Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Food Review - O'Las Restaurant (Grand Seasons Hotel)

Name
O'Las Restaurant (Grand Seasons Hotel, KL)
Food
Indian Cuisine
Location
Jalan Pahang, KL, in the vicinity of the KL General Hospital.

Getting there
The Grand Seasons Hotel, KL is located literally 150m diagonally across the street from the KL General Hospital. There is also an LRT station located at a stone's throw away.
View Larger Map

It's a little hidden as it's main entrance is from a staircase within the Coffee House - Seasons Cafe which is located on the Ground Floor, while O'Las is located on the Lower Ground Floor.

I say it's a little hidden because I've been to the Seasons Cafe a few times, and I've not really noticed the staircase leading down to O'Las.
Parking
You can opt to park in the hotel or at the various public parking lots in the Hotel's vicinity.

Variety
The buffet has 3 sections:
- Meats
- Vege & curries/dhall/gravy
- Desserts

They also have an ice-cream counter with free-flow Coffee/Tea. There were at least 4 different flavours but as far as I'm concerned, as long as there's Choc & Vanilla, I'm sold as that's all I need.

Ambience
The place has a quiet calming atmosphere and all the terra-cotta red colored tiles gives it a little Spanish/Mediterranean feel to it.The warm themed lighting is also very inviting.

The buffet line looks very Chinese-kitchen-like, as it is right in front of the kitchen with see-through glass.

There's even a little round gazebo-like structure in the centre of the restaurant, which seats about 35 people, with it's own centre-piece and floral decor. It makes a good location for photos.
The place is also decorated with multiple pieces of Sub-Continental artwork, which adds to the place's charm & authenticity. 
Service
The staff numbers may seem a little short at first but I believe the Hotel moves the staff around between the different outlets as there were more service personnel as more diners arrived.

They are very polite and attentive and gave me an overall good experience dining there. I have no reservations (pun intended, heh) in recommending this place to others based on the service alone.

Nice job.

Taste
Despite my bias for Indian food, I still think O'Las offers really delicious Indian dishes. I was having such a good time with the lamb, the deep fried brinjals (Egg plant to the American readers), and the fish sticks as well.

The lamb was aromatic with the spices, while the meat was moist and tender, with the meat literally falling off the ribs they came together with.
Mixed Vege.Dhall.Deep fried battered brinjals.The deep fried fish sticks.The yummy lamb.
Mushroom gravy.

Value for Money
Friends know that I have a weakness for Indian Cuisine. So having said that, I still say that I'm not being biased when I say that this is a good place for some fine Indian dining.

Despite having a price tag of about RM45 per pax, I still think that it offers better value than the revised pricing at Annalakshmi, the Indian Vegetarian place (which charges RM22 per pax, but serves only vegetarian food with a limited range on the buffet line).
Overall
I can say that for a first time, I wasn't disappointed. Will I recommend this place to friends or go back again? Definitely! So if you're craving for some Indian cuisine or an evening of Nice & Spice, this might just be the place to go.

Let me know if you agree.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Movie Review (Not) - Guardians of the Galaxy (Teaser Images)

I really enjoyed reading Guardians of the Galaxy and here's my review of it a few years back.

Here are a few concept art pieces for the up-coming movie. Enjoy.
The entire team. Individual members' images at the bottom of this post. (from left: Drax, Groot, Starlord, Rocket & Gamora)
Here we get to see concept art that includes Rocket, Drax the Destroyer & GrootIron Man (???) with Drax ?
A Rocket solo piece.
The Guardians' ship.
Here we get to see Starlord's helmet and gear. Also, look at the symbol on the 2 guards' uniforms - it's the same symbol as on Nova's (see images below).
Drax
Here are a couple of Nova images for your reference. 

More images of the individual members of the Guardians. 

Rocket & Groot
Groot Gamora, the most dangerous woman in the galaxy.Drax, the guy who was made to destroy Thanos (Yup, read that again - made to destroy Thanos)

Starlord, the leader.