KAMPUNGBOYCITYGAL A MALAYSIAN FOOD & TRAVEL BLOG

Focusing on non halal local hawker fare, it is not difficult to guess that the newly opened E.A.T Food Village at Publika shopping gallery became my favourite lunching place. It brings together some of the best hawker food vendors from Klang Valley and North Peninsular Malaysia under one (air-conditioned) roof.

The decor reminds diner of yesteryear; with shop facades that look as though time freezes at 1950’s, Chinese calligraphy, poems, paintings and lingering Chinese oldies.

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GTower, a new working concept incorporating office space, members-only private club and a boutique hotel called The G City Club Hotel, is strategically located at the crossroads of Jalan Tun Razak and Jalan Ampang in Kuala Lumpur.

It is also the first dully certified green building in Malaysia, awarded by the BCA Green Mark scheme.

People who do their bit for the environment when they’re at home can now do the same when they’re staying in a hotel like the GTower Hotel. Thanks to the management of GTower Hotel, we get to spend a night at the hotel to experience some of the ‘green’ features that the hotel has to offer.

The boutique style hotel, with only 180 rooms, is occupying three storeys of the GTower building. Spanning 36 sq meter, my executive club room has all the basic amenities that one needs. It is modern, contemporary trendy with large king size bed, spacious bathrooms and bespoke toiletries. The bed was so soft and luxurious that I konked out in no time. And in the next morning, me and my girlfriend find it extremely difficult to wake up for breakfast. :p

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Bridge Bar is an exclusive and intimate bar located at the sky bridge linking the twin GTower buildings on the 28th floor. By exclusive I mean it is strictly accessible by hotel guests and club members only. However, the management  indicated that they will be opening to the public in near term. Hurray!! members of the public wishing to visit the Bridge Bar will be charged a RM50 cover charge which includes 1 drink, payable at the Front Counter of The Club.

The place is beautiful during the day, as well as when the night falls. Let’s see…

DAY

Set high above the modern hustle & bustle of KL, Bridge Bar is a perfect place to get an bird’s eye view of the city.

The bar is a modern and stylish watering hole. I especially love those reflective glass ceilings – everything looks better with a glass ceiling!
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Together with AiWei and a girlfriend, we had a great weekend at GTower Hotel, thanks to the hotel management and VK for extending the invitation. We were also given the privilege to dine at Trattoria Tanzini, an elegant Italian restaurant that occupies the 28th and 29th floor. If it’s the perfect view that makes you feel romantic, you can do no better than Tanzini that overlooks the city skyline.

Tanzini is fine dining in every sense of the word, with its sleek styling and its menu crafted for multicourse dining.
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It’s that time of the year again. When the moon is at its roundest, children light lanterns and families devour mooncake which symbolizes reunion.

Nothing is more synonymous with the moon festival than the mooncake. It seems like hotels and restaurants have an early start on moon cake this year. The flavor selection is also getting better each year. Truffles, durian,  birdnest, cheese, bacon, you name it, they have got it.

We were fortunate enough to be invited for an early sampling of Toh Lee’s latest mooncake offerings with an unique theme of “Five Elements”.

Toh Lee has also put a lot of thoughts in the the packaging. The octagon boxes with 8 sides carry auspicious colors of red and yellow. It just make a perfect gift to friends and families, and perhaps future in laws?
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I admit, I was skeptical towards halal dim sum, why would anyone want to pay so much for halal dim sum when the real thing is easily available? However, everyone, including our Muslim acquaintances deserves a fair opportunity to enjoy these tantalizing and dainty little goods that “touch your heart”, literally.

I was so glad that I tagged along for lunch at Restaurant MinMax, a halal Chinese place that comes highly recommended by my boss. A glance through its extensive menu offering various Chinese dishes and dim sums was enough to my salivary glands into overdrive.

The dim sum was decent, a somewhat hit and miss to be exact, but it is definitely a restaurant to return to again, considering the price that we paid for (approximately RM 17 per head) because a halal dim sum affair at hotels would cost a boom anytime.

Minmax Restaurant
PNB Darby Park
Jalan Binjai
50450 Kuala Lumpur
03 – 7490 3333

Pictures Says It All

Turning 23, it is time for me to take on more responsibilities. I am so proud of myself because I cast my vote and it does make a difference because the oppositions will form a new government in Perak after securing majority of the state seats. I am glad that I can finally stand on my own feet (welcome to the rat race!) but at the same time I can’t help but to simultaneously echoing the glory days of my pre 20’s.

So, on my birthday, I was given a dinner treat to stave off the ravages of time at Trader’s Hotel. We were torn between Gobo Upstairs and Gobo Chit Chat. Gobo Chit Chat has entrancing light animation displayed on the ceiling but it has a more casual ambience while Gobo Upstairs, with tall glass windows where you can take in a great view of KL city is simply elegant. Casual or Elegant? Fancy Ceiling or KL view? We settled for Gobo Upstairs eventually.

We were brought to a quaint little corner facing the Exxon Mobil building. At another side of the restaurant is the lounge, where you can have a drink or two while overlooking the magnificent view of KLCC.

MENU

Complimentary bread was served warm. The crusty bread was nice to be eaten on its own but it tastes even better with the truffle butter. How often do you see a restaurant serving you with FREE truffle butter nowadays?

Our order of brandy flamed lobster bisque with chocolate oil arrived shortly (RM 26++ each). It was rich and sweet and flavourful but too salty that I have to dunk thick wodges of bread in it to balance the saltiness.

Being the coward eater, we go for the recommended dishes. My order of lamb shank (RM 38++) is wonderfully flavourful and tender, the meat falls off the bone with some evil little fatty shards.

KampungBoy loves his beef short ribs (RM 38++) to every bit; the meat was cooked to perfection while the merlot based concoctions  were remarkably rich and complex.

Good Food Make A Happy Girl

The meal finishes on a sweet note where KampungBoy has earlier aligned a little surprise for me at the lounge area. The initial plan was to proceed to Sky Bar for desserts and drinks but I got suspicious when the waiter urged us to the lounge area.

Suddenly behind the bar area, I saw the waiter carrying a candle lit cake and walking towards us. It was chocolate fondant with raspberry and filo pastry with minted scrattiatella ice cream (RM 18++). Pheew what a long name!

KampungBoy sang a cool rendition of the common birthday song with tweaked lyrics. It was hilarious. The night did not end here, we proceeded to SkyBar……

A quaint restaurant plopped amidst the busy KLCC area, Gobo Upstairs has the best food and excellent services for the most reasonable price; the total bill came less than RM 200 for a 3 course meal. 2 hours of parking is free upon validation for total bill above RM 250. However, for those who pay less than RM 250, you can park your car at Suria KLCC (RM 7 flat after 5 pm) and take a slow walk  instead of going into the hotel’s parking which charge a higher rate.

GOBO UPSTAIRS LOUNGE AND GRILL
Traders Hotel
Kuala Lumpur City Centre
50088 Kuala Lumpur
Reservations: +603–2332 9888

After an exhausting evening of distributing questionaires to 20 hotels in KL area (for assignment purposes), we ended up at KLCC for dinner. We were extremely hungry and everyone hopes to have something with B-I-G portion for dinner! So our destination is Chilis!

Since it was dinner time, the place was jam packed with people (There were cute Ang Mohs around too!). After 15 min of waiting, finally we were seated. This is my first here, my previous experiences in Midvalley Chilis are not really good, service are not prompt and the I suspect that they overload with MSG as I got very thirsty each time after my meal.

My all time favourite – Old timer (RM 14.95). I request for my meat to be half done, it turned out to be soooo juicy! If you love mustard and pickles then you would find this delicious!


Cajun chicken sandwich Awesome Blossom strings that June had (RM19.95).

Ally and Leeping ordered the same thing – BBQ ranch (RM 17.95). They love the bbq sauce and ranch dressing!

Suyen had this – Grilled Chicken (RM 19.95). Surprisingly the breast meat is tender and juicy! As you can see the meat is topped with swiss cheese and honey mustard dressing.

Suyen found this encouraging because she loves hot and spicy food!

My chocolate shake (RM8). Its good but you can get something like this from Mcd for only RM 2.50. :p

Bottomless orange juice

Bottomless ice lemon tea. The waiters are prompt in getting ur drinks refill. This outlet has better service and greater food quality. No wonder it was jam packed during peak hour.

Five of us finished one bottle of Heinz Chilli Sauce there. This is not amazing enough as my friend and her two sisters can clear up 3 bottles of tabasco at Chilis!