Vino Vino Cafe at Bay Avenue

Me: I'll have a Mojito, please

Waitress: What??

Me: A Mojito.

Waitress: What??

Me: D, could you please?

D: A Mojito.

Waitress: Sorry, we don't have that on the menu.

Me: Huh? L, could you please point out the item for her?

After L does this she says, with a rather smug look on her face that makes me realise she heard us all long...she was just trying to make a point.

She goes on to tell us they don't have Mojitos. They're moh-JEE-tos.

Uh...okay whatever makes you happy.

After all that, it came out with a couple of measly mint leaves that were kind of brown at the edges. And didn't taste that good.

But anyways, the whole incident had our table quite amused for the evening.

On to the good stuff, though. The place is really lovely and welcoming. I'd give it an A for ambiance. The bar looks welcoming and the opposite wall is lined with bottles. The super cool dispensing system I read about looked pretty awesome, though we didn't feel like trying it out the other night.

The staff were also pretty pleasant. This is also one of those places where they'll dim the lights and sing along with you and your friends when they bring out the cake if you've come to celebrate a birthday..and have brought along cake.

Had the waitress been right as far as pronunciation was concerned, I would've said the whole experience was educational, too.

Food was just so-so. Rather pricey, with the below bowl of rice with flakes of Salmon and the salad costing RM29.

Would probably go back again...most likely just to try out that whiskey and wine dispensing system or for a coffee.

Rounding off the holiday season at Eastin

"Occupation?" my sister asks, the pencil hovering over that column on the feedback form she was filling in for me.

"Umm..."

I think it's time I come up with some humorous (and possibly more convincing) line to answer that question. My only inspiration at the moment is Barney Stinson's "Please..".

But yes, something to figure out before all the pesky family reunion dinners and visiting relatives during the next holiday season at the end of the month.

We do seem to have a lot of holidays, don't we?

Anyways, we were having the semi buffet dinner at Eastin hotel's Swez Brasserie, which according to their website starts at RM48++ per person. The price varies according to what you order for your main course. Choices include seafood marinara and chicken Cordon Bleu, which are the RM50++ options. The buffet portion of the meal are the starters and the desserts. Starters included a pretty nice selection of canapes, salads, two types of soups, various cold cuts, a modest selection of cheeses with Ritz-like (by that, I mean I'm not sure what brand, but you know..that type of) crackers.

The downside of the semi buffet was I already kind of full by the time I was done with starters. And honestly, I'm not really that big a fan of huge main course portions either, which is of course what you get when you actually have to order a main course at a semi buffet.

The desserts were just soso, with a huge selection of custard-y jelly like thingies, a few choices of cakes, and ice cream. The chocolate fondue was a little disappointing. Strawberries ran out pretty quickly and it was quite awhile before they were replenished. Marshmallows were huge making the marshmallow to chocolate ratio a bit to large. Other choices were dried mangoes and dates. Meh.

I did love the fact that they had a selection of tea, mostly Lipton variants, Boh tea (which were, strangely, not individually wrapped like the rest), and Genmaicha.

It was a fairly nice meal. Starters were good, main course pretty good but desserts left a little to be desired. I left feeling too full for comfort, and vowing once again that I shall avoid such indulgence. I'm sure I will...until the next holiday comes along.