Hardwicke House is always the perfect location for social functions, reunion dinners, press conferences, weddings, wedding engagements and parties. The look from outside this building is elegant with high-rise tower resounding this heritage building.

Most people will be attracted to reasonably-priced buffets.

The salad bar serves a wide array of salad, it is a haven for vegans.

Other than the salads, there are so many main dishes offered by the restaurant:

• Mashed potato
• Corn kernels with BBQ sauce/ mushroom sauce / black pepper sauce.
• Naan, tandoori chicken.
• Fried rice and  mee goreng.
• Cabbage poriel
• Brinjal sambal
• Dhall
• Lamb Rogan Josh
• Chicken Curry
• Roast Beef
• Baked Cured Salmon with cheese
• Chicken lobak
• Crispy Vietnam prawn roll
• Spaghetti with Bolognaise Sauce
• Fresh Parmesan cheese
• Cream of Asparagus with buns.

The BBQ corner is an added point for this buffet.

Self-service coffee maker for caffeine lovers.

The variety of coffee are listed as below:

Flat White @ RM 4.80
Cafe Latte @ RM 6.50
Espresso @ RM 3.80
Cappuccino @ RM 5.50
Regular Black @ RM 3.80

Other than the coffee, those who have a sweet-tooth would be delighted to find the many desserts nicely displayed on the counter for the customers to choose from.

For wine lover, there are var options of wine in their storage.

I was told that the method to taste a good wine is via the below few methods:

• Color – For red wine, if the color of the wine is more transparent, meaning that the wine is older
• Aroma – If the smell of the wine is stronger the better it is for the wine
• Taste – It is very variance for this subject to affect everyone. Generally, Carbonate Merlot will have stronger taste while Shiraz will have lighter taste.
• Finishing – The finishing is also marking a lot of points for wine tasting as the finishing are very different from the taste when it just touch down the tongue.

Friulvini Verduzzo (Fizzy) @ RM 55.00.  Sparkling like taste for this white wine. For ladies this is their preference. However, for me I felt that this wine is slightly too sweet instead.

This is straw yellow with greenish reflections. Delicate, slightly fruity, pleasantly aromatic. Full-bodied with slightly acidulous flavor. This aperitif wine goes well with first course, with confectionery or fruit.

TerraNoble Sauvignon Blanc 2005 @ RM 63.00

This 100% Sauvignon Blanc is yellow colour with some greenish tones. It has intense fruity aroma in tropical fruits, especially pineapples. It’s a very fresh wine, not bubbling, dry and well balanced. It has a good structure and a nice natural acidity which has a long permanence in mouth. Ideal as an aperitif too, with seafood and fish. This wine is drunk best at 7C -8C.

Schubert “Hardwicke Reserve” Cabernet Sauvignon 2002 (Recommended Retail Price is RM 118.00. Promotion Price now is RM 60.00)

Schubert is a new winery in New Zealand. This deeply coloured wine exhibits an intense nose of blackberries, plum and dark chocolate with notes of walnut and spices. Full bodied and extremely well structured with layers of super ripe tannins complemented by a long, sweet and dark fruit filled finish.

For those who enjoy a quieter ambience, this is the great place to be as there are a few private rooms and VIP rooms in this restaurant.

Mon to Sat = Lunch buffet @ 18++. Dinner buffet (including BBQ) @ 38++. No ala carte.

From December 2009 till Jan 2010 is the promotion period to enjoy free flow of non-alcoholic beverages on all buffets.

Overall, the food here is good and reasonably-priced. For wine lovers, this will be like a wine paradise. If only this place has some signature dishes to offer, it will definitely attract more people to visit this place again.

Editor’s Review (5 Stars Rank):

Taste
Price
Food Presentation
Service
Overall

Quick Facts:

Family Friendly
Parking
Pork Free
Alcohol
Credit Card
Smoking
Reservation
Private Room

Operation hours: 6:00pm – 10:30pm BBQ Dinner Buffet (Monday to Saturday)
Contact: 04-226 4998
Address:67, Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah, 10050 Penang.

These pictures show that the dog in a Japanese temple has become a popular attraction. He is a 2-year old male chihuahua with long black hair named Conan and knows how to clasp his hands as if he is performing a Buddhist prayer. When there are priests who started chanting and raised their clasped hands, Conan will also raise his paws and joins them at the tip of his nose. He will get angry if his favourite praying spot is taken by people.

He will also start to pose in prayer like the priests in the temple whenever he wanted treats and shows his thanks whenever he is given treats and walks.

Again, this proves that dogs are always human’s best friend (I prefer to use a unisex term). By the way, in another country where dogs are truly appreciated, Thailand has officially allowed dog owners to purchase insurance for their loveable dogs!

According to the delegate, AirAsia stewardess’ uniforms are too “revealing” by showing off “too much skin” and buttocks which pose an “embarrassment” to women. She claimed that “we” do not want to see their thighs, knees and buttocks in the tight-fitting short skirt and urge the Government to compel AirAsia to change the uniform of the stewardesses.

In my personal opinion, the uniform just fits perfectly with AirAsia’s theme of being no-frills with its red and white colour theme. It has a corporate yet sporty look. Those who commented that the outfit is too “hot” and ”sexy” for the public should put away this conservative mindset and think of ways of how can the airline can be more successful rather than commenting unnecessarily such as the outfit. Why didn’t they praise AirAsia which has recently been awarded as “Airline of the Year 2007“? Look at Cathay Pacific. The uniform does not even have a slight resemblence of Chinese culture and yet it is so successful around the globe. Where ever you go you will hear people saying about Cathay and Hong Kong.

Back to AirAsia’s outfit. What’s in the outfit to be embarassed about? I do not think the uniform has exceeded any guidelines (if there are any guidelines set) in the country.

• First of all, the skirt is knee-length and not “mini-skirts”.
• Secondly, what skin have they revealed besides the legs? I believe the airstewardess wear stockings also. And the arms are properly covered till the elbow.
• Thirdly, they did not show-off any longkang (breast lines)! The shirts are white collared and worn with a red 3-quartered suit. 

 Doubtlessly, the Wanita Umno delegate suggested the uniform to be changed to reflect Islamic and Eastern culture to remind everyone that Malaysia is an Islamic (and conservative) country.

I wonder what would have striked the minds of those people to comment such thing? Has the person who recently boarded on the airline and noticed that his/her male and female counterparts couldn’t control their eyes on the air stewardess’ body? 

Worse still, Malaysian male politicians love to comment on women’s sesitivity issue just like the previous “bocor” comment towards Batu Gajah MP. Nevertheless, this time another Umno assembly speaker made a crude remark on AirAsia stewardesses by referring to the female genitalia: “For some of them you can even see their tunnel“, he said in Malay which later drew laughter in the hall. What’s wrong with these people? Are they sick? What a remark to be made by our politicians in public! They are really people who pretend to be serious but are not…

The Star Online

Bukit Larut is THE ONLY place in Malaysia where you could find Tulips! If you are Tulips lover, remember to book yourself in during December to February where you could enjoy Tulips blooming in Cendana’s own tulip farm.

The Journey
During the recent Raya break, we decided to go up there for a night. Before that, we have been calling to the office to make our reservation but no one picked up. We then thought that we should just drive there and tried our luck.

We drove all the way from Penang to Taiping town. From the town we drove 15 minutes further and arrived at the foot of Bukit Larut. All visitors have to park their cars at the foot of the hill as no one is allowed to drive up there without authorization. You will need to take a jeep to reach the top of the hill. 

The place was quite crowded and we went straight to the Administration Office to ask for jeep and accommodation. ALAS! All jeeps and accommodation were fully booked and we were told that we MUST make a booking for the jeep and accommodation especially during public holidays. The Accommodations are very limited as they only have few bungalows up there. The jeeps only run every 1 hour. We were very disappointed and decided to head back to town but we thought of why not we hiked up there ourselves? We should be able to make it since we have hiked up to Penang Hill before and according to sources both hills have almost the same height, which is around 1,030 metres. So no problem at all although this time we had to carry our backpacks in case we managed to grab an accommodation.

That was very tiring for us and it took like ages before we could reach at Point 28 (around 280 metres). Our target destination is Point 97! I already felt like giving up but thank goodness a TNB jeep passed by and asked if we were hiking up there. They were so kind enough to take us up there FREE OF CHARGE!

Along the journey the road is very narrow and steep and there were some landslides few days ago due to heavy rain.

Our Destination
About 30 minutes on the TNB jeep we finally arrived at Bukit Larut. Million thanks to the 2 Indians, they were not willing to take any money from us at all…
As soon as we stepped out from the jeep, we just love every moment of it. We can feel the cooling and unpolluted breeze brushed through our faces. The visibility was quite low as it was very misty. It could be due to the low activity level and it may not be as developed as the other highlands.

We just loved the fresh air and breeze and we can say that if you are looking for relaxation and not entertainment, then Cameron or Genting is NOTHING compared to Bukit Larut.

The Accommodation
Back to serious business, we still haven’t got a place to stay yet. The jeep dropped us at 1 bungalow and that was already full. One of the visitors told us to walk further to Cendana Hut and they should still have 2 available rooms at that time. We then walked upward the hill and there we saw Cendana Hut sitting nicely on top.

Feeling exhausted due to some climbing, we then asked for available rooms to stay for the night. They were very reluctant to provide any when they heard that we haven’t made any booking. But after pushing further with some pursuasive words they FINALLY gave in and told us there was still 1 room available with 2 single beds for only RM80 per night. That was good enough for us. *Phew*..we are damn lucky!
The room was cozy with floor carpeting, 4 pillows, 2 blankets, a cabinet, a sink and a ceiling fan.

 There are NO restaurants, cafes or bars around. The only place where you could find food is in the accommodation itself. I believe every hut or bungalow should have a cafe providing limited range of food to server your starving stomaches. No doubt, at Cendana Hut itself it provides a menu with Nasi Lemak, Noodles, Fries, Sandwiches, Toasts, Hot Drinks, Juices, etc. Considered plenty of choices for a day or two.

After having some light snacks, we took a stroll to the surroundings and captured some beautiful sceneries:

It was very unfortunate for us as we were unable to catch with the Tulips season. But definitely we would be visiting Bukit Larut again for the 2nd time!

This is a heart-warming picture showing a golden retriever breast-feeding a 6-week-old kitten Precious! According to the article from The Star, the goldie had not been given birth in 18 months. The owner brought home a kitten one day and Honey (the golden retriever) began to produce milk for the little feline after hearing its cries. How sweet! ^_^

So far hardly any people around knew much about Tune Hotels. I would like to take this “honour” to introduce Asia, or rather “Malaysia’s 1st No-Frills Hotel”. In short, if you are in doubt what makes this hotel stands out from the others, just think of AirAsia and compare it with MAS; Similarly, apply this concept to Tune Hotels and Hilton Hotels, and Tune Hotels falls into the budget hotel category. 

Both AirAsia and Tune Hotels are for budget constraint travellers. In fact, the founder of Tune Hotels is also AirAsia’s founding father – Tony Fernandes.

We would never had the chance to stay at Tune Hotels if not due to the recent holiday seasons which caused the hotel which we usually patron to be fully-booked. Tune Hotels is located strategically along Jalan Sultan Ismail and is at 2 stones’ throw away from Medan Tuanku monorail station. It is by walking distance to Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman shopping district. From far the hotel is easily recognized with its red and white coat of paint, just like AirAsia.

Tune Hotels have very basic room facilities, with no add-ons you can get:

• Power Shower with hot water
• Hot water basin 
• 5-Star bed
• Ceiling fan 

If you find the default facilities ain’t good enough, you can pay extra for these add-ons:

• Air-conditioning (5 hours@RM4.99+ and 12 hours@RM9.99+)
• Towels from RM9.99+ to RM19.99+
• Toiletries from RM1.99+ to RM4.99+  

We then booked ourselves into a double room with a queen-sized bed and opt for the air-conditioning for 24-hours and it costs us barely RM100. 

Pros:

• Relatively cheaper than any other 3-Star or lower hotels
• Clean and new facilities (except for some though)
• Strategic location and easy access to city centre, monorail stations and shopping centres
• Convenience store located at the hotel’s ground level
• Oldtown Kopitiam style coffeeshop

Cons:

• No proper sterilization especially on the bed and pillows, therefore could feel the stench from the pillow cases
• Some minor stains on the bedsheet  
• Cement floor only and no carpetting in the room
• No TV/Radio
• No telephone
• No Internet access in the room 
• No breakfast included
• No hot water kettle and therefore no drinking water can be made
• No coffee/tea sachets
• If you need all of the above, you need to pay additional for these add-ons

Overall, it was a nice experience to have tried this out. Since this is a no-frills hotel, it is still acceptable to have left out some of the amenities.

You may call me as being naive, but before going into the movies for “Ratatouille”, I have no idea what it actually means, only think that it might be associated with “Rats” as the animation’s main character is Remy – an unusually-adorable rat (I don’t think we usually adore rats, do we?)

Eventually throughout the movie, I came to learn that Ratatouille has nothing to do with Rats at all and it is actually a plain dish prepared as a fine cuisine.

In the movie they used Remy The Rat as the main character who has great passion in preparing fine cuisine due to its special gift in smelling – especially on food. By pairing up with a young boy who has no talent in cooking at all in a famous restaurant, Remy is then able to prepare the finest ever Ratatouille for a renowned food critic in the romantic city of Paris.

So…back to the original Ratatouille dish. It is a stewed vegetable dish made of zucchini (something like cucumber), tomatoes, green and red peppers, onion, and garlic.

It originated from Nice (in France) as a poor man’s dish. Today, it has evolved into one of today’s French cuisines. It may be served as a lunch dish of its own (accompanied by rice, potatoes, or simple French bread). Or, it could be as a side dish.

Now, I feel like having a Ratatouille, but where could we get this dish in Penang? Don’t tell me it’s only available in French restaurants. Anyone?