Saadiyat Island Beach Golf by Gary Player

My first round at one of Abu Dhabi's finest courses - Saadiyat Island Beach Golf Course.
Designer: Gary Player
Owner: TDIC Abu Dhabi
Tel: +971 2 557 8000
Green fees: 375 AED walk-in (Summer rate), 320 AED or RM$260 (Purchase 5 rounds)

 

Very professional and excellent practise facilities, I could get used to having a pyramid of range balls at my disposal as well as hitting off fairway :-)

 

The personalised touch starts with the lockers with our names, and extends itself to the buggies which also have our names :-) Seems they are trying to give visitors a "member of the day" experience, and I can say that in most part - It was successful! Ice-cold towels on every other hole, ice-lollies at the mid-point and friendly marshalls.

Yes ... it was an early morning tee-off at 6.50am, to try and avoid the mad summer heat here. The forecast was 46C, eeeep!

 

Here are more shots of our round - a great time for AM, EL and MA .. as well as myself, I started off beautifully with 2 pars in the first 4 holes, but then the heat got to me ... I eventually shot 103. Not bad, lar!

 

  

Just one of the 60 bunkers in play at the Gary Player designed course!

 

AM and myself were reminded time and again how links-like some of the holes on this waterfront-side course was!

 

 

 

A few more memories of this rather special golf course :-) Cheers from Abu Dhabi!

Inner Mongolia Xiao Wei Yang - Hotpot at Phoenix Hotel, Abu Dhabi

Tel: +971 50 151 7228 , +971 50 179 5598

Located: Near Al Wahda Mall, next to Phoenix Plaza Hotel Apartments (Can't miss the big red lanterns!)

Map: FourSquare

Previous review: My blog
Fanpage: Facebook

There's quite an extensive menu - but we always choose the thinly sliced beef (There are different cuts and grades - and prices! to choose from), sometimes we also have the thinly sliced lamb, the tofu and mushrooms are excellent ... and there is a whole range of different vegetables - including Cankong (Translates to spinach or kangkung right?) as you can see!

We always choose the spicy chicken and yin-yang soup hotpot, which is about 78 AED or RM$65. What you get - A yin yang steamboat, with ginseng and herbal white soup on one side, and a very generous serving (4 persons can enjoy!) of well seasoned spicy chicken-in-bone on the other side.

When you have had enough chicken, they put the chicken aside in a dish for you (Or you can simply take-it-away), and the remaining gravy is mixed with more clear soup, and a large dollop of mongolian chilli-paste! Voila - You now have herbal ginseng soup on one side, and spicy chilli-soup on the other side to dip your meats, to-fu and veges in. Yummy!! A meal for the 3 of us cost about 180 AED including a couple of cans of Wong Lo Kat (Herbal drink), or RM$150.

Hakkasan - My birthday at Emirates Palace

Add: Hakkasan Abu Dhabi - Emirates Palace, West Corniche Road, Abu Dhabi

Tel: +971 2 690 7999

Location: Google Map

 

 

Sweet and sour chicken with pomegranate - Very delicious!

Hakka beancurd with chicken and prawn in black bean sauce - Our fave dish of the night!

Stir-fried Wagyu beef cheek with Schezwan peppers - Beef cheek, especially when its from Wagyu beef, is very smooth, and this dish did not dissapoint too!

Crab meat and dried scallop fried rice - Surprisingly generous helping, we managed to scoop about 6 bowls from the big serving!

My 50 AED (RM$40) Lychee Martini - Very potent, but could have been served much colder!

Thanks bbG for the wonderful birthday treat :-) Overall - A great experience, in what is a rather special restaurant, serving some decent halal cantonese cuisine with a slight twist. The meal, with one drink for each of us, came up to 580 AED or RM$480. Not cheap, but it is afterall a branch of the famed London Michelin-starred Hakkasan!

Macaroons from Switzerland - Luxemburgerli

Yay, a box of Luxemburgerli macaroons from Switzerland, thanks LM :-) Have to admit I never quite caught on to the macaroons craze, which seems to have followed the cupcakes fad! But these were good ... very good!

 

Made by Confiserie Sprüngli in Zürich, Switzerland, it is essentially a small macaron, they have a top and bottom sugar-based confection with a center cream filling. The Luxemburgerli is lighter than a macaron and is about 1 inch (2.5 cm) in diameter.

 

Flavors include... vanilla, chocolate, stracciatella (chocolate chip), caramel, hazelnut, champagne, amaretto, chestnut, mocha, cinnamon, lemon, mandarin, and raspberry ... seems some of the flavours are seasonal.

 

History from Wikipedia ... Luxemburgerli were invented by the confectioner Camille Studer who brought the recipe to Zürich after creating them in a Luxembourg confectionery shop (Confiserie Namur) in 1957. The name Luxemburgerli is derived from the nickname which a colleague bestowed on Studer, whose family originated in Luxembourg.

 

Waitrose opens in Abu Dhabi - Reem Island

Good news ... Waitrose is now opened in Abu Dhabi!

Its located at Sun and Sky Tower, in the still-developing Reem Island.

 

Torino tomatoes from France, I presume these are air-flown ... check out the prices, nearly RM$55 per kg! You can get Malaysian tomatoes alongside too - Only RM$4 per kg :-)

More shots from our first visit to Waitrose, which opened on 5th July 2012 ...

And ... my favourite "button" in Abu Dhabi!

The posh entrance to the ... Pork Shop!