KL Work Trip, Aug 2012: Little Penang Kafe & Aseana Cafe Bar

Arrival at Traders' Hotel

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You can probably tell by now that I'm trying to clear as much backlog from my travels as possible on this blog. I hope to finish clearing my 2012 travel posts by year end, with 2 months to go! I just had a quick peep into my 2012 folder and realized that there are still 3 more work trips left, jiayou! I look after Southeast Asia region in my work - even so, I'll normally travel to KL and BKK. The mission is to add one more region under my cover this year, so I'll have to depend on the pre-sales team to make this happen, haha! Anyway, I'm more than happy to cover 3 regions for now :) 

 Complimentary buggy ride to & fro to KLCC. If you missed the ride, you can always head to KLCC on foot since it is just a short walk away. By a stroke of luck, I managed to catch the buggy ride on my way out thus saving me the walk. #gettinglazy 

 

Off to KLCC for dinner. I had a hard time deciding what I want to eat, given the wide variety of restaurants available. For overseas tourists, please rem to obtain your copy of tourist privileges from Concierge.

After walking for a few rounds, I decided to settle my dinner at Little Penang Kafe, which serves the best of penang food all under one roof. The decor reminded me of the old nostalgic Penang kitchen, with its coloured tiles dotting the walls and floor.

 

I was starving, so I ordered 2 of their specialties to try. In fact, I do remember faintly of visiting this place before. So, I went back to trace my entries and true enough, I came here with Rinta way back in 2010. Haha, the wonders of keeping a blog where you can (digitally) lock your memories. Well, I even ordered the same food 2 years later - some things do never change! 

Little Penang Kafe

KLCC, 4th Level #409-411

Tel: 603 2163 0215

 

I took a walk in the park to walk off the excess weight that I gained from stuffing myself silly during dinner. Named as KLCC park, this park was designed to provide greenery to the twin towers & the area surrounding it.
 

The park has a 1.3km long jogging track. I spotted quite a few joggers enjoying their evening jog while heading back to the hotel. For a couple of times, I packed my jogging shoes in my luggage but never got to use it for the bed was sooo comfy. 

 

There are a couple of photo spots located around the park. At this particular spot, you get a nice view of the twin towers! 

  
Ta-dah! With every visit to KL, I kept telling myself that I should head up to the sky bridge, but never once did I manage to do so :(
    

Since I'm at the photo spot, must take a pic right? haha! Headed back to the hotel, showered and worked on my laptop before retiring for the night. I didn't even speak to Leecher but just messaged him good night. Sleep is more important than hubby now, lol! 

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 Breakfast in my room the next morning for I had to prepare some work before heading to client's place for meeting. The food arrived just as I stepped out from the shower - great timing! 

 

Ordered Eggs Benedict & a glass of orange juice to kick-start the day.

 

It was back to KLCC again for lunch before I head to the airport. Instead of pondering over what to have, I headed over to the nearest restaurant that had seats/tables available.

 Aseana Cafe & Bar, located at ground level was the choice for lunch. Thankfully, I managed to grab a table before the lunch crowd starts pouring in.

  

Cushion seats that I can lean back and relax :)   

Aseana is both a cafe & bar. The menu features a wide variety of scrumptious Asian & Western comfort food, complete with a selection of wines and lounge music. If I could have the luxury of time, I would definitely relax in the cushion seats and read a book or the papers.

    I can't really remember exactly what I had - I supposed it was nasi lemak with chicken rendang.  Since I don't have any recollection, the taste must be ordinary at best, haha! 

Aseana Cafe

G15, Ground Floor, Suria KLCC

Tel: 603 2382 0395

Opening Hours: 11am till 8.30pm daily

          
 I took the buggy ride back to the hotel for it was scorching hot to walk in the park even though there was a sheltered walk way. At least I could feel some breeze while sitting inside the buggy.
 

Reached the airport within 40 min. Somehow, I feel all the taxi drivers in KL are aiming to be F1 drivers, lol! As long as there is smooth traffic (which usually is when you hit the highways), the drivers will drive at min 130km/h. Even though I was early, I couldn't change to an earlier flight, boohoo!

 
Walking to my fave chill-out spot. 
 
Was on whatsapp with Leecher, then took this pic for him and send it across in case he missed me, lol! 

 Where got own hubby say his wife is old one? *smack forehead* Since you so mean to me, I shall 以牙还牙, hmp!
  

Scribbling down my meeting notes & follow ups inside my little notebook. I used to carry Winnie the Pooh notebook around and my clients will always be amused by it. Since then, I have switched to a more sleek leather-bound notebook ... but I'll still stick Winnie the Pooh name stickers on the cover, lol!

Platters: Guest Chef Edition VI

I'm back at Platters for another guest chef edition. As we bid farewell to Chef Karl Dobler & Eugenia Ong for their wonderful creations, it is now time to invite another guest chef in the house. Chef Jeremy Nguee is chef-owner of Preparazzi and for this collaboration, he will be creating his own rendition of comfort food. So, be prepared to ditch your diet plans and start feasting away!

Located along Club Street, this place is hidden away from the hustle of the city yet in close proximity to the working crowd.
 
 Platters also boost an extensive list of Euro-centric wines, which are refreshed frequently.

We had non-alcoholic drinks before starting the meal. While I ordered a lemon tea, Leecher was intrigued by the range of organic drinks available @ Platters. He promptly ordered an organic lemonade, which was refreshing for him after a walk from the office to the venue.

 

What is interesting about this collaboration is that Chef Jeremy came up with Singlish names for all the 4 platters that he created ~ a true Singaporean indeed, haha! First up, we had Thunder Thighs & Crackpot Rice platter, also known as The *Siao (*crazy)Seafood Platter ($38 for half platter, $68 for full platter). This platter consisted of French frog legs, soft shell crabs and crab roe rice for mains & as for sides, there were butter and bacon coupled with tobiko and hollandaise. We were told that the frog legs were soaked in milk overnight before deepfrying ~ when I tasted it, the frog legs tasted more like chicken meat - tender & juicy. Crab roe rice was a hit amongst us too!

 

The Maniac Meat main course aka *Never Die Before (*the phrase 'never die before' is usually said in response to a daredevil act). The mains consisted of grilled angus sirloin, truffle roast spring chicken & home-made foie gras terrine. Sides include buah keluak butter, maple candied bacon, fat potatoes, grape jelly and charcoal crumbs ($48 for half platter, $88 for full platter). Looking at the amount of meat on the platter, I knew I was in for a treat since I'm such a meat lover, lol! The sirloin was a tad tough for my liking, but roast spring chicken was absolutely soft & chewy. On the other hand, maple-candied bacon tasted really like ba kwa.

 

Smear some of this buah keluak butter on your beef for a different taste :) 

   

 We had white wine to go along with the first platter & red wine (from Spain) for the second platter. 

 

Coffee Caramel Delight aka *FatDieYou #1 (*FatDieYou, when translated into Mandarin, it is usually used in reference to something utterly indulgent). This platter consisted of caramel fondant, coffee jelly, vanilla ice cream, chili chocolate crumbs and peanut butter brittle ($16 for half platter).

 

My Pastry Hero aka *FatDieYou #2 was the 2nd dessert platter that we tried. This platter consisted of freshly baked madeleines, rose meringue, rose espuma, lychee jelly and raspberry sorbet ($16 for half platter). We had 2 desserts served together & the trick to eating both platters was to mix everything together (on each platter). Comparing the two, my personal preference goes to Coffee Caramel Delight for the varying degrees of taste delight. You'll experience sweetness from caramel fondant, followed by a slight tinge of bitterness from coffee jelly. The extra bite comes from peanut brittle, where you can't resist the urge of popping more than one piece into your mouth :) On the contrary, My Pastry Hero was uniform in taste with different hues of sweetness from rose, lychee and raspberry.

 

Pay a visit to Platters & rem to hashtag #platters #fatdieyou & #42clubstreet on instagram/twitter.  

*Special thanks to Jean & Jenny for the invite :)   

Note: Chef Jeremy Nguee are available from now till Feb 2014.

Platters

42 Club Street

Singapore 069420

Tel: 6223 8048

KL Work Trip, Aug 2012: Arrival at Traders' Hotel

Hello! It's now less than 15 hours before we jet off for our holidays :) I'm kinda excited and yet worried at the massive itinerary that we have planned. There are still a couple of items that I have to finalise, but we are all set to go *excited* Before I take off, here is another entry on the (aug) KL Trip :)

I started the day extremely early, reaching the airport at 4.45am for the 6am flight to KL. The sky was dark when I went to bed & it was still dark when I had to drag myself out from bed at 4am to prepare. Normally, I'll take a shower and put on makeup. However, this was way too early, so I just took a quick shower, grabbed my bags and headed downstairs for the cab.  

Empty airport, which makes checking in a breeze :) 

No time for breakfast, so I headed straight to the gates for boarding. 

Not used to the quiet airport. I took my own time to stroll to the gate, only to discover that it was the first gate. 

 No makeup face for the flight.

 
Trying out Osim leg massager. I have seen this around the airport, but never had the chance to try it. Grab the chance to try it since there wasn't anyone in the vicinity eyeing it. 

 

 50 min later, I landed in KL. It was a mad rush clearing the customs > waiting for my luggage > getting airport transfer. My first appointment was at 11am & I still need to head to the hotel first.

  

 The airport taxi is a convenient way of traveling to the city. A budget cab will cost around RM74.30 and takes around 40 min to reach the city, right to your destination. I have travelled by their express train but I still have to switch to a cab at the central station. Thus, I'll normally take the cab since it is hassle-free.  

  

It was raining along the way to the city. Nice weather to sleep in, but alas, I'm out working already.   

  

Reached Trader's hotel but my room wasn't ready yet. So, I headed to the gym for a quick shower & changed into my working clothes. 

Headed down to the cafe for a quick breakfast. The early morning crowd hasn't arrived, so I was lucky to get a table quickly. 
 

Orange juice & my usual cup of tea to start the day! I think I have developed a strange habit - I'll usually start my day with a cup of tea in Singapore, but whenever I travel, it will be a mixture of juices + tea. 

 

The hubby is also enjoying his breakfast with fellow colleagues too! 

I was feeling slightly chilly & ordered a bowl of hot soupy noodles (with chicken). Interesting concept of putting the chopsticks on the bowl - this ensures that the chopsticks won't dropped off the bowl while carrying it across the dining hall. 

Traders Hotel, Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur City Centre
50088, Malaysia
Tel: 603 2332 9888

Soon, I was on my way out for meetings. I was stuck in 2 back-to-back meetings, with only 30 min in b/w for traveling. The 1st meeting took longer than expected, so I had literally run to my next appointment. Thankfully, the places were within walking distance from each other, so I just had to quicken my pace to reach the 2nd destination on time.

 

Selfie in the toilet before I embark on the long journey back to hotel.   

I decided to take the train back to KLCC instead of waiting for a cab. Even though cabs are abundant in KL, you'll get stuck in traffic jams during peak hours. A 5 min journey could become 30 min journey. Hence, it was easier to take the train. 

 

Token that I used for the train ride back. 
  
Spotted my idol Takeshi Kaneshiro! He still looked the same after so many years ~ ok, from boyish to man-ish. When J-pop was at its peak during my schooling days, I would watch every ep of his drama & "drool" in his looks.

Before I left, I asked them to bring up my luggage to the assigned room once it was ready. It was almost evening time when I headed back to the hotel. Once back, I went straight up to the room immediately after collecting the access card from the reception. At Traders', they will always leave a chupa chups on the towel in the bathroom :)

   

A quick change of outfit later, I was ready to head out for dinner! Till the next post, tata :)