Malaysian Talent in Food

My mom has been a good cook for the family when we were still young. She's retired now and we don't cook dinner during the weekdays lately as we order home cooked dishes from another family. Saves time.

My mom do agree that somehow men are seen to be the best cook around as you seldom see top chefs in hotels helmed by ladies. Moreover, TV shows seldom show a lady being a top chef either. Maybe we haven't caught the right show that shows a lady top chef yet.

However, there are two Malaysian guys who have made it into the top listing of well known restaurants now. Their restaurants have been listed in the Michelin Guide which is based in France. It's really a coveted honour for a restaurant to be listed in the Michelin Guide which is the Who's Who in the food / cuisine industry.

The first Malaysian-owned restaurant to have gained that honour is Kai Mayfair restaurant, operated by Bernard Yeoh with its head chef being Alex Chow, in London. His restaurant earned the highly rated Michelin star (only a maximum of three stars are awarded to each restaurant) back in 2009. His restaurant has been recognised again in the Michelin Guide Great Britain 2010.

Kai Mayfair is basically a chinese restaurant and Bernard Yeoh's wish is to offer something different in the Cantonese dishes which will also enable the public to have a better culinary understanding of a variety of chinese dishes.

Besides the Michelin Guide star rating, Kai Mayfair was voted the Best Chinese Restaurant in London by Harden’s Restaurant Guide (Britain) in 2009. From 2002 to 2005, Kai Mayfair was recognised as the Best Chinese Restaurant in Britain in a survey organised by Zagat Survey.

The second Malaysian-owned restaurant to have earned this prestigious rating is based in New York itself. The owner, Michael Bong and wife Kathy, operates the Laut restaurant since 2008. The restaurant has been listed in the Michelin Guide New York City 2011. Both of these owners are chefs themselves.

The restaurant serves Malaysia's staple food, favourite dishes from Malacca and Thai dishes as well. You can even order online which you can either pick it up later or have it delivered to your doorstep. Their main aim is to expose the Americans to the nation of Malaysia and its unique cuisine.

The owners own a Japanese restaurant by the name of Mizu Sushi which is also located in New York. In recognition of Michael Bong's efforts, he was awarded the Master Chef award by the Governor of Malacca last year.

It's not easy to obtain the Michelin Guide's recognition as the Food Inspector will come in unnoticed or as a spy. Not only that, you have to monitor your food quality, ambience, service, etec in order to maintain the star rating for the following year. Just when I thought food industry was easy.

If you so happend to be in London or New York, don't miss the chance of meeting up with these Malaysians owners in the two said restaurants.

Reading: AsiaOne and Star articles on the above restaurants
Tags: Bernard Yeoh, Alex Chow, Kai Mayfair, London, Michael Bong, Kathy Bong, Laut, Mizu Sushi, New York, Michelin Guide, Chef, Cook, Malaysian Cuisine, Malaysian Dishes, Malaysian Restaurant, Chinese Restaurant

Is Grammar or Spelling More Important?

Noticed the signboard as below while on the road. It was an advertising signboard for a grammar school. My colleague commented this - "For grammar, you can register at this school but for spelling, I think you better register at another school."

Didn't get the picture?

Won't be listing down the name of the school in this blogpost. A picture is more powerful than a thousand words.

Reason being, I was traced via my blog when I posted a funny comment about the name of a business entity that existed in Sudan here. That company's legal personnel actually emailed me where he requested me to delete the name of their company (based in Turkey) from my blogpost or face a legal letter.

Not that the company was well known but how in the world did they bumped into my blog (of course I didn't ask how they found my blog).
Tags: Grammar School, English School, Spelling

Yemeni Dish in Sudan

Went hunting for lunch and we thought of a Yemeni dish.










Their cooking method is unique where they will put the briyani rice, lamband chicken meat into a pot.

Thereafter, it will lowered down into an underground oven. A steel lid will then cover the hole and the dishes would be "cooked" for the next three hours to get the perfect taste.









The mixture of lamb and chicken meat on a trolley.











Up come the briyani rice.
















The aroma of the briyani rice was superb.















This was another oven that was being prepared to cook the next batch of meat.

They use traditional method - burning wood it is.












We ordered a tray of briyani rice with lamb meat for three persons.

The greeny stuff on the next tray is actually chilli. You take a bite of the fresh chilli if you want some spicy taste.










The lamb meat was really excellent as it's so tender.

The briyani rice is very soft and it will melt immediately in your mouth.







Got the owner to take this picture the second time but still blur. Never mind lah.

The owner joked with us that we are not supposed to open this kind of restaurant back in Malaysia, after taking all these pictures of his shop, without having him as a partner.



This lunch was so heavy. Burped two hours later and I could still feel the same aroma. Fantastic meal indeed.
Tags: Briyani Rice, Lamb, Chicken, Yemeni Dish

Hotel Guests Thrown Out

Nowadays, people are recording their experiences or events on the spot at well known websites such as facebook, blogs, related websites or even twit about it.

There was this couple who was travelling in Blackpool, England and they checked into Golden Beach Hotel located at New South Promenade. This couple wasn't happy with the hotel's service and wrote some negative review in TripAdvisor. This is a website where you get to read lots of personal reviews on worldwide hotels by hotel guests from all walks of life.

When you key in "The Golden Beach Hotel" in TripAdvisor's United Kingdom's category, you can read the reviews on this particular hotel. Out of 166 reviews, 60% of the hotel guests who had been there do not recommend this hotel. Wow, that's a really bad review. Not surprising for this couple to have done the same.

Lo and behold, the hotel manager somehow got to know about that negative remarks and decided to kick the couple out of the hotel immediately.

This couple had just stayed for one in their 3 days / 2 nights package and was not offered any refund then. The hotel manager called the police and requested the couple to move out accordingly.

Does a hotel has the right to kick their hotel guests out on the spot? If you had been creating disturbances that have affected other hotel guests and kept doing it even after warnings then I would understand the kicking out process. But kicked out due to some online remarks?

Moral of the story - don't post your review when you are still using their facilities. Take the necessary pictures, jot down the bad event(s) and then post it after your holidays or events.

Reading: Man thrown out of hotel for writing review - The Gazette
Tags: The Golden Beach Hotel, New South Promenade, Blackpool, England, TripAdvisor, Hotel Review

So What If I'm Wrong

Something is really wrong with our system in Malaysia. Imagine if you are caught doing something bad which is very wrong in the eyes of many people, you can still go scot free.

This is as far as I can tell from what I have read so far lately:-

Sex-drugs teacher who sold stimulants transferred to another school
Can you believe that the disciplinary teacher himself was caught selling sex enhancement products that included drugs, gels and pills. And his punishment after being reported was just being transferred to another school located somewhere else.

Why transfer him?

So that he can continue his side business in another school?


10 Pahang cops probed over syabu theft
The court has released 10 policemen for being suspects in the 40kg of syabu theft. The syabu drug was kept in the police station and it can disappear just like that.

The 10 policemen had their pay increment and promotion frozen only.

Why no arrest?

Who else to arrest the policemen?


Syndicates threaten new Port Klang Immigration officers
20 new immigration officers were threatened by syndicates (as believed by the government) when their motor vehicles were damaged maybe in retaliation for the transfer of some officers out from the Port Klang base.

A few officers were arrested earlier as they were believed to be involved in the smuggling of humans .......tsk tsk. Is this where the Indonesians are entering Malaysia illegally?


Officers in cahoots with illegal traders to be weeded out
A wildlife department director was transferred from Penang to another state. But will this action weed out illegal wildlife traders? What's the root cause?

Why transfer him?

So that he can allow the wildlife animals to be traded in another state?


These employers are really lenient.
Tags: Sex Drug Teacher, Sex Enhancement, Syabu Theft, Illegal Wildlife Trader, Immigration Officer

Bomb Threat in Mid Air

Imagine that you hear this over the plane's annoucement while still airborne in the air:-

"This is your captain speaking, we have just received a message from the ground and we thought that the passengers should be made aware of it too. Please don't be startled by what I'm going to tell you. We wish to remind all passengers to remain in their seat and my crew will certainly address all issues as much as we can.

The air traffic controller in Singapore has informed us that our plane may be carrying a bomb as an anonymous caller has identified our plane to the authorities.

We are looking to land at the nearest airport and we assure you of our best efforts in ensuring that you will land safely."

This may not be the exact words from the captain as different airlines may have standard wordings to mention when faced with different circumstances. But a message of such magnitude, passengers will definitely freak out no matter how carefully and softly it was presented.

If I was inside the plane, the thoughts of your family members and loved ones will come across your mind.

If you come from a religious background, you will tend to pray for journey mercy so that your plane will land safely.

I wonder if any passenger from that Singapore Airlines SQ61 plane, on the Houston-Moscow-Singapore sector, who may have twit, fb or even blog about what had happened inside the plane. Or were the passengers kept in the dark about a bomb threat throughout the journey till they landed safely?

If the message was brought to the attention of the passengers, I wonder were they informed of which airport that they are landing.

At first, the nearest airport was in Delhi, where the runway could fit the size of a
Boeing 777-300 ER. But the Delhi air traffic disallowed their landing and the pilots were forced to look for an alternative.

Reason for being disallowed - the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games were in progress. What?

You mean to say the lives of 225 passengers and 39 crew on board were not important that they should receive immediate rescue despite a bomb threat being lodged. What is this air traffic controllers in Delhi are thinking about? They are so worried that if a plane was to explode at their airport, it will give India a bad name or that it will threaten the peaceful atmosphere of Delhi that is hosting an international event. This is really too much.

The plane was forced to look for an alternative landing spot and it was Kolkata, an airport which was three hours away. Wow, I really want to know what was the passengers' reactions if they had actually been informed of the bomb threat earlier (while nearby Delhi) and having to sit on a ticking time bomb for another three hours before you can be saved.

I would say that this air traffic practise is totally wrong. The people in those air traffic controls could have made a major mistake and the "victims" families would have lost a family member for a reason that is so ridiculous.

Thank God it was a hoax but it should have been taken seriously.

Reading: Flight 3 hours in air despite bomb alert - The Times of India
Tags: Singapore Airlines, SQ61, Air Passengers, Airplane Bomb Threat, Delhi, Kolkata

Free Gifts At Petrol Stations

I guess the blogpost title would have gotten your attention to click and read this blogpost.

Yes, there are free gifts indeed but it doesn't come that free after all. You should know by now that nothing comes free nowadays.

A local petroleum company has issued a circular to all of its petrol station operators / dealers in Malaysia warning all petrol station operators to be aware of such syndicates that are offering free gifts to motor vehicle owners while they are busy filling up their motor vehicles at the petrol pump areas.

The syndicates will have their ways / methods and the followings have been identified after some investigations:-

1. Free gifts such as key chains, small sized dolls, flipflops, etc. will be offered to motor vehicle owners.

2. It was found that such gifts are fitted with a tiny tracking / monitoring device that will emit a signal to the syndicates of your whereabouts just like what we have always seen in the movies. The syndicates will be able to track your house and office easily and monitor your movements before they act devilish i.e. to rob your house (if not what else).

3. Syndicates will move in to offer such free gifts by choosing their targets randomly.

The circular didn't mention the particular time of "attack by syndicates" but I suspect that in order to escape the eyes of the petrol station operators, they may move in during peak period when the petrol station is full of customers / motor vehicles. But who knows, maybe it's also a good time when the petrol station is empty especially from midnight to 6.00 am.

The petrol station operators of this particular petroleum company have been adviced to monitor such activities and to report such activities to the relevant authorities upon confirmed sighting.

Therefore, all Malaysians - please take heed of the warning! This is not a hoax and I wonder why (to my current knowledge) this was not highlighted to the general public by the mainstream media.

Whatever warnings are given, there are still some gullible fellas out there that will fall for these syndicates. Beware!
Tags: Local Petroleum Company, Petrol Station Dealers, Petrol Station Operators, Tracking Device, Monitoring Device, Free Gifts