Archive for April, 2007
you know the local Japanese dining-out scene is getting bad when you think Isetan’s unagi don tastes a lot better than the stuff you can get out there.
on one hand, we have the ubiquitous Sushi Kings and Genki Sushis that spit out these soulless kaiten-belt platters that are overpriced and taste mass-produced. then on the other hand, we have the all-you-can-eat Japanese buffets of high volume but shockingly low quality. presented with such hopeless circumstances, what’s a person to do when she wants a spanking good bowl of udon, or sushi that doesnt taste like the fish died 20 years ago in a nearby sewer?
hehe easy peasy. she goes to Hajime :D
Hajime is a Japanese bungalow-cum-restaurant that recently opened on Jalan Damai. a black-and-white pufferfish is its eyecatching brand, and not misleadingly so; because come the right season, Hajime indulges its customers by serving the coveted delicacy fugu. fugu, which is the meat of the highly poisonous pufferfish, takes great skill to prepare and can only be done so by licensed chefs. so yeah, definitely something to try at least once in your life! besides Hajime, the only place in KL that i know serves fugu is Iketeru at the KL Hilton.
warm yellow lighting and elegant wooden finishes give Hajime that comforting yet classy ambience. patrons can choose to be seated at the usual tables, the more chill-out ‘tatami’-style area, or at the sushi bar if you fancy a good chat with the well-traveled and well-read chefs who really know their cuisine!
the very first time i went to Hajime, it was newly-opened and about 4 days old. yet service and expertise were already top-notch. i was so surprised, because you know how new establishments are usually a little awkward at the start, but there was none of that discomfort here. all the waiting staff knew exactly what to recommend, knew their chef specialties, had customer service down pat, moved like well-oiled machinery. wowzers, eh :D
food here is excellent, i dont have to say anymore! here are some of my favourites :
cold Inaniwa udon OR cold so-men thin noodles served with dashi sauce, RM 26.
a must-try for sure! mix everything up in the dashi sauce, dip your noodles in and SLURP! yum yum. the noodle in the picture is the so-men, but i prefer the inaniwa udon much more.
california cheese and unagi maki, RM 24.
totally orgasmic; the sauce that goes with this is just so fantastic. my fav in Hajime.
crispy soft shell crab makimono with caviar, RM 18.
the addition of caviar is genius!
special salmon miso soup, RM 16.
seriously, give the normal miso soup on their menu a pass and go for this one. it’s so wonderfully fragrant and the taste of the soup just spreads out over your tongue like silk! you’d be hard-pressed to find a better miso than this one in KL.
grilled mackerel with teriyaki sauce, RM 20.
bliss is servings of this fish atop fluffy white japanese rice! sigh :D
Hajime special unajyu, RM 42.
comes with a bowl of miso and a side of pickled vegetables. the cool thing about this unajyu is that not only does it taste damn good, but the rice below it is lightly coated in a special sauce, AND there’s MORE unagi underneath the shredded egg! damn good value eh. unajyu forever!
the desserts are mostly their homemade ice-cream, with my favourite being the sesame ice-cream with red bean topping. Hajime also serves their patrons little complimentary dishes of starters upon seating. the starters are always different each business day, and they’re always damn yummy!!! very good gauge of the excellent standard of food here. also gotta love their portion sizes that are just about perfect.
ah. with places like Hajime, who needs to go anywhere else for a yummy Japanese meal :) this place is ultimate customer satisfaction in one beautiful restaurant. they own my ass now. i so cant wait to try the fugu when it’s here!!!
Hajime (map!)
64, Jalan Damai
Off Jalan Ampang
55000 KL
Tel : 03-2143 0073
April 28th, 2007
pinkpau is antsy cant wait to finish her finals it’s my last paper today psychology 201 is bloody boring bloody bloody boring i dont think i wanna major in psychology anymore all i wanna do is sleep cant wait to take the paper and come home and sleep my afternoon away before dinner with the bestest friends even though Penguin is sick with a respiratory tract infection thingy and almost died at least everyone else will be there we’re going to have mexican yay i like mexican but i dont like jalapenos Martian loves jalapenos donno why he does coz jalapenos taste ugh anyway Martian has a new name and it’s Marty because bernard suggested it and it’s so facking cute i totally like it so Martian is now Marty coz i say so and i can call him other names if i want to its only fair coz he likes to call me other names as well hah hah everybody lets laugh together bloody hell i’m so high need to stop drinking so much coffee i think i’ve had 958445 venti sized coffees in the past 3 days and i’m suffering from a case of dehydration and my stupid rashes are back hey did i mention psychology is bloody boring and that i completely messed up my economics finals yesterday can you believe i forgot the formula for rate of inflation and said transfer payments were a form of government spending oh my god can you just shoot me or something jon sent me a nice song by tokyo police club its a very cool song everyone should go listen to tokyo police club and hey was this week’s american idol episode stupid or what damn pretentious and cheesy and to top it off they didnt even eliminate anyone eh did you guys read that report on our information minister who lambasted britain’s BBC for featuring anwar because anwar is supposedly a ‘failed opposition leader’ basically what he meant to say was ‘why must feature opposition member you dumbshits why kenot feature BN’ and then he went on to say that it wasnt respecting malaysians who have rejected opposition political parties wtf stupid wan lah i tell you see this is what you get when there is no check and balance in our parliament all these monkeys think they rule the world coz they know how to pull votes from the naive majority who are swayed by paved roads and new playgrounds and new community centres so folks please pandai-pandai a bit when you vote in the upcoming election argh i want to vote hey i’m actually really hungry dont know what to eat but i think i should go back to studying so i can kick Psychology 201 ass today okay byebye the purpose of this post is actually to vent some repressed energy as well as to make you be grateful for the existence of punctuation in our reality today
April 27th, 2007
for people like me, one of the worst fears imaginable is to bolt out of bed in the morning and realize that they’ve overslept and missed an exam.
heheh no lah i didnt miss an exam - choi touch wood touch wood - but i thought i did, because the alarm didnt go off (pinkpau lingo for it went off, i just put it on snooze so many times, it eventually stopped snoozing) and i woke up to the sounds of heavy urgent banging on my door and screams of ‘bangun, bangun!’ (wake up, wake up!). in hindsight, i wonder why my first thought was, ‘SHIT i missed my exam!!!’, instead of thinking there was an emergency or a fire or an alien invasion. sigh, how nice my Kakak is; she knew i had an exam and was worried i would oversleep, so she took it upon herself to scare the living daylights out of me. -__-
my politics finals is in about 3 hours. disgustingly, i find that i cannot wait to take the paper as well as my econs finals tomorrow. what’s wrong with me? why do i like taking exams so much? where did my parents go wrong? am i normal? but i’m also looking forward to the end of my finals (simultaneously the end of my semester), after which i’m taking a 3-month break to do whatever the hell i want. yay! but maklumlah, since i like taking exams so much, 1 month of that will be dedicated to studying for my SAT, hahaha.
okay i’m not really as nerdy as i sound. just damn kiasu that’s all.
over the past week, i’ve gotten a few emails and comments about why there aren’t anymore pictures in my blog. wei why you all like that =( my writing is not enough for you issit? i cant write issit? eh actually, it is in fact the truth that i cannot write; i recently took my TOEFL (english as foreign language exam), and it’s divided into 4 sections - reading, writing, speaking and listening. so i got full scores for all sections, except one in which i lost two marks. YEAH APPARENTLY I CANNOT WRITE IN ENGLISH. -_____-
okie dokie since i’m retarded and cannot write, i wont torture you with anymore of my pre-school vocabulary or sentence structure abilities. i’m just going to put up some photos for your viewing pleasure. because you know, putting up pictures no need to write anything wan.
posing in a paddy field in bali
bev trying to steal MakeUpForever stuff, heehee
boys chilling and talking about boy things
spot the blue fish!!! :O
see jovann, actually i love you wan
me and chi the camera shy
remember the cabbie i blogged about here? yeah the one who sang songs for me and told me to have more sex? it turns out he’s Kevin The Beaver’s father’s childhood friend, and Beaver sent me this photo of himself and the cabbie during Beaver’s bro’s wedding dinner -___- the world is too small.
heng jun plans an assasination
sam’s funny hat
gary the fabulous, moi, chin yew the awesome
okay no more. i have 1.5 hours more to my paper and i’m starting to panic. must. go. back. to. studying!!! must not watch latest episode of Heroes!!!
April 25th, 2007
people do stupid things when they’re angry.
April 24th, 2007
the evening sun was out and i was standing there choking back dust. an old eighties song was playing on the shabby radio that had lots of little glittery stickers stuck on it. the air had a fluttery cigarette smoke finish that i would later find clinging to my hair. I Heart Pak Lah, said a little poster lazily tacked to the wall with dirty pieces of tape. some men were wolfwhistling at a chinese woman in tights and knee high boots who was rolling her eyes as she talked on her pink flip-phone that doubled up as a menagerie.
it was then that i realized, people just want to be special. this is the mother of all cheat codes when it comes to navigating the twists and turns and hidden passageways of the social arena. as much as people have their little idealistic plasticine models of the perfect boyfriend or the perfect best friend, it ultimately boils down to how the other person makes you feel. we are all attention-seeking whores; we like attention and we like to know that we are more special than the girl or guy next door or anyone you ever had in your life. we like to be at the apex of the bell curve. and that is why playing hard to get almost never yields results - instead, one has to make the other person feel accepted and good about themselves, be it through the attention given or any other concievable means. no one likes to feel left out.
like i said, people just want to be special. what’s special? long handwritten cards, showing them photos from your childhood, sharing stories and insecurities, a cup of coffee, no secrets, compliments whispered in bed, proudly telling all your friends, defending them when your friends point out their flaws, supporting them, believing in them, knowing how they like their eggs, exclusive trust, tenderness, bringing them home to meet your parents, opening up, holding hands, saying i love you, not noticing other members of the opposite sex, protectiveness, sticking together no matter what, letting yourself go.
that’s special. that’s inclusion. that’s family. that’s what people want. how do you expect someone to feel comfortable with you if you make them feel like a stranger?
April 22nd, 2007
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