vkeong loves good food, travel and photography!
Selangor
Verona Trattoria @ Section 17, Petaling Jaya
Jan 16th
Good Italian restaurants in Klang Valley are not necessarily expensive and are out to hurt your wallet. One example would be Verona Trattoria at Section 17 that just opened its doors about 3 weeks ago.
But just so you know, most of the food here have had the recipes modified to suit our heavy Malaysian taste bud. So you could say they are not that authentically Italian, which is meant to be simple and generally light in flavor. Well, I can’t really blame them for this else there would be an endless complaints of their food being tasteless and bland.
Since they are new, weekly specials are being introduced to test the market. If the specials are popular enough among the customers, then they might consider putting them up as permanents on the menu. Even though the ravioli was highly recommended by the lady boss as the customers’ absolute favorite, we wanted to play safe and had the other special instead, Grilled Salmon with Lemon Butter Sauce @ RM32.
3D2N Stay @ The Villas, Sunway Resort
Jan 5th
To celebrate the recent New Year, we checked into The Villas for a short stay. First time visitors will be surprised to find this private sanctuary within the lush tropical garden of Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa, which is only minutes’ walking distance away from Sunway Pyramid via some ‘hidden’ paths. This would be the perfect place for couples who seek to celebrate special occassions with utmost privacy – no babies, no families so no noisy kids running around. And with only 17 villas around, there would only be a maximum of 34 guests at anytime.
Just to be clear, I am not ‘invited’ to stay here and then write this post to promote them whatsoever. We actually own a SIVC (Sunway International Vacation Club) membership that we signed up with when we just started to work. Yeah we were young and stupid. Frankly speaking if not for the membership, I don’t think I would even consider staying here. But it is good to experience nice things once in a while, we gotta enjoy life sometime.
Anyway, this building behind the small pond is actually a restaurant-cum-reception of The Villas called the Pavillion. You can also think of it as your very own private restaurant, where you will be having most of your meals – breakfast, evening cocktails and romantic set-dinner (if you booked one).
Since The Villas is pretty much off limits to everyone except the guests and staff, you have to be driven in by the butlers. The best spot to park your car would be at The Duplex‘s car park. There are plenty of parking space here and it is free of charge as well. If you are not familiar with Sunway and could not locate The Duplex (it’s pretty tricky to find this place) you can also park your vehicles at Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa. Then from the hotel lobby, you can take the hotel’s swimming pool, walk across it and follow this staircase which will lead you to The Villas.
If that is still very confusing, then the easiest way would be to tell Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa’s reception that you are checking into The Villas. They will know what to do and send someone to pick you up. Don’t worry about the parking ticket, you will given another one that looks like a room card that will let you get out for free later.
Euro Deli Grill & Restaurant @ Damansara Kim, PJ – Yucks
Dec 22nd
Contrary to the raving reviews I read on the net about Euro Deli, I am actually very much less enthusiastic about this everything pork restaurant. While the sides that we had (even though only 2) were not bad, they were not outstanding either and the mains were terrible. And because of that Euro Deli is one the worst places I have spent my money on throughout the year of 2011.
Mushroom Soup – passable. It is the watery type that does not have any creaminess to it.
Bacon Pie – the only thing we liked for its nice fragrance and would consider ordering again if we ever return. Fat chance though.
Introducing SixCents – A No Frills, Free Voucher Website
Dec 9th
What if you could get a free beer by showing a printed voucher, or just by flashing it from an iPhone app? For those without an iPhone you don’t have to fret, as the voucher can still be displayed on any mobile phone as long as it supports a browser. What if I tell you this is real and the best thing is the voucher is absolutely free? Yes, free as in zero transaction and no purchase required, which essentially means you got nothing to lose but everything to gain. If I have got your attention then you need to check out SixCents.
But first, I know what you are thinking so let me just clarify that SixCents is not yet-another-group-buying-website. Instead, SixCents is a voucher website aimed at providing exclusive dining experiences for everyone to enjoy minus the unnecessary frills. One perfect example is that you don’t even need to have an account to use SixCents!
Most of the chosen restaurants at SixCents are handpicked by the website owners themselves based on the criteria of quality and service, where some of the prominent ones are like Tom, Dick and Harry’s, Souled Out, 7atenine and Senjyu. Different restaurants have different vouchers. For now, you will find most of them being discount based, buy 1 free 1, and buy five, pay for four kind of vouchers. As time goes by, the number of restaurants and vouchers will grow as well, giving you more choices in future.
Among the list of outlets, I have chosen to try Fat Spoon first, a pork-free cafe at Damansara Uptown that serves Asian and Nyonya influenced food. They are currently running a Jus for Juice promotion exclusive only to SixCents users. After presenting the voucher, you just have to play a game of One Two Jus with the owners (and winning it of course) and a bottle of freshly squeezed orange juice worth RM6.90 will be yours for free. And yeah, there are some terms and conditions that apply but they are so easy to meet they are negligible.
