LOVE LIFE, CHERISH MOMENTS

   The British are known for their elegant language and manner, polished etiquette and most importantly, scones and afternoon tea. Hence, when i visited London during my spring trip, of course i gotta have some of that before returning. Ms Zheng and i met up with our old buddy Jasper, who is currently based in London for a quick catch up over some tea and pastries. He recommended this humble tea house called Maison Bertaux, right behind the busy London Soho, located off The Greek Street.

Delicious pastries and cakes!

     Maison Bertaux is the oldest French patisserie (French pastry house) in London, established since the year 1871, by Mr. Bertaux himself. Throughout the years, this pastry house remains standing in the evolving metropolitan with its traditional French pastries and a wide selection of warm tea. We were welcomed by an array of pastries as we stepped into this old and humble double storeys hut. Next, we were required to make our order at the counter before proceeding to our tables on first floor. As you can see from the photos above, every corner of this tea house screams classic, elegant and warmth, so welcoming and comfortable for a relaxing afternoon tea.

   I was hoping for some warm scones and tea, so we went for 2 traditional English scones, accompanied by cream and strawberry jam, a Strawberry Tart and a slice of Chocolate Cheese Cake for sharing. Our tea selection would be the classical Earl Grey and Chamomile Tea.

Traditional English Scones, served with whipped cream and strawberry jam.

Strawberry Tart

Chocolate Cheesecake

Earl Grey Tea

#flatlays

   I guess some of you might have noticed, i have a certain standard when it comes to scones, as mentioned in a few of my previous entries. I'm glad to say the scones here were up to par, with its crumbly texture and buttery flavour. The only thing i hope to alter, would be the addition of clotted cream because that lovely thing is essential! Strawberry tart were tangy and fresh; while our chocolate cheesecake was a huge let down. The cheesecake had too much solidifying agent within, causing it to be too jelly-like. Nevertheless, our tea was amazing! I adore the strong alkaline after taste we got from the Earl Grey, giving us extra caffeine kick.

Missing you both!

   Overall, it was quite interesting experience, sipping tea accompanied by wonderful desserts, overlooking the busy street of London, spiced up by never-ending conversation with my dearest buddies. London truly has its own unique charm, with captivating vibes and surprises. I can't wait to be back in this metropolitan, explore more cuisine and finds to share with you guys. Stay tuned for more updates! xoxo

More Information~
Address: 28, Greek Street, London W1D 5DQ, United Kingdom.
Website: http://www.maisonbertaux.com/maisonbertaux.com/Maison_Bertaux.html

   Good Friday peeps! This never ending holiday is starting to get on my nerves. I've been completely resting for the past few weeks. I'm starting to long for travelling, working, gallivanting and everything else. Even though i do enjoy staying home, being a home maker and purely enjoying my leisure, but i can't help but to look forward to more excitement in the future. For instance, this wonderful memory with my cousie when she visited me last month. I took her to Majestic Hotel for an exclusive and elegant afternoon tea.

The inviting and elegant dining space.

   There are basically 4 different spaces in Majestic Hotel to enjoy their wonderful afternoon tea sets that starts from 3pm to 6pm daily. They are namely The Tea Lounge, The Colonial Cafe, The Drawing Room and lastly the most exclusive--The Orchid Conservatory. Each of these spaces are located on the Ground Floor, right behind the hotel lobby. They are beautiful, elegant and relaxing but none of the above can compare to the beauty of Orchid Conservatory. Located at a transformed green house, The Orchid Conservatory consists of several tables that can only fit 15 customers per day, surrounded by amazingly colourful and vibrant orchids, just like its name suggests. Therefore, prior reservation is required in order to secure a place for your afternoon tea session.


   We were pretty lucky in the sense that we only made our reservation a day before. The hotel staffs informed us that normally, the reservation has to be made at least a week earlier. Thank God for this opportunity. When we arrived, we were warmly welcomed by the 2 staffs that were in-charged of this space. They escorted us to our allocated table, right beside an array of healthy and fragrant white and purple orchid. The table setting was neatly decorated, with crispy white table top, accompanied with classic white and gold china. There were only 5 tables here and all were occupied for the day.

Milk and brown sugar crystals for our teas.

   After that, the table staff quickly introduced us to Majestic Hotel's English Afternoon Tea Set. It began with the tea selection from their Twinings Tea Collection. We were given a petite black box with 6 different kinds of tea containers, ranging from Rose Garden Black Tea, Medley of Mint Tea, English Breakfast Tea, Calming Chamomile Tea and more. We used these tiny containers to smell and get our preferred choice of tea before proceeding. I went with the Rose Garden Black Tea while cousie Caryn ordered the English Breakfast Tea.

Twinings' Tea Testing Platter

    After that, our designated waiter brought over our teapots and began an interesting presentation of tea making. He patiently explained to us, that different types of tea require different brewing time. Therefore, they prepared this little device, consists of 3 different hourglass, with different amount of sands, symbolizing different time for each tea. White tea like chamomile requires the shortest time of all, only 3-4 minutes; whereas green tea and infusions take a longer time, approximately 5-7 minutes to be perfectly brewed. Coincidentally, both of us ordered black teas, which take the longest among them all to brew, roughly 8 minutes. He explained further, as the black hourglass (black tea) finish emptying its sands, our teas will be ready to serve. I thought the whole experience was quite delightful and educating. Kudos to our incredibly polite, patient and knowledgeable waiter!

Our waiter patiently explained the art of tea brewing

   After our tea was brewed, we were served with 2 cups of warm and fragrant teas, perfect combination to what we were gonna have next. We were having Majestic Hotel's English Afternoon Tea. It comes in a combination of sweet and savoury, both cold and hot finger food, served in their signature bronze wheel and a classic gold metal box. The menu changes frequently. Hence, the items we had might not be repeated during your next visit, because Majestic Hotel would love to keep their menu fresh and creative at all times. Although there were two of us, but the serving of the sweet items remain as single portion. What a set back, as we had to slice our beautiful desserts into halves. Nevertheless, the presentation was excellent, together with the natural lighting and white furniture, this place is beyond perfect for photography.

The complete look of our English Afternoon Tea Set for Two--RM 220 nett

    Let's begin with the savoury and warm items. In the metal box, we had 3 pairs of warm savoury items. The first pair was a crumbly pie, filled with arrabiata sauce, minced chicken and topped with creamed potato. Second one was a pastry pie filled with sauteed mushroom with herbs. Lastly, we were given two crispy fried balls, filled with shrimps. The last one was indeed Malaysian inspired. My favourite has to be the first pair. I'm loving the marriage between these ingredients, totally screamed savoury. The most unique part was the amount of love the kitchen team poured into these finger foods. They were placed in this metal box to keep them warm, so that diners would be able to enjoy the fullest out of these savoury items.

Savoury items: from left to right (first to third)

   Moving on to the bronze wheel, and i'll start off with the bottom layer, which was occupied by several types of sandwich. Starting from the left most, was a multigrain bun, filled with shrimps, coated in mayonaise and alfafas. Next one would be the typical smoked salmon with tuna sandwich, followed by a pair of egg mayo sandwich served with cucumber. Last but not least, beef sandwich served with rocket leaves. All of these sandwiches were delicious, but my personal favourite goes to the shrimp with alfafa, followed by the beef sandwich. They were well balanced and kept me going for more.

From left to right (first to last)

    Proceeding to the next level, we had three British scones. Two of them were raisin scones and one was original plain butter scone. Alongside with these were two cups of strawberry jam and perfectly whipped cream. There was another marmalade jam but was placed in the savoury metal box. The scones were good, but not the best i've had. To be honest, a good scone is pretty hard to get by. For me, i would prefer my scones to be flaky, crumbly, buttery, slightly chewy and have the perfect consistency in between a bread and a cake. Most of the bakeries out there tend to make their scones leaning towards the bread side while the scones here were more towards the crumbly side, which was not too bad. I absolutely love the whipped cream and strawberry jam. It would be better if they include clotted cream as well, because this thing is to die for!

British Scones (two raisin scones and one original scone) served with strawberry jam, whipped cream and marmalade jam.

   Moving up to the final tier, we were served with 5 unique individual desserts. From the left, was a carrot cake topped with coloured cream. The next one was a decadent orange chocolate mousse cake, coated with dark chocolate ganache. The little red one in the middle, was none other than Red Velvet Cupcake topped with cream cheese frosting and designed white chocolate. The one next to it was a cute little eclair filled with refreshing lemon curd, glazed with yellow coloured white chocolate and topped with paper thin wafer sheet. Last but not least, we also had a raspberry trifle, consists of whipped cream, meringue, raspberries and raspberry sauce. These were such complicated and delicate little finger desserts. Both of us girls adored these little babies and were longing for more! The portion should be doubled since there were two of us. Anyways, it was hard for me to choose a favourite, but the raspberry trifle was more unique and memorable to me, mainly because the different types of flavours and textures, blending altogether to form a summer treat. You could taste the crunchy meringue, velvety smooth cream, together with explosion of sweet and sour flavours within one bite. Totally mind blown!

From left to right: Carrot Cake, Chocolate Mousse Cake and Red Velvet Cupcake.

Eclair filled with lemon curd and Raspberry Trifle

With my beautiful cousie Caryn

   There you go, our memorable and enjoyable afternoon tea experience with The Majestic Hotel, KL. Overall, we were quite pleased with their food, service and ambiance. The cost per person was RM 110 nett for an afternoon tea in The Orchid Conservatory. Although it is a bit pricey compared to the rest of the dining space (RM 58 and above), but it was worth it, judging for the exclusivity, dining ambiance and personalised service. Imagine dining in a garden filled with colourful orchids that are meticulously cared, with delicate little sweet and savoury items which are professionally produced by a team of prestigious pastry chefs, along with a team of professional and polite table staffs. This dining experience was wonderful and one of a kind. I would definitely recommend Majestic Hotel's English Afternoon Tea to friends out there! I hope you enjoy today's write up. Have a wonderful weekend ahead! xoxo

More Information:
Website: http://www.majestickl.com/index.html

   When work and daily hectic routine took over my life, i can't help but to miss the days of freedom, travelling and fun. It has already been a month since my return to Malaysia. Legs are itching for another adventure! Till then, i'll have to settle with blogging about my travel experience and looking back at beautiful photos in the countries i visited. Today, i'm going to share with you one of my favourite destinations in Hua Hin, Thailand--Hua Hin Vineyard.

   During my graduation trip to Hua Hin, we hired the service of a driver and his 4WD vehicle for one day. We acquired his contact through the hotel's reception. He charged us approximately 3000 baht and covered almost 8-10 tourist attractions. I would say it is quite value for money if you are travelling in a big group. Plus, Hua Hin doesn't have any established public transport, only those highly expensive tuk-tuk is available.

    Anyway, after lunch, we decided to visit the famous Hua Hin Hills that is also the house of Hua Hin Vineyard and other interesting finds. Who knows, there is a vineyard in a tropical place like Hua Hin? It took us around 45 minutes to travel from Hua Hin town to the hilly roads and finally, The Vineyard. Along the way, we were greeted by trails of beautiful greens and scenery. When nearing the Hua Hin Hill, we were welcomed by rows of grape vines with green and purple grapes. There are several tourist packages like elephant riding, vineyard tour, wine tasting. However, due to time constraint, we skipped this and had a walk around the vineyard before settling down for an afternoon 'tea' in the vineyard's restaurant--The Sala.

Rows and rows of grape vines

Us with the soon-to-be-ripe Muscat grapes

Outlook of The Sala

The Sala--Hua Hin Vineyard Restaurant

   As you can see from the photos above, The Sala is housed on the hilly trails of the vineyard. It has a classical laid back style which immediately spells relaxation in our minds. The staffs welcomed us with warm greetings, making us feel at home instantly. For our afternoon 'tea', we decided to order a wine from the extensive wine menu that featured red, white, sparkling and dessert wines all brewed locally in Hua Hin Vineyard. Since we were seated on a vineyard, we certainly had to go with their signature Grape Cheese Cake, Grape Sorbet and a bottle of dessert wine (Monsoon Valley Muscat 37) to go with our beautiful desserts.

Grape Cheese Cake--160 Baht++ Cream cheese cake topped with grapes, whipped cream and grape jam.

Grape Yogurt Sorbet--130 Baht++ Grape yogurt sorbet dressed with tuiles, grapes and whipped cream.

Dessert Wine: Monsoon Valley-Muscat 37--850 Baht++ A dark salmon-pink fortified wine made Muscat grapes, Monsoon Valley Muscat, fortified wine is deliciously sweet and well-balanced. Smooth on the palate, its lush aromas of lychee and rose and cherry blossom make Monsoon Valley Muscat, fortified wine an excellent choice to pair with dessert on just sipped on its own.

Multiple Award Winning Wine

    When it comes to wine, i have to admit, i am not exactly an expert as i'm more of a coffee person. I am an occasional drinker. Dessert wine is truly my first, as the conventional would always be red or sometimes, white wine. Therefore, i was pretty excited for this dessert wine. Oh well, how do i begin with this complexity. Firstly, the smell of this Muscat 37 is fruity, flowery and sweet. The colour was a beautiful rose gold, with a tinge of pink. It is clear and clean, unlike its sister, red wine, kinda mimics white wine in its appearance. For the taste, on the first sip, i was hit by a wave of alcohol fumes, then it slowly transformed into a subtle sweetness, filled with the sweet aroma of lychee and rose. I couldn't appreciate cherry blossom, perhaps more in the smell than flavour. When paired with cheese cake, these 2 are just match-make in heaven, even though the cheese cake was rather ordinary. On the other hand, the grape yogurt sorbet was a wonderful addition to our hot summery afternoon. It was refreshing, sour and sweet at the same time.

Cheers~

   Besides food and wine, The Sala also promotes Hua Hin Vineyard through the sales of various vineyard products like wines, grape jam, grapes, grape dessert, grape raisins and more, all locally produced. Although we did not spend much time over here, we did not even visit the wine making factory or the vines, but we truly enjoyed the nature, the wine, the scenery, the hospitality and of course the company we have. I would strongly recommend this attraction to friends that are visiting Hua Hin in the future. Spend one full afternoon here, explore the local vineyard, the factory and this restaurant. I am sure you would love it like i did. I hope you enjoy this post, have a great week ahead!

More Information~
Website: http://www.huahinhills.com/

   I've always wanted to write about my travelling experience, sharing good tips and beautiful places to you guys, but i was too lazy to edit, organize and come out with something memorable. However, this time, i've decided that i wanna share my trips with you guys because i want to immortalize these memories and also hopefully, that these travelling related posts can help you guys in planning your future trips. I hope you will enjoy this as much as i do in preparing it. Without further ado, follow me into my spring time adventure in Thailand.

   This was my graduation trip with my classmates 2 months ago, where we visited a few places in our friendly neighbour--Thailand. This post is all about our first stop--Bangkok. I'll elaborate more on the details of the trips, highlights, recommendations for food and places to go, and of course, the cost for everything.

Day 1: 27th February, 2016

1.30pm KLIA 2--Bangkok Don Muang Airport

   We booked our flight as early as 4 months ago, when Air Asia was doing a promotion. Therefore, we got some affordable tickets from KLIA 2 to Bangkok and flying back from Krabi. The total cost was RM 340 (tax included) for both trips.

Hello to the land of colourful cultures!

   Once landed, we took a cab from the airport straight to our hotel for two nights at Pratunam district, Bangkok City Center. We have a total of 7 people, so we split up into 2 taxi. Just a little information about Thailand's cabs, they are known to be cheap but please be careful when calling a cab. If you are in the airport, you can opt for the taxi service at the end of the airport and queue for 15 minutes or so to hire a metered taxi. Beware of those taxi drivers around the airport that are promoting illegally, promising 'cheap fare' but they usually do not use meter, so it could be more expensive.

   However, in Thailand, the taxi companies enforced a law to all taxi drivers that they cannot carry out their work after 10pm. Hence, during late night, some of the taxi drivers would still drive around illegally, getting customers without using the taxi meter, only by a single offer they give. This is the time to be careful and cautious, be wise and NEGOTIATE!

4.30pm: Checked in to Hotel De Bangkok

   Before this, we had booked all our accommodation via online companies such as Agoda, Booking.com etc. We found this hotel through Agoda.com, plus recommendation by friends. The hotel that we would be staying for the next 3 days is Hotel De Bangkok. This boutique hotel is situated strategically at the city center, only 5 minutes walk to the nearest BTS (train station)--Ratchaprarop, 10 minutes walk from the ever busy Pratunam District. This hotel being hidden within Soi 12 is away from noises and comes in a extremely valuable price per night. Breakfast is included as well.

A queen size bed+super single bed

My lovely girls

Squeaky clean bathroom

The balcony

Balcony view

    We got ourselves 2 triple (Deluxe) rooms with breakfast included, at RM 200 per night, each person around RM 50 per night for a 3-stars-hotel! How worth-it right? The rooms are spacious, quiet, clean and internet speed was incredible! Staffs were friendly and helpful. I highly recommend this boutique hotel to all my readers who are planning to visit Bangkok in the future!

5.30pm: Early dinner at Som Tam Nua Thai Restaurant, Siam Center

   After we settled down, we decided to go for early dinner at Som Tam Nua in Siam Center, Pratunam. We took 2 cabs to there, since we have more people and were starving for food. Som Tam Nua is famous for its papaya salad (Som Tam) as its name suggests. Little do people know, that it is also well known for its Isaan-cuisine (northern Thailand). We ordered the must-have--Papaya Salad, along with some local bites like fried chicken wings, spicy pork soup and others. Unfortunately, we were disappointed by the portion, taste and the pricey bill as well. I would not recommend this place for proper dinner, but if you are looking forward to taste some milder version of papaya salad (less spicy, less sour), this could be a suitable choice for you. Each person costs around 250 baht.

Spicy pork soup

Signature Pad Thai

Signature Papaya Salad (Som Tam)

Fried Chicken Wings

6.30pm: Snacks and desserts in Siam Paragon (Food Court, Kyo Roll En, After You Cafe)

      Anyway, we felt much better after our discoveries in Siam Paragon, which is a few blocks away from Siam Center. At the basement floor, we found some really delicious BBQ pork satay. Not to mention, the wonderful matcha desserts at Kyo Roll En and Bangkok's signature cafe--After You Cafe for its honey toast and more! You can read more about these at my previous entry: KyoRollEn & AfterYou

9pm: Night walk at Asiatique 

Day 2: 28th February, 2016

8am: Headed over to Chatuchak Weekend Market

The beautiful view at BTS station

With my beautiful girls

    We reached the market at 9am, which was a little bit too early as most of the shops was still asleep. To my amazement, this market is seriously HUGE. It was messily sectioned into 27 'Soi' or streets. Each Soi stores different style and type of merchandises. You can refer to the photo below, courtesy of www.chatuchak.org



   Some of the tips to conquer the market in the most limited time and energy you have, is to:

1. BARGAIN-reduce the price to 50% and slowly go up.
2. BE DECISIVE-if you really like it, chances are you won't be able to see the similar item elsewhere at similar price and it is difficult to go back to the exact same stall to purchase it after you left. So, the rule is, IF YOU LOVE IT, BUY IT!
3. KEEP HYDRATED-the market can be very hot and stuffy as the day goes by and crowd grows bigger. Be sure to drink lots of water or juices to prevent heat stroke! There are plenty of drink stalls you can purchase from.



   One of our greatest finds was this coconut ice-cream. Trust me, almost every coconut ice-cream here is better than Malaysia ones. They were authentic, fragrant, refreshing, creamy, sweet and memorable. The range of price is within 30 to 60 baht, you can alter the number of scoops of ice-cream and different toppings. Until now, i am still missing the flavours i got from this wonderful summer dessert.

11.45am: Welcome to Bangkok's most popular shopping haven--Platinum Mall

   Around noon time, we hopped over to Platinum Mall for lunch and second round of shopping. Come on girls, shopping never stop in Bangkok right? We grabbed some simple lunch from Platinum's top floor food court. This food court comprises of hundreds different types of cuisines and snacks. I'm sure everyone would be able to find their favourite here. I ordered a bowl of Thai traditional spicy pork noodle soup, which is also known as Thai boat noodle in Malaysia. It was pretty decent, broth was thick, flavourful and slightly spicy.

5pm: Dessert time at Mango Tango

      They say time flew by when girls are shopping. Oh man, so true! Few hours past by and we left Platinum Mall with a heavy heart but when stomach is calling, you gotta feed it right? We visited Mango Tango at Siam Square for some quick bite to quench our thirst in this summer evening. I wrote more about this in my previous post, do have a read over there: MangoTango

7.30pm: Local Thai dinner at Baan Ajam

Thai Appetizer

Tom Yam

Green Curry Chicken

Stir-fried Mixed Vegetables

Pad Thai

    What to do when you get all tired from all the shopping? When you're in Thailand, the answer is definitely FOOT MASSAGE! Some of us visited the nearby massage parlour to get some really affordable massage service. In Thailand, the most famous massage service would be Thai Massage, which you will receive a full body massage, along with some interesting stretching, something similar to Chiropractic. For foot massage, expect to pay like 99 baht only to enjoy 30 minutes of wonderful, soothing and relaxing experience.

10pm: Supper at random roadside stall

   After that, my crew decided to have supper around the same neighbourhood as well. We stopped by a roadside stall and have some simple snacks like papaya salad, BBQ salted fish, clear tomyam soup over iced beers to end this beautiful day.

Chilled beer

Papaya Salad

BBQ Fish

Tom Yam

Day 3: 29th February, 2016

7am: Visited Pratunam Morning Market

   Well, i woke up insanely early for this morning market that was rumored to have the best bargain. Pratunam Morning Market is located opposite from Platinum Mall, behind the wholesale mall. There are plenty of stand-up stalls selling mostly female fashion items, all at a wholesale price, meaning you have to buy 3 and above to get a discount, or else, the price would be something similar to Platinum Mall's ones. It starts as early as 4 am and fully close at 9am. However, after visiting this place, i would say, save your morning sleep and skip this destination because with these items and price they offer, you can easily get from any wholesale malls, like the one next to it. I didn't get a single thing from this market but surprisingly, more inside the wholesale mall which opens almost 24/7. Girls, if you plan to visit these wholesale malls, be sure to find some companions and dont travel alone. Chances are you won't be able to buy 3 items of the same designs and you would need some friends to help you to accumulate 3 items to get a wholesale price. Another factor is safety. Pick pockets are quite common around this squishy neighbourhood. Stay safe!

11am: Checked out and headed to lunch at Cabbages & Condoms at Sukhumvit 12

   We quickly packed and checked out from our lovely accommodation. Lunch destination today is a rather interesting place that is quite famous for its decor and even its name. Inspired by its founder's passion for safe sex and prevention of sexual diseases, this restaurant gained its stardom from the concept, food and free condoms which the restaurant gives out freely to urge the public to practice safe sex. I'll blog more about it if you guys are interested. Let me know in the comment box below!

Onion flavoured dumplings

Pandan Chicken

Tom Yam

With my travel crew