because yum cha don't start till 2:30pm in Guangzhou, so if you want to yum cha or have dim sum, you have to wait)




The century eggs, one of the favourite food around. In fact I even bought some to store in my Bangkok apartment, not just because the eggs are pink in color, but I do love some century egging every now and then. You'll never know when you'll have an emergency craving.

This dish, was superb! The green yolk was soft to the brink, it smelt, no doubht, like most good centurty eggs do, and it was good. Usually with ginger slices to pair with, but in this case, the wonderfully cooked and grilled sweet capsicum slices were brilliant, I wished I could live in Guangzhou just so I could try this dish every fortnight.

Then I opted for some typical usual dim sum dish.


Ha Gao

Not bad, prawns were big, nothing to shout about though.



Siew Pao

or, Sweetened Pork Bun. A bit fatty, (I prefer my pork lean), but not too bad.



Steamed Spring Roll


Oh yes! This one hit the spot! The only dish I finished on the table. It was pretty good. In fact I wanted to order another plate and decided against it as I have too many leftovers. I remembered it was some minced pork and vege slices inside.





Sometimes I wish they have one serving dim sum so I can try more, you know, instead of three pieces of everything in each plate, you can choose one piece to each plate, it would be my heaven then.

In the Water Snake Village, how it works is (when you want to yum cha that is), the moment it hits 2:30pm, you get up and head out to the back there you see piles of steamer baskets aligned together for your pick up.




You pass them your order form given to you and they will give you a stamp.




Take whatever you wish, and pay for the bill when you're done. Easy as that.




People in Guangzhou aren't very patient, especially when you're a Chinese, be it local or foreign, so it's better to know rather than to ask.


On my way out, I saw the main dish of the "village" swimming in front of me.

Yes, swimming.

Like its title. Water Snake Village's signature dish is...




Water Snakes!

And if it's not for 70+ yuan per fried snake, I would have ordered one myself.

Teddy Rice

Following my rabbit rice.

I went to Carrefour the other day and spotted that they have new rice!

This time. TEDDIES! :D



Fried Teddy Rice *points up*


Then there's curry teddy rice.




Or was it just yellow teddy rice, I can't really tell.


And the cutest of all. Polar teddy rice!




Er.. cause it looks like a polar bear? LOL. Reminds me of Kel li though. She loves Polar Bear.