Reasons to celebrate...

There were my many reasons to celebrate in the past few months; birthdays, a full moon and a house warming, and here are the captured moments...

All set and ready to go to my niece Evelyn's full moon dinner party.

The venue was China Treasures restaurant at KLGCC

Hayley being picked up by those who are 'strangers' to her.
Dinner that night was ...
And the food was overall a good spread.
Very nice to have my cousins n uncle gather here as well

Cuz Alicia fooling around with Darren n Jarrett
All the 'young boys' lining up in a row for a photo shoot
Baby Evie looking so serene and i just love her thick black hair! 

Chocolate brownie courtesy of Jade 


A very happy darren that night!

And this is grandpa's birthday celebration




Here is Mark and the kids all ready for Tristan's 3rd birthday bash.









Smileeee! 
Then it was house warming of Choy phyll



amara is finally ready!

Gotten the keys to our newly built Amara Service Residence and here we are for the first look of our numero uno-bought property for the purpose of investment. Exciting.
Does this wonderful landscape look familiar? Yes, they are indeed caves. To be exact, they are Batu Caves and this condo is situated right opposite.
 This is Amara Service Residences in Amara Boulevard, with commercial lots located on the ground floor.

This door opens up to our 1,012 sq ft unit on Level 17.

Our balcony-less living room. No glass door here but the large windows make up for any claustrophobic feeling anyone might have.

Cosy little space for the kitchen leading out to the wet area.

The so-called 'wet area' for one's kitchen / washing machine.

No spectacular KLCC view here but hey, at least you know you have lots of neighbours around. Feel the semangat kejiranan coming alive yet?

Let's head to the rooms - there are 3 rooms (including the master) + 2 bathrooms.

All rooms come with a laminated wooden flooring and the same huge windows.


You can see the master bathroom and the other bedroom from here.

The only given (really) basic amenities given.


Hallway of the unit.

For a quick getaway, our unit happens to be very near to the exit leading to the lifts.

Lots of natural sunlight coming in!

Ours is the first unit (for peace and quiet!). Here's along the corridor...

Oh neighbour, you left your door wide open....

Enough of our very bare unit for now.
I'm saving the best part for last.....

Now, despite having a Sky Lounge, Sky Gym and Sky Karaoke ('SKY' being it all overlooks the outside scenery), unfortunately we couldn't get access into any of those as they weren't completed yet.

Hence, i only have the luxury of showing you their mini park, children's playground and pool.
Be prepared to gaze in awe...







Swimming here would be like soaking in the pool of eternal youth, worry-free and relaxing amidst the lush greenery and beautiful backdrop of Batu Caves. Hence, the name 'Amara' which means 'Eternal' in German.




Not a bad deal eh for something we paid slightly below RM 300K for, plus a free iPad2 (back in 2011) thrown in. A truly spontaneous decision we made about half hour after walking into the developer's showroom 3 years back. Something about seeing the displayed condo units rapidly being filled up with bright red 'SOLD' stickers got us sucked into the 'kiasu-ness' of it all.

And now, it's just a waiting game for the best deal.
Hope the wait is not 'amara' though.

red lobster seeing red?

Indeed a fresh discovery, Red Lobster, known to be the world's largest seafood restaurant company, has set foot in KL on 1st October at The Intermark. Co-owned here by our very own Secret Recipe Group, take heed though that 'largest' may not mean the 'best'. Hence, i was here for the food test. And i dun necessarily mean the 'lobster' test.
I kinda like that it was situated in the low density Intermark building where parking is absolutely not a problem. Plus i was here pretty early for dinner, hence the sight of chit-chatting waiters hovering at the doorway of the restaurant seemed pretty 'unclassy' to me. They were actually waiting to be assigned 'personal waiter' of walk-in customers.    

A peek at the menu and its prices... i would love this as a starter if i came in a bigger group.

i would love this as a main if i came with a bigger wallet.
Nah, i actually ain't no lobster lover. i just love crab a hundred times more.

I started off my dinner with a nice refreshing glass of fruit punch.
A very 'bananacky' drink.

Instead of the usual bun and butter rolls, we were served complimentary Cheddar Biscuits. Seriously, i wouldn't had mind paying for this as they were simply awesome! Cheesy crunch on the outside and piping hot and moist in the inside. My waiter even offered me additional biscuits (perhaps he noticed I was eating for two? ^^)

So, i knew i wasn't planning to order lobster, but since the name says Red Lobster after all, i had to at least try their Lobster Bisque, right? Plus i had a reminiscence of this soup that i used to love at this place called Dave's (in 1 Utama) some 10 years ago.
Turned out this bisque here is another winner. Smooth, creamy and very flavourful.  

Don't be expecting THIS much lobster meat in your soup though. 0_o

The menu is not super complicated and since there weren't that many choices available, I decided to gamble on their Parmesan Crusted Sea Bass Pasta. I tried asking my waiter the kind of sauce they serve for my pasta (since it wasn't mentioned in the menu), but his ability to comprehend my question was rather a letdown. I took the chance anyway. 

And ding! ding! ding!, we have another winning dish. The fusili was springy, greens fresh and the fish lip-smacking fantastic. The herby crust of the fish was crispy and coated the moist seabass to perfection. By the way, it was a thick creamy sauce for the pasta. This dish was actually quite a large serving, enough even for 2.

There's also the Admiral's Feast - a name that usually resembles a large-portioned power-packed dish that's fit for the King.

Sad to say, it turned out to be a plain 'ol dish of deep-fried fish and other seafood bits so minute and tiny, i could hardly taste the meat. The batter was kinda tasteless too, if not for the sour cream and weird-tasting salsa sauce to dip them in. Frankly, the best part of this dish was the broccoli. You can so totally give this a miss.

Thank God for my pasta dish that saved the night.

As in any restaurant, there are bound to be hits and misses. Overall, it was still a good dining experience. One man's meat is another man's poison. So don't just take my word for it. Try it out yourself and lemme know. I would definitely like to try their other dishes on the menu. Or perhaps all i miss are their cheddar biscuits? 

Red Lobster KL
G-17, The Intermark, Jalan Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur. Tel: 03-2181-4855


(Soon to also open in Quill City Mall, KL and Gamuda Walk Mall, Shah Alam)