Yak Yak Yakitori!!!

Yakitori literally means grilled bird (chicken) but in reality it's not restricted to just one type of meat. Intrigued by KY's rave review of a yakitori buffet at Crystal Crown hotel, Wei Siong and me journeyed there one night to indulge.

Bottoms up!

Crunchy veggie sticks as appetizers!

So it's RM38++ for all you can eat yakitori from a menu. And it comes with a free beer or juice. Options on the menu range from the ever-present chicken, beef and vegetables to more exotic stuff like garlic wrapped in (chicken) skin and chicken cartilage. Yeah you heard that right, chicken cartilage. =D

Items of note:
crunchy cartilage (second row, left) &
tender special beef meatball (third row, middle)

Items of note:
pungent garlic wrapped in chicken skin (first row, right) &
crunchy salted gingko nuts (second row, middle)

Potato wrapped in beef. Juicy and satisfying. Also took the longest to arrive.

Conclusion? Great! The meat options, especially the beef ones were hearty and tender. As for the more exotic options I would say that the chicken cartilage would make a great snack dish as it's salty and crunchy while people who love pungent garlic (not me) would drool over the garlic wrapped in skin. Vegetables were fresh and there were no signs of overcooking. Thumbs up!

A couple of gripes though. First the length of time it took for the dishes to reach the table. Serving speed slowed down drastically as the restaurant filled up until a point where it took 15 minutes for a dish to reach our table. My guess is that their grilling area wasn't made to cater to a buffet crowd and glancing at the open kitchen area confirmed my suspicions. Their grill was simply too small! It's probably because this promotion is a not a permanent feature.

Serving speed also suffered when the restaurant started filling up. Refills of water and such took a long time. Insufficient staff probably?

Also, some of the beef dishes came with a wee bit too much pepper. But hey as long as they didn't drown the meat in pepper sauce I'm happy.

I notice that I've not been giving ratings for my past couple of reviews. I figure that sometimes it's difficult to put a number to the experience. So from now on I'm going to either recommend it heartily or ask you peeps to stay away. For this particular yakitori buffet I'm going to say...go for it!

Oh yes, according to KY's review the promotion is due to end on the 15th of April but when I was there they already amended it to 1st of April. Hurry! Hurry! =D

This...is...HGL!

Sexy no?
Yes this is my current character in Hellgate: London, a cause of many late weekend nights...

Key Hiong. A revisit.

Nothing better than dim sum on a holiday morning don't you think? With that in mind, a revisit to Key Hiong at Taman Megah was on the cards. Off we go!

Dawn breaks, stomachs rumble

The source of salvation for dim sum hunger is in sight!

One always starts and ends with tea

The obligatory siew mai...

Har kau (prawn dumplings) and...

The rest of the gang! Don't they look tasty? =P~

Don't forget the salad prawns!

Fishball solo shot

Fishball (juicy) internal shot

Sang yoke (fresh meat) pau

Ahhhh...fresh meat!

The dim sum was still as good as before. Alas this also meant that their har kau (prawn dumpling) was still...not-so-good. One thing that I did not try in my earlier visit(s) was their pau. I'm glad I took the chance to order some sang yoke paus this time around because they were great. Fluffy great. Packed with tender (fatty) juicy meat great. You get the idea. =P

Also it seems that prices have gone up to RM2.80 a plate for the dim sum. If my memory serves me correctly it was only RM2.60 per plate back in 2007. I could be wrong though. Anyway the price is still within the average price for PJ or I daresay slightly cheaper? Can't be expecting RM1.80 a plate here now can we?

Come for the dim sum, grab some paus but stay away from the har kau. And to sign off here's something special!

Cute right? Spotted at the side of the Megah Badminton Hall!
Yes I know it's an apology message of some sort

To deal or not to deal, that is the question.

Yeah I know. I've been slacking off from updating my blog. I know I know the last entry was dated December 31st 2007, and it's already March 2008.

But still, it's early March eh? Today's just the 2nd! =P

Enough excuses already, on to the post. Have you peeps heard of a TV game show called "Deal or No Deal"? This game show which originated in the Netherlands is popular round the world and has spawned many international versions in various (diverse) countries ranging from Armenia to Zimbabwe.

And yes, Malaysia does have it's own edition too. Presenting...Deal or No Deal Malaysia!

Picture courtesy of NTV7

I've been a fan of the show ever since I first saw it on NTV7 months ago. How is the game played? Well to quote Wikipedia:

Deal or No Deal involves a contestant, a host/presenter, a banker, a group of female models (in the American, Malaysian and New Zealand version) or other contestants (in the original version), and a number of briefcases (or boxes), each containing a different (and initially unknown) value. The game begins with the contestant picking a case which he or she believes will have the highest value. During the rest of the game, the contestant selects the rest of the cases one at a time for rejection, the value of each case being revealed after it is selected. Each time after a specified number of cases have been opened, the banker offers the contestant a certain amount of money. If the contestant accepts one of these offers, the game ends and the player wins the offered amount; if the contestant refuses all the offers made, they eventually end up with the money from the first case.

What Wikipedia neglects to mention that in our local (Malaysian) edition there is an extra stage before one can actually play the game. Initially there will be six contestants and only the first who answers two correct questions will be able to proceed. Also the player would need to answer one final question before he/she can take home the prize money. Failing to answer the question would result in only acquiring 20% of the winnings.

So what does a fan do when a call for contestants is announced? A fan joins the audition of course! One fine Sunday (24th Feb to be exact), Wei Siong and me went over to Ikano Power Center to participate in the audition session.

Check it out! Official entry form yo! Three pages long man!

The entry form actually was erm...complicated. Not the usual name, address, IC number shebang that you would have expected. So I thought that was it...but no...this was just the first stage!

You mean I actually have to go up on stage?!!

But first let's take a mugshot...

As Luck would have it, due to the overwhelming amount of people, I (and Wei Siong) attended an interview instead of doing the whole show and dance on stage. I felt that this was much more preferable for me as I was able to interact with the interviewer smoothly. If I was on stage I would probably have froze from stage fright.

So...why should we choose you as a contestant?

Tell me more about the Transformers you are going to buy if you win RM100k?

I enjoyed the audition (interview) and I've been keeping my fingers crossed since then that I'll be selected. First time on a Malaysian TV game show woot! And of course the prize money is always welcome! LOL!

Four of the Deal or No Deal briefcase beauties!

The mini Deal or No Deal game...my favourite model Jane is holding case no.3

So...here's to appearing on TV and grabbing the top prize! I'm looking forward to answering the question..."Deal, or No Deal?"

Unfortunately even RM100k is insufficient to purchase this monster...LOL!