Before heading to Malones for a food review session, I had somehow cooked dinner for 5 days in a row, which must be a record. The review session came as a nice break from doing the dishes, so it was all good. 😀
This review is in conjunction to Malones’ St. Patrick dishes, which suddenly reminds me that we are already in March, 2011! I was still trying to write 2010 on my notepad…
Malones at Sooka Sentral, just across from KL Sentral
Since Sooka Sentral is just right across the street from KL Sentral Suanie and I took the train there, it was RM 2.00 well spent, no getting stuck in traffic jam, best.
Malones is its own building, surrounded by high rise office towers with the LRT line zipping right next to it, giving the place a very metro feel while devoid of cars, I like. We were greeted by the friendly Hui Peng of G2, and May of Malones (who also invited me to EEST while at her previous job.)
Guinness infused beef stew
First dish to come was the Guinness infused Beef Stew (RM 29.90), and yes, it was my favorite dish of the night. The beef was very tender and with a strong hint of Guinness flavor in the savory sauce. The vegetable in the stew was done just right too, it didn’t take the slightest of pressure to bite the carrot and celery that are both well flavored.
Guinness infused sausages and burger
Then we had Irish Sausage on Colcannon and Guinnness Onion Gravy (RM 30.90), they are made of chicken, lamb, and beef. Calcannon is basically mash potato with cabbage, a traditional Irish dish. I like the chicken & beef sausages more than the lamb, and they do go better with a tad of mustard. It was also the first time I had calcannon, and I like it!
Guinness Beef Burger (RM24.90) came with a super thick beef patty that’s marinated with Guinness, then cooked to perfection with melted cheese on top. Sumptuous, almost too rich, but absolutely satisfying.
Guinness infused beef ribs, sooo good!
Last dish for the night was Malones Beef Ribs with Guinness Sauce (RM 29.90). I am usually not a very big beef rib fan (preferring pork, of course, but Malones is pork free, in fact, the only pork free Irish pubs in town), but the XL size beef rib (yah, singular) was actually very impressive.
It was so tender and easily cut even just with spoons, absolutely delicious!
Jason and Tock were the other two bloggers, and we had a good time catching up. Tock and I play futsal occasionally (he’s supposed to be a regular but the fella always ffk), and Jason just moved to KL from Malacca not long ago.
The menu is available now, and on St. Patrick’s day, Malones have a special deal whereby for RM 99, you get on the St Patrick’s Bus Tour that takes you to four different locations, with food & drinks at and on the way, pretty sweet deal I think! Do check it out ya!
Address: Malones Annex 1 & 2 Sooka Sentral Jalan Stesen Sentral 5 50470 Kuala Lumpur GPS: 3.13365, 101.68511
When I was going to college, my only mean of transportation was my old trusted Honda EX5, and I would ride to everywhere (even from KL to Penang, but that’s another story). Most journeys are boring and monotonous, but the one stretch of road I always remember is from KL to Subang via Federal Highway, next to the GAB factory. It was the sweet smell coming out of the factory, yums!
So when I received an invitation to a blogger’s meet by Heineken at GAB’s a few weeks ago, it was almost like a “yes I’ve been wanting to do this for along time” moment.
The Tavern at GAB, why was Desmond checking out Mell’s food ?
It was actually the last event Mell I attended before she left for Melbourne, and Huai Bin was nice enough to give us a lift since my car was still in the workshop getting a much needed paint job. Thanks pal!
The three of us were greeted by the good people from GAB, and immediately we were served a glass of chilled Heineken to start the evening. This is as fresh as you can get when it comes to beer.
a well stocked buffet line
We started to attack the buffet line as the other guys starting come arrive. The number of dishes prepared was well adequate and a few dishes were actually quite tasty. The lamb was succulent, and Mell particularly loved the grilled sweet potato that went so well with the cold beer.
The other usual suspects slowly arrived at the scene. Timothy and Audrey, Gareth, Robb, Carol, Kenny, Cindy, Tock, Cynthia, Simon, and a couple other Nuffies too.
We were just chilling, have a beer each and did a lot of catch ups. I mean, we usually meet over events and parties where it is mostly too loud to talk, so a change of scenery to the quiet and exclusive bar set up at the Tavern was actually very nice.
Cindy, Audrey, and Robb in beer pouring competition, Robb failed
The gang were then challenged to play bartender for a round and see if we can pour a perfect pint. I got to say, this thing looks simple enough but I ended up with about 65% beer and 35% foam, fail.
Cindy, who hailed from the kampung in Johor did the best among us (I wonder why!) and got an almost perfect pint. Audrey, despite being slightly vertically challenged, did a whole lot better than the over confident Robb. Lesson learned, never judge a beer lady by their looks.
Win a trip to Krabi! (shhh, that’s the tropical beach)
Jasmine and Evonne then introduced us to Heineken Star Final 2009.
The Star Final 2009 is a 3 day trip to Krabi, all expenses paid, to watch the UEFA Champions League final on giant screen by the beach while gulping down Heineken with people from all over the world. I am very please to say that Suan, Horng, and I have already won our tickets at previous Heineken event.
how do you like my raft?
But of course, you have a chance to join us too by playing the game on the Star Final site, and you can do it from now until 30th April.
Basically the idea is like this: create a raft (customizable to pwetty colors!) and sail to from South Africa to Thailand. The virtual trip takes 5 days, and by the end of it the one with most points gets to win 2 tickets to Star Final 2009. You can play as many times every 5 days until the end of next month. So first if you don’t succeed, try again!
the fleet I’m in has 2 rafts so far
There are certain things in the game you can do to pick up more points. Like joining a bigger fleet, answering football related questions correctly as fast as you can (only 3 questions each time though!), or by inviting more friends and subscribing to Heineken newsletter.
I must say that the game is very well designed, the graphics are top notch and it is actually pretty fun and interactive. You can see people from other part of the world, message each other (appears as a bottle floating next to your raft), view fleet, and of course, your own raft. Everything is also customizable, very neat.
I’m still playing for fun even though I’ve already won the tickets. 😀
LapSap (Blink and XU), DJ Goldfish, Bumblebeez,
Other than the that, Heineken will also be having a string of events led by the main showdown – “A Night in Rome” at Hap Seng Star Mercedes-Benz Auto Haus on Jalan Sultan Ismail on the 25th of April with LapSap and The Bumblebeez spinning.
There will be giant projectors, mock Roman architecture and Champions League paraphernalia, fashion shows, performances and all that jazz too. It should be pretty awesome! See you there!
First of all, I want to thank everyone for coming and made the fifth installment of our annual Xmas Eve Party a blasting success. There were some 40 people who turned up, quite a few bottles of liquors and wines brought by you, and again, Tuborg sponsored loads of free beer with their beer girl Siao Ling joining the party as well. It was awesome.
Due to the hectic schedule a week (including a trip to Singapore) prior to the party, my housemates and I only managed to put up some minor decoration and set up the place in the last 2 hours. I bought some x’mas lights for my two x’mas trees, reuse the deco, got some snacks, mixers, a Coleman huge ice box filled with ice from 7-11 and we were good to go.
free Tuborg beer, and lotsa socializing
The party got started at around 9pm with Terence, Chris, and Anthony arriving first. Sheryl, Cindy, and Simon arrived there after, and joined by Eiling, who managed to fetch Huai Bin to my place despite being already 3/4 drunk before the party even got started.
Suan, Alan, and Wei Yi were around when our favorite Tuborg girl Siao Ling showed up with all those beer just as my new ice box was yearning for some attention. We quickly set things up and the party really got started right after that.
As the resident alcohol pusher, Terence was doing a fine job ensuring everyone a fair chance to get royally drunk by mixing 2 huge glasses of alcohol laden concoction named Life and Death. Erna was very fortunate to have a few gulps and ended up missing half the party by passionately hugging my gate with a really stoned facial expression. Elfie was embarassed that her fellow Sabahan can’t hold her drinks.
There were some new faces in this year’s party, Shamsul, AC, Faye, Chris, Anthony, Rebecca, Jenson, Aireen, Daniel, and Debra are friends of friends or people whom I got to know via the blog but never met prior to this party.
Cindy, Selina, Siao Ling, Tock, Yee Hou, Firdy, Huai Bin, Elfie, Michael, Eiling, Erna, and Zoe are certainly are friends who attended the party for the first time. I got to know some of them via blog, random events, and via other friends.
There are also those who are no stranger to our little yearly celebration, Reta, Naufal, Nicholas, Alan, Adrian, Rachel, Kelvin, and Mohan all came to the party at least once before.
Then there is the group of my closest friends who were here since the get go. My housemate Horng, Suanie, Gareth, Kim, Huey Fang and Chan, and Terence. I am glad that my exgf Sheryl was able to make it after being away in Europe for post graduate studies for the past two years.
some of the more embarassing gift exchange moments
We didn’t actually have a dress theme this year. Instead, the legendary gift exchange has a little twist in it: It has to be something you can wear, and you must wear it after opening. This idea came from Horng, blame him if you were one of the victims.
Some of the more messed up gifts include a purple bra (I hope the size fits you, Elfie), disposable undearwear, a few boxes of condoms (Huai Bin wore one in public, scaring off all the girls), numerous underwear, socks & stockings, headgear, and lipsticks. The gift exchange was pretty intense, very dangerous.
the Heineken hat exchanged hands 5 times, stupid Michael!
The most saught after gift item was this Heineken hat brought by Michael. The hat was snatched up 5 times and ended up back to Michael just because Elfie wanted it (that’s wh4, stupid Michael). I think we should make it a rule that you can’t pick your own gift next year onwards.
some of the things people do when they are slightly influenced
Things got a little wilder after the gift exchange session as the blood alcohol mixture gets a bit out of hand for a few people. There’s this particular “Patrick” who can’t seem to walk properly and ended up passed out all over the place. The best thing was he kept saying “careful! careful! the earth is moving” and “are you guys ok?” everytime right before he passed out. Patrick is seen sleeping in two places with “James” sitting in both places in the collage above.
There were also some toe licking actions by Faye and Huai Bin, Siao Ling was, tragically, being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The party was great, and it was only appropriate that we had to end it after the cops came at 3:30am saying we were a bit too loud. Some of us then headed to Ming Tien for an early morning breakfast where Rachel promptly vomit out the wan tan mee after consumption. I think she was eager to join Patrick and James as the third person to throw up.
Again, thanks for coming, Merry Christmas and see you guys next year!
Lala is of course, is most commonly associated with the description of female who dresses up in horrible fashion with matching technicolor hair from the wrong decade, the male version would be addressed as ahbeng. They also tend to speak in the most accurate manglish (0.5% English, 10% Malay, 50% Chinese dialects, the rest unknown). The whole subculture is so amusing I wonder why there isn’t any PhD thesis written on it.
However, the lala we’re talking about today doesn’t walk on two feet with 4″ platform shoes. We’re talking about the favorite Malaysian shell fish found at many food courts and seafood restaurant, so lest I digress..
fat lala in kam heong style = best
It just occurred to me that I haven’t blogged about the best lala place despite having been eating there since before the inception of this blog, until I went there again a couple of weeks ago with IQG for a yum cha session, and again 2 days ago with Tock for dinner.
At this place, lala is typically served in two methods of cooking, “kam heong” and “shiong thong”. “kam heong”, with curry leaves, plenty of garlic and spicy curry sauce, is by far my favorite. The latter is a slightly soupy version with a lot less kick but most suitable for those who can’t handle hot food.
this place is actually a mamak strip
The thing I love about this place is that the lala is always rather big. The “kam heong” sauce packs a punch and the shell fish not overly done so it retains most of the juice. Imagine the spicy sauce in your mouth, and that sweet lala juice exploding into the mix when you bite on it. Simply irresistible. I mean, just look at the dude’s expression in the photos below. The sauce was so good Tock actually “sapu” it clean with the “chai kueh” from the other stall.
tock can’t get enough of the sauce!
The medium plate of lala costs RM 15, probably slightly on the more expensive side. However, I rather have this once than the others twice due to the quality on both taste as well as the size of the shell fish served. Simply second to none. Give it a try!
Video taken on 26th July, 2013 on a separate visit
alisan is just behind Perodua showroom at SS4
Address:
Jalan SS 2/4A,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.111388, 101.611133
