JB - Charming as Ever
10 Jan 2006 — Seeing how it was Hari Raya Haji and a public holiday, we had initially planned to go to JB with Melvin and Adeline ‘cos Melvin found out we could get Abercrombie & Fitch stuff at dirt-cheap prices at the FOS there. Oops, maybe I shouldn’t have divulged that piece of info about him. Ahem, let me clarify that up to this point he has only shopped at their actual retail stores paying full retail prices. In any case, today he had to pull out due to some last minute assignment that was dumped on him. (Huh… maybe it was just an excuse, perhaps ultimately he just couldn’t bring himself to shop at factory outlets…) See, he no cheapskate ok!
So with Melvin and hence Adeline out of the picture, it just leaves me and Pipi, Jeff and Serene, David and Jessie, and Admund and Siew Yin — wah! 4 couples! so fun!!! That morning itself, it actually rained, but turns out everybody so “on”, never backed out, not even David! Paiseh paiseh, in fact, he and Jessie were the first to reach the taxi stand at Queen St. 10.15am, followed by Jeff and Serene at 10.45am, and Billie and I at 11am!?! Admund and Siew Yin making their own way there on his Harley. By the way, it’s David’s birthday as well. And Serene very kind, got us all goreng pisangs and curry puffs from Tekka Market for breakfast.
Without further ado, we were off to JB! And hey, even though it was a public holiday, there wasn’t any jam at the causeway, and pretty soon we were in… Malaysia, Truly Asia…
Me chomping on me curry-puff, haha boy do I love deep-fried things!
See, everyone looking very fresh and all ready to cheong!
Our first-stop was the huge City Square where everyone proceeded to shop, shop, shop! Last week when Billie and I were here with Adeline, it was MNG for some great sale bargains, Vincci for shoes and of course, the infamous FOS! Today was no different, believe it or not, the boys, yes, all 4 of them, turned out to be the biggest shoppers for the day, all of them managed to bag themselves some goodies at FOS, with David spending the most at 424 Ringgit (about S$190)! He claims he didn’t even have the intention to shop in the first place! But at FOS, who can resist…
When in JB, what else does one do other than shop? Makan lah! Unfortunately it was raining so we thought never mind lah, just settle our lunch at the food court.
Wah lao! I think all of us kena “ketoked” like siao! Though the food was rather tasty, the prices were exorbitant considering it’s just a food court! Like my nasi padang of 1 egg, a piece of chicken and some mussels came to RM8.90! and don’t know what Jeff ordered but his came to RM13+! You wonder lor, how do the locals afford to eat in such places?!!
Ok so what’s next? Haha with Chinese New Year around the corner… you all know what that means right? The whole main atrium of City Square is filled with temporary stores all trying to promote their kueh-kuehs and cookies… in other words… BUFFET LAH! Wah from pineapple tarts to kueh lapis to cashew nut cookies and even bak-kwa, just “try” to your heart’s content!
Eh, but at least we not so chao-kar, try try but also got buy. Bi and I bought a pandan kueh lapis and some nonya cookies (very innovative, filled with hei-bi-hiam!). Other new items on the market this year include coffee biscotti, green-pea cookies and even cheese-flavoured pineapple tarts?!? Another good time to come to JB for this sort of buffet is during the Mid-Autumn Festival — hwah… mooncakes of all tastes, colour and shapes, free for all!
As mentioned earlier, it’s David’s birthday today, so here we are at Secret Recipe picking out cakes and stopping for a coffee — as you all know, shopping can be SO… tiring. No really, we were just saying last time when we were 18, shop from morning till night also no problem! Meals? Who needs to eat anyway?! Waste of time only. Sigh… but now, after only 1 or 2 hours of walking around, cannot oredi, must find chair to sit down or at least rest on the pretense of having a drink. The guys unanimously agreed that when shopping with their girlfriends/wives, shoe stores are the best, ‘cos there are always seats for uncles like them!!! And here they are in no particular order:
Uncle Jeff
Uncle David (also affectionately known as such by his fellow colleagues)
Uncle Admund (comes complete with Rolex watch)
And of course Uncle Billie Tan!
Next we came to the highlight of the day! Seafood dinner at Beijing Restaurant — highly recommended by Admund and Siew Yin. And with them around, we need not fear about getting cheated. Not like last week with Adeline, with all our shopping bags and Billie’s terok Malaysian accent, the stallholders at DaiMa probably saw dollar bills floating towards them from the moment we got off the cab! Not tonight! We won’t be ketoked!
And I dare say we weren’t. For a 10 course meal feeding 8 pax to the MAX, consisting of
1. chilli crab (2) served with mantou
2. black pepper crab (1)
3. gong bao frog legs
4. braised sea cucumber
5. herbal chicken
6. longevity noodles (David’s birthday)
7. prawns done in 2 ways — cold salad and oatmeal
8. sambal tapioca leaves
9. deep-fried tofu
10. seaweed soup
We only paid RM293!!! = S$128 = A$104!!! Pays to go with locals!
So for anyone who’s keen to check the place out for yourselves: it’s Restaurant Pekin
No. 38 Jalan Baldu Lima, Taman Sentosa, 80150 Johor Bahru, Johor. Tel: 60-7-3332928
Disclaimer: Eh, but if you’re a bunch of Singaporeans going on your own, no guarantee you’ll pay the same price hor…
Thinking how we might as well stay just a bit longer to avoid the peak-hour jam on the causeway, we decided to end the night with a few drinks at Garden Eden Hotel.
And course it was David’s big day, he and Jessie even treated everyone to a bottle of champagne and a round of drinks. Unfortunately, Billie was so sick with his flu by this time, and I was having stomach cramps (no, not from the meal), that we so boring, only ended up having chamomile and mint herbal tea respectively. Could only watch as the others ordered up a bevy of fancy cocktails. Losers… Oh well, we had fun as spectators nonetheless, especially when Serene chickened out of downing her Flaming Lamborghini while it was still lit. See no more flames…
And finally, eat also eat oredi, shop also shop oredi, drink also drink oredi… it’s home sweet home time…
Dunno how Jeff, Serene, David and Jessie can still look so chirpy at the end of the day. Bi and I were just completely shacked and gone…