OpenRice MakanVenture @ Imperial Pot, Solaris Dutamas, Publika

Just yesterday I was happily invited to my 2^nd OpenRice MakanVenture, the 1^st MakanVenture @ Plus One Shabu Shabu 1 Utama was a satisfying & enjoyable session, hence I had quite a lot of expectation on this wonderful food venture which was held at Imperial Pot, Solaris Dutamas, a restaurant which located at the far corner of block A1 Publika (upper ground level 1 facing the main road, above paparich to the left), specialise in creative Hong Kong Dim Sum & Tea Pot Soup.

 

Imperial Pot, Lot A1-UG1-03, Solaris Dutamas, No 1, Jalan Dutamas 1, 50480 Kuala Lumpur.

We were served some of their specialities which most of them passes creativity wise, wonderful plating & presentation. However if you’re looking for some heavenly taste HK dimsum, this isn’t really what you would be impress as most of them fall under the ‘decent’ category. The dish taste quite ordinary for a fusion dimsum restaurant as there is a lack of chemistry in the HK based food combination, nothing much really standout.

Classy interior & setting of Imperial Pot, Solaris Dutamas, Publika.

So here’s what we had..Menu of the night.

Quite disappointed as my highly anticipated Charcoal Grilled Skin Prawn Dumpling/灰姑娘虾饺皇 turn out to be unavailable =.=ll

Signature Tea Pot Soup/茶汤: Black Chicken, Ginseng Chicken, Yok Chok Chicken & Nutritious Herbal Pork, not outstanding in taste but the sense of herbs are strong & definitely good for health. (RM12.80/pot)

Nutritious Herbal Pork Tea Pot Soup

Ginseng Chcken Tea Pot Soup

Unagi Puff in BBQ Sauce/烧汁鳗鱼酥. Nice puff texture which is soft and creamy, a nearly melt-in-your-mouth sensation. This would be my recommendation dish. (RM 12.80/serving, 2 pcs)

Steamed Bah Kut Teh Soup Dumpling/Xiao Long Bau/肉骨茶小笼包. Nice filling of juicy meat in bak kut teh soup, the dumpling skin is slightly dry though. (RM 8.80/3 pcs)

Egg Custard Bun in Charcoal Grilled Skin/竹碳流沙包. Barely passes as the suppose-to-be liquid egg custard turn out to be scare & solid. (RM 6.80/3pcs) 

Deep Fried Avocado Roll with Crispy Silk Wrap/龙须牛油果. Quite crispy from the outside however the avocado filling are synthetically sweet, a very similar taste to a homemade pandan kaya. (RM 8.80/2pcs)

Enoki Mushroom Wrapped in Bacon/金包银. Nice aromatic dish upon serves. Surprisingly the chewy enoki mushrooms goes well with the smoked bacon as it balance up the bacon’s salty taste. (RM 7.80/3pcs)

Fresh Prawns in Organic Red Rice Roll/鲜虾红米肠. Pretty decent rice roll, however the deep fried crunchy texture & juicy fresh prawns makes it a worth trying dish. (RM 8.80/pcs)  

Despite the pale & ordinary food review, here’s something pretty interesting to spice things up :P.. Remember the phrase 'good things never last', well this is exactly the perfect phrase to describe my experience on the 2^nd OpenRice MakanVenture, don’t get me wrong as the folks from OpenRice & openricers attended the session are nice & lovely, we had a great time hanging out..  Disastrously the services of the restaurant & if not the attitude of the owner himself is a bummer. They has succeeded in taking food tasting to a ‘whole new level’ as among all those food tasting events that I had attended this is definitely THE MOST STINGY restaurant offering food review session! Now scroll back up to those lovely photos above, can you imagine that there were actually 4 of us who were ask to share all those ridiculously tiny portion of food?! (4 ppl with 3 xiao long bau, guess 1 of us would have to do a food review by eyes huh *jaw drops*) Still I’m thankful as they do provide scissors so we get to cut the Unagi Puff & Avocado Roll into pieces & everybody gets a bite.. Though I'm not the type of person who like to stuff myself with food while doing a food review, but since I would need to comment on those dimsum being serves I guess it isn't too much to have at least one piece of each for tasting right? -.-

Anyway still I thank OpenRice for the lovely gift & invitation, salute to the professionalism of you guys hosting the event with an empty stomach (Yes, EMPTY! seems that the restaurant forgot to serves their portion of dimsum *jaw drops again* =.=ll)

^^

Ok enough jaw drops, to be fair & putting aside the fact that the restaurant did not make it to my personal dimsum list due to it's low C/P index (Content/Price) & unpleasant dinning experience, still Imperial Pot is an option to be take into consideration if you happen to be in Publika & craving badly for some decent HK dimsum, perhaps you might get a wonderful dining experience when you’re actually paying for what you order. ^^ 

Rating: 5.9/10

Nuffnang Premiere Screening: The Purge movie review

The year is 2022 & United States of America stand out as a reborn nation.. With only 1 % unemployment, crime is at all-time LOW & life has never been better.. BECAUSE one night a year, for a 12 hours period during The Purge night, ALL CRIME IS LEGAL..

From the producer of Paranormal Activity & Sinister Jason Blum, directed by James DeMonaco, The Purge definitely sounds awesome & looks good trailer wise..  

Plot: “It’s the year 2022 and America has rebounded from a devastating financial catastrophe & is at an almost perfect domestic peace. Unemployment is at an all-time low 1 % and crime is virtually doesn’t exist.. Except on one day of the year.. which the New Founders have established so that everyone can vent their latent hatred and bigotry without consequence … except on select government officials. The rest of America can “purify their souls” through 12 hours of mayhem, murder, and anarchy known as The Purge.  It is a big business which brings great fortune for James Sandin and his family, but this year, the purge hits very close to home.. Literary.. As they will be tested to see how far they will go to protect themselves & their family when the vicious outside world breaks into their home.”

Classified under horror/thriller genre The Purge definitely sounds cool premise wise, leaving quite a lot of expectation on the story & characters.. Unfortunately the movie just doesn't quite live up to expectations, the acting is pale, the story is surprisingly predictable & even the sound effect sounds monotonous..

Still there’re some nicely execute scares & thrills sequences, few of the close-up gun shoot scene are nicely executed, perhaps the film will be even better if our ‘beloved’ Film Censorship Board of Malaysia manage to keep their brutal cuts away =.=lll..

To conclude, The Purge is a rookie horror film of ridiculous morally distorted nation which claim to be perfect & existing only in the imagination.. Still it get a passing grade, but barely due to it's slight sense of horror.

Thanx to NuffnangMY fr the tics :)

Rating: 5.7/10

Nuffnang Premiere Screening：《激战》/ Unbeatable movie review

很少写中文片的影评，印象中记得近来写过的就只有《寒战》与《天机：富春山居图》，会记得《寒战》是因为这是一部近年来不错的港产警匪片，而会记得《天机..》则因为..唔..大家还是自己点链接看影评把.. :P

那么今天为大家介绍的是一部非主流的港片，为林超贤导演之最新力作，由张家辉 、彭于晏、梅婷 、  李馨巧 、 安志杰主演 ..掌声欢迎~——《激战》。

有别于主流的警匪动作港片，这是一部汇集了两岸三地名演员，以拳击为题的剧情动作励志电影。坦白说一开始对电影的期待并不高，毕竟林导上一部以战为名的电影《逆战》虽然一样打着巨星旗号，找来了谢霆锋与周董担纲演出，可表现只属一般。此次《激战》大胆出击以非主流路线的拳击为题材，实在让人担心，毕竟以拳击为故事的港片近十年来几乎没有成功的..Anyway之所以会走入电影院完全是冲着张家辉三个字，可看完以后，心里却是满满的满足感且感触良多，庆幸自己做了个正确的选择..成熟的剧情与剪辑，到位的配乐，平实不喧哗的开场，实打实的肉搏，动人的文戏，构成了一部值得一看的好电影 :)

故事：“过气香港拳王程辉（张家辉 饰），在拳坛没落后，成为赌债累累的落魄中年，富二代思齐（彭于晏 饰），因父亲生意失败而一无所有。两个风光一时的失意人，一个为了避债，一个为寻父，在澳门相遇成为拳击师徒。辉为了挽回人生尊严；齐为了鼓励生意失败的父亲别放弃，师徒二人踏上MMA的擂台，无惧地挑战强大对手。”

《激战》是一部触动人心，血泪交织的，有灵魂的电影。要剧情有剧情，要感情有感情，还加码附送了高质量的肉搏、帅哥肌肉body（本人对男性酮体真没兴趣，这句纯粹为女性观众们而写）与适时的调笑吐槽，真心推荐啊 XD..

They Kiss！没错，这两个男的，有吻戏！基情伤不起啊~ XD

对不起又走偏了，不过话说回来，虽然没有好莱坞大片精确的计算激大手笔的爆破与科技，但个人认为在这年头简单、单纯、真挚才是珍贵的品质，在这纷纷扰扰且浮躁的社会，或许就需要这样一个简单、单纯且热血的故事来让人们重新的发现那渐渐被遗忘了的感动、情感和价值观。

《激战》，2013年8月15号擊动人心，深情推介 ^^

Ps：顺道一提，影片主要配乐为The Sound Of Silence《寂静之声》，一首曲风飘缓迷蒙的欧美经典歌曲，恰到好处的反差感为剧情加分不少 b^^d

Thanx to NuffnangMY fr d premiere tics :)

Rating：8/10~ ^^

'Meet & Greet' with Amina (Masterchef Australia Contestant) @ Blu Med MIdvalley

I bet most of us will come across with television cooking show from time to time, some are pretty challenging while some are quite homely..  Have you ever wonder whether those awesome looking chef really have such good cooking skill or did those dishes that prepared on television are merely for display only? Well that’s one thing that I always wanted to know, which brings me to the following Nuffanng tastebuddies event--- 'Meet & Greet' session with Masterchef Australia contestant- Amina ‏:P

Being held at Blu Med Ristoranre e Bar, the meet & greet session was one of my highly-anticipated event as I finally had a chance to try out some dishes of this opulent setting restaurant which located right at the middle of Gardens and Mid Valley Megamall.. AND that’s not all, besides a simply meet & greet, we get to try out a specially prepared dessert by Amina! Awesome right :)

Blu Med @ The Boulevard MidValley City

So how was the event, is it great? Well yes & no.. A big Yes for the meet & greet session with Amina El Shafei & a regretfully no for Blu Med.. :9    

Watching this talented & surprisingly young (age is a woman's secret, so I won’t tell you that she is only 29..Opss :P) Masterchef Australia Contestant preparing dessert live is definitely an enjoyable experience. The passion this smart, funny & lovely lady for food, freedom & great life is definitely what I like the most, we somehow shared similar philosophy of life XD * hi-five*

Live dessert making session via Masterchef Australia Contestant Amina El Shafei :)

Walah~ done ^^ 

Steamed Pandan Cakes with Lychee

As for Blu Med, the genuine concept of Mediterranean + Italian fusion is impressive, same goes to its interior/design which is warm, simply & yet elegant. However claiming to be the new baby of renowned IronChef Yasuhiro Sasajima & have all their dishes executed by expert Italian and international chefs, the food just doesn’t really live up to my expectation.

Blu Med- warm & elegant 

Blu Med- interior

Since it is a Mediterranean & Italian fusion, I suppose freshness, unique/colourful plating and of course mouthwatering poultry, seafood, beans, pastas & Olive oil are to be expected. Well for Blu Med plating wise they did a good job & they do score well for the criteria of uniqueness as some of the dishes are quite special, but taste wise, a total disappointment with nothing to shout about for :’( perhaps the buffet style presentation for food tends to compromise some of their taste & quality?

erm.. at least the colour looks nice, I like blue :P

Roasted Baby Potatoes with Garlic and Rosemary

Linguine with Squid, Cherry Tomatoes and Basil

Cutlet Dory with Ligurian Sauce

Chicken Breast with Mango Salsa

my own platting XD

Anyway, overall the event was great, thanks to Lifetime (Astro channel 709) for bringing in Amina & thanks to Nuffanng tastebuddies for the invitation, cheers~ b^^d

OpenRice MakanVenture @Plus One Shabu Shabu 1 Utama ^^

Founded in 1999, being known as Hong Kong's most popular dining guide with over 3,000,000 unique visitors and more than 75 million page views/ month, with over 34,900 restaurants on the site, OpenRice.com is indeed one of the best dining guide reference available online.. And the best part is since 2012 it is officially available in Malaysia! Check out >OpenRice Malaysia FB page HERE<  

After being an OpenRicer for a few months, finally I manage to join one of their MakanVenture event which were held at Plus One Shabu Shabu 1 Utama just the other day. It was a pretty enjoyable session by the way b^^d In case you guys wonder what MakanVenture is, well basically the name itself pretty much explain it all- ‘Eat Venture’, which is a weekly food tasting session held exclusively for OpenRice member, so that we food lovers can gather up to explore Malaysia’s best restaurant & foodsSss~ ;D

So here’re some shoots & review for my 1^st OpenRice MakanVenture *clapclap*

Plus One Shabu Shabu 1 Utama: Lot F 337-338, First Floor, Rain Forest, New Wing, 1Utama Shopping Centre,
47800 Petaling Jaya, Malaysia.

Capacious, clean, nice & cosy interior.

Reaching there slightly late thanks to the always ‘wonderful’ LDP traffic =.=lll Most bloggers & OpenRicers were already there :’)

Kick starting the event with a brief intro on Plus One Shabu Shabu by the restaurant owner himself.

Jotting down soups base orders, they servers a verity of base (19 choices of nourishing broths in total), you would definitely find one that you like :P

such a pleasure to be serves by the boss himself, thank you ^^

Individual setting: a one-person-one-pot (HK) style. Hygiene is not an issue.

My Pork Bone with Corn Broth set ^^

Our drinks: Water Cress & Honey (a cold & sweet version of西洋菜汤).. Unique huh, & it taste pretty well too consider the fact that the jug is nearly empty while we’re just starting ;P

Vast variety of Homemade Sauces.. Hawaii, Thai Chili, Tom Yam, Fish, Sesame etc.. Taste even better when mix, do ask the owner for recommended recipes :)

Crispy Deep fried HK fish skin: One of my favourite, & it taste event better after socking in the broth b^^d

Golden Sand Squid, best eat while warm ^^

Drunken chicken

Black Pearl (HK Century Egg): ammonia strong taste of century egg, best goes with a slice of young ginger on top b^^d

Japanese Black Pork Loin, the pinkish complexion is just so tempting.
   

Overall taste: delightful & extremely satisfying, a nice place to drop by if you’re looking for a pleasurable shabu shabu restaurant. Y^^Y 

One for the record. Thnx to OpenRice MY for the invitation ^^

Rating: 7.6/10~