kuala lumpur | I am Danny Foo

The Doubletree by Hilton affair

Me and Ariel attended the wedding planning party organized by Doubletree Hilton Kuala Lumpur. Purpose of me visiting is to learn where I can, at the same time meet up with my friend who I thought would be there. Unfortunately, she had an emergency.

Nonetheless, I happened to bump into my friend’s sister with her parents and even a Webcamper! Lol. So small is the world we live in. 🙂

The first part of the party was kicked off with a fashion show by wedding couture designers – Carven Ong and Eric Choong.

And emceeing the event was William who’s a radio host, from which station I do not know.

By the end of Carven’s show, me and Ariel were pretty hungry since we didn’t really have breakfast and not grab a light snack before heading over. I was hungers till my tummy started growling.

When the show continued, we listened to both master photographers; Jim Liaw and Zung talk about their work and what couples should be doing when wanting to engage a photographer. There was a real difference in presentation and style from the works of both photographers.

Beyond the memories is the ka-ching machine

But we’ve already found our master photographer – you’ll know soon enough.

Nearing the end of the event, I was looking out for people from Wishing Tree because I wanted to touch base with them on decoration ideas we had. At the same time, have a better idea of the budget we should be allocating. It so happened we bumped into them when I was just thinking about it – the universe is amazing. 😉

We didn’t stay until the end but congratulations to the couple who walked away with the Conrad Bangkok package. And thanks to Doubletree for inviting us.

P.S.: Only had my trusty iPhone 3GS with me and I still miss you, Steve. 🙁

The Italian Lunch

Burp! Whoops. Excuse moi. It must have been the most awesome beef lasagna I’ve tasted – ever.

Me, Ariel and Hawk went to lunch at the Favola Italian Restaurant in Le Meridien, Kuala Lumpur. Obviously being Malaysian, we only went there because we had a bargain to enjoy. Lol. So don’t think I get to enjoy this kind of lunch ever so often, okay?! 😛

The last time I spoke about bread was my date night with Ariel at Opus Bistro. Over back at Favola, we were served 5 types of bread – yes, each bread stick was different too. I don’t know their names but let’s call them; bread stick, chilli stick, pie stick, fluffy bread and chilli bread.

The chilli stick and chilli bread had some chilli flakes mixed into it. I guess it’s to give our Malaysian taste buds that kick we need most of the time. The pie stick texture taste reminded me of what you’d get when you ate chicken pie or puffs, hence the name I chose; pie stick. LOL!

We couldn’t really enjoy the vinegar with olive oil because there was too much olive oil. The only thing the bread absorbed was oil, as much as we did our best to drill the bread to the bottom.

This was Hawk’s dish and I was really captivated by the colour. You hardly find restaurants who serve this actually get the squid ink colour correct. Mixed with some chilli flakes, this serving was light and it should be enjoyed by those who don’t like an overpowering flavour.

Those are beef bacon – not bacon bacon. 😛 But the best part of this dish was the pasta. Its texture is completely different from what I’ve tasted. The sauce didn’t look too thick and the serving would be just nice for a guy.

Yes, this signature dish of Favola has got Wagyu beef cheeks in it. And it was all mine! Bwahahahahaha! The Wagyu pieces were just nice in size and without having to say much, it was tender when chewed. It gave the whole lasagna taste in your mouth a different feeling. And, don’t underestimate the portion because it’s just nice. Plus, we didn’t even order starters.

Hawk tried their Tiramisu and yes, the glass was bigger than your normal serving. It was about 4-5 inches tall. Though those bubbles were quite the fugly when you stare at it. LOL!

Like miners, me and Hawk dug into the Tiramisu figuring out where is the coffee – we heard rumors of Illy coffee in it. 😛

It was a really satisfying lunch and the 3 of us nearly wanted to roll out of the restaurant. Its setting was a classic masquerade with comfy chairs, which I believe come night, there’ll be a lot of people. So, if you’re planning to head there for some Wagyu lasagna, make sure you make reservations.

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Italian food at Trattoria Cucina Italiana

One of the hidden gems in Kuala Lumpur beneath a corporate tower is Trattoria Cucina Italiana, which of course means they’re an Italian restaurant. It’s a cozy place which serves some authentic Italian pasta, pizza along with other Italian food on your mind.

Me and some friends visited this Italian restaurant awhile back – missed posting this, because some of them bought the coupon wanting to tryout the food. And being Malaysian as a Malaysian can be, we had to go makan-lah. 😛

The road to the restaurant wasn’t exactly straight-forward because it’s found on the ground floor of the Perkasa Tower, nearby Beach Club thereabout. Parking in the building tells you its either old (narrow ramps) or maybe everyone were driving old minis previously. *shrug*

Authentic styles normally are consistently good – taste wise. We started with some bruschetta and I think, risotta balls. Our main meals were pasta – wasn’t runny nor too thick, and it made sure we had space in our stomachs for pizza and even some dessert.

italian food — Bruschetta, pasta, beef and pizza

All of us agreed the food was satisfying and we wouldn’t mind returning for another meal in the future. I can’t recall how much I paid for two (me and Ariel didn’t get the coupon) but I think our meal was around RM65-75 per person.

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My Frenching Experience in Cafe Cafe

Last weekend, me and my now fiance celebrated a friend’s birthday at a French restaurant hidden in Jalan Maharajalela called Cafe Cafe. To be honest, the only French restaurant I’ve been and know is Lafitte in Shangri-la hotel. That was my birthday with my family several years ago – yes, it was shockingly very expensive.

So anyway, Cafe Cafe looked pretty easy to find based on Google Maps.

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And I wasn’t really wrong. It took me a small circle to find the turn-in to the row where the restaurant was located. However, it was weird having to walk to a certain corner of the building to enter this French restaurant.

I’m not going to describe how beautiful the interior was but just let you have a look around the place for yourself.

It’s a very romantic and quiet dining environment, even when we were there on a weekend. There were only a few couples sitting inside as we walked in – definitely a good place to put on your ‘paktor’ list.

I already knew what to order after browsing the Cafe Cafe website. They have their full menu online which includes the drinks and even sets. So you won’t have to get a heart attack or hide that sad face when you pay later. Lol.

The primary reason we wanted to celebrate at a French restaurant was to try the cuisine called; foie gras. Better known as, duck liver or fat liver as interpreted by Wikipedia. This delicacy is nothing like eating your chicken or beef liver. The outer layer was very soft and crisp to give it a very light crunch while the meat, if you could call it that, was so soft it melts in your mouth. It ain’t like chocolate but the exploding taste and melting feeling in your mouth easily made it my favorite of the night.

Having the set that night, my meal started with the chef’s special which was a slice of salmon, cucumber and carrot wrapped together. Then came my order of escargots – snails, if you didn’t know. In a basic butter with garlic preparation, the escargots were quite satisfying but I still prefer the ones at Lobsterman.

The next course was a mushroom soup which tasted a little diluted to me. Then came my main course – lamb shank.

Truthfully, I didn’t want to put any expectations on the lamb shank once I read VKeong’s experience. But with an open mind, its taste definitely wasn’t the usual preparation of lamb shank. The sauce used isn’t your typical western preparation – brown and a little salty. This was a little sour but had a very full taste.

Being foodies, we cut bite sized pieces of whatever we ordered and barter trade to compare our dishes. Between the group, I had a piece of chicken and cod fish. Again, the fish wasn’t prepared in its usual manner. It had this sea taste but not fishy.

After the mains, I still had a raspberry sherbet to most likely clean the palette. My last dish of the night was the mango mousse dessert which completed my meal rather nicely. I wasn’t overly full but just nice.

So to say the least, it was a good frenching experience and I wouldn’t mind coming back again.

Uniqlo Malaysia and the Exchange Policy

I headed down today for Day 2 since Uniqlo Malaysia opened at Fahrenheit 88, Kuala Lumpur.

uniqlo malaysia entrance

Traffic was smooth sailing thanks to the public holiday; Deepavali. But I was greeted again by the queue which had already started at Uniqlo Malaysia. 0.0

Don’t exchange during Uniqlo Malaysia opening day

My purpose of visiting Uniqlo Malaysia so soon again was to exchange a pair of jeans I bought. Weirdly enough, even with the same waist size, this particular pair had more room compared to the others.

uniqlo jeans Caryn and Orchid were asking me what I bought from Uniqlo Malaysia on Twitter. Well, 4 pairs of jeans and 1 pink Minnie Mouse t-shirt for my girlfriend (not pictured here). The Uniqlo tote bag was free for purchases above RM200. And what I really liked about it was, it had a pocket inside of it! 😀

Hoping to skip the queue this time, I went up to the 3rd floor and caught one of the Uniqlo staff trying to enter from the shuttered entrance. I asked her if I’d be allowed to walk-in if all I needed to was exchange my pair of jeans for a smaller size and if I could, try it on first.

Alas, she said I could exchange within a 30 day period so if I wanted to exchange it today, I’m forced to join the 3-hour queue for to enter and exchange. Sigh.

I still made the most of my visit today

Not wasting the trip down and my RM3 parking, I thought of filming the queue to show you roughly how long is it. 😉

body shop promoter — Click for larger version

Today, Body Shop used the opportunity to place a promoter right beside the queue promoting their latest fragrance. Smart!

And in a bright printed dress, she stood tall on a mini stage with a fan cooling her down. It’s hard to miss her though I wonder how’d she spray the fragrance on the ladies from that height.

And by the way, Fahrenheit 88 doesn’t have a lot of parking bays. I had to create my own parking spot when I reached – thank goodness for MyVi. 😛 But as mentioned in my first Uniqlo Malaysia post, be prepared to pay RM3 first hour and RM2-3 every additional hour if you’re staying long.

Well, looks like I’ll only make my product exchange 1-2 weeks later. Hopefully by then, there’s no queue and I can browse the Uniqlo Malaysia outlet with comfort, and without smell. 😛