Spice Brasserie | 槟城美食与螃蟹大宴

16th August 2013.
Passing by Parkroyal Kitchener Road one day, my eyes were fixed on their huge banner introducing their Penang Buffet. Hence, I find it very lucky indeed that just a few days later, I received an invitation from Spice Brasserie of Parkroyal Kitchener Road to try their new menu featuring Penang classics such as the Assam Laksa and Penang-style Char Kway Teow as well as a decadent crab feast with at least 10 kinds of crabs on offer.

Spice Brasserie has always been overlooked in favour of the more popular Plaza Brasserie of Parkroyal on Beach Road or the Lime Restaurant located in the architecturally prominent Parkroyal on Pickering. It is a pity because Spice Brasserie is actually a rather nice restaurant with plenty of space for kids and the elderly and the ambience is great for a casual get together or family gathering. Furthermore with a refreshed menu by the new chef, Frederick Kho, things are looking good.

The new chef is a native Malaysian from Kuala Lumpur who has a rich culinary experience, working in several notable hotels such as Penang’s Golden Sands Resort by Shangri-la and Singapore’s Shangri-la Hotel. He is also a fan of both Penang and Kuala Lumpur cuisine hence the Penang Buffet at Spice Brasserie.

To keep this post short, I will just point out some of the memorable dishes from the buffet. First and foremost, there were the Penang Classics such as Penang Oh Chien (Oyster Omelette), Penang-style Prawn Mee, Assam Laksa and the ubiquitous Penang-style Char Kway Teow. My favourites were the amazing oh chien which has generous chunks of oyster embedded in its creamy egg and pan-fried to perfection with a delicate, smoky crust and served chilli sauce.

The Assam Laksa was another winner. I wasn’t impressed by the Assam Laksa I had in Penang (partly because we had it at the touristy Gurney Drive (Chef Kho advised against visiting it if you want to true Penang food experience). This Assam Laksa wasn’t overwhelmingly spicy like the ones I had before and it has a nice fruity and sweet touch to it from the pineapples. I was also informed that mackerel was used for this Assam Laksa, hence staying true to the Assam Laksa back in Penang. Furthermore, Chef Kho also serve this CNN No.7 most delicious dish with its full range of condiments which include finely sliced cucumber, onions, red chillies, pineapples, lettuce, common mint, daun kesum (laksa mint), pick bunga kantan (torch ginger). This was one of my favourite dishes for the day.

Then you have the crabs, the main feature of their Friday Crazy Crab Dinner where you get to enjoy at least 10 kinds of crabs prepared and different way and tasted different (instead of just being named differently). Sauces aside, I must point out that their crabs are rather fresh. The flesh was still springy and succulent as opposed to the chalky powdery texture I had in a previous crab buffet.

The Singapore Chilli Crab was served with mantous to mop up the gravy, which is very thoughtful of them. My only gripe is that the gravy was almost honey-like sweet. I prefer it to be more spicy but Chef Kho explains that there are diners who complained that it was too spicy and pointed out that if you enjoy something more spicy, you should go for the Nonya Chilli Crab instead.

My favourite item among the crabs is the Braised Crab with Glass Noodles. The noodles have great texture and come thoroughly soaked with the flavours from the crab. The crabs accompanying the glass noodles were pretty good too if you prefer something without gravy and just want to enjoy the sweetness from the crab meat itself.

I didn’t try all of the crabs. I tried the Sarawak Black Pepper Crab which was more spicy than the usual Black Pepper crabs and the Herbal Crab which was one of the other lighter crab dishes but with a herbal infusion with red dates, dangui etc.

Another signature of Spice Brasserie is their Teochew Porridge Buffet which is bound to please my parents. During our visit, they had sweet potato porridge served with a whole range of condiments and sides such as braised chicken and pork belly with mui choy to enjoy with your teochew muay.

Finally, we ended our buffet with some quality ice cream by Kapiti from New Zealand. This is the second restaurant I found Kapiti Ice Cream, 10-at-Claymore has it too! Similar to 10-at-Claymore, Spice Brasserie changes the flavours from time to time. I was told that their ice cream is unavailable on the usual supermarkets (indeed, I don’t see them at Jasons Marketplace or Fairprice Finest). The Kapiti Ice Cream is just one of the many sweets offered on their desserts counter which offers from assort French pastries to traditional desserts like kuehs, cheng teng and Ice Kachang!

All in all, I must really thank Parkroyal on Kitchener Road for the invitation. I have found another place where our family could have a decent buffet meal with plenty of room at wallet-friendly prices. For UOB Cardholders, you get a sweeter deal with their 1-for-1 offer on Mon-Thurs or 1 dines free with every 2 adults on Fri-Sun till 31st October 2013.

And here is a short Chinese write up by our guest, Calvin Ng! :
檳城的風味美食，加上富有本土氣息的家常菜，還有讓所有人垂涎欲滴的螃蟹自助餐 － 座落在吉真路（Kitchener Road) 賓樂雅酒店 (Park Royal Hotel) 的香料法式餐廳 (Spice Brasserie) 新推出的自助餐，應該能滿足一家大小的味蕾吧！

擁有豐富經驗的主廚Frederick Kho師傅獨挑大梁，推出許多經典的檳城美食 － 就包括了酸辣的Assam叻唦，檳城鮮蝦福建面，檳城炒粿條及蠔仔煎。更讓人為之瘋狂的是每週五所推出的螃蟹自助餐 － 有十道不同烹調法的螃蟹任你挑選！有大家愛吃的辣椒螃蟹，娘惹咖喱螃蟹，鹹蛋螃蟹以及米粉螃蟹。選擇多樣化，讓人不知道該從哪裡下手。

餐館的空間寬闊，位子很多，能容納近300位客人。還有特設的貴賓房 － 適合辦生日派對，公司聚會或是大壽等等。一踏進餐館，服務生親切友善，笑臉迎人，非常體貼。用餐的客人以家庭居多。一家負老攜幼來享受本土風味的美食，讓我不禁也想帶自己的爸媽來用餐呢！

值得一提的是自助餐裡有的潮州糜 (Teochew Porridge) 以及隨旁的配菜 － 滷豬腸，滷鳳爪，滷豬腳，也忘不了我愛吃的梅菜扣肉。雖然味道一般，但一定能抓住愛吃潮州糜老一輩的心。

也沒忘記我愛吃的榴蓮美食，榴蓮糯米飯 － 榴蓮肉任你拿！

豐富的配菜 － 也有我愛吃的阿喳（Achar）！

愛吃娘惹糕點的你，怎麼能忘了九層糕，Pulut Inti以及其他的經典糕點呢？
自己動手做Ice Kacang！新西蘭的Kapiti雪糕甜度適中。Blueberry Muffin口味是我的最愛！

當晚，主廚Frederick Kho也特地和美食博客們聊天。親切友善的他曾在檳城工作一年，也和我們分享檳城的美食所在！果然都是饕客！

總的來說，吉真賓樂雅酒店 － 香料法式餐廳的自助餐的確是個一家人外出用餐的好去處。因為食物選擇多，又有老少都愛吃的本地及檳城美食，加上餐庭環境理想，沒有距離感，是個用餐的好去處。


Do check out these reviews by Food Nomads and Hubsch Jess Baby who were at the session as well.

Spice Brasserie
吉真賓樂雅酒店
PARKROYAL on Kitchener Road
181 Kitchener Road
Singapore 208533

Penang Affair
Mondays to Thursday
Lunch | $34 (Adult) $15 (Child)
Dinner | $38 (Adult) $15 (Child)

Crazy Crab Night
Fridays Dinner | $58 (Adult) $25 (Child)

Sensational Seafood
Saturdays Dinner | $58 (Adult) $25 (Child)

International Buffet
Fridays to Sundays Lunch | $34 (Adult) $15 (Child)
Sundays Dinner | $38 (Adult) $15 (Child)

Thank You Cleo from Parkroyal on Kitchener Road for the invitation!

GTA 5 free download latest version with cheats codes

All game lovers wants to play GTA 5 free download not just because it is an adventure but because unlike other free adventure games, GTA 5 free download has some extra ordinary features which you can't expect in any other PC game.
Unlike other free adventure games, Grand Theft Auto 5 is not just an action packed game in which you just have to fight and run.
GTA 5 download provides you an opportunity to play a free adventure game filled with complete action and fighting but if you are tired from exploration and violence, then take a rest and go to tennis court and play some tennis with other player or go to golf course and try your luck there. In other words, we can say that GTA 5 free download is also built-in with a tennis and a golf game with its complete features. So go there and try to calm your nerves there. Going to a beach will not be a bad option either!

 

Having said that, lets discuss some of its features which will surely tease you download to play this free action game.

Although GTA 5 free download has so many features and such extra ordinary game exploration that words can't completely define it until you can't play it yourself.
Some of its key features will be discussed below:

Vast and huge Map has unending roads and exploration:

Unlike other free adventure games, GTA 5 free download has vast map with almost all real like features which we face in every day life. But in every day life, we can't explore everything and has to live within limits. But Grand Theft Auto 5 gives an opportunity to explore every such thing which you want to, but can't!
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You can also Fly a Plane and Helicopter like a Pilot:

Grand Theft Auto 5 is not an only adventure game which gives opportunity to fly a plane or helicopter. But GTA 5 free download provides you with some extra feature in plane and helicopters which will surely give you a unique experience of flying just like a professional pilot.

Change your Clothes and Looks completely!

When completing a given mission, you sometimes needs to change your appearance to protect yourself from being caught by the police. In GTA 5 free download, you can also change your car appearance, wheels, color and modify it according to your needs. You can also create your custom appearance according to your needs and likings rather than picking up between track suits and pants.

Gamble or Play betting with your Cash:

You have to complete the missions like a professional to earn cash and bonus as well. You can also use your earned cash for gambling or Betting and can risk your money to be multiplied. More earnings means more fun! You can spend your money anywhere you wants like spending it on a beach side and have some fun with it!


Experience a small Submarine and explore life under water:

GTA 5 free download provides this special feature for all PC game lovers. It is included with a small submarine which will give you a unique experience and a chance to explore life under deep water.
Once you sit into it, I don't think anyone will want to get out of it!

As I said earlier, GTA 5 download has so many features that words can't describe it completely until you play it. In short, Grand Theft Auto 5 is an action packed game which will give you an unending pleasure and exposure. While playing this free adventure game, you will like your dreams came true.


Screenshots:
We are uploading some of its screenshots so that you can have an idea about its liveliness and extra ordinary features:

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GTA 5 Cheat Codes:

We have created some new cheat codes for GTA 5 free download which will help you throughout the game play. We will share it in our next post. So don't miss it and catch those most valuable and helpful cheats ever shared on the internet!

GTA 5 free download is personally one of my favorite games which I played for years. So I personally recommend you to give it a try and I'm sure you will also like it as well!

The 'Venice of China'-Zhujiajiao Shanghai

We spent just enough time in Shanghai to qualify as 'visiting Shanghai'. Actually, even that's questionable. We had a ten hour layover on our way to Cambodia so we decided to try our luck with the rumored 72 hour layover visa. You see, to get into China, we usually have to fill out paper work in advance for a $200 visitor's visa. Ouch. BUT, if you have a connecting flight within 72 hours, you can get in for free. Umm...do you even have to ask? I really thought that it would take more work to get in but all we had to show was a copy of our itinerary. It was so easy, that as I heard the stamp hit our passport, I felt like we were sneaking into the country. 

We knew that with only 10 hours inside the city, we really wouldn't have as much time as we wanted. So we decided to narrow down what we wanted to do to just the Zhujiajiao region which we were told was just a short hour ride outside of the city. Well it may have taken just an hour if you didn't start from the airport and if you took the right bus (I guess that last part was our mistake. Make sure you grab the bright pink buses for the express!) But since it took us an hour from the airport to the city, then another two hours because we took the wrong bus, it ended up taking a solid three hours to reach our destination. But man, was it worth it. Even though this area is a known tourist attraction for both foreigners and Chinese, it was well worth a visit.

Called 'The Venice of China' for its sprawling canals and traditional boats floating along it, this area made you feel as though you stepped back in time. We had a blast looking through the souvenir shops and getting lost in the vast network of teensy alley ways. It's a place I really want to visit again because by the time we got there, we only had an hour and a half before we had to head right back to the airport again. It was the closest we've ever been to missing our flight because by the time we got to our gate, it was already boarding! Although I'm glad we made it on our flight to Cambodia, the side trip to Zhujiajiao was well worth the rush. 

Has anyone ever been to Shanghai? What are some must see spots because I know we'll be back!

Daily Blog #58: Understanding the artifacts Jump Lists

Hello Reader,
         Another Sunday Funday is behind us and from it I've identified another blog series that need to be written. We are trucking along through the artifacts needed to better understand usage. We've covered LNK files, the USN Journal, USB Stor and User Assist. Today we are going to jump into Jump Lists which first made their appearance in Windows 7.

If you've never heard of Jump Lists before go here, http://www.forensicswiki.org/wiki/Jump_Lists, this blog post assumes you are familiar with them and seeks to help you better understand them. For instance I won't be explaining the difference between automatic/custom jump lists or where to find them and their structures.

If you want to read the most thorough write up of Jump Lists I've seen to date go here: http://articles.forensicfocus.com/2012/10/30/forensic-analysis-of-windows-7-jump-lists/.

An easy way to think about jump lists, though not technically accurate, is a chained series of LNK files stored on a per application basis. The biggest fundamental issue regarding Jump Lists versus the LNK files that analysts know and love is that LNK files where created, stored and maintained for the explorer shell (with the one exception I know of being Microsoft Office). Through program shourtcuts, recent documents, office application documents, etc... there is a shared set of LNK files maintained. Jump lists does not entirely replace this functionality but rather extends it allowing tracking of recently used documents from the registry to individual jump lists on a per application basis through automatic destination files.

In short, if you are analyzing a Windows 7 system and you are not parsing/analyzing the jump lists then you are missing evidence. Many up to date forensic suites are not parsing jump list data structures yet and instead will carve LNK files from custom destination lists. Get a tool that handles them correctly:

TZWorks: http://tzworks.net/prototype_page.php?proto_id=20
Woanware: http://www.woanware.co.uk/?p=265

This is good news for us as that means what documents are being accessed through an application are no longer just maintained in the registry through MRU's and we get much more data to analyze on a per file basis. Some applications, notably Microsoft Office, emulated this functionality through LNK files in prior versions of Windows but Jump Lists extends this through auto destinations. MRU keys only keep the date of the last file accessed for that MRU key and the order of last access, while automatic Jump Lists records the same type of data a LNK files does but extends it.

One of the difficulties investigators have had with jump lists was matching the appid that makes up the jump lists name back to which application it was tracking. Luckily for us Hexacorn seems to have solved this issue and made a perl script for use (Yay Perl!):
http://www.hexacorn.com/blog/2013/04/30/jumplists-file-names-and-appid-calculator/ which will allow you to generate the app-id for any given string.

So in short, and I probably will want to revisit this blog post, Jump Lists extend the analysis you did prior with LNK files and is stored on a per user basis for recent document access like LNK files, but is stored on a per application basis. One of things mentioned between all of the major sources is that jump lists are not deleted when a program is uninstalled and they would not be deleted by any system cleaner that is not 'Windows 7 aware'. So if you are not currently taking them into account in your investigations you should change that today.

This Life #3

My favourite camera, Pikachu costume, Fancy Dress and Who can guess who is on my t-shirt?


My best friend and I at Trafalgar Square, Getting all romantic at London Zoo with my new man, The awesome Whisky Jax before their gig at The Lexington, L�Oreal Nail Art Event!


Flowers from the gorgeous Suzie from Hello October, The Body Shop Lipstick heaven, Playing Dress up & Escalator fashion.


My filming equipment, Helping Casper Lee film a video, Outfit of the day, Bowling!

It was my birthday last week and I turned the ripe old age of 25.  I spent the day in Cambridge with my family and my new squeeze.   We went for a punt along the river, bought lots of fudge, had a �high tea� lunch and I had a really lovely day.

Since then, things have been a little up and down and I feel like I�m having a bit of a real �life' dilemma.  I�m really trying to evaluate what I want in life and where I am at at the moment.  I�ve learnt over the past week that I am incredibly lucky to have the most incredible and caring friends and family around me who will be there for me no matter what my choices.  I still believe that everything happens for a reason (although I�m not sure what these reasons are at the moment) but I hope everything works out well in the future.   I feel like the song Mulder & Scully by Catatonia explains my situation perfectly, as the lyrics are quite prominent.  Sorry for all the mystery, team!

Things I�m looking forward to: 
- Seeing one of my favourite artists, Josef Salvat, play London tonight in Hoxton. 
- I�m going away on holiday shortly and I really can�t wait for some valuable �me� time.  I plan to spend my days exploring and pampering life�s complexities (10 points to whoever gets the Morrissey reference).
- Reading a gazillion books on holiday � give me summer read recommendations!
-  Going to Alton Towers with my work mates in September
- Catching up with lots of friends over cocktails over the coming weeks.

If anyone has any book recommendations for my holiday then do let me know.  Also � if you have any nice, inspiring quotes, please tweet me them or leave a comment � I need positive energy!

Lots of love,

Katie xxxx

P.S New songs I can't stop listening to are -

Magnetic Eyes by Matrix & Futurebound


Ghosts by The Presets.

xxx

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Beauty Blog Coalition Weekly Roundup: August 20, 2013 Edition

Mama Fashionista: Find out why Quinn says it's a Lavanila Summer!
TheFabZilla: Hello Gorgeous! TheFabZilla reviews Alima Pure makeups- for the naturally gorgeous you.
Beauty Professor: The Beauty Professor interviewed Australian beauty line creator Napoleon Perdis...read all about it here!
BeautyTidbits: Harshleen reviews one of the new arrivals from Midnight Velvet's Fall collection and is

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Travel Tuesdays-Nepal

Just a little something to cure your wanderlust for the week.

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“I have found out that there ain’t no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them.” – Mark Twain

And be sure to enter for your chance to win gift cards, ad space and more!

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