As Suanie Sees It

A few weeks ago, I received a small box of freshly-made FIDANI gourmet chocolates with a golden ticket inside. It was an invitation to visit Fidani’s chocolate factory where Willy Wonka Chef Amer Hamzah, FIDANI’s very own chocolatier would play host to a bunch of chocolate-crazy bloggers.

When he grows up, his camwhoring skills will pwn all of you

One fine Saturday morning, a bunch of us went to FIDANI’s chocolate factory in Shah Alam, where each FIDANI chocolate piece is hand-crafted by Oompa-Loompas skilled workers. Eiling who works for FIDANI (who actually did the inviting) greeted us and ushered us into a room. She brought out a HUGE platter of FIDANI chocolates for our consumption…

This was like, 1/4 of the platter

Then Cher Amer Hamzah came in and gave a most interesting presentation on chocolate — its history, the ingredients and processes involved in making chocolate, the differences between… uhm, different chocolates, and so on. Quite enlightening, and I will never look at Ding Dang the same way again.

Having fun and stuffing ourselves silly with the chocolates

After the very chocolatey lesson, Chef Amer allowed us to tour the rest of the factory, including where the chocolates are handmade, refrigerated and packed. According to him, we were the first people (non-FIDANI staff) to be allowed in his chocolate kitchen. Rather privileged, yah?

Before we could enter his kitchen, we had to wear a white coat and a hairnet…

Does this resemble the flashers you might have encountered before?

There were two or three big pumps filled with dark and milk chocolate (didn’t see any white ones). Chef Amer showed us how to make chocolate with fillings (requires high skills and technique, else it would come out looking rubbish) using (very expensive) moulds. Some staff were hand-rolling chocolate truffles; it was a very busy kitchen so I tried very hard not to get in their way too much. But they were very nice to us and also most helpful when we made and design our own chocolate later, though I could sense them smiling through their face masks whenever we pretty much made a mess of things.

What do bloggers do when presented with a platter of chocolates?

I made a dark chocolate piece and decorated it with dried fruits and nuts. Pretty much ate a huge chunk of it at home, and left the remaining bit on my table. One day I got home from work and was told that Ryan had helped himself to the chocolate. My table and floor was a tad sticky, so I guess he had a great time helping himself…

Me with my chocolate! And Cher Amer with his hand out so he could set it in the fridge

After we placed our chocolates in the fridge (for it to set), Chef Amer proceeded to make a chocolate rose. Impressive

The chef and the rose

Then we were led to the packing room where some noobs got too excited over a RM30k+ machine that jet sprays expiry dates on the boxes… and they proceeded to place their hands at the machine to be jet-sprayed with expiry dates too. Back at the conference room, Eiling fed us with more chocolates yet to be made available in the market. A chocolate tasting/ sampling thing lah; she wanted opinions for some new flavours/ combination. There was also one with durian cream. Surprisingly it tasted rather awesome! Eiling said that they use REAL durian flesh for the filling; there’s no way you can miss the smell and/or taste of durian in that one.

Me with a premium gift box of FIDANI chocolate

At the end of the visit, Eiling presented us with a gift - a bag full of chocolate from FIDANI! Heh, thank you Thanks again for the invitation; it was really educational, fun and most filling

Group photo

Click here to find out where you can purchase FIDANI chocolates. If you have a healthy budget and wish to get personalised chocolates (for weddings, corporate occasions, parties, as gifts or whatever), click here for their contact info.

Also blogged: KY, David, Hsu Jen

Click here to view my Flickr set for this trip (36 photos).

The package I received from Nokia a couple of weeks ago (including the box which Ryan is using as a head gear) was actually an invite to Nokia’s media launch for the N96 at the KL Hilton. Thanks to David, I was able to take Pinky along with me (she was here for a week).

James, Ringo, KY, me and Pinky before the launch

Once there, there were many familiar faces. As we were heading home after a different event last night, KY remarked that these events are a great excuse and opportunity (not to mention being relatively inexpensive, ahem) to catch up with friends. I had to agree with him. In the immortal words of Roberto Benigni, la vita è bella.

There were speeches, video presentations and booths showcasing what the N96 is capable of. And dinner. Dinner is always awesome. And beer. I didn’t touch a single drop because I was driving. Go me.

The GM of Nokia (M), Mr. Vlasta Berka

The N79 (candybar, comes with change-able covers that also changes your phone theme) and the N85 (slide phone) will be launched sometime in the fourth quarter of the year. The highlight of the day, the Nokia N96 is already in stores, with the RRP of RM 3,338. Besides being an upgrade for the N95, the flagship N96 comes with a very nice 2.8″ display screen, 16GB internal memory, 5MP camera with Carl Zeiss optics and dual LED flash, built-in 3D stereo speakers, A-GPS, along with the usual awesome stuff that you can get with the S60 software.

The Nokia N96

As you can see from the image above, the N96 comes with a little stand so you can prop your phone up to watch movies and stuff. I think it will work great with the Nokia bluetooth keyboard, as I think that the latter’s metal prop is a bit flimsy to hold even my N95, and the allowed space was not that great. The N96 also supports streaming video from the web or live broadcast mobile TV.

My birthday is coming soon, you know…

Lightcraft performing at the event

There were 2 bands from the Nokia Independent Artists Club (IAC) performing their stuff — The Deserters and Lightcraft. Pinky and I rather liked Lightcraft’s songs, though the band sometimes drowned out the lead singer’s voice. Sounded a bit Coldplay-ish, mod-type. You can check out their MySpace here, click to listen to the song ‘Those Beautiful Shapes’. I like.

Pinky, me and Hazel from Nokia

I had a great time Cheers. The entire Flickr set for this event (17 photos) is here.

Early last month, we received an invitation from Andrea to dine at Coca. Truth to be told, I’d never heard of it before but almost everyone around me has. Goes to show how much or how little I know, but please do not let that minor hiccup stop you from inviting me to anywhere. I am a fast learner

I reckon that most of you Muslims who read my blog should be grown-up enough to NOT complain about my blog posts on food. Okay lah you can marah-marah a bit heh, but that’s not really going to stop me Well, look on the bright side — you get another buka puasa dining option! I am so kind and generous, I overwhelm myself sometimes

Coca Restaurant @ Subang Parade

One fine evening, KY, FA, Ringo, Tim and I went to Subang Parade for said dinner. KY told me that Coca is well-known for their steamboat. So that was what I’d expected to have. There we met with Andrea, who is the Marketing Manager for Coca; a most pleasant and friendly lady. She told us that she would not be feeding us steamboat, but an array of dishes with rice to showcase Coca’s new extensive menu. O okay, I’ll go have their steamboat another time on my own then.

Drinks and juices for everyone!

I had the Thai longan drink, it was nice. KY ordered the roselle drink and he said that it was super nice, especially with the inclusion of a very crunchy roselle bulb.

First off, appetisers. We had the pandan chicken, stuffed prawns and deep-fried calamari.

Appetisers - pandan chicken, stuffed prawns, deep-fried calamari

The pandan chicken was very delicious, definitely one of the better ones I’ve had. You should try it when you pay Coca a visit. The stuffed prawn wasn’t really to my taste, but it’s not bad. I think they had fish paste, prawns and mushroom bits. Tim really loved the deep-fried calamari — that was also when we discovered that Tim’s allergic to shellfish. Hah! There were lots of what looked like crunchy deep-fried flour that came with the calamari. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be garlic! Very nice!

Seafood tom yam, steamed fish with Thai sauce, green chicken curry

The seafood tom yam was somewhat spicy, with very generous portions of seafood. I forgot what type of fish we had, but it was very fresh and rather nice. The green chicken curry was not bad, though it could be improved because I’ve had better somewhere else.

Kailan, prawns, tofu with scallops

The stir-fried kailan was yummy. FA thought it was a tad sweet; later Andrea suggested that maybe the chef had included some fish sauce in the dish. The fresh prawns were deep-fried with oats; sweet and satisfyingly crunchy. While we were trying to cram in as much food into our stomachs as humanly possible, Andrea came around and asked if we would like to try some tofu because she didn’t want Tim to go hungry (him being allergic to prawns and crabs) and he said yes. So a claypot brimming with tofu, mushrooms, mixed vegetables and fresh scallops appeared on our table a little while later. I think Tim whacked most of it, as I was not the bottomless pit as I thought I was.

The big ticket item - chilli crab with crispy man tou

We also had chilli crab, accompanied by deep-fried buns for you to soak up all the sauce that is served with the crab dish. I had most of it because I love crabs. Even then there were lots leftover We did think of you, Kim. According to Andrea, this is a very popular dish at Coca. The sauce is strong, slightly spicy (for me) and when you take a crispy bun to it, it was awesome.

Sago in coconut milk, mango with glutinous rice, red ruby

Then came desserts. My favourite has to be the sago in coconut milk. Well I liked the others — fresh mango with sticky rice and red ruby — as well, but the sago did it for me. For some reason, Ringo cannot take coconut milk, and so she had…

Ringo with her ais kacang

Well, we were thoroughly stuffed at the end of dinner. I still cannot believe that we had so much to eat! I asked Andrea for a quick round-up bill of what we had. She said it would come up to about RM 500. Well, I’m glad that Coca belanja-ed us makan

I was told that there are currently two Coca restaurants in operation — one in Subang Parade where we had dinner, and the other at 1Utama. They are looking to opening another outlet, but have yet to make a decision on the location. You can check out their website for full addresses, contact info and opening hours.

Kepuasan tahap maksima

Well it was a most satisfying meal. I had a lot of trouble walking afterward. Thanks for having us

- Full Flickr set here, including a couple of extra photos and larger sizes. You get the idea.