Sunday, March 30, 2008

Edelweiss Cafe

28th March marked the day I turned 25th. As usual, Hubs will take me out for dinner. As usual, it was a place we have never been to also. The magnificent restaurant was not in the hot spot where you can spot it from roadside. In order to get to this restaurant, we had to park our car at a junction and walk for 5-7 mins to reach (might exaggerated a bit ;p) as there is totally no space to stop your car, what more to park. The street in front can onlu allow one car to pass, thus it was made into one way street. After what seems like 7 mins, we finally came upon this.....Edelweiss Cafe. It is a German restaurant. The moment I saw it, I knew this place will be a must-blog place.
They serve set meal too but Hubs had the orders in mind already.
The main entrance has the Chinese-y feeling
While the whole place has a mix of Chinese-y and Germany and definitely ANTIQUE
This was what made all my photos to be in yellowish color.
Even the lights was unique, taking the shot from directly below.
This photo totally don't do justice to the bar. You can't see how lovely they custom made the shelves. It was made of wood carving. Even the bar table was made of wood.
What caught my attention the most as I step into the restaurant was the big gigantic clock. Compare the human head on the bottom right corner with the clock itself.
What is so special about this clock is, it operates using mechanical touch. It used to be so accurate to second but some people couldn't keep their itchy hand to themselves. Thus the clock was almost damage in their hand. Though it still works, it will never be the same again..
The owner loves to create an illusion of bigger space, so you can spot mirrors around the restaurant.
Another big clock in the house.They turned the antique dressing table into part of the decoration, a place where they keep their packet sugar, packet creamer, etc.
Smoking are allow in house but they have a special section. This section has an open roof to let the CO2 escape thru the opening.
As Hubs know the restaurant is full most of the time, he made a reservation to be safe, even though our dinner is quite early.
The setting on the table
My favourite cake....chocmud. Now you know where my URL come about? Hubs bought it from Secret Recipe during lunch and being in an office without fridge, it was a disaster. The chocmud melted into what you can see in pictures below.
The waitress (lets call her W1) was so sweet, seeing the melted cake, she offered to freeze it first, to which we gently decline. Nevertheless, we still put a candle on top, Hubs sang birthday song for me, wish was made and candle were blown before we gulfed down the entire piece.
First to come was my drink order, Mango Lassie. (RM8). It was so rich of pure mango and yogurt, you will even feel full drinking that whole night. Hubs ordered Carlsberg (RM10). Nothing special to take picture.
Next, Edelweiss Mushroom Soup (RM10). This has to be one of the best in town. It's creamy, not like those cheesy creamy but more to rich in ingredient. You can taste bits of everything in its every spoonful. Even the toast was crunchy and perfect for the soup.Here come the main dish, B-52 with Rosti. Big smoked pork sausage, German style. You can choose the original taste or with curry sauce. We had the curry sauce. Trust me, it's more flavourful with curry sauce and No! it's not hot at all. This set consisted of a huge sausage, a wedges like pan cake (Rosti) and side salad.
Can you see how big is the sausage yet? No?
Well, Hubs willing to model his finger for you to compare. Now you see...
The sausage meat was so smooth and tasty. The set usually comes with fries for RM29 but for additional of RM3, you can opt for Rosti. You will never regret this. The Rosti was made of potatos, shredded into strips, a lil seasoning and fried till golden crispy. Simply delicious. This whole set was RM32, if you have not done the calculation.

Another set was Barbecued Pork Ribs.
A close up. This was also yummy, just that I could not tolerate the fats in between the meats. Hubs loves it that way. He said the fats are what make it more aromatize (my own word).
Overall, the portion of the food is big enough for a heavy eater but for someone like me (light eater), I suggest you order 2 main dishes for 3 paxes or go for one main dish and another snack. After our meal, I tried to drink my Mango Lassie but found that it was not cold anymore. Hubs asked W1 to add some ice to which she replied, "Was it too sweet?". We found that their service was great in a sense that they will go all out to make a customer satisfied. She constantly asked how's the food and even when clearing up, she saw our food was not finished complete. Again, she asked, " Was it too big a portion?". We totally love this kinda service. Even the restaurant was quite full, they still serve with great intensity.

While on the way to toilet (more pictures!!) I came upon this. It reminded me of my wedding where the dowries was send in it. Hehe...so much of a memory.
Then I came upon the cashier counter. Nothing special, just another antique after you've seen so many antiques in less than an hour.
Hubs told me there was an old sewing machine behind, so I went looking for one. I only managed to find this. Haha...it turned out Hubs mistaken the Ais kacang machine for a sewing machine Isk Isk.
The board read, 'Sorry, this toilet is "taken". Gently pull the end to verify the above. More toilets around the corner'. Well, do you think I'll just pass on this?
Totally NO! I pull the string and a loud eerrie siren and evil laughter came up. And slowly, the skeleton head showed up. I had to do it the second time to get a shot for you. Thus the loud noise created brought Hubs to me. He was curious on what I was up to. With a slight nudge, he pulled it too...together we made the whole "toilet" area so noise ;p
I managed to peep into the kitchen too. Well kept and clean.
The music box was airing lovely songs we had to ask the waitress (W2) for the CD cover. As she was still at the kitchen when I blew the candle, I assume it must be W1 that told her it was my birthday today. She wish me well when I returned the CD cover to her. How sweet.....
When it's time for for bill, I really had to take another picture. Their bill plate was so cute. The horse will keep the bill intact while the light is used when the condition is too dark to see.
Just a gentle press on the button will reveal this. Total damage = 96.60 including service charge and gov. tax. Hubs did gave extra tipping for their excellent service.
Here's the map to the great restaurant. I think we parked at somewhere near Tua Pek Kong.
You can get more info on their lovely Edelweiss Cafe website.

Address:
Edelweiss Cafe
No.38, Armenian Street,
10200 Penang
Tel: 604-2618935

A visit to Dragon I, QB

Since it opened for so long, I've only been looking at it from afar. Never has it cross my mind to try it as I've heard numerous feedback stating it was very expensive and the portion is very small. That a basket of Siew Long Pao costed more than RM5 (>RM1 for a small pao). Everytime I passed there during meal time, there will always be a long queue waiting outside. I used to wonder how good is the food in there that is attracting such a long queue. I was lucky to be given a chance to dine there when SIL treat us for a dinner on one fine Saturday night. We reached there before 7pm, so immediately we were ushered into the semi full reastaurant. As we entered the dining area, I observed the structure and found it's interesting lighting. The lights that looks like it's made of paper and hanged on the ceiling.
The seatings are also quite unique as there are several different theme. This section is overlooking the sea outside QB.
Ours was placed just beside the above area, facing the butt of a stones warrior ;p


The plates and spoons are like those in normal restaurant.
Ok, here comes my favourite siew long pao a.k.a Shanghainese Steamed Meat Dumpling (RM8)
Get a closer look...ain't they look so juicy and tender? *droooling*
Next to come is the Sauteed Spare Ribs with Signature Sauce (RM20). Quite a small plate for this price.
Stir fried string bean with minced meat (RM14) definitely a cut throat vege. Although it's expensive, I still will order it the next time as the taste is very delicious.
Sauteed diced chicken with dried chilies looks like their signature dish. It taste a tad too spicy for me although I'm a chili padi myself.
Definitely loves this dish...my favourite egg. The bottom was eggs cooked in steam style with vege and mushroom, an egg was cracked and pour on top part while everything is still hot and ready to serve. Sauteed egg white with fish and dried scallop (RM16)
Something tofu...Casserole Beancurd Seafood (RM18). Another delicious dish
As all the dishes are satisfactory, we decided to give it another try on the Sichuan style La Mien (RM12). This is not to my liking as the taste is a bit weird. Grinded peanuts were put on top giving it a peanut taste while eating the mee...not matching at all. I'm not a peanut lover for sure.
As we finished our dinner and make way to the exit, we came upon the usual long queue. Thank god we were early. Overall, we are so satisfied with food and ambience. Will definitely go for it again next time, but not so soon as the price is a constraint ;)
Price: above average
Ambience : Terra Cotta style
Food: Delicious
Service: Good

Friday, March 28, 2008

Happy Birthday to me

Happy Birthday to me
Happy Burfday to me
Happy buffday to meeee...
Happy Bday to me

There, this I sing to myself for my 25th birthday. Not that no one sing for me, in fact I got a whole bunch of colleagues celebrated for me during lunch time at Pizza Hut QB. It's been so long so many people sang a birthday together for me. I was so touched. I even got a piece of Secret Recipe's carrot cheese cake on my table when I came back from lunch. It was so sweet. A small token from a friend cum colleague. Then Hubs brought me to a new place serving German food for dinner. The ambience and the food are just nice for today. Today is also a day I received so many sms. Normally I can go by without a call or a sms for a few days. What is more special for today is I received ang pow from my mum. Aww....I'm so blessed. So this is how I passed my 25th birthday on 28th March 2008 (Friday).

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Funny game

Monday, March 24, 2008

This few days

Just to update, this few days I've been busy doing something I've procrastinated for so long - editing my wedding video. Wedding has passed more than 100 days but my video has yet to be given out to my chi muis and heng tais and all those who are interested. The videographer which I engaged for my wedding does not include editing them into MTV like. Whatever he captured, he will put them straight into a cassette and eventually burn a copy of DVD for us. I saw so many others has their highlight moment edited into MTV and I wanted one. Well, since I paid >1k for my video, I'll have to do it on my own. Indeed I have to rip the .VOB file into .WMV file in order to play around with sounds and effect. The quality was not that good anymore but at least I can do it the way I want. And I'm proud to say it turned out good. So far, I've finished with 4 main highlights, 3 more to go. But I'm having problem posting them up to youtube.com. I kept editing the video and save them in different file name, now I have to search which one is the final copy and which one to discard. I've posted the wrong one on youtube once and now in order to post something similar, I have to remove it first. Sigh.... I should have been more organized.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Fate

I was reading a forum and come upon this article posted by one of the member to enlighten the others who could not let of the past. I though it would be good to share it with you. Enjoy.........

FATE


There was a scholar who was to marry his fiancee, but on the day of marriage, his fiancee changed her mind and married someone else. The scholar was devastated and fell ill. His family seek all kinds of medical treatment for him, but still he showed no sign of recovery. They were about to give up hope on him when a wandering monk passed by.

After learning about the scholar's condition, the monk walked to the scholar's bed and took out a mirror for the dying man to see. In the mirror, the scholar saw a vast ocean, and the naked body of a murdered woman lay on the beach. A man passed by, looked at the body, shook his head and left. Another man who passed by saw the body, took off his robes to cover the body and left. Finally came a man passing by who saw the body, dug a hole and laid the body carefully to rest before burying it. The scene in the mirror suddenly changed. The scholar saw his fiancee in a nuptial chamber and another man was lifting her wedding veil...

The scholar blinked at the monk, confused. Slowly the monk explained, "The woman whose body you saw on the beach was your fiancee in her previous life. In your previous life, you were the second man who gave her his robes to cover her body. To repay your kindness in this lifetime, she loved you for a period of time and became your fiancee. However, ultimately the man whose favor she has to return for the rest of her life is the third man who buried her. And that man is now her husband." Enlightened, the scholar sat up and recovered from his depression.

It is truly amazing -- this thing called "Fate". There was a movie in which the theme song went like this: "You can say it is a big world, you can say it is a small world. But for the promise of this lifetime, we shall spend our entire lives to fulfill."

All of us are in this big grand masquerade, among the throng of people, we seek expectantly... in that electrifying moment when our fingers touch, the masks are removed to reveal our true selves. Before this moment, we were drifting aimlessly, not knowing what we really wanted. Till you meet this particular person, you finally realize what you really want is not what you have wished for in the first place. It amazes you that standing in front of this person is a different you! You without any mask!

Fate is not something meant to be forced upon. What is yours will eventually come to your arms; what is not yours will never come to be. In any case, we should not lose heart and give up on our hopes for love that is true, good and beautiful. The value of life, in a certain sense, is determined by the maturity of how we love. Of how we give and accept love.

Finally

At last, my blog on Spore trip has been posted up as promised. I do have procrastination habit. And I know if I don't do it ASAP, probably my upcoming trip to Bali in July can only be posted next year.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Day 3 @ Singapore

Last Day

Part 1- Day1 http://chocmud.blogspot.com/2007/12/day-1-singapore.html
Part 2- Day1 http://chocmud.blogspot.com/2008/02/day-1-singapore.html
Part 1- Day2 http://chocmud.blogspot.com/2008/03/day-2-singapore.html
Part 2- Day2 http://chocmud.blogspot.com/2008/03/day-2-spore.html

This is the last day of our visit. We check out without having breakfast as the room charge actually did not include breakfast. Yesterday, the breakfast was on our own expenses. As we passed by the lobby, I knew I had to take a picture of the lounge. It was again, beautifully design with different sets of sofas. We did not have a chance to go there for a drink as we came back very late last night.
When I saw this, it reminds me of a dying fairy I once saw in a movie. This is another must-take photo. In M'sia, there will never be crocked lines like this. The first time I saw this, I had a laugh myself. You must think I'm crazy huh? Well, pardon me as this is the first time I went to Singapore.
We went to Vivo City to kill our time before our flight at 6pm. I saw this cute hanging reindeer be the escalator.
Coincidently, we bumped into a troupe of bridesmaid and bride+groom. They were there taking pre-wedding shoots I pressume. I wanted to go over to congratulate them if not for my baggage.
I feel silly taking all this while shopping. But that's what makes me different from others ;p I'm on my honeymoon...
We did not take breakfast this morning, so we were dead hungry by the time we reached Vivo. Sis recommended us to try the crab in No Signboard Seafood. As I thought she had tried it before and found it yummy, then it must be reasonably priced (quite cheap). Hubs leaded the way into the restaurant and I followed behind. As the sliding door open, it reveal this...
I went like Oh-shit! This must be a throat cutting restaurant. The ambiance and the deco will burn a hole in pocket. Surprisingly, the food is well, reasonably priced. A kilo of their famous crab is priced at SG38. Do not do the conversion, otherwise you will not want to even go in. They have quite a number of branches, namely Geylang, Suntec Center and Esplanade Mall.
We ordered stir fried water-chicken with dried chilli and a crab cooked in sweet and sour sauce.

This is the stir fried water-chicken. It does not taste so good as they are from water tank rather than catch it from river. The meat is not bouncy and it feels like there was only bones wrapped in skin (skinny froggies).
The crab that is worth the waiting and $$. When the captain brought this to our table, we had a shocked. It was so huge we can barely finish it. The crab weighted 1.2kg
See how big it is? The hand alone had already taken up the whole plate. After the meal, we were so full we can't move for a while.
When we came back and told Sis that it was pricey, then only she told us, "I told you it's expensive right?" and I went o_O.

We took a stroll around Vivo after lunch (with our luggage trolling behind). In the Sony center, I urged Hubs to try out the PS2 over there. He finally gave up after 10mins struggling to operate the controller. And he made up his mind to get a PSP so that he can still keep up with the fast evolving tech. He said, at least when next time his son asked him how to play, he can show them and not be like others. And so here's our new bought play station.