GongHin: decent choice for dimsum

Kampar is never famous for dimsum the way FuShan is for Ipoh. However, like many Chinese town, dimsum is part and parcel of cantonese life, and for many, a convenient and popular breakfast choice. Most of the chinese restaurant do serve dimsum on their own although not particularly famous. This include those stall type of dimsum which served limited self made dimsum to those who operated in the night market.

When thinking about dimsum in Kampar, one may think along the old shops in old town such as KamLing and Yaukee, but for those who are more new, there is this particular shop in Bandar Baru which had been churning out dimsum for the past few years. GongHin situated in the square in Bandar Baru, the same row as Shunka which was reviewed earlier. It is basically in front of Grand Kampar Hotel. Operating nearly daily basis, from 0600 to 1300 except Sunday which the shop close at 1400.

The deco used to be modern, and minimalist, which aircon in the main hall. However, throughout the years, the shop do aged a bit. It is still relatively clean though. Service is friendly, with a smile. I could recalled there was one time when students dominating the staff power but now, it seems to be aunties serving you. Not that I want to complain.

The food is the usual dimsum. Not to compare to places like FuShan which really is innovative with the choices, choices here are more conventional. The usual siumai, hakao, pao, and so on. The steamed dimsum is rather good, I enjoyed the siumai. The deep fried dimsum however, is bit oily for my liking, this include a prawn and pineapple dimsum which I tried which was rather nice except for the oil. The chucheongfun is rather good, although I prefer it to be more thick. It tasted very smooth in your mouth, making it one of the better ones here. Prices is expected to be NOT cheap although this is Kampar. Ranging from RM1.30 to RM4 +, depending on the type of dimsum one order.

We came at noon for lunch so the choices were rather limited, so

for a better choice, do come in the morning. It had become one of the main players for dimsum here in Kampar, and the food here is really up to par, though not brilliant.

ratings: 3 poink!

comments: food here never disappoint, but did not surprise me neither. The fried stuff is too oily though for my liking.

Gong Hin Restaurant

2319-2320, Jalan Hala Timah 1,

Taman Bandar Baru,

Kampar

05-4666858

Shunka: finally some real Jap food, too bad its fusion

I am only a partial Japanese food fan, considering that I love teppanyanki, but not sashimi, sushi but not the noodle. All along, there was a lot of pseudo japanese food joint around, with local version of sushi and probably udon with self made soup and so on.In Kampar, there was a limited choice of Japanese food, the only more authentic,

however ironic is SushiKing joint in Tesco. There is a new kid on the block though, the banners were announcing the arrival weeks before the opening.

Shunka, situated in Bandar Baru square, along the same row as GongHin dimsum shop. Basically it is just in front of Grand Kampar Hotel. As the name proudly advertise, Japanese and fusion, we were a bit skeptical especially the fusion part of it.

First of all, all the staffs were well trained. The welcoming greetings, thank you are all spoken in Japanese. Only my wife could understand that, I was blurred most of the time. The deco was rather nice, with even 2 partition which can be used as a private room.

The menu spoke for itself. Fusion japanese food. Not local version of japanese food (like sausage in your sushi type of food) but really fusion style. It is based on japanese snacks and food, but not the run of the mill kind of end product. Most of them are snacks, grilled, deep dried stuff. The usual udon noodle fare is there with some variety of fried rice. However, the usual teppanyanki type of food is missing, and there is (surprise!) NO sushi. The only sushi we found is in the snack section with deep fried sushi. Odd. However, you can even find sake, and wagju beef here for the BBQ. Not bad.

We ordered tonkatsu set (RM15.90) for my wife. Basically it is deep fried pork with rice, served with miso soup and eggs. The pork is really HUGE in portion and the meat is rather thick. As expected, it is rather plain, which they expect you to dip it in their special soya sauce. It tasted bit odd, not my wife fav though. I ordered omuyaki soba (RM9.90), basically is jap version of mee pattaya. Wrapped in big piece of egg roll, the soba noodle is more acceptable. However, you can only find 2 piece of pork inside, but the egg make up for the plainness.

Overall, the price was bit steep for a student town like this, though we can understand the japanese food is never considered cheap. We would also prefer authentic jap over fusion though, but it is rather refreshing to find some alternative of food choice here in Kampar

ratings: 3 Poink!

comments: not bad, just that fusion jap is not really our cup of tea.

Shunka Japanese

2323 Jalan Hala TImah 1,

Taman Bandar Baru,

Kampar

05-4661998

I love WingChun: a totally new low

In this life there are things I did I am not proud of. This probably is one of the top few. The only consolation is that I did not pay for the ticket. Its free ticket from RAM, and that is the sole reason why we decided to give this movie a try.

I love WingChun supposedly poke fun at the WingChun popularity since IpMan. It is supposedly a smart parody of the earlier movies, most of it by Donnie Yen. The story, is rather run of the mill, though not smart. A bunch of misfit was given task to find the star of the show, who in turn was brought up by a pair of kungfu exponents. The rest of the story basically tell the misadventures, bulk of it in a street called WingChun street and at last, the "twist" of the story that explain, why the "bad guy" wanted to look for the chap.

The story sounded simple enough, and the multiple cast made it look like a usual Chinese New Year Movie. You know, those movie that made you laugh, although they look ridiculous, but all was forgiven since it is Chinese new Year. Alas, the problem is, this is NOT CNY yet.

The flaws? Ouch, there were so many that I plan to write a thesis on that, HOW NOT TO MAKE A MOVIE. The cast was simply impressive, one may thought this will be a good platform for everyone to shine. Both local and HK stars were given cameo. And most of the them can act. The really made their appearance look good. The main star, Yuen Wah and Yuen Chiu was in their usual bumbling self. BUT the rest of the supporting cast was simply disastrous. I cant tell their names, but the guy who played the office boy seemed ok, but the rest of the misfit gang was simply BAD. The indian chap only got one surprise look. The girl was having a lost face throughout the show. The fat guy looks like someone who has chronic schizophrenia that he lost his ability to show affect. The star, (cant recall his name) from China, try to look innocent, but he seems lost in most of the film.

The story was OK, but the execution was bad. Bulk of the film concentrated the misadventure in WingChun street, which serve absolutely NO purpose to the already boring storyline. My wife wonders why so many famous and respectable actors, actress agreed to appear in this show. My guest is the producer spent so much on hiring the actors/ actress, that he have no money to pay the script writer, that he ask his 12 years old son to write the script. The only technical credit is, the editing is not so bad, its better than 7 swords (which is one of the worst ever edited film ever).

If the jokes are funny, all the flaws may be forgiven. However, the jokes are so LOW, it really make you felt insulted instead. Yes, there are a lot of reference to chinese pop culture such as reference to IpMan, Stephen Chow's film, but most of the jokes which supposedly to be funny, is so toilet humour and sexually inclined. We are suppose to laugh when the instructor offer to teach WingChun to literally hit airplanes (which in street slang, the term means something else what a pubertal boy does in toilet with his new bought Playboy) or how the Chinese Massager (tie da) master prepare his concoction which simulate similar action. The only true funny moment was a scene made to parody IpMan where a boy ride a small bicycle (IpMan I) and the near fight on top of table (IpMan II).

Overall, it was a horrible movie, saved by the fact that there are numerous guest appearance. We spent more of the time guessing who will appear next.

ratings: 1 poink! (tempted to give half, but since it was filmed in Malaysia, the boost the other half)

comments: I have to detox my brain after watching this.

Transformer Dark of the Moon: please stop spoiling Transformer name....

Michael Bay is obviously laughing on his way to the bank. This is definitely one movie that even if you love it or hate it, you will still watch it. Rotten Tomatoes website and The Star newspaper both rated it very low. It should be a warning, yet I still insisted to watch it.

Transformer 3: Dark of the Moon. They are still cashing on the franchise. After the first 2 movies, I had learnt my lesson, not to pay to watch it again. No, I did not buy the pirated pasar malam version. Since I had free tickets, might as well watch it. Since it is supposedly THE summer movie of this year.

Story is simple. And typically full of holes that made the local government building developer look down in shame (our building is full of leaks anyway). Autobots (the good robot) found ancient spaceship in moon and rescue an old leaser, Sentinel Prime. (spoiler alert) He betray the good guys and then collect some device to build a huge transporter to transport Cybertron to earth. He plan to enslave all humankind and be the master.. blah, blah, blah. Autobots fight back and won the battle. The end.

The good things: the action is way better than the past 2 movies. While in the past, the action just seems to be flashes of lights to induce seizure, the action this time is more define, and really looks like robots fighting.

The bad things: now this is a long list.

The girl is just an added character there as a vase. If you imagine her as a vase, you can see Sam is carrying her around while dodging fires, running etc. I dont blame her acting skill, her role required none.

The story: recycled, predictable, except for the part where Sentinel Prime betray the good guys.

The robot design: I had to complain this. I really hate what they did to the robots. They are supposedly to be robots. ROBOTS!!! clean, mechanical being. Here, they are design more like mechanical organic being. Think all the aliens in the past few invasion movies. Even District 9 alien look like the Decepticons.

The action: they really humanize the robots. Fine. Then they had the good guys kill like bad guys. No mercy. Even when Megatron call for truce, Prime went on to MURDER him. Then he went over to MURDER Sentinel. Come on, he is suppose to be the good guys.

The accuracy: lets not come to this side. They basically tore the whole franchise apart.

Copycat: I would not say so though. But with so many invasion movies around, they do look the same to each other, dont you think so? The closest is Battle LA, which the finale is for them to shoot down a small item (cant remember what though)

In the end, do I enjoy the show? 2 half hour seems so long. However, when I forget that this is Transformer, but just another action movie, I sort of look past the flaws and begin to enjoy bit and pieces of the show.

ratings: 2 poink!

comments: IF they dont say this is Transformer, but just another alien vs alien movie with human running here and there, probably this would be a much better movie.

Delight Cafe: Huge portion fit for a giant

It is 9pm and we had not yet have our dinner yet. Drove around Greentown, and beside the old spot of Kopitiam, is Delight Cafe. I recalled coming here once, and our stomach is growling, so eating here seems to be a wise choice.

Decoration is simple, the seats rather spacious. The only thing that seems to stand out is the board holding the name of shop in Chinese, literally translated as "Old Place" Service is rather nice, especially there is not many people in the shop.

Menu is typically kopitiam style. The usual chop and rice, oriental dish, with pasta. No surprise there. There is even some light dessert, snacks, and ice creams to choose from.

First is the tomyam seafood noodle. Typically tomyam, with adequate sour taste, though I would prefer it bit hotter. With few fish cake and prawns, it is priced at Rm 6.90, so I would not expect much there. Cheese backed rice with chicken was nice on the first few bites. For RM 12.90, the dish basically overflow with cheese, with generous helping of chicken thigh. However, the chicken was not diced, but in big piece, so it was rather difficult to eat. It was not marinated nicely though, however, the ri

ce was fried before baking with cheese, making it one of the better ones. The similarity of the 2 dishes is both of the portion is TOO BIG. Imagine for a big eater like me also find it difficult to finish it. I am a sucker for cheese, so I had to finish it even it cost me my life.

It was a fine dining experience at the end, but on hindsight, I prefer my dish to be more bite-size.

Rating: 3 poink!

comments: share the meal. Probably it will taste btter.

Delight Cafe

Greentown Business Centre

05-2412363

Hot and Roll: surprisingly nice light food

Rushing for time, got only 10 minutes to grab a fast bite before Harry Potter movie start. So where to get some real fast food in Ipoh Parade. Was actually thinking of buying some food in the near deserted food court but Ipoh Parade top floor food court did not impress much. However, one of the stall stand out. Top floor, at one end of the small food court, is this stall busy with patrons.

Hot & roll, I suspect this is a franchise of sort, though cant recall bump into this stall anywhere else. The range of food here is rather special. Fusion in real sense. Innovative to certain extent. The menu is simple, using crispy roll, capati or roti paratha as a base, add in some real good filling such as cheese, chicken, beef, floss etc, and you have a nice fusion fast food. Within 5 minutes, you would get the order even if you are not the only patrons there.

Cost bout RM 2.90- 4.20, depending on the filling you would want, it come across quite nice. Wife ordered a ham and cheese with roti pratha. The roti did felt bit not fresh, obvious that it was frozen before. However, the filling was generous with ham and cheese. One can actually felt the cheese in every bite. Overall, it was quite nice for a quick bite though the price is bit on the expensive side. For similar price, I would get a full bowl of noodle or rice. I would definitely come back again to taste the others...hmmm.. the satay and BBQ chicken looks good....

ratings: 3 poink!

comments: for quick bite, this sit at one of the top place. If not rush, better go somewhere else.

Harry Potter: Deathly Hallow Part II: fit for finale

Finally at last, spanning 10 years, Harry Potter franchise had finally come to an end. First, I had to admit, I am not a HP fan at all. But my wife is, so there is no escaping to watch this movie in the first instance in the cinema.

Despite that, I manage to catch all the movies before this, although sporadically. Frankly, I hated the first one, Sorcerer Stone which is basically kiddy movies, much like Sesame Street made into movie. The rest of the movies plays a part in leading to the final ones, some better than the others. The last one before this, Part 1, was let down, started off with a bang (love the part where all the good guys outrunning the evil team, all dressed as Harry Potter) and the rest of the movie is an anticlimax.

So, I started this film with not much anticipation. Wife told me the whole story when the book was launch (I was too lazy to read anyway), so I sort of know how will it end. It picked up where the last movie end, Harry and gang continue to look for Hocrux, which is Voldermont soul broke into pieces. They found it, including discovering the last piece, which may be surprise to some, and destroy every piece, in the nick of time. Happy ending. The end.

Acting was good all round, as expected since everyone reprise their role, and been playing them for the past 10 years. The story was good as well. The movie did the book justice, according to wife. The build up to the battle in Hogwart was good. However, I find that the movie climax too early as I take the battle as sort of climax of the show. Then again, wife describe that the battle was sort of in the mid of the book. Forgivable. However, I felt the show became soapy after that. I was expecting the battle to be much more vicious, more action also. The script could explore how few of the character died, such as (spoiler ahead) one of the twin and the werewolves couple. Then again, wife also said that the book did not explore how they died, they just did. And of course, Voldermont was not evil enough. He just look like a bald fella who was angry he lost his hair.

Overall, I do think it is a good movie, none the less. However, it would only be excellent to few groups:

1. Harry Potter fans ( who basically read all the books)

2. someone who had just finish HP movies marathon

3. someone who brought along someone from group 1 & 2 to the show so that they can explain the background to the show. (like me, least wife explain some of the background to the story)

ratings: 4 poink for the 3 groups above, otherwise, you would be lost half way into the movie, so 3 half poink

comments: I finally understand why Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 92%...