A Majestic Rat Packed Christmas

The Majestic Hotel Kuala Lumpur is celebrating this upcoming festive season with a dedication to Hollywood’s most famous entertainers; Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford or collectively better known as the Rat Pack.

The Colonial Cafe's house band, The Solianos, will play tribute to the music of that era made famous by The Rat Pack alongside popular Christmas tunes.

Served as an accompaniment to the band is a separate Christmas eve 9-course dinner priced at RM280 per person or RM380 with wine pairing and a Christmas day 9-course dinner menu priced at RM220 or RM320 with wine pairing. Here is a small visual teaser of the menu’s offering.

Image: Majestic Hotel

If you’d like to check out the full menu, clink on this link to take your to Majestic Hotel's website.

But wait, there is more...

As the legend goes, Frank Sinatra was a long time fan of JD... which inspired the Jack Daniel's Sinatra Select. What makes this so special is that the whiskey is matured in "Sinatra Barrels" where the barrels are grooved to allow even more contact between the whiskey and wood and bottled at 45% ABV. I have not had an opportunity to sip this dram yet, but here is a bit of the background story behind it and the tasting profile on Master of Malt.

This is exclusively only available at the Majestic Hotel's Smoke House. I’d recommend that with some Cubans and the “Rat Pack Gentleman's” Afternoon Tea (canape-style bites, tea & coffee) at RM80 nett per person that's accompanied with a tankard of beer throughout December.

- Jon

Goa by Hubba

There are 22 major languages in India with over 700 different dialects. Fact. That is an astounding mind boggling number of variants for Indian cuisine and ways curries you may never try in your lifetime.

Goa is quite a popular touristic destination, that we we know. Air Asia flies there. It is supposed to be a hippy coastal city where grass there is popular, not necessarily greener, if you get what I mean (I only heard about it from friends who have been there!).

Well, a little part of Goa(n) cuisine is now featured by a watering hole that used to be known as Hubba Hubba. Now rebranded as Goa by Hubba, it's located on the ground floor of Ramada Suites KLCC. Don’t be confused by the hotel name. This is actually off Changkat Bukit Bintang.

Goa by Hubba now features a brand new food menu and cocktails inspired by Goa cuisine and flavours. The menu was created in collaboration with Le Cordon Bleu Celebrity chef Sapna Anand. Sapna, a native of Goa herself, brings to the table delectable dishes like the Fire Roasted Bone Marrow, Cochin Seafood Stew, Goan Beef Cutlets, Allepey Grilled Fish and more. Many of these dishes were also inspired by her mother's own recipes.

To complement the new menu, they have created new cocktails inspired by spices from Goa-style flavours of rasam, raita and lassi. Exotic kooky cocktail names like Kinky Kokum, Masala Mantra, Ass Whuppin Chai Masala got me tickled. FA really loved their gleaming copperware.

For the after office happy hour crowd that just needs a little something something to kill some time while waiting for the rush hour traffic to subside, there's still their beers on tap to accompany some of their Goan-inspired nibbles to keep your mouth busy.

Congratulations Michele Kwok and the Soul Society team on this new baby, and thanks for having us!

- Jon

#Becurious at H.O.M.E. by Martell

Martell recently invited us to explore our curious side through its #BeCurious event at its first Martell H.O.M.E. pop-up located at the Bukit Kiara Equestrian Club, beckoning us to explore the cognac with a different lens.

From the entrance to exit, the tent had plenty of curiosities to keep us.. well, curious.

The dark, laser-filled first room led us to Zelda (not her actual name), where our fortunes will be met from the magic sphere ball. Shaking the magic sphere ball will open a magic drawer for the cocktail ingredients in little straw pouch.

Entering another door led us to the cocktail lounge room with 5 Martell-based cocktails and the option of having the VSOP neat.

A post shared by Fireangel (@fireangel80) on Nov 8, 2017 at 4:04am PST

Then it was time for some food. The Be Curious menu was designed by maestro Chef Nathalie of Nathalie Gourmet Studio. Naturally, the menu was conceptualised with the pairing of 4 Martell's signature drinks; The VSOP, Cordon Bleu, Cordon Bleu Extra and the XO.

At the end of the dinner, our rather enigmatic host, Martell brand ambassador Pierre Boyer invited  us for a cocktail mixing session. We were encouraged to mix our own cocktail under the careful guidance of the mixologists and the reward was a certification of curiosity by Martell signed by Pierre himself:

A post shared by Fireangel (@fireangel80) on Nov 8, 2017 at 7:41am PST

One can't keep FA away from the bar :/

With this as their first H.O.M.E. by Martell event in the country, Martell Malaysia hopes it will further encourage the appreciation and discovery of cognac through unexpected experiences and the spirit of curiosity.

Stay tuned and curious for more updates by following Martell Malaysia’s Facebook page or their H.O.M.E website here https://www.martell.com/en-my/be-curious

- Jon

21 Years On and Still Souled Out

It's a Black Light 21st Birthday Bash at SOSH! (image: souled out)

I remember a time when Souled Out used to be the few places on the fringes of PJ area for great food, drinks and lepaking with friends...having a difficult time making my mind up from their colourful, thick food menu that offered a wide mix of western cuisine and local-favourites, before finally settling down with my go-to fried beef noodles, sake san pizza or the sinful gosht palak... Then washing it down with their happy hour priced cold pints of beer and their infamous mojitos.

I can't believe it's been 21 years and they have since branched out from Sri Hartamas to five other locations at Ampang, Bangsar South, Kota Kinabalu and Taman Tun Dr Ismail.

A post shared by Fireangel (@fireangel80) on Oct 13, 2017 at 10:23pm PDT

To kick off their 21 years journey, SOULed OUT threw a big party and soon, they'll be rolling out a new menu and all-new outdoor kitchen in the months to come.

Happy Birthday again, Souled Out! You're finally old enough for a drink! :) A big congratulations to Michele Kwok, Freddy Choo and the entire service team.

Here are some pictures of the night:

Giant bowls of Glow G&Ts!

Awesome glow in the dark cupcakes!

Glow in the dark drummers! (image: souled out)

Glow in the dark dancers! (image: souled out)