Coliseum Café – 4 September 2016

We were here for Kim’s belated birthday celebration. We used to go to Coliseum at its headquarters in Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman about 14 years ago and we felt that the food was just ok and nothing to shout about, and the waiters were old and grouchy, unless you are a Westerner. That’s all I could recall when I was there.

Now, Coliseum has opened its branch at Plaza 33, Petaling Jaya. The café is cleaner than the headquarters; the waiters are mostly Indian and definitely friendlier. As to the food, it’s ok and edible. They served Western food and local food as well. Their local food will be in the Hainanese style of cooking, like chicken chops and noodles. Do not expect curry laksa or nasi lemak.  I couldn’t really find anything that I really liked there, except for the Banana and Chocolate Spring Roll with Vanilla Ice cream dessert. 

Below are the dishes that we ordered:-

Fish and chips – RM24.90

Chicken Cordon Blue – RM29.90

Chicken Maryland – RM29.90

Grilled Black Pepper Chicken – RM26.90

Hainanese Fried Beehoon – RM15.90

Cantonese Yee Mee – RM18.90

Vegetable Spaghetti – RM12.90

Banana and Chocolate Spring Roll with Vanilla Ice cream – RM11.90

Fried Ice-Cream – RM7.90

The service in this restaurant was slow; it took approximately 20-25 minutes for the 1^st dish to come out. If you smoke, customers are to seat outside. There is ample parking at Plaza 33. The price of the Western food is at the high end, while the price of the local food is reasonable.

The details of the cafe:

Coliseum Café   

PG-02, 1 Ground Floor, Plaza 33

1, Jalan Semangat, Section 13

46100 Petaling Jaya

Selangor

Tel : +603-7932 3228 Fax: +603-7932 3229

Opens Monday-Friday from 10.00am till 10.00pm

Saturday, Sunday and public holiday from 10.00am till 10.30pm.

Restoran 2008 Snow Beer – 3 September 2016

Entrance of the restaurant 

For my belated birthday celebration, I decided on Snow Beer restaurant as we have not been there for a very long time.

So what is snow beer? Bottles of beer and glasses frozen at a certain temperature. When you take out the bottles of beer and glasses, pour the beer into the freezing glasses, the beer is somehow like ice-blended, super cold and refreshing! You will have to drink it while it’s still freezing cold, otherwise once it’s melted down, it is just ordinary beer. The lists of beers available are Tsingtao- RM20.00 (big bottle), Asahi- RM22.00 (big bottle), Carlsberg- RM18.00 (big bottle) and Guinness Stout –RM20.50 (big bottle)

Check out the beer in the bottle

Refreshing right?

Guiness Stout that looks like iced-blended chocolate 

On top of snow beer, they also served “Beer food” to compliment with your beers. Most of the time, “Beer food” is very salty. I guess once you eat those salty foods, it will make you even thirstier and in turn, you will order more beer from them. We normally order the same old food, which are their specialties. These are the dishes we ordered and a must to order:-

Snow Fish - RM38.00 depending on the size of the fish

Snow Fish, the fish is baked and covered with salt. You need to peel off the skin and enjoy the white juicy succulent meat. The meat is not salty but if you accidentally took the meat that is near to the skin, you will definitely taste the salt. Also, less bones in this fish.  

Salted Meat (Ham Yuk) - RM28.00 (big)

Salted Meat (Ham Yuk), once served, eat it while it is still crispy. It’s basically fried salty pork and comes with cucumber.

 

Fried Sotong - RM28.00 (big)

Fried Sotong, it’s actually white squibs and battered into flour to give you the crispy crunch taste and sprinkled with salt.

Yin Yang Kailan - RM18.00 (big)

Yin Yang Kailan, shredded kailan, fried till crispy and sprinkled with salt. Also, the kailan is quite oily. Despite being oily and salty, this is one of my favourite dishes. 

Fried rice - RM8.00 for 2 persons

Fried rice, comes with chinese sausages. Quite an oily dish as well.

Chicken Wings - RM6.00 per pair

Chicken Wings, very succulent and juicy wings. You need to order fast before it runs out and it’s from a nearby store, not from the restaurant. We ordered 5 pairs at RM30.00

Crispy Chicken skins - RM5.00

Crispy chicken skins, also lightly salted and ordered from a nearby store and not from the restaurant. 

Check out the sauces

There are other specialty foods that are worth trying, i.e. their herbal chicken and fried lala and oyster. We only ordered our favourites!

The service in this restaurant is fast and their chefs are from Myanmar. The tables and chairs of this restaurant are placed outside of the restaurant (covered) and at parking bays, so it’s actually an open air concept.  We will advise you to go early before 8.00pm; otherwise parking is going to be a problem as there are many open-air concept eateries there. You may have to go round and round to find a parking near to the restaurant. The salty food was good and the price is pretty reasonable. 

Empty bottles of iced beer

The details of the restaurant:

Restoran 2008 Snow Beer  

Block C, 20-0-08, Jalan 2/101C

Cheras Business Centre

56100 Kuala Lumpur

Tel : 012-3131127 - Mel

Opens from:-

Monday -Saturday from 6.00p.m- late, perhaps 2a.m.

Sunday – closed on 1^st, 3^rd and 5^th Sunday of the month

Diva Dash Run KL 2016

• 3 September 2016
• Padang Merbok, Kuala Lumpur   
• Flagged off at:-

7.15a.m. for 12km

7.30a.m. for 6km

• Price – RM48.39 (inclusive of transaction fee of RM3.39)
• Race Pack – None. Just Pink t-shirt and registration bib
• Goodies – Medal and a bun  

For the first time, I missed out on the collection of the running pack, so the organiser decided to have another one (unofficial) at Padang Merbok, the day before the run. So the collection was supposed to be from 2.00p.m -7.00p.m. I arrived at 1.50p.m. and to my surprise there was no one there. I saw a group of ladies chatting and I approached them. They also said they are waiting for the person–in-charge to arrive.

At 2.10p.m., we were asked to collect our T shirts first as the person-in-charge of the bibs had yet to arrive. People were complaining as we needed to go back to the office to work. I even wrote a comment on Facebook and Rinnie called someone from the organiser and they said that person on the way.

That person-in-charge arrived at 2.25p.m. and sorted out the bibs, not even apologising to those of us who came early and waited for her. How sad………

After giving her my particulars, as I was not given a bib number earlier (seems like priority was given to 12km runners), I had to approach the earlier lady again to get my bib number. After I raised my voice a bit, they decided to find my bib, I took it and left. How frustrating……………..

The day of the run

Rinnie and myself arrived early at 6.40am and were surprised that there were not many people who signed up for this run.  It was also drizzling but stopped just before the run.

The organiser flagged the 12 km runners early at 7.08am and the 6 km runners were flagged off at 7.30am sharp.

Photos before the run

It was a cooling run after the slight drizzle. Padang Merbok is known for its hilly runs and it was nice to see the big bungalow houses along our run. If you need the toilet, too bad, as portable toilets were not prepared by the organisers. There was only 1 water station, serving 100+ isotonic drink and mineral water in the middle of the 6 km route.  

Upon arrival, we were asked to collect our medals and were given a bun. The 1^st 100 runners that arrived for the 12km run got an extra t-shirt. There were cash prizes and gifts to be won for the fastest runners of 12km category.

I rushed to the Milo truck to get my cold Milo drink. It was super refreshing! The best thing of all, I had 5 cups and there was no queue. There were also 100+ isotonic drinks available but I was not too keen on that.

See, no queue

After most of the runners arrived, they started the zumba session. It was not hard core zumba, only simple steps.

The start of zumba

Check out the pictures below:-

Adidas Ultra Boost Women Running Shoes

As I started running late last year with my group, the Pole Ninjas, every run I will definitely encounter blisters on my feet, especially at my bunions. I was using the running shoes by New Balance, which I bought it during a sale in a sports shop in UK. 

From a newbie of 5km, I was daring enough to sign up for 10km and during the runs, my feet were hurting very badly and that itself had jeopardised my finishing time.

I decided that it was time to invest on a top of the range running shoes. I know it’s not going to be cheap as someone told me proper running shoes are very expensive. I know Lazada was selling them at the price of approximately RM250 per pair and in my view and after doing research on reviews, those who bought it said it was fake, although it came with proper shoe box.

I went to Pavilion and I tried out Nike, Puma and Adidas. Adidas was something that attracted me the most and the most expensive, top of the range shoes were RM650, the Ultra Boost.   

I tried it on and immediately you could tell the difference! It was easy to put on, soft, light and comfy. The sales guy came over and told me that you could get the Ultra Boost at a discounted price for RM450, which was the previous season and it only came in fluorescent Pink, Yellow and Orange. I tried it on and ran around the store and it was super good! The sales guy did mention that the only review he saw was customer complaining saying that not much grip when running on wet track. The RM650, normal price Ultra Boost (latest season) will have better grip.

I was not going to pay RM650, so I decided to “invest” in proper running shoes and chose orange colour but there were no more my size 4 and I had to settle for the pink. I felt yellow will turn dirty after a few runs. 

After I bought the shoes, I did the research on Malaysian Adidas website:

“They're built with boost™ for incredible energy-returning cushioning beneath your feet. With a breathable adidas Primeknit upper for a flexible and supportive fit and a STRETCHWEB outsole for a smooth, neutral transition.

• adidas Primeknit is carefully engineered to naturally expand with your foot while you run to give you a more comfortable fit and help reduce irritation
• boost™'s energy-returning properties keep every step charged with an endless supply of light, fast energy
• STRETCHWEB rubber outsole is lightweight and elastic, adapting to the ground for stability and working strategically to optimise the unique properties of boost™ from touchdown to push-off
• TORSION® SYSTEM for midfoot integrity; heel counter for support and optimum heel hug”

For more info, please visit:-

http://shop.adidas.com.my/ultra-boost-street-shoes-ius94.html?a=214_40183

My conclusion after using the Ultra Boost for several runs:-

•         Bye- bye blisters and pain
•         Never regretted paying RM450
•         Super bright fluorescent colour
•         Super comfy to the max
•         Ran faster

Restoran Bunga Raya Indah (Banana Leaf Rice) – 1 September 2016

My colleague, Derrick Lee invited me for lunch today and he suggested this banana leaf restaurant on the 1^st floor at a busy junction of Leboh Ampang. You will not see many other races in this restaurant as it’s mainly populated by Indians. 

The staircase leading up to the restaurant

As I walked in, it reminds me of my school canteen, long tables with stools. Also, don’t expect air-conditioners, only ceiling fans. 

Inside of the restaurant

You sit down, and the waiters will come and serve you. They placed a banana leaf in front of us (you may want to clean it with wet wipes or trust that it has been cleaned for you), scooped out 3 types of assorted vegetables, sometimes cooked in dhal curry (I was informed that they changed the types of assorted vegetables everyday), Indian / white rice and poppadom, with complimentary water (don’t ask me whether it’s mineral or not, just drink it). 

Then, another waiter will come by and ask you whether you want fish or chicken curries or dhal. 

Fish curry for me please

My meal, i.e. Indian rice, dry curry potatoes, dhal and non-spicy dhal with chickpeas, properly laid out, topped with fish curry. This meal will cost you RM5.50 only

You can have the rice with the given 3 types of assorted vegetables or walk to the front counter and order your meat, i.e. lamb, chicken or fish and they will put it onto a small plate and bring it over to you.

Front counter serving only meat dishes and eggs

Front counter serving only meat dishes and eggs

I decided to order a dry curry chicken (which I think it’s called the Chicken Varuval) and lamb and Derrick ordered fried chicken.

Chicken Varuval 

Lamb

Fried chicken

Normally it will be so much tastier if you were to eat banana leaf rice with your fingers but we decided to use fork and spoon.  

After the main meal, I asked for my favourite Rasam (spicy and sourish soup, an aid to digestion) and Derrick asked for Tairu (fresh yoghurt that is supposed to tone down the spiciness).

Rasam and Tairu

Also, please be reminded that after you have fully completed your meal in an Indian restaurant, I was informed by my Indian friends that you fold the banana leaf towards you if you think that the food is good and will come back again; and fold outwards if you think the food is bad and will not come back again.

Remember to fold the banana leaf towards you if you find the food was good and will come back for more

The service in this restaurant was good, as the waiters kept asking us whether we wanted more rice, curries and sides vegetables. However, they were not so generous with the poppadoms though.

The whole meal only cost RM22.00 for both of us and it’s so worthwhile, with tasty food. The only drawback is hot curries, be prepared to sweat a lot!!!!

The details of the restauarant:

Restaurant Bunga Raya Indah

41, 1^st Floor, Lebuh Ampang

50100 Kuala Lumpur