E&O Hotel ~ A Weekend Getaway staying at the Victory Annexe Corner Suite

Since March 2013, the Victory Annexe wing of the E&O Hotel in Penang has been opened and I really have to thank my lucky stars that I was invited to a weekend at their corner suites with my lovely family. The very mention of E&O will have people equating superior top notch service and classiness all bundled as a neat package. When I got to know that I will be staying at E&O Hotel for the very first time, I couldn't sleep waiting for the very weekend where we will have a family getaway. Even though its still in Penang, but I can say that after checking in to the hotel, there really isn't any need to leave! 

Being a 5 star hotel, expect all the amenities like their beautiful infinity pool looking over the Straits of Malacca or the many restaurants that are available. There is Sarkies Corner and the Planters Lounge which is located at the new wing of the hotel. Then there is also a fully equipped gym room and I'm just waiting for their up and coming Spa to be completed. Besides these perks, the E&O Hotel management really wanted to highlight the history and significance of the hotel and thus, there is a mini "time machine", alright, its a mini museum, that relates the many wonderful and colorful journeys that they hotel has been through, as well as their many distinguished guests! There are families who continue to visit the hotel for over 3 generations, which I personally found amazing. 

As I took so much photos, I will focus my blogs about the hotel into a few parts, especially when it comes to the food. This post is very much about the Corner Suite, which measures over 120 square meters (yes you read it right). Basically its as large as the apartment I'm staying in and it feels just amazing walking into such a well detailed room. Thus, do read on to have a look at this place, which I have to stress, its all about the details!

When you step into the room, you just go WOW! 

No Eyed Deer Restaurent ~ A hidden gem in Penang

On my endless food hunts, I was guided to No Eyed Deer Restaurant which is located on the 1st floor of the shop lots at Prima Tanjung along Jalan Fettes. Frankly from far or as I have been driving along this road, I have seen the sign board to this place but just have never thought of stopping by.

So as I reach the place, the first thing I asked the proprietor (Ken) was why the place has such a unique name :) Well you can see the reasoning at their website http://www.noeyeddeer.com/ 

The next thing to ask was what is great on the menu. Since there was 3 of us including my daughter, we decided to order something that everyone can share out abit and sample here and there. So do read on to see what a great find this is, and this is the GPS coordinates so that its easy to spot too!

N5.451014, E100.305138

They serve dinner daily except on Tuesdays which they are close. They have lunch servings on weekends too!

NEW YORK 2013 ~ Full House Cafe @ 97 Bowery Street

It seriously amazes me when I can actually be in New York yet have some really great and authentic Chinese dinner! I mean, this place called Full House Cafe on Bowery Street was really pretty good where they have a good selection of dishes and the place has a very modern look and design and you just feel comfortable eating here. The prices are also very reasonable and its worth a visit for those craving some good Chinese food in New York.

Plate of offal with hot spicy chilli and peppers

Marinated jelly fish. Simple and nice

Eastin Hotel Penang, Buka Puasa Dinner ~ Sharing is Caring

Its now the month of Ramadan and I guess for everyone, its a time to reflect and also of course for those foodies, its like a month long of food paradise with all those Ramadan Bazaars hawking some of those delectable once in a year food items.

On the 12 of July 2013, I was thankful and very happy to be invited to join Eastin Hotel Penang for their Buka Puasa Dinner Celebrations. Now, there is your typical dinners but what sets this dinner apart is that the staff of Eastin Hotel Penang took their time, and put in alot of effort to share it with the less fortunate! I enjoy food reviews, but I just love it when it has added meaning to it. This year, Eastin Hotel Penang is celebrating it with the orphanage childrens from Rumah Jagaan Nasyiatul Aisyah all the way from Balik Pulau. Its one thing to invite someone, but when the team at Eastin planned, arranged and even sacrificed their time for this, my hats of to them! I really had a good time, and I sure these less fortunate felt all the love on this very night!

Frankly, I so happy to be writing about this that in some ways, I felt that the food was secondary for the night. When someone is happy and feeling joyous, the sharing environment you are in, everything just taste nicer doesn't it. I'm sure it was like sugar coating for those children, and I can feel their excitement in the air! Ah bliss! I do hope to see Eastin Hotel Penang continuing this very honourable tradition and just before I forget, the staff actually also made a very handsome donation in kind as well as presented goodie bags to the kids! Well done I say again (not sure how many times I repeated this!). This is exactly why I have my blog named as such, TheLifeIsGood when you have the right company.

So, back to the Ramadan Buffet spread. At RM85++ and running the entire month of Ramadan, this buffet to me is a steal. Its probably one of the most authentic of Ramadan Buffets available and I was really surprised to see the number of items being served. From the many unique curry dishes (there was ostrich and rabbit meat) and some very traditional rice with herbs which was just wonderfully flavored. 

Then there is the whole roasted lamb, grilled fish with sambal and their signature, Gearbox Soup! Besides these specials, they did not skimp on other items and had fresh oysters, pasembur and even their signature smoked duck breast! I mean, with so much to choose from, the list goes on. Thus scroll through this post and get your saliva drooling. Cheers!

Candy for the young and old. Well its for the chocolate fondue

Georgetown Festival 2013 ~ Penang

Its been a fabulous month of celebrations in Penang for the Georgetown Festival 2013 and my family and I stopped by on the 6th of July, on the eve of the anniversary to have a look at some of the festivities. It was a crowded night at Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling and Armenian Street and the crowd was awesome!

We reach about 10pm and there was still a huge crowd and it was time for the street performance of the various cultural groups. We witness the amazing lion dance as well as the Indian traditional dance troupe and it was amazing as one performance was happening right after another.

This post is just some of the pictures of the place, and the 7th of July is the last day of the month long celebration and if you have never been there, don't miss out. The events are all happening around Armenian Street so do check it out! There is lots of information booth and volunteers around so don't worry if you don't know where to go! Also check out their website http://georgetownfestival.com/

One of the best lion dance performance I have seen!

Joe's Crab Shack ~ Schaumburg, Chicago

I guess Joe's Crab Shack is quite popular in the USA and thus I found one when I was in Schaumburg. The reason why I wanted to try this place is because they have those giant crabs aka Alaskan King Crabs which is made so popular by Discover Channel's Deadliest Catch. I mean, eating these King Crabs in Malaysia will cost a bomb so I seek out this place and was thankful that you can get a nice piece of this crab for less than USD30. Quite a good deal it seems and thus thats what I ordered. Come to think of it, I should have ordered something more, maybe throw in a lobster or what not. Anyway, I went to the one located at Golf Rd and its a building on its own colored in some really bright colors that makes it stand out. 

I was really surprised by the size of the place once you step in and its tastefully decorated. I'm not sure why their mascot are sharks though and its really cool that I managed to grab a miniature shark back for my daughter! To the waiter who served that Asian dude in March, cheers to you for making my daughter really happy!

So back to the place, yeah its all wooden deco and I chose to sit by the window for some better lighting for my food shots. So I'm happy to report that when the crab pot came, there were a few monstrous legs of crab and 2 potatoes and a cob of corn. Overall, the crab tastes pretty fresh and the lemon butter dip works well together. You are suppose to eat with the supplied tool, but I wish they gave out scissors instead as the shell of the crab is not very hard, thus using scissors would be ideal to get pieces of the crab nicely peeled.

Anyway, I thus had to work extra hard as I like to eat my crabs in as big chunks as I can after peeling and I did succeed to some extent! Well, I do recommend this place as its affordable and I guess value for money. Do check the place out!

This is the place!