Hyatt Hotel at Kota Kinabalu and its Oxtail Assam Pedas

There was an airfare promo some months back and I'd booked a short weekend getaway to KK for us on the first weekend of August.

I'm really glad for it because this break from the stress factors of the past month has recharged our marriage even though (or maybe because!) we had a most unpleasant experience together on our first night at Hyatt Hotel.

We reached the hotel about 9pm after a RM30 airport ride from the hotel and the check-in was fuss-free at that hour. Unfortunately, our request for a complimentary upgrade to a seaview room was denied (though I had the Gold card) and this was the view from our room in the morning. I'd stayed in a seaview room before at the Hyatt and the view was awesome (click here) so I'll say that if you had to choose, just pay that little bit extra for the seaview room.It's worth it. The mountain/city view is hideous.

We had an hour's complimentary internet access (WIFI as well as wired) which came in quite useful. As the hotel's restaurant only served buffet dinner till 10pm, we decided to order room service for the hotel's famous oxtail assam pedas. We were delighted to find out when placing our order that there is no tray charge and the cost of the hotel's famous Oxtail Assam Pedas for room service is just RM35 (with taxes and svc charge it works out to RM40) compared to the cost of the dish at the restaurant which is RM42 (without tax and svc charge).

My CEB went to the shopping mall next door to see if the shops were still open and when he returned, dinner was served literally. The meals came with rice and a glass of ice-cold water.

Now, make no mistake about it - the oxtail assam pedas is delicious. No two ways about that. There is lots of succulent tender meat cooked to tasty perfection and the sauce is thick and flavorful without being too spicy or too "coconuty".

We enjoyed our meal very much and retired to bed shortly after....only to be awoken up by our tummies less than an hour later! Everything exploded out of my tummy with a huge gush the first time I rushed to the toilet bowl. As I sat on the bowl, my CEB called out to me that his tummy was not feeling too good and he needed the bowl. So I got off and he got on. I was tired from being awake the entire day and fell asleep without waiting for him to be done, only to be awoken up two more times in the next two hours by my rebelling stomach. Liquid from the wrong place! It was awful!

At 7am, I asked my CEB to call the hotel to ask for charcoal pills as my stomach felt shaky and the hotel suggested that we go to the clinic instead. Now, I was exhausted from all the trips to the toilet and definitely was not happy to get out of bed at 7am on a holiday to go to a clinic. So I decided to go back to rest and hope for the best. My CEB and I both fell asleep till 11am when he woke me up.

The first thing I did was call the guest services to complain. They had the assistant manager call me back . He explained that it was the hotel's policy not to dispense medicine and urged us to go to the clinic. I did not see the point of so doing since everything had been purged during the numerous trips to the toilet. He told me that this was the first time any hotel guests had complained about their famous oxtail assam pedas giving them diarrhoea. I told him that this was the first time I had ordered room service that I had such a stomach upset - not even room service in a South Africa hotel had given me an experience like I just had!

I even had to tell him specifically that I was not going to pay for the food that had given us diarrhoea. He did not offer to take it off the bill. And he definitely did not offer to compensate us in anyway to make us feel better. If this is all the Hyatt can offer, and to its Gold member, then I'm definitely glad that we have chosen to maintain our Hilton Gold and SPG Gold memberships instead.

PS: I gave Hyatt feedback by referring this post to them and what do you know? They took almost a week to respond and all the manager said was that they would take the cost of the meal off my hotel bill, something which they had already done. There is absolutely no way I'm going to support the Hyatt group of hotels ever.

CNY Reunion Dinner 2012 at Grand Copthorne

My CEB and I hit upon the brilliant idea of having our first reunion dinner as a married couple at a hotel restaurant. This would save both parents having to prepare, cook and wash, and also spare us the thankless task of eating two dinners on the same day and having to rush from 1 place to another.

Both MILs love buffets so 2 weeks before CNY, my sis and I went down to Grand Copthorne Waterfront hotel to pay up in full for the reunion buffet for the 7 of us. We were informed that Cafe Brios was fully booked but the hotel would be opening up a second venue (the function rooms) and the same type of food and service could be expected. I was disappointed that we could not secure a table at the restaurant and rather apprehensive what the experience might be given that we would be eating at some alternative venue.

However, thumbs up for Grand Copthorne for pulling it off very well using their function rooms. We were shown to our table (the tables were arranged wedding-style) and were pleasantly surprised to find that the table had been thoughtfully decorated with ang pows, gold foil chocolate nuggets and coins and even an ang pow containing a 25% off discount card for future visits to Cafe Brios.

The spread of food was superb for the CNY reunion dinner - there were loads of sashimi (no shortage of tuna, salmon etc) and sushi. And oysters, scallops in shells, prawns (both the normal type and the river type with the big head), and even crab legs at the cold counter area. There was also a dragon beard candy counter (that had a really long queue each time).

The lobster bisque was extremely creamy and delicious, as was the black herbal chicken soup. For a buffet especially. Hot dishes-wise, there were just too many to choose from ranging from Indian curry chicken which my sister found mouthwatering good, to otah which I simply loved, and even sambal stingray and grilled seabass etc. There was also a counter serving beef (ribeye) and salmon wrapped in cheese. Oh, and there were pineapple tarts, tang yuan, red bean soup, jelly and even durian cake for dessert. Perfect. Just perfect.

And the price for all that food? Just slightly under SGD400 for the 7 of us. Money well spent and value for money. Grand Copthorne even had a Cai Shen Ye ("God of Fortune") go around the tables shaking hands and everyone at my table shook his hand for good fortune :)

With such a fabulous experience at Grand Copthorne for CNY reunion dinner, I'm definitely going to be making my reservations earlier for CNY 2013 at Grand Copthorne's Cafe Brios!

Lao Beijing @ Novena Square

Last Sunday, my mum suggested Lao Beijing because of a prior pleasant experience we had there before. The "8 Treasures" Tea (in Chinese, "Ba Bao Cha") we had for about SGD3 each was very sweet and refreshing, something I would recommend instead of the usual kind of teas like pu-er and ju-hua.

Because it was about 2.20pm when we reached there, we weren't quite so hungry any more and decided to order dim sum. But Lao Beijing doesn't have a dim sum menu at all. So we ordered the Xiao Long Bao which came in a basket of 8 for about SGD12. The Slog Reviews: No complaints at all about the quality or quantity. The skin was soft but firm, as was the meat but it isn't an exceptionally tasty dish.

We also decided to order another "dim-sum" like dish which was some bamboo shoots wrapped in the same skin as the xiao long bao. The Slog Reviews: These were far less tender and a bit dry compared to the xiao long bao dish. And, they were more expensive too. Definitely would not recommend this dish below over the xiao long baos!

My CEB was in the mood for toufu and he ordered the hot plate spicy beancurd with seafood which turned out to be a most excellent choice. The small scallops and shrimps in the dish went very well with the soft fresh quivering cubes of toufu, and the sauce was too die far. The Slog Reviews: 9/10. Definitely would recommend this dish to anyone going to Lao Beijing!

1 of my ex-suitors had brought me to Lao Beijing for its duck dish and so I thought the braised duck would be a good choice but alas. It was the furthest thing from good. The Slog Reviews: 1/10. This half a duck below which cost SGD19 was a pure waste of money and was not only pathetic in quantity but quality. The meat was tough and tasteless, the skin too dry and the sauce horrible. To tell you the truth, I was embarrassed for Lao Beijing that a restaurant of its standing would actually serve such an awful tasting dish!

I would recommend the pork trotters dish instead which we had the last time (See pic below) - it was a million times better than the duck dish above!

We ended the meal with a plate of red bean sesame pancake per the pic below. Like the prior experience, it was very good and devoured quickly by both my CEB and my mother. :)

I would have really liked the mango and coconut mousse dessert that we had the last time but my CEB claims to hate mango and so we gave this dessert a miss. Which is a mistake because I actually have a craving for the same, just by looking at the picture below. The mango inside was sweet and soft and the crisp flaky coconut on the outside was a perfect complement.

Address: Velocity@Novena Square #02-11/12 238 Thomson Road Singapore 307683 Tel : +65 6358 4466

Shark Fin at Thai Village

Over lunch on Sunday, my mum had raved so much about the Shark Fin Soup she had at Thai Village @ Goodwood Park that my CEB decided that he would take me there to celebrate our 2nd Monthiversary.

So I checked out Thai Village Restaurant's webpage and there was a listing for a branch at Changi. However when I called the tel number, I was told it was a residential number. So I called Goodwood Park and the staff confirmed that the Changi branch was closed. So rather than try to make it to town, we decided to go to the one at Stadium Walk and I made reservations at 7.30pm.

We only got there at 8.15pm because the restaurant was not where it was listed on the webpage - Oasis building! It was actually located on the first floor of Kallang Leisure Park. When I called the restaurant at 7.45pm looking for directions, the staff confirmed the address was at Stadium Walk which was where Oasis Building is. It was most frustrating and I had a telecon with the US at 9pm which I had to postpone. Bah - Thai Village needs to update its webpage!

Anyway because I was busy on my BB trying to postpone my telecon call, I left it to my CEB to select the dishes and place our order. We started with a medium sized bowl of shark fin soup, the cost of which was about SGD90. As per the picture below, the size of the shark fin in the soup was rather sizable and the texture was amazingly soft and chewy against the mushy texture of the soup.

I have to confess that although the bowl of soup was meant to be shared, my CEB gave me the lion's share of the shark fin. This is the last time I will be eating shark fin though. Even though I am an avid angler, I don't like fishing for sport and thinking about the inhumane way sharks are killed just for their fins, which are in fact tasteless, makes me quite ill. So while I am grateful for my CEB's generosity this time, no more shark fin. The pic below marks the last bowl of shark fin I will be ordering.

My CEB also ordered a plate of roast duck breast at my request. The Slog Reviews: 10/10. This must be one of the best duck meat dishes I've ever had! The sauce was nothing to shout about, being too tangy but the meat...the meat! How tender and soft it was with just the right amount of seasoning and fats. A must try for all duck meat lovers!

My CEB had a strange craving for beancurd in XO sauce which turned out to be a really good choice because it was a simple dish yet tasty enough because of the sauce.

I think the bill for just these 3 dishes came up to about S$140 and it was worth every cent!