Written by crizlai on May 5th, 2011 | Filed under:
announcement,
dine
The road along Northam Hotel now named Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah (formerly called Northam Road) was known as the “Millionaire’s Row” in the 1900’s. It housed all the big mansions of all the richest families in Penang. At the beginning of the road at the corner of Pangkor Road next to the presnt Gleneagles Hospital is “Hardwicke House*”, the oldest heritage building on that road. The 3 acre property, built at the turn of the 20th century, was originally owned by the Penang Club which then sold it in 1887 to Dr. WC Brown, a medical doctor from Harley Street. He named it “HARDWICK HOUSE” after “HARDWICK HALL” in Derbyshire, England.
“HARDWICK HALL” owned by the Duke of Devonshire, was built and designed for the Bess of Hardwick, who was at that time, after Queen Elizabeth, the most powerful and richest woman in England. Today it is an English heritage building managed by the National Trust. In 2006, it was selected by a BBC documentary as one of Britain’s Best Buildings. HARDWICK HALL was used as Malfoy Manor in the book and movie “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”.
In 1905, the house was sold to Khaw Sim Kong of the Raja of Ranong family of Southern Thailand (the most famous member of which is Khaw Sim Bee). During the 1st World War, the house was in turn sold to prominent lawyer Lim Cheng Ean who would later become a Legislative Councilor and the first Chinese magistrate of the Straits Settlement. The last owner occupant of the house was his 3rd son, Lim Kean Siew, a well-known Penang lawyer and social activist. It used to house horse stables and tennis courts.
Today it housed two restaurants, Heritage Coffee and Sommez Heritage Bistro. Walking into the premises was like walking down memories through time. It has a wonderful heritage ambience coupled with an inexpensive dinner over a glass of wine. The whole atmosphere was like during the colonial days where rich businessmen with cigars would frequent the place to seal a deal. It was great to be able to experience such great existence of our history today.
I'm thirsty for a drink now. Would you be kind enough to treat me?
Written by crizlai on Jan 12th, 2009 | Filed under:
diet,
dine,
food,
lifestyle,
living
It has been ages that I have this problem of not being able to stop my craving for certain types of food. Whenever I was at this specific area, I would drop by to eat until my tummy bloated up. Penang’s Pulau Tikus Market Hawker area is the place I was mentioning about. Who could resist the aroma from all those yummy hawker dishes floating in the air? Even without the aroma from the satay, fried koay teow, hokkien mee or curry mee, the colorful display of food on bamboo skewers spread on some tables with a boiling pot of water in the middle, would be enough to tempt just anyone.
It has been quite some time since I last had fried koay teow with duck egg. A plate of that might be great to fill up a part in my tummy. Maybe I would get some satay too. Hmm… some sticks of chicken and mutton meat would be great with the spicy pounded peanut sauce. Did I just smell BBQ seafood on banana leaf? I should get some BBQ stingray with a lot of spices on them. Gosh! Is that soaked cuttlefish with water crest? I have not had that for a long time too. I think a small plate will serve me well.
What was that colorful food in small containers that I have seen so many people carrying by me? Is there a new stall further down this stretch of food stalls? I think I ought to explore. Wow! There’s a new sushi corner. I could never get enough of sushi rolls as well. They have always been my favorite food. There are over 100 combinations ranging from unagi, egg, tuna, salmon, prawn, baby octopus, seaweed, soft shell crab, crabstick, fish roes, prawn roes, escargot, etc. They even have California rolls and some fruity yogurt sushi. Most cost barely RM1 ($0.30). I would have some takeaways for supper tonight.
Many of my friends were curious about the amount of my food intake and yet I could still maintain my slim body figure. Well, when you have the best weight loss pills around, you do not have to worry about cutting down some extra weights within the shortest time.
I'm thirsty for a drink now. Would you be kind enough to treat me?
Written by crizlai on Oct 25th, 2008 | Filed under:
business,
dine,
food,
life,
lifestyle,
living,
rant
After trying out so many types of food and creating my own fusion for some, I was thinking of opening a deli outlet in town. After all, everyone loves food and food brings people together. That was also how I met up with some great friends who had the same idea as me to open up a Deli in town.
We needed something new that would stand out from the crowd instead of fighting over the market share which some giant food restaurants had already established well. We started to research the food market as well as brainstorming for new ideas and found something real interesting. We found a large percentage of consumers, especially those in their teens and early twenties, love fast food. On top of that, there was also a large number who were healthy conscious about their food intake.
We thought why not we combine these two groups of people and come out with a Deli that would please both parties? That would be great right? What do you think of naturally raised hormone and antibiotic free Steakburger and Low Fat Organic Milkshakes? I’m sure most people would accept the diets of a lesser fat, calories and cholesterol meal, on top of the higher quality natural and organic ingredients used. Most importantly, the meals would be of great taste with a healthy label shown behind each item served.
Finally, we had decided to stick to the concept of healthy fast food but we also found some challenges here. How long would it take us to establish ourselves in the market with a name that people had never heard of? Won’t it be easier if we were to apply for a food franchise business from a brand that people had already known elsewhere? After much thinking, we had decided to go for the latter as it would not incur much investment and there would be supports and guidelines for a more systematic and successful ways of handling a new business for entrepreneurs like us.
I'm thirsty for a drink now. Would you be kind enough to treat me?
Written by crizlai on Jul 26th, 2008 | Filed under:
deals,
dine,
home,
life,
party,
wine
What would you do when you have just being informed that your regional boss and his wife would be dropping by your area and would want to visit your family for dinner in a few months’ time? Do you feel panic and get stressed out easily? Most of us would be as we would be in a dilemma of deciding what would be the best dishes to be set in your dining menu to impress both of them.
Of course there would the beverages to worry about too. You would not want to have all the arrays of nice food displayed on the dining table and yet you are serving them with plain water. You have to think about getting some red and white wine to accompany the red and white meat served. Sometimes, trying to get your hands on branded bottles of wine would be rather costly and not within your dinner budget. You might want to consider some that are produced by some local wineries and yet they are amongst the best in the world.
Have you heard about Gold Medal Wine Club? By joining them as a member, you will receive two outstanding wines each month right up to your doorstep. On top of that, you can also receive up to 45% off Winery-Direct Prices on reorders of half or full cases. Isn’t that a great way to get two bottles of top medals awarded wine of the month so conveniently delivered?
I'm thirsty for a drink now. Would you be kind enough to treat me?
