Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Wedding dinners and G Hotel - Ballroom

I recently attended a wedding dinner at G-Hotel. I was sceptical coz it was my first time dinning there and after hearing so many negative comments about their food. I found those comments were not true as the food was not bad...
I have learnt so many things from this wedding - MUST learn from other people's mistakes!

#1. Don't invite so many guest to your wedding if the ballroom cannot accommodate the number of tables you want. Book other place where they have a bigger ballroom. Making your guest sit outside of the ballroom where they do not get visual or audio on what's going on inside just makes them feel second class and not cool.

#2. If you intend to invite so many people and some people are not able to get audio or visual of the ceremony, rent a projector and PA system so all guest can have a feel of what is going on, instead of sitting around as if it was not a wedding dinner. G Hotel had televisions but they were minute if you are sitting far far away from it!

#3. Never use those huge confetti poppers as it's smelly and messy - it gets in your hair and dress. I just think it's a BIG NO NO!

#4. Have your parents thank every guest that attended instead of thanking their own friends. Happened to me - it's as though I was not worthy of coming!

#5. Never book you reception with G Hotel even though they are the only hotel left!

I know for sure I won't after what I observed from the way the ceremony was conducted. I do not know who is to be blamed when the bride and groom made their entrance. They should have started from the table where people signed in and not at the entrance of the ballroom when for all those who sat outside only saw their backs. As they had the wedding march, the hotel staff closed the door to the ballroom and all those sitting outside the ballroom had no visual or audio what so ever. We were just looking at each other - I was slightly amused/shaking my head in dismay at how they conducted it and no way I'm going to treat the guest to my wedding the same way I/those sitting outside ware treated.

The food presentation was ridiculous as the staff were all lined up in rows of two's behind the bride and groom - before they had their wedding march. The song they chose was from the cartoon - Madagascar - I like to move it move it...I like to move it move..MOVE IT! I was trying to imagine the waiters dancing to the song when they march into the ballroom and there was this crazy looking 'chef' banging his huge egg beater and flipper - I mean it's ridiculous! Anyways, the presentation is more to let the people inside the ballroom see it as we were 'part' of the people who saw the process outside.

The service is so bad and the staff so NOT trained. Probably they were given orders of give those who ask only. What I mean is, our waiter only asked my friend if she wanted chinese tea/drink and me sitting beside her, din get any until I called him up again and told him I wanted chinese tea - trying to be stingy on the tea? For god's sake, pour for everybody lar..if they finish refill if not, it's just a cup of tea - how much can it cost!?!?!? I'm not saying our waiter is bad just that he needs ALOT of training as well as English course...lets say the majority of the staff is not local.

Next complain comes with my favourite dish - sharksfin soup. I am crazy over black vinegar and sharksfin. I'll pour the vinegar till my sharksfin turns black - then only I'll eat it. Yes - your right....the container of what supposed to be vinegar is indeed soya sauce. Imagine my face when I took my first sip of my soup. I almost fainted from the saltiness. How can they make such a mistake by putting soya sauce in what supposed to be vinegar. It's lucky of us for not telling him to pour the 'vinegar' into the bowl of sharksfin soup!

The flow of food was so slow that some people left before the vegetables came! When it finally came, i think it was 10-ish! Some dinners would have ended at that time but no.....we still had the vegtables, rice and dessert to go!tsk*tsk*tsk G Hotel - what happen to your time management!

Lastly, boyfriends/husbands, accompany your girlfriends/wife when they use the toilet at G Hotel. I went alone as I cannot 'tahan' already. When I approach the toilet, I saw this hotel staff, a Bangla standing between the men and women toilet. I happily went in, minding my own business and there were still several ladies there. After I came out of my cubicle and washed my hands, I heard the same Bangla saying 'house keeping' - only ONCE and he entered the washroom when I was still in it! I was shocked and furious...I mean, how can a man 'clean' a women's toilet in the middle of a function without putting up the 'cleaning in progress' sign to stop the ladies from entering the washroom! I saw him standing there before I entered the ladies..Don't tell me he doesn't know how to counthow many ladies are left in the washroom. I can tell you, initially there were 3 ladies, then 2 left, then there was me. So stoopid!!!!

Conclusion NEVER EVER have your wedding in G Hotel

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Prontip

Recently I pass by Prontip Thai Restaurant and the banner caught my eye. Thai food buffet lunch at only RM 10.90nett (weekdays) and RM 12.90nett (weekends)! I decided to give it a try yesterday. For RM 12.90, you cannot complain about the spread they had. There was plain rice, fried noodles, fried belacan rice, Thai style pork, Green curry prawns, Thai style fish, Thai style satay, Thai Laksa, deep fried kangkung, Thai minced meat, spring rolls, fish, crab & prawn cakes, Tomyam soup, dessert and much more which I can't remember. I do not know if the spread changes every other day or it's the same.
The fish, prawns & crab cakes are superb, the belacan fried rice is good, laksa...darn creamy and rich - yum yum and the prawns are so fresh!For such a cheap price and you get to try so many variety of their food, why not?
The lunch hour for this buffet is 11 am - 3pm. If the buffet doesn't fancy you, they do serve ala carte!

Friday, September 7, 2007

Stella's place

This new place is practically operated from the garden of the proprietor, named Stella Lee! Don't let the name fool you coz she is an Austrian women, helped out by her daughter, Sandra. My mum introduced me to this place and they serve home-cooked wholesome food. 9 of us went and we had 9 plates each of spaghetti, soup and apple crumble & 2 plates each of pork chop, 1/2 roasted chicken and huge bowls of salad. I wouldn't say it's the best but it's fresh, authentic, simple and good food. All those amount of food, the bill came up to close to RM 200 and we had so much left overs - practically untouched!
I arrived late and I was so hungry, I drank my spinach soup in an instant!The garlic bread is so tasty, full of herbs and big chunks of garlic - don't know if my mum requested it or it's normal. Even after the soup, I was about to surrender! The amount is HUGE!!
My dad being a vegetarian, obviously had vegetarian spaghetti and when his spaghetti came, I nearly fainted! The portion is also HUGE! Stella's justification of it is....there's no meat in it, so the portion HAS to be BIGGER!! Goodness gracious..

Anyways, the rest of us had bolognese spaghetti. Unlike other places where the tomato sauce taste more like ketchup and artificial, this place makes their sauces from scratch from real tomatoes! I dunno but it tastes more healthy!
We also had 2 huge bowls of salad which we couldn't finish! Anyways, I'm not gonna brag bout the salad coz salad is salad!
The best dish has to be the pork chop!! When you order pork chop at other places, the meat they serve you is like .... - yuck..ooohhhh when the plate of pork came....it smelt so good and it taste so very good! Heck, even the potatoes were good!

Imagine the chunk of meat....i'm drooling as I type...Even the 1/2 roasted chicken is good...the skin is roasted to perfection, not charred and the meat is just nice! Everytime I take a bite from the food, I instantly think of home-cooked meals! Let's say it brings back memories...

As we ere eating in the garden, mum decided to help herself in the kitchen - she knows Stella...The apple crumble is in the oven!!I must hand it to Stella for making the apple pie not that sweet and the crumble is just superb!!

This place is at: No 2, Jalan Tanjung Bungah, 11200 Hillside Penang (Opposite ESSO station)
Tel no: 016 4868880 or 04-8998927