Coca Restaurant

coca

The first thing that springs to mind when Coca is mentioned is a particular plant cultivated in certain parts of South America. However, that is not the Coca that will be reviewed in this post. πŸ˜‰ This Coca is the steamboat franchise. My first experience with Coca is in Kuching, which Andrea, the Marketing Manager who invited us, said was under different management.

coca 1u

I went with Yiling to the outlet at 1Utama. There are two outlets in Klang Valley – one in 1U and the other in Subang Parade. I recommend going to the second one – Andrea gave us the lowdown on the difference. The latter is larger, with live aquariums and fresh seafood from said aquarium. I hear the ambiance is better too.

interior

However, I found the ambiance at Coca Restaurant, 1U to be quite pleasant too. The interior is dominated by hues of red (a color which can either cause arguments or create passion, depending on who you listen to), which is also the corporate color of the franchise. Andrea gave us a warm welcome when we stepped in and ushered us to our reserved table.

promo

Coca is having a promotion on their steamboat set menus. It starts from RM 98++ for 2 people and includes:

Appetizer:
Deep Fried Fish Paste

Steamboat:
Tiger Prawns (200 grams)
Jelly Fish
Stuffed Squid
Chicken Ball
Chicken Fillet
Fish Glue
Coca Foo Chock
House Special Dumpling
Chinese Cabbage
Morning Glory
Tofu
Green Noodles
Eggs

roselle

Yiling had the new Roselle Flowers d’ Juice (RM 12.90), which actually has the edible flowers garnishing the tall receptacle, as well as a slice of lemon. She opted to substitute the water with soda water, which made it effervescent and very thirst quenching. I love the pitchfork to stir the drink – it’s very novel, the other end is a small spoon. A spork of sorts! =D

I ordered a jug of beer, which Yiling doubted I could finish. She should know better coz she’s seen the way I drink in Ipoh. I offered to pay for the beer, but Andrea would have none of it – cheers for the great hospitality! πŸ™‚

I’m sure I don’t need to put photos of the jug of beer up – you know what it looks like anyway, unless you’re living in Afghanistan or something…in which case you wouldn’t have net access anyway. πŸ˜‰

buffet

Coca Restaurant also has a buffet promotion where you can have unlimited appetizers from the buffet line. We checked out the appetizers on offer and it’s very well presented, hor d’oeuvres style with a lot of them on spoons and such. Check out the succulent prawns in the foreground! I like the miniature Coca steamboat in the middle too – it’s little touches like these that shows attention to detail. They are also going healthy – substituting yogurt for coconut milk in a lot of their cooking.

prawn

Anyway, back to our Coca Experience (TM) we were served Tiger Prawns stuffed with fish and prawns for the appetizer. The crustacean is a bit tough with a fearsome carapace but a tiny fork is more than adequate to get at the succulent flesh inside. The fish and prawn mixture works very well, creating a fusion of flavors that is greater than the sum of its parts.

pandan

The second appetizer we were served is the Pandan Chicken. It’s tender chicken wrapped in pandan leaves and the cooking process retains all the juicy and moist goodness of the chicken. It’s almost melt-in-your-mouth!

service

The steamboat was ready after that and the best thing about Coca Restaurant is the excellent service. The waiters help you with everything – doing it the Proper Way (TM) – first using the broth to loosen the ingredients before carefully putting it into the steamboat. This is a very nice touch, and different from other steamboat establishments.

steamboat

We went for the mixed steamboat – one side is Tom Yam soup and the other side is chicken broth. I like the Tom Yam soup better as I have a love of all things spicy, but I was surprised to find that I enjoyed the chicken broth too. It’s very flavorful with hints of real chicken essence, unlike the watered down Oliver Twist soup-without-bread version that some other establishments serve.

tom yam

This is the Tom Yam soup version.

cute

I just love this photo of Yiling. She looks so cute! πŸ™‚

chicken

This is the chicken broth version.

spinach

Memorable dishes in the RM 98++ set meal are the spinach noodles, jellyfish, and the house specialty dumplings. I’m not a big fan of tofu so I can’t comment on that.

dessert

Andrea was kind enough to furnish us with a plethora of desserts – the most remarkable being the Fresh Mango Pulut with Durian (RM
23.80). It’s absolutely sinf
ul. It’s fresh mangos sliced into manageable pieces, served with glutinous rice drowned in coconut milk and a side of durian puree. The durian puree is to die for! It has a creamy texture with heavy notes of the King of Fruits and an orgasmic aftertaste. I even ate the durian puree straight from the cup; it’s just that good.

coca us

It should be noted that a lot of the items here (e.g. some appetizers) and desserts are not included in the RM 98++ steamboat promotion for two. Those items came courtesy of Andrea. Thanks a great dining experience! πŸ™‚

sauce

P/S – The best thing about Coca Restaurant is their secret dipping sauce. It’s so closely guarded, the sauce is imported in from Thailand and no one knows the exact ingredients. Secret recipe. I like.

sixthseal.com goes to Cheras!

cheras htc

I can finally find my way to Cheras! =D Okay, it has been a bit of a running joke that I have a terrible sense of direction. I admit, it’s true. However, with the HTC Touch 3G + Google Maps + GPS I can now find my way to Cheras:

cheras ginny

w00t!

The only problem is, I have trouble keeping my hands on the prescribed 10 – 2 position while driving and smoking. Oh well, you can’t have it all. πŸ˜‰

Car clamping policy in 1Utama

car no clamp

I have always wondered about car clamping in 1Utama. There was once I pushed my luck and blocked practically half an access road for eight (!) hours and the car was still there, sans scratches or clamps. I don’t usually do it though, it was an experiment of sorts.

Okay, it wasn’t, I was just irritated at not being able to find a parking space. :p

I had to do it again today coz I was running really late for dinner with Yiling and SOMEONE (not Yiling) gave me wrong directions, resulting in a massive 20 minutes wasted on the road from the congestion and a massive U turn.

yiling notes

I was at Coca Restaurant courtesy of Andrea and I kinda gave Yiling a hard time coz she was late for our last eating expedition at Bondi Beach. I felt really bad coz I was late for 30 minutes this time!

I guess people who knows me realize that I have a thing about time. Okay, I’m very particular about time which is the reason I go to the office at 8 am even though work starts at 9 am. Unfortunately, I was late today coz I had to drop off someone (the very same person who gave me the wrong directions to 1U).

I don’t like people making me wait (coz it shows that you don’t respect my time) and in turn, I don’t like making people wait.

I tend to be early and I was – arrived 6:55 pm for a 7:15 pm appointment on the WRONG side of 1U and had to make a huge U turn to get to the parking bays. It was 7:09 pm (yeah, you can tell I’m a bit obsessed with time :p) when I drove down to basement parking so I just parked at the nearest entrance and made sure I had RM 50 for the unclamping if it happens.

It took a good 15 minutes to find Coca and I had to rendezvous in front of Jusco with Yiling to actually find the place. Oh well, at least I was in time for the reservation but Yiling had been there since 6:55 pm and I felt really bad since I was the one who told her (repetitively) not to be late. I’m really sorry Yiling!

The worst thing was, she was really cool about it, which made me feel bad about last time. I guess I have a few things to learn from this soon-to-be mass murderer. πŸ˜‰

coca pre us

Anyway, dinner at Coca Restaurant was great, will post up the full review first thing tomorrow morning. πŸ™‚

I need sleep, I know coz I’m being verbose and writing random stuff and shit. :p

BTW, Cheryl, we were actually still having dinner inside Coca Restaurant when you came over to collect the voucher just now. πŸ™‚

Funny Mountain Tao Fu Fa

eat tofu

No, not that kind of eating tofu. I had a dSLR malfunction and the shutter went off at the wrong time.

funny mountain ipoh

There is a famous stall in Ipoh that has legendary melt-in-your mouth tofu fa. I was brought there by the EZY sisters – Eiling, Ziling and Yiling. It’s called Funny Mountain Tao Fu Fa

funny mountain press

…and it has apparently received accolades from the print media.

funny mountain queue

…as well as the locals, which is always a good sign. The line was long, but they process the queue with the ease of experienced old hands (another good sign – anymore and it’ll be like the second coming of Jesus).

funny mountain tff 

Tofu fa is made from soybeans and resembles a really soft pudding. It’s bean curd gelatin and it’s usually served with sugar syrup and consumed while hot. Best of all, it’s only RM 0.80 per bowl! =D

funny mountain us

Interestingly, tofu fa is translated as “tender tofu blossom”.

Related posts:
Eiling’s review

With friends like these, who needs enemies?

coworkers

I mean seriously, who sticks Nokia stickers all over my face when I’m busy texting on my HTC Touch 3G? Charlz, that’s who. :p

I have like ze best coworkers in the world. Charlz and Teng Loo came over to my place to rendezvous for a video I’m doing, which is…not quite legal. I have scouted and identified the area, bought the Goods (TM) and even prepared RM 1,500 in bribes just in case:

coworkers bribes

There were CCTVs all around and I ran through the Plan of Action with them before I drove to the place. I can’t reveal what the video is about yet, but I’m sure it breaks a few laws. The area is a high end gated community with CCTVs running and the nearest police station is just a minute away so we did everything in a single take.

Teng Loo had the initative to drive around and pick us both up, which I didn’t factor into the Plan of Action. Nice! Since we didn’t get caught and I had RM 1.5k with me, we decided to go for dinner:

coworkers dinner

Before I wax lyrical and shit, we shall end this post on a more neutral note. You guys rock. Thanks! =D

Please don’t stop the music

intro

I’ve always been a big fan of the song, not leaving the club until it plays at least twice. I also like Umbrella, the track that introduced me to Rihanna’s music. Rihanna has this knack of churning out songs that you can’t seem to get out of your head. It’s excellent club music but also brilliant for prancing around cross-dressed with an umbrella in the hotel lobby in.

Like this:

lobby

Unless you’ve been hiding in a cave for the past few weeks, you’ll know that Rihanna is coming to Malaysia. Yes, the R&B star will be performing February 13th at Sadium Putra in Bukit Jalil. No, that’s not her in the picture above, that would be me, but thank you for the kind comments.

People (well “normal people” anyway) don’t cross-dress and take incriminating…er, I mean creative videos of themselves without a very good reason. I’ll give you a great reason:

MeTV is having a Rihanna contest where you record and upload videos of yourself being a Rihanna fan to win prizes, which includes meeting Rihanna in person!

rihanna-lunch

You’ll get the chance to see her doing every day things, like…er, eating Freedom Fries. The Grand Winner will get the full Monty – VVIP passes, meeting and sending Rihanna off at KLIA, invites to the post-party and more! Get more details at Unleash the Rihanna in U with MeTV.

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Record your best Rihanna video from your mobile.
2. Send your video via MMS to 26388 with RIHANNA typed in your message or subject box

Simple, right?

Meanwhile, if you want to watch, rate & download videos on MeTV from your mobile:

Step 1 : Log on to http://wap.channelx.com.my (from your mobile)
Step 2 : Go to Fun Stuff and select MeTV
Step 3 : Click on the Rihanna category.
Step 4 : Watch, rate (my video) or download any of the listed videos.

Check out the video I did – it’s a very liberal interpretation of Rihanna’s Umbrella. I managed to secure an umbrella from the hotel staff and wore a purple dress inside the hotel lobby while prancing around with an umbrella.

making

I think the only reason I wasn’t kicked out of the hotel is coz I’m staying there. πŸ˜‰

shower

It also features a shower scene, which was actually done after the lobby scene since it involved wetting the dress. I casually strolled down with my entourage in tow and took my shower robe off in the lounge before dancing to Rihanna’s music. It took 3 people to get it done – one to film, one to provide the music, and one to take photos. I think it’s my best video work to date. πŸ™‚

ezy

Thanks to the EZY sisters (Eiling, Ziling, Yiling) I shall hereby dub this Umbrella feat. The EZY sisters (instead of Jay-Z, whom I would have serious reservations about having in the bathroom with me).

Got Rihanna Mania?

Warning signs you’re an alcoholic

alcoholic

1. You go to your favorite convenience store to get some 500 ml 12% cheap imported beer and the cashier goes “Just two cans today instead of your usual three?”

2. The friendly local neighborhood 7-Eleven night shift greets you with a cheery “Hello Boss!” and warns you that the leftmost chiller is out of action so your favorite beer is warm.

3. The clerks at 7-Eleven actually starts asking “Eh, tiap tiap hari minum, okay kah boss?” (You drink every night, you handling it okay?)

-_-!!!

Coca Restaurant RM 150 contest winners

coca-contest

The Lord hath spoken! Coca Restaurant emailed me the list of winners from the Coca GONG XI Giveaway. There are three (3) winners and each of you gets a voucher worth RM 150 to dine at Coca Restaurant in 1 Utama or Subang Parade. The voucher is a steamboat set meal for two so bring your dining companion along!

The winners are:

1. angiep
2. Lionel
3. Cheryl

from the comments in the original post. Please don’t kill me, I wasn’t the one who chose the winners. For the record, I did ask Coca why none of the permalinks (Zoe, Simon, itechblog, Ginny) won. My actual reply was:

OMG! I thought the ones with permalinks have priority? The ones who posted a link back?

It turns out that the permalinks DO have priority. They get weighted more heavily than normal comments but Coca Restaurant is using random.org to be fair. Thus, out of the 54 comments, the permalinks are all ranked in the Top 10, but unfortunately, due to some catastrophic cosmic bad luck, none made it into the Top 3.

I will email all the 3 winners in a bit – please tell me if you’re not in Klang Valley so I can ask for permission to pass the vouchers to the permalinks (or the next in the list).

Otherwise, for the lucky three winners, here’s what you do:

1. Collect your vouchers from Coca Restaurant, 1 Utama from Friday (6th February 2009) onwards.
2. Just state your name (nick) and sixthseal.com to get the vouchers.
3. You need to collect it from Coca Restaurant within 2 weeks.
4. The vouchers are valid till 31st March 2009.
5. Make reservations with the Coca staff before you go.

Congratulations! πŸ™‚

Nam Heong: The Original Ipoh White Coffee

nam heong

Ipoh is well known for their puzzlingly named caffeine export – Ipoh White Coffee. It’s not white, but it certainly is coffee. It has also spawned franchises of Ipoh White Coffee outlets at the speed rabbits breed but the original birthplace of Adam is none other than Nam Heong in Ipoh. It’s like the Bethlehem of Ipoh White Coffee, except I went with three queens instead of three kings.

nam heong ipoh

You have to queue beside tables for an absurd amount of time before seats are available. I’m sure this problem is compounded by the fact that it’s CNY and everyone from Ipoh was back for the holidays. I bumped into Jen there. Nam Heong is also famous for their dim sum which was probably why it was so packed.

nh coffee

We ordered Ipoh White Coffee (someone ordered the unorthodox herbal tea though). I forbid the EZY sisters from saying who drank what under the threat of cruel and unusual punishment. πŸ˜‰ I’m sure someone would tell anyway, Ziling and Yiling has threatened me as much. :p

nh ytf

Yong Tau Fu is also a great dish there – the fish is fresh and good. I think it cost somewhere around RM 13 for the bowl though, not cheap for Ipoh standards, but it was good.

nh kueh tiaw

This is Ipoh style char kueh tiaw, pretty good. I like the taste.

nh dim sum

It would be akin to heresy if we didn’t at least order a dim sum dish in Nam Heong so we went for the egg tarts. We had a quarter each since we were very full from all the eating that we did.

nam heong ipoh white coffee

Wanted: Alibi for the morning of 28th January from 9 AM to 10:30 AM certifying I was in Ipoh consuming genuine Ipoh White Coffee from the original birthplace of said beverage.

nh group

Thanks for the hospitality! More food posts coming up soon! πŸ™‚

CNY in Ipoh

drive

Ipoh is a small town (but one with city status) about 2 hours away from KL. I drove down to spend CNY with the Lim sisters – Eiling, Ziling and Yiling. Ipoh is surrounded by limestone hills and the “hard” water is said to contribute to the famed Ipoh leng luis. It’s commonly said that Ipoh is a leng lui (beautiful girl) manufacturing factory so I think I made the right decision to spend CNY there instead of back home. πŸ˜‰

welcome

I was made to feel very welcome in Ipoh, thanks to the entire Lim clan.

roast duck

I ate a lot of food – this here is the famed Ipoh roasted duck. Besides eating…

gambling

…much of the time was spent in…er, diversifying my portfolio to include liquidity based assets.

visiting

We also hit a couple of houses, do the CNY visiting thing.

camwhoring

I also consumed quite a bit of ethanol-based drinks considering its CNY and all. No, don’t ask, think about how many people have asked me already before you do that. πŸ˜‰

grapes

It has gone Pharaoh-nuff! Get it? Egyptian pharaoh with Ziling, my camwhoring buddy. =D

group

It was quite fun actually, visiting the Lim sister’s relatives and friends. I even met a couple of people who reads my blog. Greetings!

ezy

We had planned to spend a night there but ended up spending three days and two nights in Ipoh. There are just too many photos to post up so the next post would be about places and food in Ipoh.

end

Thanks to the EZY sisters for having me in Ipoh! =D

Happy CNY everyone!

lengzai

P/S – Did you know that Ipoh is also famous for their leng zai? πŸ˜‰

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