Tao, Juru Autocity

Was TY's colleague's birthday celebration.


Since I was sponsored, why not? ;) But really, this night totally ruined my diet. But still, exciting!

The decor there is cool, but I don't get why is it that they chose some Thai-inspired with Buddha statues decoration for a Japanese themed restaurant?

These are acceptable lor. Bamboo and lanterns with zen-like man-made pond.

Anyways, we chose to dine buffet style. The difference between buffet and a la carte is that, by buffet, you pay RM45 exclusive of taxes and whatever shit. Prices as stated on the menu t

Papaya wrapped in salmon! The topic then moved on to papaya milk and its miraculous enhancement properties.

I did not really pay attention to the names, but I'll try to describe them as well as I can. This one here is chicken teriyaki kebab with garlic slices.

Deep fried crabmeat with cheese.




Scallops! With thick creamy, slightly spicy sauce. This I give 2 Yums. (5 being the ultimate)



Edamame- one of my faves. I think we ordered like a total of 6 plates? But some batches that came were overcooked and too salty. 1 Yum.

The dish that everyone craves for... But look at the portion! We never had enough and the serving takes an extremely long time to head to our table. Had a total of 5 plates of this.


Soft shell crab sushis.

Grilled squid, salmon, chicken with onions and green capsicum.

Baked Cod fish (?) in the same sauce as the mentioned scallops.

Deep fried mantis shrimps.

Assumed this is stir fried beef in some brown sauce...

This one is really good too! Too bad I cant remember exactly what sort of fish it is.

Kimchi squid. Didn't like this though. Anyway, why the hell is Kimchi doing in a Japanese restaurant?

Abalone!

Oh oh oh! This one is really good, I think it's also cod fish and it's baked to perfection! Very soft and fluffy.

Then tempura! There are tiger prawns and also broccolis and sweet potatoes and carrots I think. Apparently tempura does not originate from Japan (contrary to popular belief) but from Portugese.

The bunch of bottomless pits. That's Kenny at the back from Vistana who got to know Jecilis who used to work there too. Lookie me kimono top, cute eh? :D

Then some sort of dim sum with meat fillings. At the point that this dish arrived, I was on the brink of exploding and I did not try this.

Syok eh! Although by the time this was all over, I was thinking that I might get sick of Japanese food... too bad that was not the case the day after. Anyway I think buffet concepts are very bad for people... After paying for a certain sum of money, you will want to justify that amount by gobbling and stuffing yourself, which is a no-no... especially so when you're hoping to lose some weight.

Never quite get the Buddha concept too.

Will I do it again anyhow? Of course!

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Indiana Jones is one of the movies that I grew up watching! As a kid, I love the adventures, the puzzles and how he solves them.



IJ&KOTCS has all the essential ingredients.... except a good ending. Aliens? Lol... That's pretty far-fetched and er... highly imaginative, but unrealistic and totally bombed the finale.

Then ar, this bloody old man like very besi like that. In a scene where Indy finds himself in a neighbourhood of dummies with made up residences, he realises that it was all for an atomic bomb experiment. Then he quickly stuffs himself into a refridgerator at the very last nano second as the bomb explodes. The fridge then blasted into the night some 2 miles away probably where all the other exposed dummies are burnt to ashes but Indy staggers out of the fridge, unharmed, totally regaining his composure.

Far-fetched.

The Ship Batu Ferringhi

Promised I'd give TY a treat soon as I receive my first pay.

At The Ship Batu Ferringhi.

Called up the restaurant at noon on Saturday to make reservations for two. Told them we'd be there at 7pm.

Planned to go for a movie after dinner, so thought that we'd better head out early, around 6 so that we have enough time to collect our movie tickets and make it for our 7pm dinner. Headed out slightly later than planned, at 6.10 due to unforeseen circumstances. Traffic wasn't bad and we reached Gurney Plaza at 6.30ish. Dressed in a black (not little) dress with "complicated embroidery" little purse my aunt gave me "for work".

By the time we got those tickets safely with us, it was already 6.45pm. Didn't bother to make it on time anyway, cos customers' are always right!

Reached at 7.10pm or so.



Got greeted by this naive looking host in a female sailor uniform. The uniform was a bad fit and she looked like she was confused as to why she was there. Told her about the reservation and she showed us to our seats.

We had a window seat.... with little or no view. The glass window overlooks some shoddy alley to the back of the 'restaurant', or should I say the stern?

Told Mr. Bottomless to order whatever he wants. So long as he enjoys the meal and is properly filled.

A waiter came along to receive our orders and he too, seems lost and appears not to be local and have a bit of a trouble speaking English.

Our extensive menu!

Appetiser:

Hors D'oeuvre.

'Varies of cold appertizers, crabmeat, shrimps, smoked salmon, turkey ham and boiled egg, served with mayonnaise, cocktail sauce, crackers and butter' quoted from www.theship.com.my

Notice some grammatical errors on the menu. I think I have and will never enjoy cooked oyster. That was my only complaint of this dish. Salmon was juicy, ham was average, thousand island complements the shrimps, crabmeat's totally crab meat- unlike those so-called crabmeat.

That's a hard-boiled egg right in the centre.

Soup:

I ordered French baked onion soup.

'Selected onion simmered in thickened beef stock and topped with baked cheese'. Selected onions?

Totally wasn't up to expectation.... The melted cheese on top was burnt charcoal black that gives a burnt taste and it simply wasn't oomph enough... :(

TY ordered an Indonesian Oxtail soup.

'Savoury and spicy soup, brewed with aromatic herbs'

I'd say that I prefer this soup to mine. It had a slightly spicy taste, but it's not overwhelmingly hot, it's just nice.

Also a complementary salad from an ordered main course.

No need introduction gua.... Raw vegs in French dressing.

Requested red wine.... to go with our reds.

I'm not an expert in wine, but TY said that the wine is still relatively young.


Main Course:

Roasted Rack of Lamb.

'Lamb rib topped with kebab sauce served with broccoli spears, grilled herbs tomato and potato gratin'

and

Charbroiled Sirloin Steak

'A selected cut from the loin section, served with prime vegetables, corn on cob, baked potato and a bowl of salad'

and

Grilled Rainbow Trout

'Whole Danish freshwater fish, pan grilled and served with french fries and mini salad'

My favourite among these would be the steak. Cooked to a medium rare, it's very juicy and the meat's tender. My lamb was not bad too, just that the gravy is not quite something that I enjoy. The trout is probably the worst.... it's just like some any other ikan bakar. It's quite hard and has load of bones. Well.... sorry that I'm not quite a fish person... Though I would take salmon or dory any other time.

But the baked potatoes are great lar.... they're served with bacon bits, spring onion and sour cream. Yummers!

We sure did take our time with our meals.... 1 and a half hour later, we're still sitting with bulging bellies while sipping wine... Then how can we possibly stop eating before dessert??

Dessert:

Ice-cream Mocha Cake

It was not the cake of my choice... I wanted chocolate, but they're out of that!... They only have strawberry ice-cream cake, while other options for dessert would be banana split or some other stuff covered in ice-cream.

Anyways, choices aside, the cake was quite good. Though at the time that the cake arrived, this senior staff of the ship came over to our table and made small talk. Had no choice but to layan him while our ice-cream cake slowly melt in front of us :P

And the bill...

Hors D'oeuvre ........................ 30.90 *ka-ching!*

Indonesian Oxtail Soup........... 9.90 *ka-ching!*

Baked Onion Soup.................... 7.90 *ka-ching!*

Sirloin Steak ............................ 47.90 *ka-ching!*

Grilled Rainbow Trout............ 27.90 *ka-ching!*

Roast Rack of Lamb ................ 36.90 *ka-ching!*

Bottle of Red Wine................... 79.90 *ka-ching!*

Ice-cream Mocha cake............ 9.90 *ka-ching!*

Whopping RM288.90!

Thank god I only get a first pay once......

A narrow path off the road

Sometimes you wish
That every part and dot in your life
Stay as they are

Sometimes you wish
That change will bring
Fortune and delight

But along the road
Where bushes cover
Small paths that slopes down

Along the path you look
For forgotten joy
That comes not

Graduate

It's opisial!

How cool is dat? *smug*