Several weeks ago (in fact it was last year), along with a bunch of well known ethanol lovers, I was invited to the launch of Little Creatures at The Hill in Damansara Height.
If you are like me who had no clue what exactly is Little Creatures, well, it is an Australian beer from a micro brewery in Frementle, Western Australia.
Haze standing by one of their art works (paintlust) displayed at The Hill
Haze and Vinn painted a canvas at The Hill sometimes last year for Kronenbourg French festival, and was delighted to see that the painting is still prominently displayed at the upper level at the restaurant.
Do check out more of their work at paintlust.net, they offer wall painting and other art works by commission.
ermmmmm… beerrrrr… burpp
Now back to Little Creatures. Since it is from a micro brewery, and micro being synonymous to small, the distribution of this beer is rather limited. Currently you can find it only at The Hill & Brussels restaurants (both in Solaris & Jaya One).
We tasted both the pale ale and bright ale, with the former slightly more flavorful while the bright ale a tad easier to drink and .. well, lighter. I like the pale ale.
Michael, FA, Haze, Suan, and myself
We were also treated with a line of buffet spread at The Hill. I don’t remember how many chicken wings I had that night, they were addictive. Other food such as the pasta and such were pretty decent too.
Haze, Suan, Michael, Ee Laine, Deep, and quite a few other familiar faces were at the same media launch as well, we had a good time with the fine folks at Luen Heng.
food at The Hill was pretty good too, but the parking situation…
As for The Hill, well, it is quite a charming place, but I still wouldn’t go there unless the parking situation is improved. Unless you’re willing to walk pretty far (which often I do), the only option is to use their valet services, which is both expensive and very very slow. Waiting for extra 15 minutes to get your car back isn’t very fun when you want to go home.
I’m going be having a continuous 19 day off from work starting today for CNY and a bit of diving, the longest so far since I started working in Malaysia more than 8 years ago. It’s gonna be glorious!
Gong Xi Fa Cai!
The first xmas eve party that I hosted was all the way back in 2005, which actually didn’t feel at all like it was already 6 years ago, with everyone still talking about Douglas’s epic puke fest after having one drink too many.
After last year’s absence (we spent xmas eve at Suan’s), the 5th installment of xmas eve party at my place resumes, and this time around we decided to have it back to basic – without the buffet line, satay man, or sponsored beer.
A big thank you to everyone who shows up, and even bigger thank you to those who brought alcohol and home made red velvet cupcake (Lainey) to share.
Horng, Haze, Terence; Aaron, Ruby, Derek; Terence & Celine
Those who came before in previous years:
KY, Haze, Terence, Horng, Suan, Ruby, Eiling, Michael, FA, Ringo, Ginny, Arthur, Yee Hou, Gareth, Kimberly, Huey Fang, Chan, Kerol.
Newcomer this year:
Lance, Melissa, Michael (yep 2 of them), Li Ling, Lainey, Aaron, Zach, Vinn, Pearl, Derek, Celine, Yuki.
Eiling & KY; Lance & Melissa, FA, Michael & Li Ling; Michael & Ringo
Unlike previous year’s crazy binge drinking style, this seems to be the year where everyone sorta take things slightly more maturely. Everyone was just having a good time, sipping some single malt whisky or having a cold one.
No, there is no beer bong this year, and if you want to look at pictures of people passing out, I’ll have to disappoint too. Some might say this is a sign of old age, hmmmm…
Yee Hou & Ginny; Ruby; FA; Lainey; Suan; Haze; Robb & Zach
The gift exchange part tho, was as fun as ever. Every year we had this rule, and I highly recommend that you do the same for your xmas gift exchange. I initially got this from working at Unisys in Cincinnati (man that was over 10 years ago)
Gift exchange was again the highlight of the night – best was the 1kg bacon
In essence, having the last number usually means you get to pick anything that’s opened, with only one unknown gift. However, even the last person can get his/her gift snatched if she (A) snatched B, then B snatched C, but C can actually snatch back A’s gift.
Loads of fun, try it.
The most snatched gift this year was from Lance & Horng – who contributed a whole 1 KG bacon and a small water feature thing. Those gifts exchange hands at least half a dozen times.
The funniest gift tho was from Robb, and drew by Kerol (after what she chose initially got snatched) – two bundle of bananas!
fire works; Gareth telling stories; bacon; Kim & Michael
I prepared a bit of BBQ (20 wings, some sausages) for those who happened to be hungry, Lainey brought her home made red velvet cakes (super yummy!), and at the end of the night we bbq some bacon too.
And no, this year we did not have any cops coming to end the party. Now that’s a first.
Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year!
This post is a little bit late, considering Christmas is actually sorta.. well, over, but better late than never, right?
A couple weeks ago I was invited to probably the biggest Merry Guinness event at Double Tree by Hilton in KL, featuring the winner of MasterChef Australia season 2 – Adam Liaw. Guinness & good food? I can’t resist, even though it meant that I had to braved the KL traffic on a weekday to get to this place.
Merry Guinness with chef Adam Liaw, Kelly Siew at lower right
A kitchen was set up in the main banquet hall, with chef Adam Liaw demonstrating how many of the Guinness infused dishes served for the night is created. While we waited for the dishes to get ready, unlimited rounds of Guinness were being served.
Good life yah?
oysters, chicken and egg terrine, squid, lamb shank pie, gravad lax
As for the food, we were actually served over a dozen different dishes over the course of the night, and yes, I was stuffed at the end of the night. Here’s the menu in two parts:
Chef Adam’s Inspired Menu
Guinness butter roasted chicken, Christmas vegetable
The second part of the menu, Christmas Feast:
roast pumpkin soup with julienne smoked duck,
Christmas pudding, BBQ wings
Many of the dishes were excellent, I particularly think that the sauce for gravad lax and oysters were executed to perfection. Chicken and egg terrine were interesting but tasted slightly foreign to me, and the wings & buttered chicken would perhaps be that much better if served warm (the room was too cold I guess, and they didn’t really serve it with heated plates).
The squid too was perfect as finger food to go with Guinness, but ultimately there were really just way too much food for my stomach that I actually skipped desserts.
desserts & drinks, Nigel, Michael, Wilson, and yours truly mucking around
This was another rather awesome event by Guinness, and it is a shame that we can’t order some of these creations by chef Adam Liaw anywhere in the country. Perhaps some pub owners will take note and incorporate some of the ideas into their menu (oysters & the gravad lax please!)
And by the way, hope you had a great xmas and Happy New Year!
While I love to eat, I”ve also at the same time, known to be a relatively cheap drunk – ie: it doesn’t cost much to get me drunk. My usual tolerance is about 3-4 glasses of alcohol on a good night.
Then again, those who are regarded as connoisseur does not necessarily eat a lot, audiophiles aren’t someone who must have their music super loud, so why must a “good drinker” be one that drinks a lot? To me, it should just be one who knows how to enjoy their alcohol, be it beer, spirit, whisky, or tapai (ok maybe not the last one 
)
FA, Michael, KY & Haze at Craft Brews
Having said that, I don’t consider myself at all skilled in alcohol tasting, I can’t describe the subtle hint of chocolate aroma or certain type of truffle smell in some aged whisky, but I do know what I like and what I don’t like. In another word, like most everyone else, I assume.
A week or so ago I was invited to Craft Brews at Kota Damansara for their Rogue beer launch – there were altogether 8 types of beers, with four available on tap and the other four in bottles.
my favorite fried roast pork is awesome as always
The Rouge beers come with weird names - Brutal IPA, Mom Hefeweizen, Chocolate Stout, Dead Guy Ale, Juniper Pale Ale, Mocha Porter, OREgasmic Ale and Hazelnut Brown Nectar.
I can’t pretend to remember the tastes of all the 8 beers I’ve tried (of course some only a sip or two), not taking notes did not help either, but I remember I don’t care much about Chocolate Stout (still love my Guinness).
The Hazelnut Brown Nectar really does carry a hint of hazelnut aroma in it, slightly sweetish at the end and quite drinkable, if not tasted a bit unconventional.
8 types of Rogue beer, plenty to go around
The memory on other beer were a bit of a blur, though I remember enjoying most of them, and especially like the Dead Guy Ale, creamy and richer in flavor.
Oh, and there were food too. Craft Brews still serve one of the best tasting fried roast pork out there, I took quite a few helpings. The teriyaki style sausage were yummy too.
Haze and I also won a couple t-shirts (XL in size, WHY!?) in beer pouring contest after being push up the “stage” by host of the night – Linora.
It was a fun night, good beer, good food, and great company in Michael, FA, Deep and the like.
Adress:
Craft Brews
Jalan PJU 7/2,
Mutiara Damansara,
47800 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.161031, 101.613761
Tel: 03-7722 3000
A week or so ago I was invited to the launch of Weissbrau’s new menu at Pavilion KL, the German restaurant that is partly owned by a friend whom we used to play badminton with in like, 2006.
Five years later he runs this German restaurant that serves a variety of beer and pork, while the rest of us.. well..
Good food, awesome beer, and one lousy band
The launch of new menu was a pretty rowdy affair, there were the usual suspects – Reta, Elfie, Gareth and Kim, Michael, Cumi & Ciki, BangsarBabe, and more. Heck, there were even some Russian models.. who were probably just there for some free noms & booze, but did contribute to the overall almost-European ambiance.
it’s all about the beer – Carlsberg, Erdinger, Leffe
There were plenty of good beer to go around, there’s Erdinger, Leffe, Franziskaner, Hoegaarden, and more. For those who prefer local stuff perhaps due to budgetary constraints, there do have Carlsberg and Tuborg too.
plenty of good German food to go around
And yes, food. We were served buffet style so the presentation here isn’t exactly the best. There were the usual suspects – classic Frankfurter, meatloaf, pork burger, and even pork neck. The salads were pretty awesome too.
The new menu can be found on their facebook page, including prices.
fun time is what we had!
The kitchen is headed by a Swiss German chef, and has been pretty good on my previous few visits there.
As for this launch, we had a great time, and could have been better if the band was any good. They call themselves Mad Sally, a word play of sort since the members are all whites, or almost white, I think.
In any case, they play pretty good music, but both the vocalists can’t sing for nuts. It was only on the 3rd hour onwards that we started to enjoy the music, when there were enough alcohol in our system to render a much greater tolerance in acoustic quality.
But hey, it was still an awesome party!
