Dining With Jewelle

At first hubby wanted to go for the “Melbourne Motor Show” but I guess February 2008 is a bit too long to wait. So now, he is wavering towards the “Australian International Motor Show” which will be held in Sydney on the 11 to 21 October 2007!

I am not a Motor Show fan and I will never consider visiting a place because of its Motor Show. But if that is the reason that gets me there, I’m not complaining! It’s too bad that Prince Edward Island and Christchurch are not known for their Motor Shows as I would then have the perfect excuse to convince hubby to take me there!

To be honest, I’m not too thrill with the idea that we’re going to Sydney because of the Motor show but since we will be doing a lot of sight-seeing too, that is a big consolation. Of course there are a lot of interesting places in Sdyney. There is the iconic Opera House and the Royal National Park which is the second oldest national park in the world.

The kids will enjoy the Sydney Aquarium, Taronga Zoo and the Luna Park, the historical theme park.

Basically, there should not be any shortages of places to visit that will appeal to the four of us.

But what about accommodation in Sydney? You know that hotels are a big deal to me!

Luckily I knew of a great site that offers cheap hotels in Sydney. From this site, you can get rooms at various Sydney hotels with 2 stars from AUD40, 3 stars from AUD59, 4 stars from AUD94 and 5 stars from AUD139.

These are serious bargain if you asked me! They promised the lowest rates and what’s more they offer last minute deals or all year deals which means that either way, you will get a some kind of a good deal.

At the moment, I’m leaning more towards the Darling Harbour area for our hotel with attractions such as the Sydney Aquarium and Sydney Chinese Garden located here.

But most importantly, the motor show will be held at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre which is in the Darling Harbour vicinity. I better check what cheap Darling Harbour hotels are available for this date before they are all fully booked!

Anyway, Sydney hotels aside since it won’t be a problem, I have to start thinking about all the other logistics as, if hubby changes his mind and decide that it’s Sydney motor show that he wants to go, October is a mere 3 months away!

To celebrate mother in law’s birthday, we had dinner at the new 11° Sports Cafe at the former SKBB building, now known as Plaza Sutera Biru in downtown Kuala Belait.

This place is located at the back of the building, completely hidden from the road and with no signages at the front, I wonder how they expect to get business.

This is the main entrance for both the Cafe and the Plaza Sutera Biru swanky boutique hotel, blogged by Princess Nashwa recently. In fact, the Hotel reception table shared the same floor as the Cafe but with no clear parititions or signages, I did missed it until someone pointed it out to me, despite my chair being right across it!

I supposed they had no choice as the space was tight and this small area (since the other half of the building was rented out to a Bank) had to accommodate the Cafe, kitchen, hotel reception, lift foyer, washrooms, utility room, security room etc!

But the decor of the Cafe was something else.

In fact, I’m surprised they call it a Cafe, a sports cafe some more, because it was actually very lavish with plush sofa seats, custom made chopsticks and some bronze (or lookalike) statues on the floor! I think the only sporty thing about this place were the balls which was arranged on the top shelf of the open kitchen counter, the TV was fixed on sports channel and a huge wall mural on football.

As for the food, my parents in law got adventurous and ordered stuffs they wouldn’t normally order for the sake of trying Northern China cuisines.

There was actually another wantan (dumpling) soup. It was quite sourish and when my father in law commented on this to the manageress, she sent us a complimentary plate of steamed dumpling!

Of course, this place also boasts their own “La Mee” which is basically handmade noodle, personally prepared by one of the chef. This noodle arrived last and by that time, I was too spent from having to eat, take pictures, feed Eu (who was having a lot of problems with the dishes) while giving her my “Sit properly” face and another hand blocking Qi who was somersaulting on the other sofa. Hubby said the mee was “okay“.

This was my first experience with Northern China dishes (that lotus roots pickle was definitely exotic to me) and I felt that they were mostly sourish and spicy. I was told that vinegar is favorite condiment for Northern Chinese and some of these dishes really reflected that! But that corn dish was quite tasty actually.

Eu only enjoyed the first 2 fried dishes as everything else elicited a “Chili!“, “Ginger!” or “Spicy!” from her. As for Qi, she spat out most of the little bit of food hubby gave her and if they find a mark or two on their sofa, it’s Qi’s definitely. Serves them right for NOT having baby chairs, though!

But I think their speciality is the after meal towels which came in the shape of a miniature football. In fact, when father in law first brought it back, none of us believed him as the ball was hard and tiny and how could they fit a towel inside that?! If anything, this has got to be the restaurant with the most memorable towels.

However, I do have a problem with their open kitchen concept.

Our table was right besides the kitchen and the noise from their hood was so loud, it was deafening. Other than that, the service was fine. The food was exotic and the place was really lovely. I’m sure it was even lovelier in the daytime with the picturesque Belait river just outside.

By the way, their Chef’s are Muslim Chinese and they still look very Northern China fair (I guess they haven’t been in this country long!).

As for the cost of our meal, mother in law who’s an expert at saving money, approvingly commented that we received “change out of B$100” (it was $90+). But despite that, they concluded that old Teo Chew is still the best for our kind of Chinese food.

Check out the Plaza Sutera Biru website which by the way specified the dress code for the Cafe. It’s “Smart Casual” if you please!