Mokuren: itadakimasu (いただきます?)

itadakimasu: (literally, "I humbly receive"). The phrase is similar to "bon appétit", or saying grace to give thanks before a meal. It is said to express gratitude for all who played a role in preparing.

friday lunch had been quite an adventure, so the whole colleague gang decided to try new jap restaurant in town. hmmm.. seems everywhere jap

eateries r mushrooming. there is

this new place called Mokuren in Medan Bistari Ipoh. if still not sure, it is the same row as Kizuna, behind PC depot, near the MacD near to highway exit beside Bercham. That should be enuf direction.

though it is just one shop size, the restaurant make used of every inch, making the restaurant rather cosy without feeling crowded. there is even a small room like partition for those spending more than RM150. the menu is rather similar to what u would find at a jap place, the usual bento set, sushi set, and so on. lunch set start from RM 16 onwards with average of RM 20+ per person.

each one of us ordered set. seemed that everyone was happy. the salmon looks great but

didnt get a chance to taste it. my order of chicken with teriyaki sauce was up to expectation, though nothing special. the portion of meat is quite big, plus it is drumstick so i am happy with tat. they even give me a tuna roll saying that the rice is not "enuf".... uh... not sure what are they changing in the set, not complainin as long as it is free. over all, the food is nice, though the waiting time is bit long though the crowd is not that big.

the tea is something nice though. there is this green tea with previous ? frying.... but to me it just taste like green tea with more taste. my order was some rice tea... and it was surprisingly nice. true indeed u can c rice inside the teapot. and it smell like "mi chang"... u know, the kuih people serve during CNY made of rice

crackers with stick into cubes.

service was good. everyone was saying that one of the staff was japanese. i was not so sure bout tat. least the boss can speak cantonese and make decent recommendation on the menu.

ratings: 3 half poink!

comments: the half more poink is the tea and the big portion of chicken served. otherwise, it was not outstanding though but on par with the rest. however, i would come again for the tea. n to check whether the waitress was japanese or not.

King of Fighters: King of Crap

I had never been a fan of Maggie Q. overrated. However, I had been a fan of King of Fighters, the video game. So, that compels me to watch the latest film to hit the cinema. OMG.....it was such a !@#$%^%.

first, this is NOT made for the big screen. watching the whole show seemed more like made for TV movie. n a bad one too. story follow a tournament by Chizuru, something about 3 treassures, Mai is undercover, n with the help of Kusanagi n Iori defeated Rugal n save the day.

Ouch. so many problems with the movie. first, the casting... Maggie Q as Mai? i would expected more, uh..... more. Iori... well, least it is an Asian. Angmo as Ryo Kusanagi? waliao... this is even more outrageous than the boy as Ang, the Avatar. Terry Bogard is an uncle. ...Chizuru..well, i dunno much of her character anyway. Rugal is just like a street punk. Mature n Vice.. well, lesbian pair. no comment.

wardrobe is such a crap also. looks like they got no money to do the film. nothing compare to the video game. they try to do some look a like in the end but really really sucks. even Mai dun hav her red outfit. check out the pic below, TAT is SUPPOSEDLY to be Mature, Vice n Rugal. Now i really lost my appetite.

CGI n action sequence really sucks. they just add bit of "light", "fire" to the punches n kicks. THAT's ALL. probably got few "qigong" like Dragonball type. where r all the signatures move? even Mai's fan is missing. Ryo with a sword?

acting ... i hate wat they did to Iori. he is supposedly a crazy fella, something like Joker (heath ledger one) but in the end... he made into someone so fragile with "inner demon" to conquer type. script is so lame i did not bother to watch.

dun bother even reading this. not worth the time to mention also.

ratings: -3 (that is negatvie) poinks (actually the movie is worth 0-1, but the fact they use KOF franchise, i will give the few more negative ratings.)

comments: IF someone bother to buy the license, better do a better job. the film is so bad, that instead of 2x the speed, finally i put 4x to finish the show. that is how bad it is.

Trillion Friends: nice steam boat!

disclaimer. i do not like steamboat. well, not hate, but i always think there are other better food option available.

so, i came to Trillion Friends with reservation on my mind. by the way, the chinese translation was 3 friends, so it is rather odd to put the english shop name as trillion friends. So big difference, like 2 trillion nine thousand + difference. the place is near Crazy Ice cream palour, within walking distance from Ipoh Parade.

anyway, colleagues choice, so never mind. give it a try.

the place is not as nicely deco, with yellow walls. hmmm.... odd. the choice of food is rather huge. the usual fare of steamboat is there.. the normal fishball, meatballs, stuff like that. vege, eggs, mee.... even the more expensive stuff like oyster, snail, abalon slice are available. Non steamboat dishes are also there, like sushi (which is rather dry), fried rice, dessert and fried chicken (Nice!). plus, there are free flow of drinks, and ice cream. food is fresh, taste is nice. besides, they use induction cooker so although not so authentic, it is rather convenient. there is even grill available.

cost per person is RM22 for weekend, but no idea how much it costs on weekdays. for someone who have bigger appetite, the buffet style would not disappoint. over all, i enjoyed the food a lot, even though it didnt change my mindset on steamboat.

ratings: 3half Poink! (minus half poink because i didnt like steamboat in general)

comments: come with an empty stomach so u can try more food.

Lost Symbol: simply lost

I do read. no, really. i do read. despite all my post on movies, n manga... well, manga did have words. I do read. I used to read a lot... but the habit seems to be lost.

Thanks to a colleague, i was able to get hold of Dan Brown not-so-new book, Lost Symbol. After wife finish it, it was my turn to "get lost" the Lost symbol continued the adventure of Robert Langdon.. the similar style.. short chapters for those who had short patients, like yours truly.

story continued in the midst of all the secrets of Mason, the lost word which was buried below Washington n a villian who wanted it so badly. similarly a group of people who wanted the lost stuff to remain lost. now, where had i seen it all before. not a bad read. but for those who had read angels n demons, davinci code, this rather pale. in addition to that, the book did not appeal to me, who had never been to DC. similar flaw ran across his books. the villian always in the begining seemed like a big organization keen on getting their way.... which in the end, turn out to be only a single person, 2 max. the expected twist in the end of the book was sort of hinted heavily too early, like miles away. i actually manage to guess who the bad guy was when they first introduce the character. bad idea, bad idea. He even tried to introduce some controversial ideas... now this is the third book. it may seemed interested in the Davinci code, but by now, sudah lapuk le....

ratings: 2half poink!

comments: good introduction to dan brown's book, but other than that, good leisure read. NOT a must read though.

ps. for someone who supposedly did his research.... he actually compared the 2 space of the ancient temple separated by veil to the "brain" which he quoted consisted of pia, dura mater separated by arachnoid mater..... now that is NOT even the brain... unless he used his meninges to think... check wiki at least

Resident Evil 4: watch this in afterlife

it was a surprise to be able to buy the ticket to Resident Evil 4: afterlife in the morning of Raya. refusing to listen to my instinct, if noone wan to grab the ticket, u should b very very careful of the thing. (read: TOS).... then again, Sellout was good despite only 10 fella in the cinema.

i am not a fan of resident evil, did not play any of the game, but enjoyed the first 2 show. u c, at least the first 2 had STORY. 3rd was ok, but there was too many show with the world devastated with zombie.. like Will am legend, zombieland... u get the idea. anyway, zombieland was way better than this, though i dun really like the show. 4th resident evil just show how Alice n her gang go to Arcadia, supposedly a place free of infection of the T virus. went there, found out (SPOILER ALERT) that Arcadia is actually a ship, controlled by Umbrella Corp.

story is paper thin. not the 80g one, the 60g paper thin. like watching someone else played video game... so it is just 2 hours of watching zombie head being shot at. so if u watched the first 10 min of the show, u get the idea. TOOOOOOOO many slow mo. like if the slow motion was shot in normal time, the show would ended in less than an hour. u get the pic. if I were to watch it in 2x speed (like when i watched show i dun like), i would finish it while making chocolate cake in toilet.

dun get me wrong, i like the action, i like the slow mo, but only in the beginiing, too much of the same thing...it make me nauseated in the end.

rating: 2poink! (1 for the zombies being shot at, 1 for Alice)

comments: better go watch someone play the game instead, the it is free. then again, MAYB if watched in 3D would be better... u take the risk.