An interesting concept...

Went out for practically the whole day today, hanged out in the Bukit Bintang area with a friend whom I've never seen for quite some time.



For dinner, we went to a what I think is a newly opened cafe in Times Square. It's called the Gasoline Cafe. It's basically a restaurant which serve food somewhat like Kim Gary and Wong Kok. The biggest difference, however, is their concept; their interior layout and choice of dining err... equipments. And yes, what you saw in the background of the 1st picture are indeed wheelbarrows.



I don't quite understand their concept... except probably they're trying to potray a distant past. The seating outside, as you can see, they use wheelbarrows, inside potrayed somewhat of a dinosaur age-like environment.



It was a fresh and unique change of environment for a cafe, that is the first thing I have to say. The next is their hospitality; compared to any other shopping mall restaurants or cafe's you go to, they have by far the loudest "Welcome!" shout I've ever heard... Now, I don't really go to lots of places to eat, but this really gave me a shock when I walked in.. !



There was one part of the cafe whereby the seating was designed like... Fred Flintstone's car in the cartoon "The Flintstones". Customers have to remove their footwear before err... getting into the car to eat.



Now, their food was quite satisfying, with several types of fried rice, western style chops, drinks, and desserts. Expect to spend between Rm12-RM20 for a decent meal. Overall, it's a nice change of environment, the food is still the typical kind, but still good.



Final note, I thought their "Welcome!" was loud... until I heard the "Good-bye!!"... talk about a loud send-off...

An oasis in the urban jungle...

Hectics days are bombarding me, as well as fellow coursemates these few days, as the final leg of our journey of formal education is here. It's during this trying times, which our strength of will is pushed to the limits. And it's during these times, distractions are at it's peak!

With the opening of 3 new shoppping complexes, 2 of which are extensions of existing ones, it's pretty irrisistable to not visit any of them. The 3 which newly opened are The Pavillion KL, The Gardens Mid Valley, and the newly remodelled Sunway Pyramid.

I took the chance last few days to visit 2 of the 3, the Pavillion, and the Gardens. Pavillion was rather HUGE! The area is spacious, with lots of walking space. Their shops are mostly of well established brands, ranging from boutiques, to sports, to electronic goods, to even cars(the Jaguar store)! Most of it are concept based, such as the Nokie Concept store and the Apple Concept, known as the EpiCentre. According to the directory available to the public, the Pavillion is divided into 6 precincts; each of which specializes in a specific category of stores. I won't go into detail, but suffice to say, it's truly a shopping paradise for those who got the money to splash.

Another thing I noticed about this place is that, I don't know whether it's because it recently opened, or if it's a permanent thing, the place is litered with their customer service staff, or better known as their "Courtesy Crew". They are dressed rather well, in suit-like clothes, and are easily spotted with the "Courtesy Crew" word on their suits. It's really helpful when you're looking for help finding a specific location in the complex.

Now, the other new shopping venue I went to was The Gardens, located in parallel with the current Mid Valley Megamall establishment. I manage to take several pictures inside. As it's a new building, certain parts of the place was still covered in dust and dirt... a common site for new buildings, but not a good welcoming symbol...



The interesting thing about The Gardens is that it was constructed with a concept in mind; it's suppose to be somewhat like an oasis in the heart of Mid Valley City. Their main concept is their "Holy Trinity":

Inspire, Reward, Relax

which is centered around their "valued guest" philosophy. The Gardens is designed to be just that... a garden within the Mid Valley City. It's meant to be relaxing for its' customers, with lots of seatings, and a leisurely design of the overall area. A garden, which is still under construction as of the time of visit, will be located on the rooftop vicinity of The Gardens.



Like any shopping complex, there will always be a directory whereby customers will be able to use to find a specific location of a place of interest. The unique thing of The Gardens, however, is that they use touch-sensitive monitors for their directory. So, you can actually use their touch-sensitive panels to search for a shop, and it will display the exact location on the map, rather than searching for it's lot number and referring it to a generic map.



The other thing about this place is that it has somewhat of a wooden theme to the interior, whereby you can spot wooden linings around the complex. And, with respect to thier concept, along the main walkway of the Ground level, sofa's are literally litered all across the walkway. This truly brings comfort and relaxation for any shopper.



The shops around the complex also comprise of well-established brands, with two flagship stores, Isetan, and Robinsons from Singapore. On the top floor, they have a unique layout whereby one side of the top wall is lined with lights, and the other lined with 7 projection screens of sorts, with constantly changing patterns projected on it. It makes it very pleasing to the eyes, rendering it a visual treat to those strolling along the top levels.



Now, the layout of The Gardens is also divided into segments, seperated by the levels. Each level, or floor, specializes in specific areas, such as the Lower Ground with food and supermarket, and so on. And each level is segmented to other categories which I will not go into. But basically, what I'm saying is that, they've carefully organized the layout of the complex well, which in turn, makes it more convenient for shoppers.



The last thing done in The Gardens that day, was to have a drink in their own Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf outlet (which to those who knows me would know I seldom miss this opportunity :p) located on the Lower Ground level. As the place was still new, they didn't accept any form of cards.



All in all, the place is a very relaxing venue, not as big as one might have expected, especially if compared to it's bigger "brother" (or sister, whatever it is...). But the one thing which disturbed me was, again I don't know if it was special for that night or applies to every other night, is that it closes up at 10pm, and I mean the whole shopping complex. I was enjoying my drink in Coffee Bean when suddenly they made an announcement to leave the premises as they were going to close at 10pm.. and that was 9.30pm when I just bought my drink... damn it.... had to rush through it rather than enjoy my cold drink after a tiring walk...



So much for the "valued guest" philosophy.... =.="""

An overly overdue birthday post...

This post was intended to be put up many weeks ago, but thanks to my camera acting up... the photos were delayed... thus delaying the post in the process, hehe.

Anyways, this is about the birthday celebration of a friend named Nes.

Before I go into that, have to apologize cuz I only got 2 pictures... damn camera *(%&^^&%*&$^^%$^&&%$*(*&^!!

Anyways, we had dinner which he organized. The food was pretty good ~ After that went over to the nearby Secret Recipe for supper and to get "a cake" to celebrate his birthday ~ Now, take notice the inverted commas I used....

We all pretty much were there from the dinner. After ordering "the cake", we chit-chat, dilly-dally while waiting ~~

Then came... "The Cake". I must say, of all cakes I've had for a birthday celebration, this is the... wierdest one of all... might I present to you....
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Franken - Cake !!!

It's basically a full cake, which consists of 10 slices, and each slice comprises of a different flavour of cake available in Secret Recipe. I'd list them, but I can't remember them.... It was a real... interesting scene seeing a cake which was made up of "parts" from other cakes, hahaha!! But at least we could share and taste different kinds of cakes :p

That's all for the birthday entry ~ Hope your wish came true, or will come true Nes!!!