Saturday, February 18, 2012

8th ROM Anniversary With Ace At Burj Al Arab

When Ganma Annie and her family and friend visited us during December, she had wanted to go to Burj Al Arab for a meal just to see the world's one and only 6 star hotel...

I was supposed to make a reservation for them and Annie Godma said to include my family in the reservation and that it would be her treat. When I went to the website and saw that per pax is min 500aed (which is something like $160 sing, I told her I cannot accept such a treat lah. Xiao boh, I wouldnt even pay this kind of money to eat myself... much less let people treat me. I have ever had one fine dining experience and to me, that was more than enough already:) hahaha..

But the hotel sort of F-ed up.. on top of that, when they went there for a meal finally, some unpleasant things happened and so when she was asked to give feedbacked, she gave an honest review about how she felt. And she is entitled to have some expectations for perfection since she spent 4500 dirhams there for a meal for 4.

Upon receiving the feedback, the hotel wanted to make up to her by giving her a free three course meal for two at their restaurant.

But as Annie had already gone back to Singapore, she requested that the free meal be given to us instead... So guess in the end, she still managed to give us a good treat like she wanted:) Hahaha!

I thought it would be a great chance to celebrate our 8th ROM Anniversary but then we had ANOTHER problem.. who can we entrust Ace to while we went there for dinner? In the end, because Max was unwilling to bother our friends, I thickened my skin and asked the hotel if I could bring my son along. The hotel gamely agreed to include his meal as complimentary too!:) Woo hoo!

That is us, 8 years ago:) at our ROM... Hahaha.. once and again,Max WITH HAIR...

Alot hair less, somewhat thicker around the waist and 8 years later....

Unfortunately for us though, the day before it started to be really sandy and there was a sandstorm...we were praying for clear skies so tat we can have a good view but the Ah Q in me told Max that even if it were still sandy and somewhat misty, that would just make it a little more ROMANTIC.. wouldn't it?:P

Anyway, sandstorm still taking place by the time we were driving to the hotel... so I guess we have to go along with the romantic arrangement that god has planned for us;) wahahaha

Sandy and blur... gives you the romantic, dreamy feel, doesn't it?:P

Driving into the hotel....

Welcome to Burj Al Arab, Jumeriah:)

Once inside, we were shown to lift that brought us to this place where you had to give them your reservation number before they allow you to take a special lift tat brings you to a restaurant. While waiting for our lift, we got Ace to take some photos for us:)

However, I think they are not very good with Chinese surnames. Or they just got no brains lah.. the reservation made under my name Angel Peng.. and they kept calling Max "Mr Peng"... wahahahahahahah.. got man's name called ANGEL one meh????

More camwhoring before the lift arrives..


In the lift.. this is a speed lift and in a jiffy, we are right at the top of BAA at the 27th storey:)

We were seated and as they waiter busied themselves, we tried to teach Ace a little bit of table manners and what the things on the table are used for and how to use them...

In between got time just camwhore a little bit lah.. swee boh?:P

This is our view as we were seated beside the glass panels.. I am glad we came during lunch lah.. even though there was a sandstorm, I think it is better than seeing just pure darkness in the night;)

Our menus...

Ace ordered himself a Coke and they even poured the leftover into a special pitcher...

And Max, of cos, ordered himself a beer! Since our meal is free, Max thought he doesnt mind paying a little bit for beer... and as I sent Annie some of our pics, she told us a surprise she prepared for Max! She emailed the hotel on the sly and paid for 2 bottles of beer as our wedding anniversary present to thank us for giving birth to her wonderful godson! Just how did she know Max will order beer and tat he had planned to order two bottles?! This godma is amazing I tell you!:) She dun just dote on her godson.. she pampers the parents too!

Anyway, I noticed that the waiter poured beer like he would when he ours wine.. didn't anyone teach him how to pour beer??? In the end, the beer had so much head in it it looked like those rootbeer float with ice cream lor... FAIL! wahahahahaa

Me and my arabic cocktail....

And then came the climax of the day!:) The pair of shoes I was wearing is something I dun wear very often.. it followed me from Singapore to Dubai and as I was going up in the lift, the sole gave way and the shoe started to click clock click clock.. by the time I reached the restaurant, it just totally gave way! OMG!!!!!

So Max told the waiter and they actually gave me a pair of hotel slippers for free! wahahahaha:) Wah, yet another freebie.. very good service they have really:)

And then leh, what does my son do when my shoe is spoilt? He GLOATS over it and draws my broken shoe in his notebook to laugh at me! Apparently, he shared about this experience in show and tell in school but did not tell everyone about my broken shoe "Because I did not want anyone to laugh at you, mummy.. I know they will laugh and I don't want people to laugh at you.." I told him that I dun mind and it would make a good story too:) I mean, I am telling the whole world in this blog anyway.. wahahaha

Then, they served us bread... they had some biscuit like thingy.. a normal mini baguette and a sundried tomato bread with seeds.. all very tasty!

After the bread came the salads and appetiser. Our salad (top left) looked like a garden! THere were even flowers inside it! Ace's salad though looked less appetizing.. but they were all yummy!

The appetizer was this white soft thing.. some sort of cheese with a savoury sauce... NICE:)

Then came the soup. As we opted for vegetarian options, there was only a type of soup available and it was ginger tea soup boiled with some baby parsnips and navets... which is something like radish I think... I actually heard of these veggies but this is the first time i am eating or tasting them!

Then came our mains. Ace ordered a white sauce spaghetti with mushrooms...

As there were only two vegeterian options, we ordered one of each to try. The first one was Baby Navats with mustard seeds and jade sauce tat tasted like green capsicum grinded with dunno wat. It looks scary and to be honest, tastes rather yucky.. I cannot imagine how THIS can be considered a MAIN?! I had to force myself to finish it! If I had to pay for this, I most certainly would make a big fuss... bleah.....

Luckily for us though, the other choice that we made.. which is grilled brinjal with miso sauce and curry foam was DELISH! And it looked so pretty too! And it was very filling as well.. since there were two pieces and we had one each.. just one piece was enough to make me feel very full!:)

My little garden on my plate:) It just looked so good I think it deserves two full pictures in this post! wahahaha:)

At this point, the waiter brought us a congratulatory card to congratulate us on our 8th wedding anniversary:)

That is how the restaurant looked like from our table.. I took this secretly with my iphone so there is only ONE pic.. wahahaha

Then after we finished our mains, while waiting for desserts, Ace started to chut pattern and draw this and that..


As for me? I just camwhore lah!:)

And then, it is dessert time! Ace's chocolate muffins with chocolate sauce! Looks heavenly! Tastes heavenly too!

So yummy that Ace ate till he had chocolate mustache:)

Our dessert is chocolate souffle with ice cream and some sort of pineapple jelly with ice cream:)
Both are super duper yummy as you can tell from Max's very happy face:)

Then leh, the two boys went to toilet... according to max, the toilet was very nice.. and they had some sort of Hermes Eu De Toilette or what for you to use... and so they both go spray on their shirts... and they so happy tat they smell very nice and keep smelling each other... wahahaha


This one is a picture of someone coming behind our table to take pics of the view... proof of the fact that they DID give us one of the best seats in the house... any other direction and all that you can see would be just deep blue ocean and nothing else!

Despite the sandstorm, i still managed to catch a glimpse of a boat out at sea. My iphone camera not bad hor:P

This picture is without photoshop... so tat is how the view looks like to our naked eye.. romantic or not?

And then, surprise surprise! (Actually no surprise cos by then Annie already told us that she requested for them to provide cake.. haha) They presented us with a cake and I even received a rose! But we were too full to eat anything and our waiter suggested that we dabao the cake home:) Yeah! Yao sek yao da bao!

Made Ace take one more picture for us.. Of cos I added the special effects lah.. if my son can take this sort of pic by himself, he would be a genius!

Sort of liked this ornament.. so took a nice pic of it:)

Family photo for remembrance.. Thanks Annie! It would be a lovely memory I will remember for a long long time:)

My lovely rose...

The lovely cake box.. hahaha.. Alas, it is time to go...

When we asked for the bill.. the total amount came to $0! Despite all the extras that we got on top of wat they promised and despite us ordering beer that was more expensive that what Annie godma paid for.. hehehe...

This is the entrance of the restaurant..

While the boys went to the restroom, I took more pics of the pianist (I tot it was piped in music and was surprised to see a pianist) and their wine collection..

Posing in front of the special elevator...


Since we are here, might as well take more pics right?:P If not, you would have had to pay to get into the hotel just to take a look lor!:)


I kept wondering wat this is when I saw the photos that Annie took.. I now know the triangle right at the top is the ceiling of the hotel and the sides are i suspect the corridors along which their rooms are at:)


Lovely fountain...


Camwhore again!

I call this, the roses and my lovely toes.. wahahahahah:)

Anyway, my son asked if he could take photos and so I passed him the camera and he went around taking more photos..

Ace's photos..

At the side of the escalators leading to the lobby are two huge fish tanks.. we noticed alot of people standing there to say goodbye and alot of signs in Chinese.. guess what?! 50% of the people we saw there were PRC chinese!!!

Nevertheless, despite being in a 6 star hotel, they were their usual loud, uncouth self:) wahahahaha...



While waiting for them to drive our car up, we went to take some pics from the outside of the hotel...

The view from the hotel... nice hor!?

Can you believe it? There is this structure in front of the hotel and it has reflective material.. this is actually taken off the reflection of the structure!

View from the hotel on the other side of the bridge...


Ace asked if I could take a picture of him on this ball..

Okie, our car is here.. goodbye BAA... (Not the one in the picture though.. wahahaha)

As we drove out, Max remarked at the irony. Inside the hotel, wandering all over the place are the PRC chinese.. and the ang mohs? They are just standing right outside the hotel and taking pictures from the outside! Hahahaahahah

The ride home...

Here's to our 8 years and many more wonderful years to come:)

It seems like the sandstorm had gotten worse but no matter, we are already going home! :)

All in all, it was a wonderful experience:) A FREE 8th wedding annivesary celebration.. No wonder the number 8 stands for ABUNDANCE! Anyway, I guess it is sort of nice too to be able to celebrate my 8th wedding anniversary with Ace.

But would i want to go there again if I had to pay? Erm.. i guess it is a "been there, done tat":) wahahahahaha:)

PS: The cake they gave us is super delicious! YUMS! I salivate just thinking about it.. it is not too sweet and is very flavourful with a hint of hazelnut:)

PPS: Today, I was telling Ace that I am very tired today. He then said to me, "Mummy, I am so sorry that I am born. It is because I am born, you have to keep worrying about me and taking care of me and so you are so tired... " I told him not to be silly.. I told him I am not sorry he is born and that I am happy that he is born.. while I may be tired, I like to take care of him.. i just sometimes need to rest when I am tired... If he is not born, I would still have been tired but just tired over other things... So leh, I am very happy he is born and love him very much... and then I gave him a big hug..

Hai.. dunno where he got this sort of silly idea...

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