Fine Dining @ Blue Elephant Thai Restaurant

This is the entrance of Blue Elephant Restaurant

On one fine evening, my colleagues and I decided to pamper ourselves with a good meal (very sick of the typical fried rice and fried noodle). We relied on T's new GPS to direct us to this famous Royal Thai restaurant located in Sathorn - Blue Elephant Restaurant.

I have first read about its good review from some travel forums. According to TravelFish, this is a chain restaurant which had branches elsewhere in the world for many years before finally opening a branch in Bangkok. It's other branches are locating in Jakarta, Dubai, Paris, London, Malta, Lyon and a few other cities.

Besides the restaurant, there is also a Blue Bar and Blue Elephant Cooking School in the same building. If you are interested to learn Thai traditional cooking, you can join their cooking classes. From their brochures, they are offering traditional Thai cooking classes on a daily basis.

When we arrived at the restaurant, we were greeted by the a waiter and waitress. The waitress told us that their restaurant was fully booked and we were only limited to dine for an hour before their next group of customers arrives. We accepted the offer and she brought us to a round table with 3 seats.


Firstly, we were served with a set of complimentary starter consists of a crispy fried dumpling, yummy chicken soup in shot glass and a beautiful orchid (of course the flower was not edible).

Complimentary starter - very nice presentation

That was my very first time drinking soup from a shot glass. Haha! When I first saw the glass, I looked at it curiously. Then, the waiter told me that was actually chicken soup. LOL! *thumbs up* I enjoyed it very much.

The chicken soup in shot glass taste great!

The romantic restaurant environment - perfect for couples

Organic brown jasmine rice

After the starter dish, our main dishes were presented to us one-by-one. We may select between the normal white rice or the organic brown jasmine rice. I had chosen the brown rice while both greedy T and L took both types of rice. XD The brown rice was black in colour and I felt it's lighter than the normal white rice. Something new and worth trying. =)

We ordered 3 main dishes - 2 pork dishes and an omelette. They were all very yummy. Check out my pictures below...

(1) Grilled spare ribs with honey - THB 380 (Approximately RM 38)

(2) Sweet and sour pork with longans - THB 380 (Approximately RM 38)

The last dish was the highlight of that night!! The Royal Omelette, which was the most expensive omelette that we ever had in our life! Hahaha! It cost THB 380 (approximately RM 38).

(3) The Royal Omelette - THB 380 (Approximately RM 38)

 

 

You must be wondering why was it so expensive. Well, lets check out the descriptions from the menu. 

It says 'Thai omelette stuffed with stir-fried minced pork and vegetables. His Majesty King Rama V (King Chulalongkorn) created this dish himself and it was recorded in Thai history when it was served during his second visit to Europe. It became His Majesty’s favourite dish and very popular with Thai and foreigners.' 

Sounds very 'royal' right? To me, its just an omelette with pork and vegetables. I did not find it very special and it was hard for me to justify the price. So, I think the previous 2 dishes were more value for money. Haha!

Overall we were very satisfied with the food and services. The restaurant ambiance was very nice and comfortable. I think it is perfect for couples too. 

Guess what! On our way out, I received an orchid (for females only) from the waiter!! Aww... So sweet... Hehe!!

*Cheers*

Thai's version Wong Lo Kat

There is a Chinese restaurant nearby to my apartment. We never have problem in food ordering as the owners speak Mandarin. Besides, their menu consists of Thai, English and even Chinese language!

One night, the lady boss recommended me a herbal drinks - Wong Lo Kat. LOL! Thailand have its Wong Lo Kat herbal drinks too! Its packaging is almost the same as Malaysia's besides the additional Thai wordings.

It costs about 30 to 40 Baht (RM3-4)

It tastes good... Sweet =)

*Cheers*

Challenges over in Bangkok

Working in Bangkok is full of challenges. The most challenging part is the language barrier, which is much more severe than it was in Jakarta. Thai language is a totally different language. So far, I only managed to learn a small handful of Thai language. Its only enough for me to do bargaining at shopping. Hehe!! Bargaining skill is a must in Bangkok!

Our bigger issue is the problem during food ordering, especially those without English menu/ pictures! What can we do were either simply pointed at something or pointed at their customers’ bowl/ plate and asked for the same dish. Then, fingers crossed and hoped that the dish is what was expected. Therefore, we usually opt for the restaurants with an English menu or at least picture menu. We thought the real bowl of rice/ noodle should not go very far off from the picture. Haha!!

Taking about food, another challenge for me is the spicy food!! Their chilies are superb in term of spiciness. Most of their tom yum or soup is added with tones of chilies. The chilies come in different sizes and shapes, including thin & short, fat & short, fat & long, and even green & round!! There was once T thought the rounded green chili was a green pea. LOL! He bitted on it and threw it out immediately. That was freaking spicy! For me, I always ended up with lots of water/ ice after the spicy meals.

Last weekend, my colleagues and I visited the Pratunam market. Along the street, we saw a stall sold some fried stuff. There were fried grasshopper, beetles and worm. I suggested to T to tryout some of them. He bought 1 packet of fried worm and he dared me to eat them!! Ouchh!! They are worms…

Check out the fat and juicy worms

He tried one and commented that it was not bad! ST tried one too. They said it tasted like the Chinese 'kam heung' cooking style of fried worm. Emmm... Ohh well, I ended up trying too! I took 1 bite at the tail instead of the head (the 2 eyes at its head were freaking me out). Its texture tasted like green pea!! I hate eating green pea. So, this is not my cup of tea. I won’t eat it again even though the taste was not horribly freaky.

My half bite fried worm

T seemed to love it a lot. Haha! He poured a lot of the worms onto his plate of chicken rice and ate them as side dish. I should have snapped a picture of his rice island that was surrounded with fried worms.

I believe that there will be more challenges ahead. I'm ready to face all those upcoming challenges/ events. Com’on, bring it on!! :-)

*Cheers*

Balinese crispy duck @ Dirty Duck Diner (Bebek Bengkil), Jakarta

Last week T invited me to join him and his friends for lunch in Menteng, Jakarta. His friend, M recommended a restaurant that serves great Balinese crispy duck (a.k.a. bebek bengkil). We wasn't sure the exact location of the restaurant and we thought the cab driver should be able to get us there.

On the next day, we took a cab to Menteng. The first cab driver had no clue where exactly Bebek Bengil was located! We got down from the first cab and took another cab. I told the second cab driver that the place is near Plaza Menteng (that was one of the landmark I saw in google map). The driver nodded his head and fetched us to Menteng.

About 10-15 minutes later, he stopped the cab in front of Plaza Menteng. He told us that he had no idea where was Bebek Bengkil. Gosh! We got stuck and we had no choice but to get down from the cab. We asked one of the shopkeepers nearby and she knew which restaurant we were looking for! Thank god!

She pointed to the left hand side and told us to walk down the road. I asked if it is walking distance (Bisa jalan ke tempat itu, ke?). She answered 'Yes!' (Bisa!) and nodded her head confidently. So, we thought it might be near. Then, she added 'lumayan jugak!'. T and I thought she was commenting the food in Bebek Bengil was quite pricey. Well, we thanked her for the direction. After 15 minutes of walk, we still do not see the restaurant! We even dropped by a few shops for directions but they do not seems to know where is the restaurant. 

Later, M sent an sms to inform us the full address of restaurant. The restaurant was at No.132, and we were right in front of No. 31!! The numbers were not even close!! Not only that, we were not even on the correct street! We started to feel panic and asked for more directions. 

This time, I asked for the particular street instead of the name of the restaurant. The lady knew the street and pointed its way. Then, I asked if its far (jauh?). She nodded her head and said 'lumayan..'... GOSH! T and I were speechless! We finally understood what was the meaning of 'lumayan'... it meant very far!!

Isshh! We were tired and sweaty after the long walk. So, we decided to take a cab to the restaurant. Finally, we managed to get to the restaurant after the misunderstandings due to language barrier.

There were 2 monuments at the entrance of Dirty Duck Diner

And pond with tortoises and fishes in the middle of restaurant =)

 Another view of the restaurant

I told M and MW about how we misunderstood the word 'lumayan'. They laughed out loud!! Hahah! I got to really brush up my Bahasa Indonesia. Or else, more of these may happen in the future. LOL!

For the restaurant, there were two sections - indoor and outdoor. Since the weather looked great, we preferred the outdoor seat. We were sitting under a 'pondok' (small hut). Looked cool huh?

M was distributing food to his daughter

My bebek bengil - the signature meal, came with vegetable and special chili sauce (not in the picture)

The crispy duck was simply great! Although I am not a fan of duck meat, I enjoyed this crispy duck very much! On top of that, the portion of food was pretty generous. I was stuffed even before I could finish up my rice.

 I was relaxed after lunch

T was even more relaxed!

This restaurant was also recommended by a travel magazine recently

Finally, here's the address of the restaurant...

*Cheers*

Tea time @ Kopi Luwak Cafe, Grand Indonesia

Wednesday was a public holiday too in Indonesia. T and I took a break from work and checked out places around Jakarta. We went to Grand Indonesia, one of the most famous shopping mall in Central Jakarta. 

We took the opportunity to shop around. T grabbed himself 2 big bags of discounted branded clothes from a closing down sales. Most of them were on 70-80% off!! However, too bad that I didn't see anything that caught my eyes.

After that, we marched into Sport Warehouse as we saw the 'SALES UP TO 70%' signage!! We couldn't resist to spend some time checking it out! We bought ourselves a pair of half-priced New Balance shoes! It was such a great deal! And I doubt I could get the same pair of shoes in KL with this incredible price. =)

We felt tired after that and dropped by a coffee house - Kopi Luwak Cafe. This coffee house serves the Indonesia most famous coffee, which is Luwak coffee.

Interior of the coffee house, where a lot of coffee bags were placed at the roof as decorations

According to Wikipedia, "Kopi luwak, or civet coffee, is coffee made from the beans of coffee berries which have been eaten by the Asian Palm Civet and other related civets, then passed through its digestive tract. A civet eats the berries for their fleshy pulp. In its stomach, proteolytic enzymes seep into the beans, making shorter peptides and more free amino acids. Passing through a civet's intestines the beans are then defecated, keeping their shape. After gathering, thorough washing, sun drying, light roasting and brewing, these beans yield an aromatic coffee with much less bitterness, widely noted as the most expensive coffee in the world."

T decided to try out the special cup of Luwak coffee (IDR90,000; approximately RM30), while I ordered for a glass of ice-blended avocado coffee (IDR30,000; approximately RM10). When the drinks came, we were rather surprised. The waitress brought a thermos, a cup, sugar and a pack of coffee sachet (looked like the 3-in-1 coffee sachet). Then, she cut open the sachet and let us smelt the aroma of luwak coffee beans. After that, she poured the coffee powder into the cup, added hot water (from the thermos), stirred and covered the cup with a lid. She told T to wait for another 2 minutes before drinking the world's most expensive Luwak coffee.

Luwak coffee was presented to us in this manner

T snapped a picture of me with his precious coffee while waiting for the 2 minutes

And this is my ice-blended avocado coffee

That was my first time trying out the ice-blended avocado coffee. I thought it is something new and special. However, I found its taste was just so-so. I do prefer ice-blended avocado drink with chocolate more than this. *yummers!!* =)
 

*Cheers*

Great Italian food in Jakarta

Last week, my bosses and I had lunch in Caffe D' Angelo, an Italian Restaurant located in The East Mall, Jakarta. Mdm W recommended that their food was great. Hence, we gave it a try. 

When we entered the restaurant, we found that the ambiance and the designs of the restaurant were nice. Besides, there was a section with wine racks and it was full with wine bottles! Cool!

I had a piece of thin crust pizza and a plate of lagsane. The pizza was so crispy and cheesy!! And the lagsane was very cheesy too! I am a cheese lover. So, the cheesy Italian food can really delight me. Heheh! The food portion was very generous and I couldn't finish it. =( But it was really good!

The delicious lagsane *Yummers!!!*

I also ordered a cup of hot chocolate. Guess what... The drink was so thick! I had to 'eat' my hot chocolate with my spoon instead of drinking it from the cup. It was just like some melted chocolate in a cup. Hahah! I think it should be listed in the dessert menu instead of the drinks menu. Or probably I need some strawberry or marshmallow to go with the chocolate.

This is my cup of hot chocolate

I enjoyed my meal very much!! If I have chance to visit this restaurant again, I would try their cabonara spaghetti too!! Overall, Caffe D' Angelo serves great Italian food =)

*Cheers*

An 'oinky' birthday celebration with a bunch of good friends

Notice: This post is a non-halal post

I only get to return to my home-sweet-home (KL) every fortnightly. So, my bunch of uni good friends celebrated my birthday on the weekend I came back to KL. They brought me to El Cerdo for some juicy German roasted suckling pig.

El Cerdo is located at Changkat Bukit Bintang, which is a very happening hang-out place in KL. However, parking is an issue here. =( After a few rounds of circling around the area, A decided to leave his car with the car jockey. This had saved us the hassle of walking far too!

We entered the restaurant and found piggy's pictures and figurines were placed every where! Even their menu has a picture of 2 cute piggies too!!

The menu was hiding behind our Hoegaarden

And many other piggies were kept in the rack behind our table... Oink oink oink...

When the sweet couple - KH and AL arrived, we started to order our dinner. A helped in making the orders as that was already his third time having dinner in this restaurant. He ordered a Spanish ham platter as the appetizer. Followed with a "One plate of 4 different mini sausages" - 1. Farmer; 2. Thuringer; 3. German Pepper; and 4. Spicy Lyonner Saussage. The sausages were so good!! So as the soup, salad and pork ribs! Yummers!! =)

Our final dish was a roasted suckling pig! Aww... Half of the piggy came to our table on a wooden chopping board. We were wondering how to eat it. *(>_<)*

Highlights of the night - The roasted sucking pig

Then, a waiter approached us and asked for a volunteer to chop the piggy into pieces. I had the honor to be the butcher of the night. Hahah!! Guess what? I had to chop it with a plate!! Well, the waiter gave me a lesson on how to chop the piggy.

"Hold the plate like this..." and bla bla bla...

I was ready to chop it!! (The waiter was standing next to me to make sure that I was chopping with the correct way)

According to Mr Waiter, that was one of the traditions from German whereby 1 person had to chop the pig with a plate. Then, put all the bad things/ luck onto the plate before breaking the plate. In return, this person will be granted a wish.

I 'gathered' all my friends' bad stuffs onto the plate and tried to break the plate

However, the plate wasn't break at my first try!! OMG... Maybe I didn't put enough bad stuffs onto the plate. Or, I was just too gentle to the plate. Hahaha! Mr Waiter granted me a second chance to break the plate. This round, I put more strengths in throwing the plate into the wooden basket!

Voila!! The plate was finally broke

Mr Waiter took the roasted pig back into the kitchen and got the professionals to chop the piggy into pieces. Btw, my bf commented that Mr Waiter is quite good looking a.k.a handsome. LOL!

After we had finished eaten the piggy, a group of waiters/ waitresses came out with desserts and a creative birthday song!! "Happy birthday to you, Oink Oink... Happy birthday to you, oink Oink oiNk!!!"... The song was just so cute and oinky!!

I even got a little piggy from the restaurant as birthday pressie!

Mr Waiter informed that this little piggy will bring me luck for only 1 year. So, I got to come back next year to 'renew the contract'. LOL! That was a really good marketing gimmick!!

Special thanks to A, JC, YM, KH and AL for making my birthday so memorable =)

Overall, the food and ambiance of the restaurant were great. *Thumbs up* However, I enjoyed most with the presence of my bunch of good friends who shared laughter and joys with me.

*Cheers*

Pre-birthday celebration @ Look Out Point

Few weeks ago, I had a pre-birthday celebration with A at the Look Out Point, Ulu Langat. We got the idea of going to the Look Out Point after reading SL's post in September. I thought this may be a great place where you can see KL's night view. =)

A googled and did some simple researches of the place. He found the address and we drove up the hill with the directions given by his GPS. The GPS came in very handy when we need to go to an unfamiliar place. Probably I need to get one for myself too! Hehe!

When we arrived at the Look Out Point, we saw a few restaurants were operating next to each other. There were 1. Look Out Point, 2. The Heaven, 3. Gasoline, 4. The Panorama Restaurant and the last restaurant was under renovation. That was our first time came to this place. So, we had no idea about which is the best restaurant. 

In the end, we chose Look Out Point Restaurant because the waiter was friendly. On top of that, we saw more tables were occupied with customers in the restaurant. Then, we got ourselves a table and started to check out the menu.

 

This is the cover page of the menu

This restaurant also serves local food, like fried rice and fried noodles besides the western meals. After we had finished studied the menu, we were trying to call the waiter/ waitress to take our orders. But...

 

"Please press for service" and the button??

Where was the dumb button?!?! Hahhaah!!! We couldn't find the button!! In the end, we got to wave at the waiter. I was wondering if their customers stole the button as souvenir? LOL!!

 I posed in the picture while waiting for our food to arrive. You can see the sky was still bright from the background of the photo =)

 KL view in the evening... versus

 KL view at night, which is more colourful!! I like the lights!!

 Our dinner had arrived...

 

My grilled dory fish with mushroom sauce

His chicken Maryland with sausage

Well, I won't say the food was great. It was just average. However, I did enjoy the cool air and night view of Kuala Lumpur. *(^_^)*

 

*Cheers*

Nathan's 5th birthday celebrations

It was Nathan's 5th birthday!! His daddy, D threw him a birthday party and I was one of the invitees. =)

His daddy brought us to a seafood restaurant near Karawaci, about 45 minutes away from Jakarta city. I was surprised to find out that we could choose our seafood just like shopping in a wet market!!

See, there were baskets for us to grab whichever seafood we wanted from the glass tanks

There were a wide varieties of crabsSsss.. Owwwhhh.... I love crabs!!!

M was checking out the crab... She said 'This one goes well with Sos Padang'... LOL!!! Yum! (But the crab was struggling for its life)

I was checking out the fishes... F.R.E.S.H!! We asked the cook to cook 2 of them for us...

M was happily playing with 2 dead baby sharks... FYI, we did not eat sharks or shark fins... We were not that cruel...

When Mrs D finished chosen the fishes, crabs, prawns, cuttlefish and clams, she instructed the cook on the flavours and etc. About half an hour later, the waiters brought out the dishes. Yummm!!! The dishes were great!! The seafood were so fresh and juicy, especially the crab.

All of us ate so much and I was so full! After that, we brought out Nathan's birthday cake. It was an ice-cream chocolate cake. This cake was similar to Secret Recipe's Chocolate Indulgence. The chocolate flavour was so thick!

He was so happy *(^_^)*

Even the waiters and waitresses sang him birthday songs!! Happy birthday to you... :)

D sent us home after the celebrations. Nathan was exhausted and felt asleep in the car before we reached home.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, NATHANEL... =)

*Cheers*