I'm back! And also, a visit to Café Serena Brasserie...

Yeah so we scored a 50% discount voucher for buffet dinner at the said cafe from a fellow running 'kaki' quite a while back. Seeing that the cafe would be undergoing renovation soon (15th Dec) we decided to use the voucher ASAP.

To our surprise (and delight) the voucher was valid for the entire bill (not for one person as we initially thought) so the total cost came to around RM52 nett instead of the usual price of RM103.50.

Once again I'll let the pictures tell the story...

The oysters were fresh but only average size wise. However I have to say that the lemon wedges here are sized just right. Most restaurants slice them so thinly that it's almost impossible to squeeze any juice out of them. LOL!

Fresh prawns. Also average size wise and some how not as crunchy as the ones we had at Cinnamon (One World Hotel). The dip (located in the upper part of the pic) certainly helped liven up the taste though. No idea what ingredients were blended together for the dip but I did detect a hint of Thousand Island...hmmm...

Assorted cold cuts, smoked salmon and sea bass and some cold salad. Unfortunately everything here was pretty much tasteless. The smoked fish was the exception though as it was very salty. I'll pass.

Here we have some Asian and Western (European?) delights. Venison (Chinese style), pan pizza (which was actually rectangular), slipper lobster Mornay, veal sausage and mackerel in teriyaki sauce. Venison was tender but bland and the pizza tasted like something you would get at Pizza Hut. However I found the slipper lobster, veal sausage and mackerel to be very flavourful. Not much flesh in the slipper lobster though.

Wei Siong's keen eyes spotted two very pricey items on the buffet menu, namely abalone and pacific clams. So here we have a full on Asian attack with roast duck with Mongolian special sauce, abalone with smoked chicken and winter melon, pacific clams with assorted mushrooms, celery and tofu and glutinious rice HK style. I would say that this round proved to be the most rewarding of all, with all the dishes tasting real good. Just skip the duck, it was cold and the special sauce didn't go well with it at all.

I was pleasantly surprised (yet again!) to find that they serve salmon belly (and also the usual salmon) over at their sashimi corner. Two thumbs up for the salmon belly as it was oh-so-smooth and oh-so-fatty. The salmon sashimi wasn't too bad either. The chunk of meat you see at the back is actually sirloin. Unfortunately it was overcooked (well done) and cold. I would have preferred it to be medium rare...wouldn't be so dry then.

Here we have vanilla and strawberry sorbet (made in house) with a variety of toppings. The sorbet was smooth and pretty good. Could do with more choices of flavor though, only two just does not cut it.

Say cheese! These are Ritz crackers topped with both cream and blue cheese. Yummy! I also spotted cheddar, edam and brie on the cheese platter.

Lychee and jelly dessert. I loved the huge juicy sweet lychees. The water is just plain sugar water though while the jelly cubes were tasteless.

Close up of the slipper lobster Mornay. You definately have to take more than one due to the small amount of flesh inside one of those.

Chocolate fondue is a must. Now those round things are actually very small (and very sour) strawberries. Not terribly exciting I must say. But I liked those triangular crackers (the one you usually have with ice cream) as they went very well with the chocolate.

So would I return? Sure, if I got my hands on the 50% voucher again...lol!

Fark. This. Shit.

Seriously. Somebody told me last night that spoiling a girl during the courtship phrase is a must. I don't see what does the whole 'spoiling a girl' thing have to do with a relationship. You don't take the phrase 'spoilt brat' as some sort of compliment do you?

To think that I always thought a relationship was built on mutual understanding and 'liking what you see in your partner'. No wonder I can't get a girlfriend. It's all about 'spoiling the girl and making her more of a princess than she already is'.

Sorry but I'm definitely not the type that would go around 'spoiling' girls. Wow! It looks like I've been going after the wrong type of girls all these while! The problem is, what am I supposed to do if the majority of girls are already locked into such a mindset? And please don't bring up the "you are too choosy". Stupid phrase has been done to death already. I'm not too choosy. The girls are.

Rant ends here.

Taking a break. A very long break (hopefully not).

Yes. I'm taking a hiatus from updating my blog. Life has been too mundane lately with only a couple of gems like getting wasted in Simone and Andrew's upcoming wedding adding some zest.

Yes. I admit. I've lost my inspiration in updating this blog. Food reviews can only go so far, while travel plans...what travel plans? I'm definitely not a travel blogger. Oh, I would love to drop everything and travel everywhere but I don't have the cash. Bah!

I admire those bloggers who can update their blogs almost daily with new and interesting stuff. Sad to say, I'm not one of them. My life can now be summarised into eat, work, gym, sleep. No life changing events. No gf (because girls insist on being so f**king choosy). Not enough money.

I thought of just not updating but decided to at least post something akin to closure.

Posting will resume once I've gotten back in the mood or have received sufficient inspiration.

That is all. Good day. *I have left the building*

A taste of Cinnamon

Yeah. Ok. I admit it. I've been slacking. Why? Because recently I've gotten addicted to Red Alert 3. On a sidenote, fans of RTS (real time strategy) and lovers of the past Red Alerts in general should give this game a try.

One Saturday evening after watching Quantum of Solace (yes the latest James Bond flick) at 1-U, it was decided that we would have dinner at Cinnamon (at One World Hotel).

And so, I present...the pictures!

So we walked in at around 6.45 p.m. although the sign outside clearly said that the buffet would start at 7. Why? Because we noticed there were customers already dining inside. Maybe we should have gone in at 6.30 instead...hmmm?

As usual I had a go at the oysters first. No complaints from me here as they were fresh and adequately sized. Somehow no other place has oysters bigger than Jogoya though. However Wei Siong got the short end of the stick here as he picked out a spoilt one. Lack of quality control? Tsk tsk...not very encouraging for a five star hotel.

Next up, sashimi and boiled prawns. I would say that the sashimi here were good. Good, which means nothing exceptional compared to other (similar) places. The prawns on the other hand deserve special mention for their size (but don't expect king prawns) and their freshness (very crunchy).

Next round consisted purely of Japanese style appetizers. Pictured here (clockwise from upper left) are scallops, jellyfish, anchovies, shrimp, kimchi and salmon skin. I especially enjoyed the scallops and the (crispy) salmon skin but I wouldn't say that they were exceptional.

Moving on I threw together a plate of keropok (crackers), a slice of roast lamb, a slice of pizza (I think it was Magarita, not sure of the spelling), some olives, nachos, cream cheese and a bun. This was when I found out that nachos actually goes very well with cream cheese. Lip smackingly good if I do say so myself. The rest of the food? Average.

Braised peanuts! I love this dish. Yes I know it's cheap and can be found easily outside (canned) but hey I enjoyed this dish very much. Tasty, tender peanuts soaked through with delicious marinade, what's not to like?

Following Wei Siong's recommendation I went over to the Indian food corner and grabbed myself this plate of loot. Minus that plate of dim sum which came from the Chinese food corner. The papadum had gone soft due to exposure to air. Should really store those in an air tight container. On the other hand those small round fried things (which are actually various types of vadai) were delicious! And they went very well with the coconut chutney. Dim sum was forgettable.

Here's something interesting. Instead of serving the usual ice cream, Cinnamon decided to serve up this cute lil' ice cream cakes instead. Strawberry, mint and chocolate all in one for a pretty tasty cake. However the mint tends to overwhelm all the other flavours. Also you don't get to choose your favourite ice cream flavour since all the cakes are the same. Innovative but I would have prefered the old way.

Fruits. Essential for a balanced diet. Need I say more?

Pardon the mess. The cakes tend to disintegrate easily. And yes those two chocolate piles are the cakes. They taste great. Full of chocolate flavour. Might be a bit too rich for some people though. The rest of the stuff were just ok.

What's not to like about making your own mixed ice concoction? Unfortunately the ice wasn't as fine as I'd have liked it to be.

I ended the meal with pengat pisang, which is a traditional Malay dessert. Now I'm no expert but I certainly found this version to be delicious, full of sago and nicely caramelised bananas. Authenticity wise, I'm stumped.

And thus ends my review. There were some misses here and there but overall I would say "I'll be back" (when I get more money because the bill comes up to around RM99 nett per person...YIKES!)