Two ex-students of mine from my English tuition class invited me out for dinner on Wednesday night…
They’ve passed their A-levels and will be entering university after this to do their respective degrees. We went to this place and this was the 2nd time I’ve dined there.
The first time around, it was only a few days after it opened and we were not really impressed with what we ordered. Then not long later, I found that it was closed but I was quite sure it wasn’t because it had wrapped up its business – it was way too soon for that, not after spending so much to the renovations and all…
I did hear eventually that it was undergoing further renovations which was equally perplexing since they had just got the place done. Why on earth would they be doing that again…and what? Anyway, subsequently, it reopened and resumed business as usual…
…and from the look of things, it is doing pretty all right and should be around for sometime.
I do wish, however, that for a place like this AND the prices we are paying, they should at least have some natural flowers on the table…
– there is really no necessity for a lot, just a stalk in a tall thin glass vase per table would do fine and I’m sure there is no need for a new one every day. Just look at the flowers at this place – they certainly brighten up the surroundings and help enhance the ambiance and the dining pleasure. And it would be nice also if they can come up something more presentable for the table number as well.
I had their iced lemon tea that night (RM6.50, if I remember correctly) and one of the boys had the elder tea Italian soda…
…and he chose the spicy eggplant spaghetti for his order…
He had that before and he loved it so much that everytime he dropped by the place, he would order the same thing. I don’t know how good it was, however, as I was acting the respectable respected teacher and I did not want to shock him by poking my fork into his dish for a mouthful to sample. LOL!!! Mesti ada class sikit bah! Muahahahahaha!!!!
The other boy had the Oreo milkshake…
…because something he wanted was not available and he had the lemon grass chicken…
He said the chicken was great but the veg by the side was a bit too salty.
We had some garlic bread as a side order…
…and I had the lamb shank all to myself…
It did not come on a bed of mashed potatoes but there were some nicely-sauteed potato slices underneath and I quite liked the two mashed sweet potato balls. All in all, it was good but at slightly over RM30, I wouldn’t want to have that too often should I happen to drop by there again…and neither would I think twice about not ordering the RM55 rib-eye steak that I saw on the menu – *faints!!!
I was barely halfway through when one of them quickly went and settled the bill – they told me that they would be splitting it between the two of them. Tsk! Tsk! Normally, when I eat out with students, I would not let them pay as they are still studying and yet to have their own income…and if I had known, I would want to order something less pricey than the lamb shank. Blush! Blush!
Anyway, thanks so much, boys. It certainly was so sweet of the two of you and here’s wishing you all the best in your studies. Cheers!
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
I think your ex student would be so shocked if you’re to ahem…. share share the spaghetti.
Hey! Where were you yesterday? You missed all the fun! Even Garfield was here. And everyone was talking about you. LOL!!! 😀
Ya…we’re so used to eating out together and everybody tries everybody’s…so it was quite hard to restrain myself and behave properly. Muahahahaha!!!! 😀
I was pregnant…. or not. =.= kena food poisoning and was busy having a date with the toilet bowl on and off. ROFLOL. NAWWWW… apa u orang gossip ah? I must go check it out. *pengsan*
Food poisoning? Your own cooking? Hmmmmm….speaks volumes! Muahahahaha!!!! 😀
Tak baik you,Arthur…muahahaha.You never let any opportunity to slip by!
Muahahahahaha!!!! I’m bad…I know, very very bad! 😉
Aiks…Cleff preg ah? Pregnant what? Makan too much ayam goreng la tu.
Mana tau… Only one child, maybe want to tambah a few more? You leh? 😉
Wow mana tau Sibu ada “class” sekarang; having a western eatery with pretty good ambiance. The pot of rose was a no-no though.
I personally think tucking into another’s plate is allowable these days; all under the pretense of food blogging ma! Hehe
+Ant+
Nah! That’s bad manners. If family, not so bad…or the others, knowing that you are going to blog about the food, can give you a bit to try – not you digging into their food. Wah…look down on Sibu hor! We have quite a lot of these classier joints and all of them are not bad at all. Come and have a look lah… We don’t live on trees here. 😦
i would be so terkejut if someone decided to have a taste of my meal, without my prior offering or permission.
Hahahaha!!! I wouldn’t even ask to try unless the person suggests it on his/her own accord. Some may do that.
Thank god Gratitude made his comment first..or else I will also kena sembur from you..hahaha.Yalah, mana tau Sibu is so high class although one of Simon’s uncle asked me the first time he met me whether we Malaysian still lives on trees! I gave him a speech that I am sure he will not forget for the rest of his life!!…stupid redneck caveman!
Your first pic, I go wow but lepas you mentioned about the plastic flowers…alamak…tacky lar!!..but surprisingly the food look alright …although I don’t think I’ll makan any of those meals lar…except the lemongrass chicken.
It looked ok really and was very fragrant. Perhaps they should use a bit of kunyit to give it a bit of colour – and then you’ll like it better.
Hah!!! I don’t think other people will notice the flowers – guess I’m more fussy than others…or perhaps I’ve got a lot more class? Wink! Wink! But frankly, I would prefer cloth napkin too, instead of those el-cheapo paper serviettes…
No lah! It’s a knife that cuts both ways. Many in the peninsula have never gone east and they always say “Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak” like we’re 3 different countries…even the deejays on radio and they get confused between Sabah and Sarawak or they think they’re both one and the same etc…etc…etc…
But ask any student here – they know nuts about Peninsula Malaysia too. Remember I once said some VVIP did not know what a mamak was – many of my current students do not know either. September 16th – 48 years old today! Isn’t it tragic that we do not know very much about one another? 😦
The lamb shank looks yummy – was it the falling off the bone tender? It be around AUD22.00, at least, over here, depending on how many stars that restaurant boasts of, haha!! Lamb shanks use to be considered cheap meat, then the trendy restaurants started including them on their menus and prices went up. Did you not have a glass of shiraz with it ? 🙂
I don’t drink… Such a good boy…but I do have a few bottles in my pantry, so no worries…if you’re in Sibu…I can bring one along. Dunno if they charge for corkage or not. 😉
Yes, the lamb shank was well done, very tender and nice. We’ve pretty good ones at a Chinese restaurant here – RM18 only…and one that I had at another Chinese restaurant not long ago was good too.
Clean and cozy place to dine in. Look at the pix of the lamb shanks makes my mouth water…..looks yummy!!!… and as for the lemon grass chicken, the chicken looks a bit dry…would prefer to have some sauce on it.
You’re not Foochow, are you? I think they prefer soups…none of the dry grilled stuff.. 😉
Nope, Am a Teochew mixed with Hockkien,
So you can speak Hokkien? Good, I can speak Hokkien too. Can’t speak Foochow, although a Foochow. 😦
wow! that’s really really nice! and you are very good not to burden ur students huh. usually should order the most expensive since they are treating u what. =p
LOL!!! When they’re working and drawing a hefty income, ok lah… Not now. 😉
you must have been a great teacher. ex students still contact you. sad part I haven’t seen my teacher for a very long time.
I remember I saw her twice after our graduation. she even retired being a teacher and went to live in Australia. when we met up with her, she brought us handmade gifts too.
i am sure you had a great fun! best wishes to your former students 🙂
Thanks on their behalf. Well, once they’ve graduated and started working, got married and started a family…I don’t think they’ll have time for their poor ol’ teacher anymore. Glad that a sprinkling of them still keep in touch and are keen on going out together – a lot more where they come from and they would avoid me like a plague. LOL!!! 😀
Wow! You must be a great teacher for your two ex-students to invite and treat you to a meal. Never mind, once a while let them treat you. All the best to both of them!
Thanks. Ya…it’s nice to know that there are some who do appreciate what we do. 😉
see u soooo syok!! all ur ex students finding u! 😀 the food looks good worr!! 😮
Hiaz!!! I wish there were more like them… Reminds me of the story of the 10 lepers in the Bible. 😦
They quickly settle the bill before you decide to order the rib-eye steak after your lamb shank..muahahaha. That’s what I told my Sg Petani childhood friend the other day when he came for a visit. He asked “why so fast bro?” Bananaz’s reply “Better be fast else you order another steam fish since you said its so good”.
Hahahahaha!!!! That must be it! Quickly pay before I could order something else! Now I see the light! LOL!!! 😀
Your students are showing their appreciation to the respectable respected teacher for all the years of good teaching, allow them eat good and feel good.
No lah…some are well brought up, they show appreciation and gratitude. Unfortunately, there are not many like them. Most expect you to give and give…and they never reciprocate – like parasites, leeches. 😦 But to be fair, there may be more like them…but some are not comfortable speaking English (despite getting excellent results for the subject in the SPM) so they dread being in my company.
Your students really like this Sir STP, eh…. someone whom they will never forget for the rest of their lives.. hohoho…. now i begin to suspect that when you are teaching, you must have done something that will make them remember you always.. not only just remember but must belanja you too! it must be something good… right? 🙂
Nothing leh… I just taught and worked very hard to help them excel…and many did. I believe when a teacher is sincere, teaches from the heart…and teaches, not the subject, but people, the students will sense it and will respond to that.
But of course there are some who fail to feel the love and they may harbour feelings of dislike or even hatred in their hearts forever – for the times when they were scolded or when they were not given a good mark and so on.
Can’t expect all to be the same. Jesus had only 12 apostles and 1 denied him and 1 betrayed him – it’s all very complex…so as teachers, we just do the best we can and hope all will turn out ok, not for ourselves but for our students.
Mr STP – over here, they speak the language but definitely can’t spell their words nor know their grammar. I want to bang my head against the wall when I see their usage of the apostrophe – they don’t seem to have been taught what is plural and what is belonging… Eg. plural of fees = fee’s; plural of box = box’s !!!! Menu board outside a cafe : Special Pasta’s !! Sobssss.
It’s just like the students here. There is this Mandarin-speaking culture…so you hear them speaking in no other languages but Mandarin. I guess they are all very fluent and can speak well but of course, those not from Chinese schools may not be able to read or write – they can only speak. Those taking the subject, however, do not seem to do well when it comes to the written paper either – very very few will get excellent results in the subject every year.
In the case of English, they are drilled to write and do well in exams so they may get good grades (partly due to the low standard in the exams) but they can hardly speak the language. It is getting unbelievably worse by the day. They cannot even carry on a simple conversation or even answer my questions in class in English – fumbling, suffering…and some even asked me if they could speak in Chinese. Of course, I said no! Tsk! Tsk! 😦
I agree with having natural flowers on the table. It certainly does make the ambiance better. However, my mum prefers fake flowers because it last longer. Hehehe that’s why we have so many fake flowers at home.
Eyewww….so many? They collect dust and are a chore to clean. I would rather have natural flowers for special occasions – other days, no need. 🙂
Hehe I know! Thankfully, there is none here in my Perth home. Too expensive to buy anyway 🙂
Oh? So you’re in Perth too? Yoong’s there too, I think…
I’ve heard about this place!
The lamb shank looks really good.
HAHAHA I loved that bit about dipping a fork in to their food. 🙂
LOL!!! If it had been you, I would have jumped right in – no second thoughts. 😉 Come, come back again…and we can go to this place next time.
Sure, it looks interesting! 🙂
HAHAHA
Yeah, feel free mate, we know each other too well to be worried about sampling food from other plates.
I even do that with people I barely know and vice versa.
Horrors! It’s a wonder they’d want to go out with you again. LOL!!! 😀
Ehhh… your boys are so thoughtful, such great students, I bet the bill was extravagantly pricey… kesian them too. Generally the dish looks really good, I wonder whether I can make my own version of oreo milkshake, just blend oreo cookie with vanilla ice cream kar?;D
I think that should do the trick. Must have shaved ice in it too and beat vigorously – you’ll get your milkshake. Ya…it was an expensive place. What they had were around RM18, I think…if I remember correctly from the menu. Can easily get spaghetti at around R10-12 at other just-as-nice cafes. Wouldn’t have chosen the place if I had known that the boys wanted to pay.
Really salute you! You must be a very good and caring cikgu …. most of the time your students belanja you makan or beli for your souvenir. Wish I can have a cikgu mcm u last time, lol!
You don’t have one that you would want to remember and keep in touch with? Eeeeee….reminds me of my current students. You should see their faces when I asked about their teachers. I really wonder what kind they have… But I do think most teachers put themselves high up on a pedestal – me teacher, you student…so they never really get up close and personal. Real sad – as they say, “Teaching is a work of HEart”. 😦
I went there with Amanda december last year . we got ‘too-timed’ by the nice setting of the cafe , but quality of food and service wasn’t good at all . all time fav is still baba & siam !
I wasn’t impressed either when I went the first time. Seems better now, more choices…but a bit pricey. I haven’t been to the new Baba&Siam – the original one was just ok; I prefer Cafe2…or Payung.
Ermm..i think rib eye doesnt come cheap and thank goodness i dont fancy beef..hahahaha
Oh? It’s supposed to be that expensive, is it? Ah well, I can do without it then… Wouldn’t die. 😉
but the flowers looked very real to me. I thought i could see the soil too. haha.
Nah!!! You need new glasses! LOL!!! 😀 They’re probably from the made-in-China Supersave store upstairs – same place where I bought my undies. LOL!!! 😀