... birthday dinner ...

We went to Satay House.



Well, originally planned this dinner to be CNY-birthday-cum-farewell *had I failed the resit*. And also to introduce to some batchmates at work what Malay food is about ;) Ok, 4-in-1 then.

So after asking around, I decided to try out Satay House that was quite authentic *according to reports* and not too dowdy to bring guests to *bearable decor and pricy menus*.



Firstly, it took me more than 20 minutes just to find the place from the nearest tube station *was looking for Praed Street which was indicated in all the maps but somehow I found every other street for the next 5 blocks instead*. Which meant I was late. And they almost didn't give me the table I reserved for. Even though the restaurant was less than half full.

Secondly, while I was waiting for the table and the others to arrive, a couple of walk-in potential customers came in and asked for a table for 2. The head waitress straightaway told them that there were none available until 9pm when they said they didn't have a reservation, passing them a card and telling them to reserve for next time. All this transacted in front of me. With a couple of empty tables visible to all on the ground floor. I mean, just because there isn't a table for exactly 2 people doesn't mean they can't be seated elsewhere. And believe me, Satay House is nowhere near as posh to justify that kind of service and snobby waitresses *in case you're wondering, the nicest waitress there was a junior one and the only Malaysian*.

Then while the head waitress showed me to our table, I took the opportunity to ask where Praed Street was. I knew I shouldn't have bothered.



ZL and I finally sat down. Ordered some satay and teh tariks while waiting for YG to arrive. For their presumedly signature dish, the chicken ones were relatively ok but the lamb was tasteless. Not to mention hard to chew off the skewer. Ok, it did come served with some rice cubes *which were nasi impit instead of ketupat*, onions and cucumbers. But the peanut sauce was definitely lacking.

For main dishes, they left me to do the ordering since the dish names were Malay with english descriptions included, even after I warned them that everything I order would be spicy. Which to me, anything that looks nice on the menu would be spicy ^_^ So we had the beef rendang *hey, ordered for them to try (1 of our signature dishes, after all) and I only tasted the sauce a bit :p - quite tasty, but slightly too sweet/soury than original*, sambal tumis sotong *nicely hot but a bit watery than normal*, and belacan kangkung *which they called morning glorys on the menu o.O - but the best dish of the lot*. It was a cosy dinner with only 3 of us, hence no point going all out on the dishes.

And we chatted more over desserts, which was probably all the hot selections available on the menu. Bubur pulut hitam *not sweet enough*, sago gula melaka *with a huge lump of sago floating in not enough sauce*, and bubur kacang hijau *surprisingly good and thick, best dessert* - all came in small square-ish bowls which looked more like the decorative glass bowls that houses floating candles/flowers on restaurant tables elsewhere.



Oh, and the teh tarik was mamak-style authentic enough, but could definitely do better with more foam. Or even sugar.
*yes, I'm very fussy when it comes to food criticism - but I still eat too much of everything =(*


Still, it was a nice dinner overall and probably best available place to go for an introduction to proper Malay cuisine. Perhaps the lighting can be improved so people can actually see what they're eating *unless that's their strategy o.O* and service should be less uppity *entirely not reflective of what culture there is that the restaurant purports to represent*.



At least, I've tried it.

...a birthday present...

Thanks, guys!





So now I'm 24, but still act and feel like I'm 19, not to mention dressing and looking like I'm 15. Hm...

... snow in London ...

It's snowing...


^_^


Really. Not just the light drizzle kind. But proper snow, enough to cover roads and trees. In London!




Kids throwing snowballs over the fence at parked cars, all bus services suspended, schools were closed, even exams were cancelled.





... and there I am, inching along the snow / ice / slush on heels, on my way to work -_-



on a Mon.

...the view outside my window...


...outside the flat...


...on the way to work...


...at night, outside my window...


...my attempt at a mini snowman on my window ledge...

... chinatown CNY ...

Last Tuesday, finally got the chance to shop at Westfield London. It's what we Malaysians would call a shopping mall - with modern designs, wide open spaces, and nice seating areas to relax in. Finally, somewhere to shop which reminds you of home. Well, slightly reminiscent of Pavillion, at the very least. But despite its size, was disappointed by the number of shops available. Best was the designer village, but it's not exactly my cup of tea *or bowl of rice, for that matter* on a 'shopping' experience. So, although it is a nice place and all, I'd much prefer Oxford Street or Covent Garden any day. Not to mention closer at hand.

...interesting shop displays...


...the food court 'n' some curry puffs look-alike...

Started work on Wednesday, and it's been pretty busy since. Peak season's getting well under way for me.

Today, went out to see what the Chinatown celebrations are like this year. Didn't really make it last year since I was too lazy to go down on my own, but got CE to teman this year ^_^ And man, was it crowded. Not the usual chinese crowd, mind you. But loads of non-chinese milling around, who are of course, always taller than yours truly. With kids on their shoulders. Net result was I not only have to push my way along the street while trying not to lose sight of CE, but attempting to see my way without visibly jumping and dodging little children's feet from swinging right into my face...

...promotional stalls 'n' cute oxen souvenirs...

And me being jakun me ^_^ I bought one of those souvenir paper dragons!

Hahaha... I must be the only chinese holding something so obviously a gimmick in the middle of chinatown during their official day of celebrations. There were several stalls selling quite good quality chinese souvenirs *what can I say, I'm a real sucker for souvenirs*, lion dance *nothing quite as grand as the ones we have back home*, and even a stall for TVB channel subscriptions *hm, wonder which network they'll piggyback*.

...tvb or teletubby?...

*though of MF when taking this pic, btw*

Some people were giving out flyers and gold coin chocolates *nice!*, and we met a God of Wealth distributing red packets *mainly to non-chinese anyway, so don't need to speculate what's inside*. There's even supposed to be some food stalls, but we didn't attempt to push our way through the crowd much. Besides, from the colour of the paus that we saw some others eating in their hands, we probably wouldn't have bothered to try.

...the crowd at chinatown...

So, after pushing a bit and taking a few of the required pics, we decided not to break through the main street of Chinatown (Gerrard Street) and left instead. At least now I can say that I know what it's like to be there ;)



Headed for Malaysian Hall next, as there's supposed to be a CNY open house that day and CE hasn't been there before. We arrived after the stated time and as usual, people had to wait outside in the freezing cold *it was even snowing a bit in the morning* for the minister to arrive and start some speech or ceremony *cue eye rolling*. They even had a lion dance scheduled, but had chosen the Manchurian type instead which definitely lacked any sort of impact. We hung around until we couldn't wait anymore, and went for waffles instead. Think I was outdoors too long without enough preparation, 'cos the blood in my hands were so frozen that I had no idea how I managed to still hold the takeaway box and made it into the nearest heated shopping center, which was Whiteleys. Even then, it was some time before I could start feeling my fingers again and actually start eating my waffle properly. Which was a chocolate covered one with fresh fruit ^_^ and was delicious.

...lion dances at Queensway...

Ended up buying more stuff at Whiteleys rather than Westfield. And did you know there's even a WOFS branch in London? Sigh, globalisation continues...

...lilian too's feng shui working for her...



...nice advertisement 'n' decor all in one...

Then we shopped a bit and hung around, before I met up with L for dinner at Four Seasons. Yup, apparently she doesn't like roast duck back home and wanted to have more of Four Seasons' version before going back o.O
edit: Apparently, there's a Four Seasons branch back home too -_- Prefer our local road side stall roast duck any day!





By the way, HL went back for good at the beginning of the year, and now L is going too.





Oh, and it started snowing again during dinner, right on into the night.

...updated cny corner...