Buggy to get to the hotel lobby

Soon-to-be retail outlets

Lobby waiting area

Outside the lobby

The perfect place for a drink?

Water villas from afar

Without further ado, let me show you the 2 villas that we visited.

Towards the rooms

1. IVORY PALM VILLA (2+1BEDROOM) – Normal price RM2,300/night

The Ivory Palm Villa is an award-winning 2+1 bedroom villa, that can accommodate up to 5 persons. The +1 feature is actually a sofa bed in a private study, attached to the living room of the villa. The master room has a 4-poster king-sized bed complete with the mosquito net. But I believe the mosquito net was there for decorative purpose rather than functional, for during my visit there I didn’t really encounter any mosquitoes. Plus, the room was fully-air conditioned.

King sized bed

Master bedroom

Decorative picture on the wall

I loved the bathroom design! It’s so spacious and comes with 2 sinks! Now I don’t have to wait for my turn to use the sink every morning.

Bathroom with 2 sinks

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Roasted whole lamb with Chef Saiful

Nasi Bukhari

Row of claypots

Ayam masak madu

Otak-otak Muar

Bubur Lambuk

Ikan Bakar Umbai

Lemang

Ikan Masak Sri Siantan

I wonder why, most of the time I have Ramadhan buffets, I’d go for the satay first! They’re usually the first to be cleared from the buffet table and they seldom go wrong with me. Chicken satay is my favourite!

Beef Satay (Satay Daging)

Chicken Satay (Daging Ayam)

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Villas on the sea #1

Villas on the sea #2

Dining by the sea

Are you attracted already? Some of you might already know that this place is called Golden Palm Tree in Sepang Gold Coast. This luxurious and secluded resort has just been launched earlier this year and it’s usually NOT open to public. You need to be guest of the resort in order to be able to enter this amazing 5-star resort by the sea. Therefore, privacy is guaranteed.

Towards the restaurant

However, for the Ramadan month ONLY, the public are allowed to enter the premises of Golden Palm Tree if they are going for the Ramadan Buffet in their restaurant. Isn’t this a great opportunity for you to explore the place without having to splurge on a room? That’s what I did!

Entrance to the restaurant

Table for us!

The theme for Ramadan buffet at Golden Palm Tree is Malindo Festival by the Beach, where Malindo stands for Malaysia and Indonesia. So yes! You can expect some Indonesian cuisine in this glorious buffet spread. Since the food spread is huge, I’m just going to let the pictures do the talking from now! Shall we?

Ice sculpture

Whole roasted lamb with herbs

All kinds of bread – ask for the white chocolate bread, out of this world!

Sauteed fresh prawns

Grilled fish

Squid rings

Kerabu

Prawn salad

Four-angled beans

Stir fried potatoes

Broccoli and mushroom

Brussel sprouts

Rendang

Chicken and prawn stay

Beef satay

Chicken satay

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Mango Lassi (RM3.50)

I don’t why but whenever we eat BLR, we’ll definitely order Mango Lassi. It’s like the default drink to be ordered with BLR. Perhaps the sweet and milky lassi works well to complement the hot and spicy curry from the rice?

Unlimited side dishes of BLR

One thing most guys love about BLR is that you get served with unlimited side dishes, rice and papadam! Oh yes, papadam! In Sri Paandi, there were about 4 side dishes served, ranging from long beans, potatoes, pickled cucumber and acar. Of course, don’t forget the papadam. And the gravy! There is chicken, fish and dhal to be chosen, also unlimited.

Chicken curry, fish curry and dhal

Smother the rice with as much gravy as you want. Mix and match or just stick to one type. Saucer requested to mix all 3 types of gravy onto his rice.

BLR with generous amount of gravy (RM4)

And if you’re not satisfied with just vegetables, there are side dishes to be chosen from – ranging from Chicken, Mutton, Beef or Fish. He chose with piece of Fried chicken which was just out of the wok. Still smoking hot and smelling delicious!

Add on a piece of Fried Chicken

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Sushi bar area of Wasabi Bistro

Dated back from as far as 1988, Wasabi Bistro’s first outlet was launched in Hawaii. Now with an outlet in Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur, this restaurant is subtly decorated with exquisite Japanese art and artifacts, while the dining areas have been designed to offer guests the utmost privacy without confining them to small, tight spaces. Resplendent with oriental motifs, the silver cushioned wicker furniture accents the marble and wood toned interiors.

Kumi’s #1

Apart from showcasing authentic recipes using top notch ingredients, Wasabi Bistro menu boasts of Californian-Japanese cuisine. Our dinner started with the delicate-looking and golden Kumi’s No. 1 Special, which had crab meat mix and avocado wrapped with white fish and baked in a gloriously decadent secret sauce.

Kumi’s No. 1 (USD4)

At first glance, the appetizer was simply too pretty to be eaten. Even the plate was exquisite and elegant. But the aroma beckoned and I couldn’t resist it. The first bite proved the taste to be as good, if not better, than the looks. Warm and juicy crab meat mixed very well with the secret sauce, and the addition of avocado gave it a creamy finish. Simply decadent!

Kumi’1 No. 1 special – a delightful combination

When the second dish arrived, it took us a while to figure out that it was actually made from a papaya! Yes, a real papaya! The Papaya Motoyaki was a papaya boat filled with seafood and baked with motoyaki sauce. This was another masterpiece that I enjoyed to bits! Chunks of fresh seafood were buried inside the sweet papaya, topped with gorgeous cheese browned to perfection. I would have thought the combination of savoury seafood and sweet papaya to be awkward, but boy, was I wrong! The genius of the chef managed to balance the savoury with the sweet, resulting in a combination that was unlike anything that I’ve tasted before. Yes, it’s that good!

Papaya Motoyaki (USD13)

The first 2 dishes set such high standards for the rest of the dishes that night! The Fillet of Ahi or seared tuna in special own recipe was done just right with just enough of pink in the middle and perfectly cooked at the sides. This was a little on the salty side, not unlike any meat that is smoked.

Fillet of Ahi

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Now, you know very well that I have since permed my hair curly. But just to show you how powerful OSIS styling products are, I’m going to experiment with my curly hair using the OSIS Soft N’ Straight!

OSIS Soft N’ Straight

Benefits of OSIS Soft N’ Straight:

• Works significantly to prevent split ends & hair-breakage.
• Smooth silky consistency makes easy work of sleek styling.
• Protects from blow-dry heat.

Just to make sure I started with a clean slate, I shampooed my hair first and towel dried it.

Damp hair after shampoo

Squeezed a coin-size amount of Soft N’ Straight onto my fingers and smoothed through a portion of my hair. I only tried it on the front part of my hair so that you could see the difference between my curly and the resulting straight hair.

Coin-size Soft N’ Straight

And lo and behold, after blow drying the portion of my hair, it became silky straight and soft! It’s amazing! Even my curly hair was transformed into silky straight, so if you had straight hair, I’m sure the effect would be even better! I was expecting my hair to be hard after applying styling products on it, but no – Soft N’ Straight really made my hair naturally soft without the greasy and hard after effect of styling products. I’d definitely get this when I decide to have straight hair in the future.

Silky smooth and soft straight hair

To compare with my curly hair, I used the OSIS 4-Play moulding paste, which had a control level of 2. The benefits of 4-play:

• Smooth style separation.
• Mouldable! You can reshape your hair any time in any way.
• Natural shine & feel.
• Perfect base to intermix and personalize.

OSIS 4-Play moulding paste

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We looked through the menu, discussed on what to order and about 5-10 minutes later, we asked for the waitress to come over. And what happened?

Waitress: “No more orders for the day”
Me: “What do you mean? Why?”
Waitress: “We have a big booking later, no more orders for now”

Goodness! Was she joking? I actually demanded to ask for the owner, but she just shook her head. In the end, there was nothing left for us to do but leave. But oh my goodness! How could they do business like that? Firstly, they’re supposed to be open until 3pm and we were there at 2.30pm. Secondly, IF they decided to close kitchen earlier, they should have informed us BEFORE we entered. And thirdly, why in the world did they give us menus if they were not going to serve any food? Mind-boggling, don’t you think? And needless to say, I was more than upset for making good recommendations to my mother-in-law and Saucer, and making him drive all the way there, only to end up with disappointment!

Since I was not familiar with the surrounding area, I told Saucer to fetch us home instead. Along the way back though, I spotted a cute little shop along Jalan Puchong selling Mee Jawa. Even though it was already nearly 3pm by then, I wasn’t really in the mood to eat but that’s just me. So, for the sake of feeding the rest, we stopped by this restaurant and saw that the interior of the restaurant was decorated ‘kampung’-style, rustic and charming.

Mee Jawa

Seeing all the rattan furniture and decoration, especially those rattan trays on the wall, reminded me of my grandma. When she fried those raw groundnuts with skin, she’d put the cooked nuts onto the rattan tray to rub their skin away. Then I’d be sitting next to her, helping her fan off the flying brown skin. It’s a pretty sight, really.

Rattan trays on the wall

I love all the wooden and rattan furniture used in the restaurant. By now, my mood had enlightened tremendously and I was ready to order.

Rattan lamps

Marble tables

Don’t you miss rattan chairs? Sometimes, it’s good to be reminded of where we came from, to know how far we’ve gone. Indeed, back in my younger days, we only sat on rattan chairs whenever we had breakfast in the market. Some of them had backs where we could lean on, and some didn’t. And more often than not, I’d see chairs with distorted or broken rattan jutting out due to age and over-utilization. Of course, all the chairs here in Mee Jawa Restaurant are in impeccable condition, you don’t have to worry about rattan poking into your backside or anything.

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Brisk crowd on a week night

Thanks to invitation by Via, we were there one night to try out MOVIDA’s food. Seeing such a busy crowd downstairs, we were lucky to have the VIP area reserved for us upstairs. MOVIDA boasts of contemporary club design with clean and minimalist lines that is mellowed with the warmth of traditional charm.

VIP area upstairs

Most club lounges or pubs are only famous for their beers or alcoholic cocktails, but MOVIDA also strives to shine in the culinary department. The kitchen prepared fabulous food such as this plate of Seared Scallops with mango chili salsa, alfalfa and basil. It’s bite-sized goodness was perfect as finger food during parties. The combination of lightly seared scallop with sweet mango and spicy salsa was just too delicious! I would have had another one if I could. *LOL*

Seared Scallops

Another bite-sized snack was Sauteed Prawns on grilled zucchini, aioli and aragula. As expected from MOVIDA kitchen, the prawns were reasonably large and succulent. Presentation was simple yet classy.

Sauteed Prawns

The Char Grilled Lamb was served with mint sauce and sweet potato, and surprisingly had no gamey taste at all. Tender and juicy would describe the lamb very well, coupled with the delicious mint sauce.

Char Grilled Lamb

A more conventional meal would be Country Style Roast Chicken with grilled sweet potatoes, corn on cob and mushroom gravy. The portion of this dish was pretty sizable, with a whole half chicken on the plate! The chicken was roasted just right without drying out the meat. The chef was smart to have drenched the whole plate with delicious mushroom gravy.

Country Style Roast Chicken

When the Fillet of Salmon with zucchini ribbon, boiled baby potatos and spicy tomato sauce was served, I knew it would taste great even before I ate it. Why? The fragrant was just so tempting and the presentation was attractive. And I was right! The salmon was fresh, flaky and smooth, almost melt-in-your-mouth like. Definitely a must try!

Fillet of Salmon

If you fancy seafood, there’s Spaghetti Aglio-Olio Seafood that is tossed with olive oil, chilli, parsley and basil. When I was much younger, I used to fancy spaghetti with tomato sauce, but now, I think aglio-olio is the only way to go with spaghetti! MOVIDA does it just how I’d like it to be, with a dash of spiciness from the chilli flakes. Of course, I’d have been more liberal with the chilli flakes.

Spaghetti Aglio-Olio with Seafood

MOVIDA understands the clubbers so well that they have come up with a concoction for clubbers who are hungry for snacks! Instead of just potato chips or the common fries, there’s now Clubber’s Platter which had chicken wings, sauteed lamb sausages, potato wedges and grilled squid. Can you blame the clubbers for not drinking now?

Clubber’s Platter

If you’re bored with Clubber’s Platter, there’s also MOVIDA Platter, which had quesadillas, chicken wings, tempura calamari and prawn served with Thai chilli sauce.

MOVIDA Platter

One of the thing I love about MOVIDA’s food was their pizzas! Seriously good! And can you blame me for drooling? Look at the almost paper-thin pizza crust! I love my pizzas to have thin crusts, the thinner the better. And I’m sure I speak for most people when I say it’s not common to find very thin pizza crusts in Malaysia. The Smoked Salmon Flambe had a decent amount of salmon slices and mushrooms on top of the cheese-laden paper thin crust.

Smoked Salmon Flambe – Gorgonzola & Mushroom

The Beef Bacon Flambe had a generous amount of beef bacon and mushroom, but this was not my favourite because I don’t like onions!

Beef Bacon Flambe – Mushroom, Onion and Cheese

Pepperoni with capsicum

witch and Saucer <3

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Sandwiches to break fast?

4 Course meal – Buka Puasa in Irish Way

The Buka Puasa set meal (RM36.90) consists of 4 courses:

• Soup
• Salad
• Main course (Select 1 from Special menu of sandwiches)
• Dessert
• Complimentary: Soya bean/watermelon juice, Irish Cream Coffee and Sweetie Dates

We started with a bowl of warm mushroom soup which came very handy in whetting up our appetite!

Mushroom soup

As for the sandwiches, one could choose any of the sandwiches in the Buka Puasa list, some of which are shown below.

Myriad of ingredients for sandwiches

Variety of fruit juices or soft drinks, if you prefer

The Chicken Slice & Cheddar Cheese on Shambo was served on a reasonably sized foccacia bread with melting cheese that was warm to bite. This is a healthier version of a chicken sandwich since the chicken was boiled and not deep fried. Also, the addition of cheese made the otherwise bland chicken taste so much better.

Chicken Slice & Cheddar Cheese on Shambo (RM15.50)

For the conventional, the Tuna Swiss Melt is exactly the type of sandwich that one would prepare at home – soft and warm toasted bread with loads of tuna, melting cheese, lettuce and lots of honey mustard sauce. Just the way O’Briens does it.

Tuna Swiss Melt (RM14.10)

If you’re on a low carb diet, fret not! There’s also the wrappo version in the list. One of them was the Chicken Rendang Wrappo, which was designed especially for the month of Ramadhan. The chicken rendang was flavourful with a touch of herbs, while the tomatoes provided a tangy twist to the wrappo, making you crave for more after each bite.

Chicken Rendang Wrappo

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Interior of Little Jakarta

Ice Lemon Tea (RM2.50)

Saucer and I heard of this restaurant and decided to give it a try one night after work. After asking for recommendations, we settled for several of their signature dishes, starting with the Nasi Goreng Jakarta, or Jakarta fried rice. I could really do away with those coloured crackers but otherwise, the rice was fried fragrant, using fresh prawns and squid rings. The fried shallots sprinkled on top gave a slight crunchiness to the rice.

Nasi Goreng Jakarta (RM5.90)

My favourite of the night would be the Nasi Uduk Komplit with a piece of fried chicken or Kremes Chicken. The chicken was extremely crispy and flavourful, and went very well with the sambal on the side. I also liked the fact that the rice was not overly oily, and the portion was pretty big for one person. Combined that with the very reasonable price, you’ve got yourself a very good deal!

Nasi Uduk Komplit (RM8.50)

When we asked the owner for something spicy, he recommended us the Crispy Sambal Ijo Flying Fish which was not on the menu! By now, I have learnt that the term ‘Ijo’ meant green or ‘Hijau’ in Malay. This fish was served with green and red chilli, giving it the extra spicy kick. The crispy outside and flaky inside made the fish a delight to savour, although I would prefer it to be spicier. But that’s just me.

Crispy Sambal Ijo Flying Fish (RM7.90)

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