Hari Merdeka Malaysia!

Hari Merdeka! That’s the Independence Day for Malaysia which is on 31st August every year. This is to commemorate the independence of the Federation of Malaya from the British colonial rule in 1957. The theme for year 2014 is “Malaysia, Where Love Grows”.

The demographics of Malaysia are represented by the multi-ethnic communities that exist in this country. The Department of Statistics Malaysia reported Malaysia’s population, as of April 2013, is estimated to be 29,620,200. Out of this number, the Bumiputeras including Malays were 62.3%, the Chinese 22%, the Indians 6.7%, other races (citizens) 0.9% and non-citizens at 8.1%.

Malaysia flag…

 Here are some facts about Malaysia…

• The largest cave chamber in the world is the Sarawak Chamber in Gunung Mulu National Park in Sarawak, which can easily accommodate a Boeing 747-200.
• The largest flower in the world is Rafflesia, which can be found in SABAH.
• THE largest undivided leaf in the world, Alocasia macrorrhiza, comes from Sabah. A specimen found in 1966 was 3.02 metres long and 1.92 metres wide.
• MALAYSIA is home to 14,500 species of flowering plants and trees, more than 200 species of mammals, 600 species of bids, 140 species of snakes and 60 species of lizards.
• SIPADAN Island off Sabah is one of the world’s top diving spots.
• AT 421 metres high, the Kuala Lumpur Tower is the seventh tallest telecommunication tower in the world.
• The Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur were the world’s tallest buildings from 1998-2004 and remain the tallest twin towers in the world.
• Penang St. George Church, built in 1818, is the oldest Anglican church in Southeast Asia.
• THE Penang Bridge is the third longest in Asia at 13.7 km.
• There are 878 islands in Malaysia. Sabah has the most at 394.
• The tropical rain forests of Malaysia are the mother of all rain forests. At 130 million years, they are even older than the tropical forests of the Amazon and Congo Basins.

Hope you had a good read on these fast facts! :)

Jibby & Co Empire Subang… Love the food here!

Well, this is a new ‘makan’ place in Empire Mall Subang Jaya. The restaurant is located on GK11 which is right outside of Starbucks. I was quite excited to try out this place.

 

The concept of the restaurant is quite cool! It looks like a glass-green-house concept. The seating areas are on ground floor and the 1st floor. When I was there, the place was quite packed with lunch crowd.  They have good spread of menus here; breakfast, finger food, salad, steak, burgers, pasta, pizza, Asian and off course, dessert.

After browsing through the menu, I decided to try out the Soft Shell Crab Burger on Brioche (RM32). Since I was here with a bunch of people, the food took a while to reach us. Anyway I was quite excited to indulge the burger.

Here is the burger! The soft shell crab was fried well and seemed fresh to me. The seasoning of coating of the soft shell crab is just nice, not to over-powering.  They had the Asian coleslaw on the burger buns which tasted pretty normal. Served with sweet potato friends and spicy sauce.

We also had Shredded Duck Pasta which was really good! Another pasta dish I had tasted was the Tiger prawn & Blue Swimmer Crab pasta which was good as well.  Here are the pictures!

  

The have cakes on display and some looked really yummy. If that doesn’t tickle your taste bud, you can always order from the menu. I had the flat white coffee (no pictures sorry!) which was okay.

 Overall, like the food. Service was good except the food and drinks which arrived late. The seating area on 1st floor (where I was at) is quite warm. Although there are some air-con vents but it feels warm most likely due to the glass house concept. Perhaps a mist-fan will do the trick? Something to really consider about. The desserts and coffee are good as well and decent price. I cant wait to go back and try out other dishes!

Visited in June 2014. How would I rate them? The atmosphere 4/5, Service 3.5/5, F&B 4.5/5.

Caffe Bene @ Sunway Pyramid

I was out with few friends for dinner @ Sunway Pyramid mall. After our dinner, they were very

excited to go to the new Korean coffee place for some drinks and dessert. 

I am not a big fan of anything Korean, anyway I thought, let give it a try!

We ordered few coffee drinks and some desserts. We had to wait for a while for our drinks and desserts to be ready. Apparently, they prepared a few of our orders but were waiting for the whole order to be ready before alerting us its ready. But wouldn’t the hot coffee be cold by then?

It would defeat the purpose of me ordering it hot!

Anyway, what do I think of it? The coffee was so so. The iced latte was nothing fantastic, tasted diluted. The flat white was okay. The dessert was nice but nothing out of this world. 

We had a chocolate tart and hazelnut waffle. The price seems a bit steep for such place. 

Limited seating in this outlet so better check out whether there is vacant table before placing order.

When did I visit this place: May 2014. 

How would I rate them? The atmosphere 3/5, Service 3/5, F&B 3/5.

Serai @ Paradigm Mall, Kelana Jaya

I was here during lunch time with colleagues. I have visited their outlet in Empire and in Paradigm Mall. This review is based on my recent visit to their outlet at Paradigm Mall.

Serai – Menu

Serai – Menu

Serai – Menu

Serai Restaurant Paradigm Mall

We were there early so it was not that packed. After browsing the menu we then placed our orders; Nasi Kerabu (RM22), Nasi Ambang (RM20) and Serai platter (RM25).

I had the Nasi Kerabu, which is a blue coloured rice served with ayam percik, salted duck egg, ulam (local salad), solok lada (stuffed chili) and keropok ikan (fish crackers). This dish is typically served in East of Malaysia (Kelantan and Terengganu) and you can have it any time of the day as it is served widely there. Did I like it? Yes, it was pretty good! The ayam percik was good, tender and juicy. The rice is cooked well. The ulam was good well. Overall I like it!

Nasi Kerabu @ Serai

My friends had the nasi ambang and serai platter which ruled out to be good as well. The portion of the food is more than sufficient for one.

Nasi Ambang @ Serai

Serai Platter

We had Hazelnut Roche (pavlova) and a Varlhona Choco (a moist chocolate cake), RM15.90 each. The chocolate cake was not too bad. I personally prefer the hazelnut pavlova. Why? It has the right amount of chocolate in between the hazelnut pavlova and sprinkes of nuts in between.

Hazelnut Roche Pavlova

Varlhona Chocolate cake

The service here was generally efficient. The place got a bit crowded after a while as it was lunch hour hence getting a staff to you did take a while. I asked for additional sambal which took a while to get. Anyway, I would recommend this place for the food and pleasant dining experience. I have not tried their western food but should I do, you guys will be the first one to know.

The damage @ Serai.

When did I visit this place: June 2014. 

How would I rate them? The atmosphere: 4 out of 5, Service: 4/5, F&B 4.5/5.

It is Halal restaurant.