Ken Lai is one of the people i’ve known for over 10 years from Somo days… back when he + Andrew + Vince ran it (for a good 5 years too!). His passion for food must have taken its first professional foray then, and now, it’s taken another turn.
We’ve been whatsapping each other about how we have to meet up to catch up, but as one gets older and amasses more friends + responsibilities, everyone finds it harder. I myself have a mental queue of old friends i want to see, and we probably do a lunch or dinner once a year. In between weeks of messaging, getting the date wrong (me), postponing due to work (him); the stars finally aligned and all was set. But suddenly Jun was sick with a viral flu, and Ken sounded so disappointed they wouldn’t get to meet.
For some reason, Jun said a voice was telling him to go, and he shuffled his poorly self to Ken’s office / showroom / test kitchen. I had no idea what i was in for. I didn’t even know what kinda business Ken was running now, except that it was to do with food!
Curious Grocer is his food business which imports weekly shipments from Japan and Spain to Malaysia, which he supplies to F&B establishments and hotels, but also sells online to the general consumer like us. I think he’s adding more to the website soon.
When i stepped into his workspace, my first reaction was “Wowowowow! What is this!”
The Lava V.333 vacuum sealer.
Jun has a larger one in his kitchen and said he’d not seen this small and compact version before.
The German-made Lava vacuum machine above starts from RM 1,999 for home units (with 2 years warranty) with its more expensive sister model going for RM 3,300.
I observe Jun using his to pack all these separate parts of fish/meat to cook in the sous vide machine for hours, keep the rest for times we want food on-hand, to keep it fresher, and to cook it in its own juice instead of oil so it’s healthier. Plus the packed fish/meat takes up less space in the fridge to keep when you stack it, so it’s a lot neater.
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The Lunch Club recently got a face-lift and came back into Kuala Lumpur’s foodie scene unveiling its newly revamped platform. The Lunch Club’s website features over a dozen independent foodpreneurs across the city with yummylicious spreads ready to be ordered directly online for easy group catering. Their mission is to democratize the independent food industry by cultivating a community of foodpreneurs or what they like to call, Food Maestros, and urbanite foodies.
The recent beta launch of The Lunch Club’s new website is refreshed weekly with scrumptious offerings from Food Maestros like TwobySeven, The Rebellious Chickpea, Simply Sandwiches, Cooking Men Co., Food Matters, Sekor & Co., Little Fat Duck, and Thyme Out.
Self-catering for events and occasions is just a click away with their easy-to-order web interface. The Lunch Club caters to orders with a minimum of 6 pax. You can opt from a range of serving formats to suit the theme of your occasion; ranging from canapé styles and shared plates to individually packed meals, each designed to suit a variety of occasions such as corporate training sessions to team meals, launch events to birthday parties and even family dinners. Throwing a foodie party has never been so easy!
The #KinkyBlueFairyTeam were invited to an intimate makan-makan/buka puasa session to get a taste of what The Lunch Club has to offer. The soiree was inspired by the tales of A Thousand and One Nights and was a a creative collaboration between The Lunch Club and Tish Lifestyle.
Lemon Thyme Roast Chicken.
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A couple of weeks ago, Jun and i headed to Genting for Christine & Vincent’s wedding at Puncak Dani Genting. We decided to book a room in Awana cos the thought of driving down winding roads in the middle of the night most possibly under the influence of alcohol was absolutely unfeasible.
The Gatsby-themed wedding started off with cocktails from a mixologist bar on a big wooden verandah,
garden furniture on grassy lawns that basked under magic hour,
a wooden table dressed with complimentary cigars for the men,
and a non-stop flow of canapes, before everyone was seated for dinner.
Friends sang during the reception, and Vincent even surprised everyone with a speech and song (despite his aversion to speaking in public). It was really sweet cos he’d snuck off for a few hours on their wedding day to practice. I was warmed by a friend speaking on the mic how Vincent “got the best out of our Christine.” Ngawwwww
Congratulations to you both again!!!!
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I wanted to make Jun‘s birthday special, but i also didn’t want to use up bullets (assuming we will be together for years to come).
It wasn’t difficult buying him items he’d like cos he’s very vocal about his hobbies and latest gadgets/accessories he wants…
but thanks to his extreme doing-so-many-things for my birthday, i needed to do something he’d REALLY REALLY like.
Game on, i thought. The competitive side in me never dies.
I’m going to take this opportunity to compliment Jun
cos otherwise, i never would
Jun’s always doing things for others. I still get amazed by his sense of compassion for everything living around him.
The other night, we were talking about how we want to change, and he said, “My mid-year’s resolution, is to show more love to the people who matter to me.”
And i’m like “Are you kidding me?” Cos he shows SO much love to people, animals and nature around him.
I’ve never witnessed anyone else more in tune with plants than him
And a LOT of people i keep in my scope are very into their plants (me included, but i seem to kill them)
It confounds me that someone i observe gives so much love to everything around him, has a resolution to give more.
My eyebrows (contributed by disbelief) automatically raise, and my heart warms over thinking about how much love he has in his heart.
He even goes out to feed stray animals on his own with leftover food from his kitchen. I don’t know anyone who does that! He brings food for my apartment guards, which is so sweet cos it saves them $, and i know how it feels to be working and be surprised with a snack. He basically gives out so much love, i wanted to give him some back.
He mentioned a few times he wanted to go to the beach, but i’d look elsewhere and pretend i was listening but not intently, tho at the moment in time, i’d be firmly telling myself “This is important, remember this Joyce!” (The last time we’d gone to the beach was in Tanzania 6 months prior.)
I figured a getaway i planned would be great, cos i wanted him to just relax and not have to take care of anyone or anything.
He’s ALWAYS taking care of everything and for once, it’d be nice to take that control away from him so he could just BE.
(Also, i liked irking him by not telling him what was going on till he figured it out himself mwahaha)
A month before his birthday, i decided that Langkawi would be the closest beach we could get away for 3 nights. It made the most sense cos we could fly in for only an hour from an airport that was 15 minutes away from home. I abhorred against a plan that would require too much time traveling and less time enjoying. I surfed Hotels.com for diff options (as they have properties ranging from international chains and all-inclusive resorts to local favourites and bed & breakfasts) and opted for a resort with a private beach. I confidentially told Cammy & Kenny about this resort, and Cammy’s face fell a tad before she shared that they’d stayed there before and had found it disappointing. I felt a bit blah for hearing that. A week later, Cammy whatsapped me saying that she was thinking about our plans again, and really thought i should book elsewhere.
I panicked.
I went through hotels.com again, and managed to change my booking to the Westin instead, for which i’m very grateful cos it would have sucked if we’d stayed in a less-than-desirable resort.
In the week leading up to his birthday weekend, i’d roughly told him what to pack and Jun was asking all sorts of questions claiming i needed to tell him, but i’m sure, it was all pretense for his trying to guess what the plans were. I’d just told him to take 2 days off work, and that we’d be away Sat-Tues.
Jun: Do i have to pack board shorts?
Me: Hmmm… *pretends to think hard* … nope… you don’t need board shorts
Jun: You mean there’s no pool?!
Me: Nope.
Jun: Oh… *seems confounded*
Amongst his birthday gifts, i’d also bought him two pairs of board shorts cos he sorely needed new ones.
It totally threw him off the radar and i must say i patted myself of the back many times for this one ?
He ended up thinking of all these places which involved no water, pool or sea.
The day before while i half-packed, he spotted a hint of shiny decorations glinting through the mesh of my rimowa, and said, “We’re going to Seremban right? You’ve booked a place there to stay and invited all my friends!”
I was like, “Er noooo sorry to disappoint, but we’re already having dinner with them on Friday night…”
He was stumped. And i totally enjoyed it.
The night before Jun’s birthday, we had dinner with his closest group of friends at Ad Hog, his favourite pork restaurant, before adjourning to Sparrow for nightcaps. It was a marvelous night and i tried not to be kancheong about leaving for a flight the next day and not telling him we’re actually FLYING = WE CAN’T BE LATE. Just to be safe, i pretended we had to leave the house 30 mins before actual time.
On the morning of his birthday, him being him, had to run some errand before we left, as i woke up and finished packing while awaiting his return and for us to leave.
Him reading a cute note i wrote just before we left. He still had no idea where we were going.
When the Uber took us towards Subang, he said, “I know! You’re taking me for a spa and then stay in Saujana!”
I just grinned at him as the taxi took the 3 o’clock at the roundabout and subsequently, away from his guess.
Of course, he finally found out where we were going when we were waiting at the gate.
“Are you exciteddddd!!!!” i couldn’t help being excited for him.
Yay Langkawi! Island! Sea! Blue skies! No people we know! Just us!
The lobby at the Westin Langkawi
While planning Jun’s birthday, i found a freelancer in Langkawi who decorates hotel rooms for occasions and emailed them for a quote and pix. When i got the quote, i was in the office and asked Baby, “Can you guess how much it cost?”
RM400.
I’d rather spend that $ on a nice meal/dish and blow the balloons up myself.
“They must be targeting the kwailos.”
I emailed the Westin that we were coming for a birthday, in order to get them to decorate the room in whatever way they had in their SOP.
Man, this is so much better than that RM400-freelancer. And it came with the room.
Awesome job Westin. We had so much fun messing up all those meticulously-arranged flower petals.
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