Belacan Grill and Beverly Hills

Last Saturday, dear Hubby brought us to 'Belacan Grill'. It's a Malaysian restaurant located here in Redondo Beach. We've passed this restaurant a couple of times, even stopped once last year, but it was always closed. So, after checking their website and making sure of the hour, we decided to have our lunch there.

As soon as we stepped inside the restaurant, the familiar smell of Malaysian food greeted us. Fooh...menusuk kalbu wa cakap lu. And the interior were all too familar. A red beca sitting in a corner, a wau bulan hanging on the wall, a number of rattan and mengkuang weave baskets, a big poster of tourism Malaysia etc etc. And the food...ahhh...I can't get enough reading the menu. I thought of ordering everything, hehe.. Finally we settled on steam rice, seafood tomyum, belacan fried rice, mango shrimp, a mix sate set, and cendol.

Our verdict..hmm...OK laaa....not as yummy as we expected. Dear hubby said, I cook better, hehehe... TQ dear, yes...I think so too ;) But it did keep me full until late at night. Anyway, one of my big dream is to have my own restaurant preferably in oversea. So, seeing a Malaysian restaurant here in LA gave me some ideas on how I want my restaurant to look like. Ceewahhh...ahaks!

After that, we thought of going to Downtown LA, wanted to get a few knick knacks for people back home. Unfortunately hubby took a wrong turn, and we ended up driving in circles, but fortunately we ended up in a familiar neighborhood which we have been to last year....Beverly Hills! Parked our car and took the kids for a stroll along Rodeo Drive. All the famous brands (and the incredibly unbelievably crazy price tags). But one brand made me feel proud to call myself a Malaysian. Check out the pix below.

Yes, it's the boutique of Dato' Jimmy Choo...our own Malaysia-born international designer. Stepped inside...and wow...I think his brand is in line with Versace, Prada or even LV. The designs of his shoes, handbags, wristlets, boots are all so exquisite. Thought of buying a wristlet, but after taking a peek at the tag...no thankyou lah. A small wristlet cost USD 750!!! So don't ask me the price of the handbags or the shoes yeah.

Rodeo Drive at sunset. Notice the road lights? Those are chandeliers kept in crystal boxes. Chandeliers eh....huhuhuhu....well, what do you expect, it's the RODEO DRIVE!

For those who doesn't know, Rodeo Drive is where Julia Robert's character in Pretty Woman went shopping. It's THE place for shopping. Think of any luxury brand you can think of, and you'll find them here. Heaven!
And as usual, being Coach's latest fanatic, I couldn't resist the urge! Did I get anything? Ahaks...ahaks.. ;)

Later we went on a drive around the neighborhood. Unfortunately it was already dark. We were here:
Yes, we were in Bel Air! I could see big gates and big driveways and I'm sure inside there are the big mansions. I know some of them belongs to well-known names here in Hollywood. And the mansions...ahhh...I so wish....when can we afford to have such luxuries? Haihhhh......