Erawan: classic fine Thai cuisine
My sister has been raving about food at Erawan for a while now. Located in Dataran Sunway in Kota Damansara, Erawan was voted as one of Asia’s finest restaurants 2010/2011 by The Miele Guide Asia, as well as one of the Top 5 Best Restaurants in Malaysia 2010/2011.
If you’d like to eat at Erawan, you’re advised to make prior reservations. Also most of the items on their menu are only available by pre-order by at least one day. They have their own reasons for it, mostly for freshness of the ingredients and eliminating wastage.
The place wasn’t hard to locate though the facade looks like someone’s personal garden. There are a couple of tables outside, see photos here and here. Interior’s tastefully done, see here. If you’d look at their menu, you’d come upon a page where the owners of Erawan not-so-subtly reminding you that there are some things that they won’t do, such as serving local condiments i.e. sambal belacan to go with their food. Also please try not to compare their dishes with those served by other Thai restaurants, reasons unstated.
My sister had pre-ordered some of her favourite dishes at Erawan to be shared among the few of us. This is not a review but rather one of those ‘we ate this, here’s a photo’ kind of post, here we go!
Lotus petal snack
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Southern Malay Delights @ Songket KL
Another invitation to Songket Kuala Lumpur, this time to try out their south region promotion. Thanks to the school holidays, it wasn’t that much of a nightmare to get from PJ to KL though Jalan Yap Kwan Seng will forever be a bit slow during peak hours.
All ill feelings from traffic blues vanished once we reached Songket. I’ve been there a few times now yet there’s something about the tranquillity of the area that calms me down. Especially when you stand at the spot where I took the second photo below, with the Petronas Twin Towers in view.
I also felt sick with envy that people are able to afford and live in condominiums worth millions in the middle of the city but that’s another story.
We first had the aneka pembuka selera (RM30) – assorted appetisers in forms of cucur udang (prawn fritters), popiah goreng (deep fried spring rolls), kepak ayam (chicken wings) and tauhu sumbat (stuffed tofu). All good except that the chilli sauce could be spicier, but I suppose Songket caters to a lot of customers who do not take well to our level of spiciness (read: tourists).
Aneka Pembuka Selera
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What’s the best pub in Malaysia? The Tavern at GAB!
Two reasons: 1) The freshest beer on tap; and 2) Freeeeee like a beeeeeeeeeeee!
For a major brewery in Malaysia, it only makes sense for Guinness Anchor Berhad (GAB) to have their own pub in their brewery backyard. Named The Tavern (I’d like to believe for really obvious reasons), it serves as as GAB’s training ground for bartenders (because knowing how to pour the perfect pint is a mastery course). Visitations to The Tavern is also a staff perk.
So I was quite stoked to be invited to the GAB Tavern Oktoberfest Party along with 50 GAB Facebook fans who won some kind of contest to be there. There were Oktoberfest girls, the Bavarian-style Oompah Band (rumour has it that they are as English as scones), games, food, fun people and most importantly, fresh tasting beer.
Nah, fun people:
Me with a giant Kilkenny cutout, in serious contention to replace Clive Owen as the man of my dreams:
Awesome right? Pleasures that money can’t buy… 
Benefit b.right workshop/ Guinness @ Hakka/ Don’t Duck It campaign
Just a few things that I wanted to share before the year ends. Sometimes I sit on the photos for too long that I overlook them, which is a bad habit that I need to break.
So here are some fun things that I got down to:
Attended a Benefit Cosmetics workshop where they showed us how the b.right skincare range complements makeup application.
I already like the b.right skincare stuff, especially the foaming facial cleanser which I think is good for my face. Smells great too, and got my question answered on the fragrance – all natural and no additional chemical to make it smell nicer.
The fun part for me was to watch the Benefit pro teaching assorted makeup tricks. They make it look so easy but I know that it takes a lot of trial and error to get it right. We got to play around with Benefit makeup which was already a reward in itself: they make such GORGEOUS powder and stuff!
Here’s the Benefit Magic Ink Liquid Eyeliner on Joyce:
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There was a dinner at the famous Hakka Restaurant in KL by Guinness to showcase how well Guinness goes down with local Chinese food. It was quite a fun experiment: eating each item on the menu followed by a drink of Guinness. At the end of the day we learned that Guinness is best enjoyed with salty food. Also the more Guinness you drink, the better the food tasted.
Also, Michael downed a shot of Guinness with fresh oyster + lemon. Apparently that’s how a lot of people enjoy their oysters, something that I’d never find out because I don’t eat uncooked oysters. Ick.
Here’s just a photo to show you some of what we had that night. Mostly for showing off because Hakka Restaurant’s food is really, really delicious. Mmmm I think it’s time for a family dinner at Hakka 
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Tock asked me if I wanted to get splashed with paint for a breast + cervical cancer awareness campaign that he was working on. I said ok lor. This is an individual poster of me with the paint et al. Not my exact quote though, perhaps they didn’t have time to edit everyone’s.
Don’t Duck It was a noteworthy campaign so I should talk more about it. It’s under the Passionately YOU Cervical & Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign, a collaboration between Assunta Hospital, Asia Assistance, Jaya One and PJ Live Arts. The purpose: support the cause for cervical and breast cancer awareness and early detection.
You know lah, people always put off minor irritants and pain until the last minute because “this can’t happen to me”. Or they are afraid of finding out what’s wrong so they leave it until they cannot leave it anymore. Unfortunately by that time, if something really DID happen, it could be too late. Padahal if they’d have early detection, immediate treatment could and possibly would have made them well.
But you know, manusia. Anyway the campaign also helped raise funds for the Community Treatment Program at Assunta Hospital that provides aid to cancer patients from the low income group. At the end of it, a staggering amount of RM 93,082.20 was raised for the hospital. Well done you guys
*applaud applaud*
Here are some shots from the shoot, it was quite fun being so messy with paint. My only unhappiness with the shoot was that the paint was not easily washable so my favourite denim shorts was totally k.o. Sad, sad 
But I get to spray paint at Niki Cheong. Happy, happy
Here’s one with Helenness, Kal and Harinder. Mei Ying wasn’t in the photo, she had to leave early. I had fun messin’ her up with paint though
Brandy Loh Mee @ Bandar Menjalara, Kepong
Any Malaysian Chinese worth his/her salt would enjoy a good, pipping hot bowl of loh mee: fat wheat yellow noodles in a thick gravy with seafood or bits of meat, served with a good dose of black vinegar. Mmmmm super delicious!
My sisters took me Wei Sun in Bandar Menjalara, Kepong where they serve loh mee with brandy in lieu of vinegar. Of course a bottle of vinegar is readily available at every table, but give the brandy-mixed a try first lah!
I think their loh mee is pretty decent and above average. Can go back again one! The noodle dish is fragrant and has bits of ham, prawns, teeny weeny bits of crab meat and mock abalone in a thick, slightly starchy egg gravy. A RM25 bowl can easily feed 3-4 people, do keep some stomach space for other dishes.
Wei Sun restaurant’s loh mee
For greens, we had stir-fried young fern shoots (RM10). The vege was springy and delicious to eat but the stir-fry sauce was a tad salty. They seem quite big on pork spareribs (pai guat) and offer it in several ways. We had it in two-styles (RM25) – one half smothered in a slightly spicy salad cream and the other half in honey. Succulent pieces of tender meat, yum!
Paku and spareribs!
There you go, another restaurant to check out
Restoran Wei Sun
47 Jalan 9/62A, Bandar Menjalara, Kepong.
52200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-6277 9033
Directions from 1Utama on Google Map