Monday, August 29, 2011

The Geographer Adventure Restaurant & Bar @ IOI Boulevard, Puchong

The Geographer restaurant at IOI Boulevard, Puchong seems like a great place; it's always buzzing with vibrant atmosphere and chatter. Everytime I pass by it, the huge signboard in front and the whole set-up just fascinate me. So I decided to try it out!

It's more like a pub, with people drinking beer under a very very low-light condition inside. Lol. So we sat outside, enjoying the cooling weather (thank God for that) - like what people do in overseas xD

All the table and chairs are high up from the ground, so perhaps it's not suitable for old people.

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But of course, there are a few sofas too, which is okay if you just wanna have a drink and chit-chat with friends. However, it will be a bit difficult to eat your meals.

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Don't you think it's a fascinating name for a restaurant? :P I mean, I won't think of an eatery if you mention The Geographer Adventure..

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See the reaalllyyy tall glasses there? That's for the beer - and for customers to serve themselves after the waiter brings it to the table - so it has to be super tall to hold large volumes of beer!

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We opened the menu, and found out that we have to wait for a freaking whole 35 MINUTES for the meal to be served - for all main courses. Oh maaaaaaaaaan. I just had the urge to leave the place right there and then.

Maybe there is only the one Italian chef (that they featured at the back of the menu, like WOW) that is doing all the work =.=

But anyway, we didn't leave. Since we came here to try the food right.. so never mind, patience patience! *Italian chef!*

We ordered.
And waited.............

Smoked bacon pizza came first.

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It's thin crust, and the bacon goes well with the cheese. Not bad, but still normal; nothing to shout out about. Note: Ask them for chilli flakes; it's always nicer to sprinkle some on your pizza :)

Oh and I noticed the button mushrooms are different from the ones you get at Pizza Hut. They're certainly not from cans; they actually taste quite genuine! :P

Next was oxtail soup.

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Can you see a layer of oil on top? The colour is like curry lol, and yes it's so darn oily. The verdict is simple: I don't like it. But maybe oxtail lovers would enjoy it...

The last one is pork knuckle.

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It's a whole pork knuckle, thus very huge. It was not sliced or anything, so we have to cut it ourselves. Quite troublesome, if you ask me.

Like in The Pork Place (Sanbanto) which is just a few doors down, they actually slice their pork knuckle for you no matter if it's half or whole. And their crispy pork knuckle skin looks so delicious; it's like 'siu yok' ;) But I'm not being biased or anything, as I haven't tried it yet.

In The Geographer, the pork knuckle is served with sauce (above), mashed potato...

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...and pickled vegetables.

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The pork knuckle by itself is tasteless. Only after dipping the meat with the sauce, then there's some flavour. But all you will taste is the sauce (mayonaisse with lemon) as it sort of covers up the dim taste of the meat.

The only thing I like about this dish is the mashed potato.

For the amount we paid for our food, I think it's not worth the money. (Although we already had 20% off because we ordered before 9pm)

At around 9pm, there were performances (mainly singing) to entertain the customers.

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And one more thing, my dad asked for refill, and all of us thought that the waiter is gonna bring a jar of water and refill for everyone of us. Much to our surprise, he brought only one small cup of water to our table.

Now, what kind of service is that?? I was thirsty after all the food, but whatever, *happily heads to Chatime which is just next door*

Sadly, I give a rating of only 3/10. The Italian chef is honestly a huge dissapointment :/

P.S. There is 50% off on all western food and non-alcoholic beverages everyday from 11am - 3pm.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

YNN video workshop at The Farm

I decided for a weekend escape during the last week of July.

Heh no lah, I went for Switchup.TV - The Star's web TV portal - Young News Network (YNN) video workshop. I'm not really into video editing and stuff, but I went just for experience ;)

It was in The Farm, located at Lenggeng, Negeri Sembilan. I really hoped it was not literally The Farm - cuz I'm quite the city girl - and that it's just a name of some place.. But it turned out to be.. well, The Farm. Oh well! Have to accomodate to the surroundings! *optimistic* :D

I skipped class on Friday, went to Menara Star to meet up, and we left from there at around 10.30am! After more than an hour, we finally arrived. If you know where Broga Hills is, well it's just further in from Broga Hills :)

From this sign, we still have to walk a distance, past a cemetery (Omgawwwd whyyy. So creepy T.T)...

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...to reach this sign!

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As we walked in, we were greeted with rows of dragonfruit trees, and this lake. It looks so serene! Sigh I can spend my whole life here eating breakfast early in the morning near the lake........ (not)

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So this is the common area where all our assignments will be done ;)

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Everyone's getting to meet everyone. We had ice-breaking games :D

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Which involves cups! Lots and lots of cups! Sigh sadly I don't have the video here, but during the whole 3 days here we were all so addicted to the cup game. It's super easy; you just hafta getcha' head in the game ;) Haha it's all about rhythm, and having the rhythm incorporated into your head :)

I miss that game :')

After that, we were each required to say something about ourselves that people should know, into a video camera, attached to a huge projector screen. Yep, so your huge face can be seen very clearly. *gulps* I have nerves speaking into a video camera and what more seeing my big face right in front of me!

But everyone has to overcome their fears, not? So well, I said I'm a huge fan of David Archuleta. Hehe :P

And yeah, I think after that we went on to the next section, where all of us got blindfolded and we had to experience some "out of this world" stuff with just our sense of touch.

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It was exciting, what with walking on rocks and pebbles barefooted and hearing someone call out "Minyak panas! Minyak panas!" and then suddenly feel ice-cold water on our feet.

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After the whole "stimulate your senses" thing, we were grouped into groups to TELL OUR STORY. We have to think of ideas, to chain everything we felt previously, into a story :)

Oh and they gave us another assignment: Pretend that you're a talk show host hosting your own TV show, and say something into the camera. They gave us a few minutes to think of what to say.. then it's action time!

Aaaaahhhh not another one that requires speaking into the video camera! But this one's kinda fun.. although very, nerve-wrecking. Hmm cuz I've always wanted to be a travel host (it's like a dream job for me).. so yeah! Have to give it a go although my heart was beating furiously. And I'm proud to say that I didn't mess up a single word in front of the camera! Wow hahaha impressed.

(Maybe it was due to the fact that I was repeating the sentences over and over again in my head.. phew)

After that I think it was resting time! Finallllyyyyy. It was a long day. But I went around take pictures of The Farm instead :P There were so many animals!

I think he was posing for us :P

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Oh I took this from the balcony of the "chalet" we were staying at.

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Morning glory!!! No wait.. is it? It is right? :S

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I PITY THE MONKEY :(

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ASDFGHJKL HE IS SHOOOOO CUUUUTE!!!!!!

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AWWWWWW my heart melted again!

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Another monkey.. this one with a blanket and a bear. Aww hahaha cute!

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I just love the lake! (although it's green :x)

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Can someone please tell me whether this is cempedak or nangka? I can never differentiate between these two T.T

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Some.. weird but fascinating.. decorations? Lol.

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Outside our common area.. :)

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This is so cool!!! (ahem pardon all these "city" comments)

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DURIAAAAANS!!!!! It was the durian season then, and who doesn't love durians??! If you're not a durian-lover, you're not a Malaysian. Cheh..... hahaha. These were fresh-picked from the one and only durian tree in The Farm. Ah hah special-nya! ;)

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We played captain ball just before dinner - it was my first time :O

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This is where we girls slept! The whole of the first floor dedicated to us haha ;) While the ground floor is the place where we have our meals, and also the guys' room.

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On the second day, my group was assigned to make a video about The Farm, while the other two groups were to do a video about fruit salad and Lenggeng town.

The whole morning (and whole afternoon and later, the whole night) we were busy buzzing about our video. Which lasts like only less than 5 minutes. I was the photographer so I didn't really get any pressure *thinks of the video-editors and shudders* cuz I only took photos! I got the chance to finally use a DSLR for a proper project..

They provided Nikon cameras and I was really fumbling with the functions at the beginning. And then I slowly got the hang of it, like when to set the ISO or shutter speed at high or low. I was very confused between those two settings. And still is, by the way T.T

Yin Li interviewing Uncle Andrew at the special Sompo durian tree :P

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And then came evening (wonder how time passes so quickly when you're doing something) and Ju-Eng, the "head" of the workshop suddenly shoo-ed us all out to go fishing! So fine... anyway I had nothing to do and I was starting to get bored, so yeahh! Finally some activity!

We learnt how to tie the hook to the string to the stick the traditional way.. with Uncle Andrew teaching us :) It was coooooooooool.

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Spotted a lone ranger by the lake! It looks really like a pineapple.. O.O

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Ilyas caught a fish! Wow that was really fast :P And guess what he did next??!

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He wanted to.. OMG.. step on the fish. All of us were like, ewwww... ahhh.. noooo!! That's so cruel! :X He said it's just to stop the fish from jumping around :/

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Huh anyway, we resumed fishing. Peace.

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Shhh... everyone's so patient :P

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AND YEAHHHHOOOOO!!!!!!! I CAUGHT A FISH!!!!!!!! A FREAKING FISH LOL!

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It was an awesome experience and we had to capture the memory.. :)

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Beverlley and Nicola pulling out the hook from the fish's mouth.

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Yeahh all our fishes were caught and released again. We're loving people! Buh-bye my fish! I'm so sorry I led you through all those pain D: *cringe when I see the hook piercing through its mouth* Okay, suddenly I don't feel so loving anymore :X

We presented our videos on the third day, had this Nikon guy came and talked more about video and stuff like that.

Then it's cert-collecting time! Presented by the Nikon guy ;)

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And also a group photo.

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Just before we left the place, we decided to end our camp with......

THE CUP GAME! :P

Last but not least, videos from Switchup.TV for y'all to enjoy!
Paradise in a farm (my group has the most views so far :D)
Fresh from the farm A walk in Lenggeng town
P.S. Photos without my name on it are courtesy of Tan Ju-Eng.