Nobu

Firstly, I want you guys to know that I hate writing up an entry with no photos attached. And I havent been religiously writing as much as I used to cos my camera broke and I cant take any photos at all. So I just rely on photos taken by my dear friends. I will have to wait till I go off to KL again to get a new camera so I can snap away happily.

So much hype has surrounded the opening of the much anticipated Nobu chain restaurant that I had to give it a go. And why not, since I managed to get my company to pay for it! I've been to Nobu twice in the last couple of months and I must say I really enjoyed it.

First time there, I was with my whole team of staff and let me tell you that most of them hadnt tried Japanese food before. The girls started to get worried when I ordered "exotic" dishes like sashimi salad, beef tataki and wagyu steak. So it was truly an interesting experience. Nobu's new style sashimi is so yummy. Given the fact that the restaurant is owned by Mr Nobu himself and Robert De Niro, the prices were actually quite reasonable. The servings were not terribly generous, but you pay for good quality service and heaps of eye candy. The waiters and bar tenders are worth the money! The beef tataki is unlike any other that I've tried at other Japanese restaurants. It's sliced to perfection. Very much like Flower Drum, how everything is sliced and cut to perfection. The difference though is that the food at Nobu is better than Flower Drum anyday. By the way, the signature dish at Nobu is the Black Cod with Miso and it's nothing really special except for a piece of grilled cod served with Miso sauce. Not very exciting at all, but a must have since it's the signature dish served in every Nobu restaurant around the world.

My second visit there was alot more fun. I went with Ball Breaker, Siew Yum and November Cleo for a girl's night out. Our waiter was so hot we didnt want to leave the place! Unfortunately, Ball Breaker wasnt too pleased with our choice of food. We ordered a whole heap of raw dishes and nothing that really whetted her appetite. Poor thing. Needless to say, she wont be going back there to eat again, but will certainly make a trip back there for drinks.

I recommend this restaurant if you havent tried it. I really enjoyed it and would love to go there again. And I must say the cocktails are excellent so even if I dont go there to eat, I wouldnt mind going again for drinks. Anyone want to take me?

Ola

First stop in Spain was Seville, home to the Sevilla Football Club. Got a glimpse of Barcelona while there on transit but quickly had to jet off to Seville. Flying in from Amsterdam was such a change. It was freezing in Amsterdam but when we got to Barcelona, it was so hot and humid!

Seville is a quaint little town with heaps of history and traditional Spanish architecture. The buildings also have a strong Moorish influence which is evident in the interior of many buildings. I loved how the houses all had an indoor garden/ courtyard type thing smack bang in the centre of the house. The biggest thing we had to get used to was the siestas in the afternoon. Everything was closed between 2pm and 5pm! It seemed like people dont really work in Seville. Even the Australian Consulate only operates between 10am and 12 noon everyday! After 5, the life begins. All the restaurants, bars and cafes start buzzing during this time. It was simply amazing. Swing Sister and I enjoyed our first Sangria at a local cafe and quickly got hooked onto it. It became something we drank at every meal, even breakfast. The tapas in Spain was devine. Although, I must say Spanish tapas in Malaysia comes quite close to the real thing.

Spain is famous for its Iberian Ham or better known to the locals as jamon. Every tapas bar had legs and legs of jamon hanging from the ceilings. And it was so yummy! If Ball Breaker was on this trip with us, she would've died. Most of the dishes on the menus in Spain were pork. One of my favourites in Seville was the Salmorejo. It's a cold tomato soup with ham in it, much like the Gazpacho. Thinking of it now makes my mouth water...

We stayed at a boutique hotel called Hotel Petit Palace in the Santa Cruz quarter. This is the best part of Seville and the hotel was beautiful. I highly recommend trying out the Petit Palace chain of hotels if you are ever in Spain.

Mr S, Swing Sister and myself experienced an original Flamenco dance performance at a local bar. It was the most emotional performance I've ever witnessed. The flamenco dancer looked like she was going to kill someone. Scary stuff. But even scarier was the guy that tried to pick Swing Sister up. I dont even know what he was. He spoke German, French and Spanish but he was neither Spanish, French or German. He looked like an Arab actually. Poor Mr S, had to pretend he was our brother the whole time. After the emotional show, we went to a club called Cathedral. Thankfully, Arab didnt follow us there. As usual, I'm always the DJ's number one groupie. Getting to know the DJ and the bar manager was a great thing. Swing Sister did her thing and got us a whole heap of drink cards. Good work Swing Sister!

We did do quite a bit of the touristy thing and visited Seville's oldest and largest Cathedral. We also visited the Alcazar Palace. Our trip to Seville mainly covered alot of eating, drinking and walking. By the time we left Seville for Barcelona, we were all kinda sick of tapas and was craving chicken rice or sushi or something Asian. I always knew that you could take me out of Asia but can never take the Asian out of me. What a loser I am.

Too Much Feggalicious

I know I've been slack and havent updated my blog in weeks. Sigh, some people have to work ok. I'm so bad, I havent even finished writing up about my holidays in Europe. Just when I thought I dont have anything interesting to inspire me to write, my dear friend Siew Yum offers me some material.

Of late, our friend Ball Breaker has been obsessed with Fegg, maybe she's always been obsessed with him, but those emotions were smartly supressed. But now, it's in full swing and Ball Breaker has started calling him Feggalicious.....eeewww...Let's put it this way, she just cant have enough of him and this is the best way to describe it:

Patient: Ball Breaker

Prognosis: Feggititis

Symptoms: Insomnia or Turbulent dreams from lack of smses. Excessive swearing from lack of smses. Excessive display of 'womanliness' in close proximity to feggititis carrier

Cure: Unknown.

Current Trial Treatment: alcohol and insertion of more fegg virus into patient

Dosage: Patient's discretion

What should we do as friends? Laugh? Cry? or just sit back and sigh...... ?