October 2008 – w w w . x e .s . c x

Bandung, Indonesia: Food – Roadside Wonders

Two of the most common things on the roadside of Bandung are brownies and strawberries.

Brownies

Brownies are very famous in Bandung. In almost every corner, you’ll find brownies sold in shops or sold in van or stalls parked by the roadside. I guess the most well know brownie is the Amanda Brownie. Our driver Hari recommended that we buy the brownies from a shop rather than by the roadside as it tends to be fresher and moist.

We bought one from a shop by the name Kabita (nothing to do with Nobita) located at Jln Terusan Pasteur. It came in a big box wrapped with a plastic cover. We cut it half and kept it for ourselves. The other half we gave it to our driver.

The other recommended place to buy brownies would be Kartikasari, a very well known bakery in Bandung. Other than brownies, one should also try their other pastries. It has a few branches in Bandung. Just ask the staff for their recommendation.

Strawberries

Since Bandung is located 768 metres above the sea level, it is very suitable to grow strawberries. So suitable that you have them flooded on the streets. At certain junctions, you’ll find people knocking on your window asking to you buy strawberries.

Ice blended Strawberries are available in almost all restaurants in Bandung.

It’s also available by the roadside!

Note: Please avoid Florida Milk at all cost. Nothing to do with strawberry but it sucked. Tasted like Milk + Mandarin Oranges.

On another note, I found a place with sell freshly blended strawberries. It’s called Berry Passion, located @ Floor LG1 (near the Skating Rink area), Sunway Pyramid. I must say, it’s really good. At RM7.90 per cup, you’ll be craving for moar!

Bandung, Indonesia: Food

Food in Bandung was interesting. At a reasonable price, we could dine at high end restaurant. I would highly recommend The Valley and Kampung Daun for a great gastronomical adventure.

The Valley

The Valley Bistro Café is a restaurant located on top of a hill with a view overlooking Bandung. In the Valley, you may dine alfresco.

We came here at night for dinner. Although the food is reasonably priced, their food is just so-so. However, I would highly recommend this place for couples as this place has great ambiance – very romantic. In fact, it was branded as one of the most romantic places in Bandung.

We sat on the terrace with a candle lit in the middle. It was a little bit chilly. We didn’t bring out jackets along but we decided to brave the cold. We ordered their house speciality, the Zoupa Zoupa soup – a bowl of cream soup topped with a baked pastry crust. It was excellent. While waiting for the rest of our meal to come, we were accompanied by songs sang by a live band inside the restaurant.

Since I was still in an adventurous mode, I ordered a glass of Banana Coffee. It tasted pretty bad. Please avoid at all cost.

After finishing our meal, we took pictures of the place and the panoramic view of Bandung. Photographers may consider bringing their own spot light as this place is quite lightly dimmed.

This place has a special place in my heart as this was the place I first celebrate my birthday this year 😀

The Valley, Bistro Cafe & Resort Hotel
Jl. Lembah Pakar Timur 28 Dago – Bandung
Tel: (022) 2531052(hotel), (022)251450(cafe)

Kampung Daun

Kampung Daun is another romantic and yet affordable restaurant in Bandung. It exploits the nature and its surroundings for its ambiance. It has a small waterfall and running stream flowing through the restaurant. Small wooden huts are placed along a path which leads to the top of a hill.

Someone recommended that we dine at this restaurant at night time. However, I wanted to dine there in the afternoon cause I would be able to see the place clearly. Hence, we came here for lunch. We chose one of the huts located next to a stream.

We had to knock on a wooden block named “Kentongan” for service.

This place serves mainly Sundanese food. My meal came with a side dish which looks like a brain. It was quite surprised that it tasted crispy and nice! I was expecting it to be soggy.

First they have sup buntot, now they have Mie Tek Tek.

My meal was accompanied with a glass of refreshing ice blended strawberry.

After my meal, I lazed around for the afternoon to end.

New found friend.

Kampung Daun is less than an hour’s drive from the city. The drive there has couple of interesting sights.

Kampung Daun Culture Gallery & Cafe
Sersan Bajuri Km. 4,7 No. 88, Cihideung
Bandung
Jawa Barat – Indonesia
PH 1: (022) 278-7915
PH 2: (022) 278-4572
Homepage: http://www.kampungdaun.net/

Bandung, Indonesia: Copycats

Other than the tshirts and life sized cartoon characters,

Left Adidas – Right Puma

I present you more copycats from Indonesia.

Ken-tuku Fried Chicken!

The original 😀

The copycat 😀

Happy Deepavali

I overheard that..
“Making Muruku is the way to the man’s heart and the man’s mother’s heart”
Regardless how true it is, www.xes.cx wishes all Hindu readers,
Happy Deepavali!

End of a Headache

These 3 weeks have been the busiest week that I’ve gone through this year. It started off with revision for my patent agent qualification examination and thereafter 5 days straight of examination.

Immediately after the exam on Friday, I took a bus down to Singapore for the Asian Patents Attorney Association Council meeting. It lasted until Wednesday and immediately thereafter, I gave a talk at the Bar Council at the Forum on Blogging and Defamation Law together with Jeff Ooi and Nizam Bashir.

The patent examination was held at one community centre at Bandar Tun Razak. Everyday I would drive to the area and eat at one of the Chinese restaurants there. The food is nothing to shout about but it kept me filled until lunch time. There was one incident where I sat with a bunch of aunties…

Waitress: (to me) Uncle, what do you want to drink?
Me: Coffee, please.
Aunty: What Uncle???? This one lengjai aaa!!!
Me: (O_O)

The community centre was a little dodgy. At one part it’s an examination hall, the other part is a badminton hall.

The bloody examination made me feel like I’m sitting for the Certificate of Legal Practice again. I thought for the rest of my life, I do not need to sit for anymore exams. Fortunately, this examination is not as tough as the Certificate of Legal Practice. If I fail any of the 5 subjects, I can resit the same subject next year.

The examination papers were fine but I didn’t do well in the Patent Law and Practice examination as they changed the format of the examination.

Last year, we were required to answer 6 questions out of the 8 given questions. This time round, it was 6 questions out of the 6 questions given! We didn’t have a choice!

Answer for last year’s Patent Drafting exam paper..

The question that got me into trouble was actually a past year question. They required us to explain what happen in one of the three given cases. This time round the same question came out minus one case – which I read. Arghh

It was a huge relief after the examination. I immediately sold my book “The Way Things Work” by David Macaulay to ivN, who wanted to present it a lady who likes elephants -_-

Tiger FC Fantasy League

Couple of weeks back, I blogged about the Tiger FC Fantasy League. After a few weeks, my selection of players have bore me fruits.
One of my best players, Peter Crouch gave me 23 points after scoring 3 goals from the past games. Although being kicked out from Liverpool to Portsmouth, he still hasn’t lost his touch.

Surprisingly, according to Tiger FC website, my worst player is from Portsmouth as well.
Bloody Glen Johnson, who is also another reject from a top club, got himself a yellow card. Glen Johnson was once a rising star in Chealsea but things didn’t go his way. Not long ago, he was arrested for stealing bathroom fittings and fined 80 pounds.
My defender, Nicky Hunt on other hand is not generating any points. In fact, his points were zero! I decided to get rid of him and replace him with Michael Turner who hails from new comer Hull. Currently 3rd place in the Premier League! They just defeated Arsenal 2 – 1 recently. Arsenal blamed it on lack of experience. Pfft. Hull is on a roll!
As for our mini league namely the Nuffnang mini league. I was hoping that we could become the mini league with the highest average score so that we can win some beers. My team included power house bloggers such as KY and ShaolinTiger. It would definitely be easier with them around.
But…

With a league like this..haih.. I can see my beers flying away already.
Related Link
Tiger FC Fantasy League

Popiah Eating Competition

Friends in my university would know me as a big eater. My diet went out of control in England and I eventually turned into a fatty.
Couple of months back, our firm’s sports club organised an event called “Popiah Eating Competition”. The competition has two main stages i.e. popiah making and popiah eating. There were four teams and I partnered another colleague to be part of the two men team in the popiah eating race.
We were given 10 minutes to finish as much popiah as we could.
I wasn’t confident in winning the competition as I’ve stopped eating a lot and went on a controlled diet. We faced stiff competition from another team which had one member who could swallow a popiah at one shop. Fortunately, his team member had trouble coping with him and ended up barfing everyone out.
My team mate and I took our time and eventually won the event with 13 popiahs – a popiah a head from the 1st runner up.
After the event, I went home and had dinner. 😀
Our ability to finish 13 popiahs were recognised couple of days ago. We were given a trophy!

APAA 2008

I’m currently in Singapore attending the Asian Patents Attorney Council Meeting (APAA). Althought called the Asian Patents Attorney Council Meeting, the participants included people from South America and Europe. I think USA had around 10 or more people. What is ironic is that Laos has only 1 participant.

The event is currently held at Suntec Convention Centre and around 1000 over people is attending the same. It’s many times smaller than the International Trade Marks Association’s (INTA) conference which can go up to 8000 people.

Will update more when I come back!

New Club – Club Quattro, Kuala Lumpur

I received a text stating that one Club Quattro, the world first club with 4 seasons/climates i.e. Summer, Winter, Autumn and Spring, will be opening on 17 October. Club with 4 seasons? wtf.

Are they saying that 4 seasons means 4 types of venue i.e. restaurant, bar, lounge and club. I think a combination of restaurant + club is not good as you’ll get many patrons from restaurants barfing out their meals at the clubs after few drinks.
But check out their “Winter Bar”

You wont be seeing any skimpily dressed girls here.
It’s going to be interesting to see how this club is..
Related Link
Club Quattro Official Link – Check out their website for more info on other “seasons”

Hectic Week

It is going to be an extremely hectic week. This week I will be sitting for my patent agent examination, a qualification examination for those who wants to be a patent agent. Immediately after my exams, I have to take a bus down to Singapore to attend the Asian Patents Attorney Association Council meeting. This will last until Wednesday. On the next day, I will be giving a talk at the Forum on Blogging and Defamation, something which I have not prepared at the moment. Streesss aahhh! I guess I’ll talk about the time when someone threatened me with legal action and police report.

My patent agent qualification examination started off today with the Technology paper. It’s a 3 hours paper which requires me to answer questions like “Explain and Illustrate the operation of a jet engine/air conditioner/toilet tank/ stroke engine etc. I was quite worried a day before the exams – not because of the paper but because of unexpected events such as diarrhea, something that hit when a day before my Certificate of Legal Practice examination 4 years ago.

Although the Technology paper looks quite tough from the outset, it is actually quite easy. In fact, the answers for the questions can be obtained from a book called “The Way Things Work” by David Macaulay. It’s a children book.

The book uses a lot of elephants to illustrate the drawings. And the bloody elephant book costs me RM95.

I will be sitting for my exams for the next 4 days. Updates will be scarce.