The SkyBar of Traders Hotel at Puteri Harbour - Nusajaya, Johor.

The SkyBar (N1.41768 E103.65640) is located at the Rooftop pool deck of Traders Hotel at Puteri Harbour, Nusajaya - Johor. We were invited to the SkyBar for their opening private party on Saturday evening 12th Oct 2013. SkyBar is the trademark of Traders Hotel, have you been to the SkyBar at Traders Hotel Kuala Lumpur?

The SkyBar is totally different from day time and night time...it's a beautiful infinity swimming pool overlooking the Puteri Harbour and Straits of Johor during the day time, when the nights fall...the pool area is beautifully lighted up with the good company by your side, the feeling is simply magical!

The Sky Bar of Trader Hotel, Johor.

It was about 7pm, the invited guests were walking into the SkyBar area one-by-one...foods and drinks were prepared much earlier to serve all the guests...

The small table in the pool was the fresh seafood like oysters and others...this was a special arrangement, nice!

About 120 guests from members of Singapore Sport Car Club, Exotic Car Club, AT Rider Superbikers from Johor Bahru and corporate guests attended the opening party.

The guests queue up for foods very soon just after 7pm, guess everyone can't wait to taste the delicious cuisine prepared by the Executive Chef - Alan Wong and Food and Beverage Manager - Avraam Koutsides, Traders Hotel.

Everyone was queuing up for their favorite food which located at border of the SkyBar. There were plenty of varieties on that evening with the wide food range from local to international, from raw to cooked...

The local popular food - Satay

Packs of fried rice

Grilled beef

There was a long queue for the above foods...especially the grilled beef! Yummy!

The seafood counter was specially presented in the children pool...yes, you heard me right! It was inside the pool.

The seafood counter in the pool

Fresh oysters and hors d'oeuvres topped with caviar served from the counter

The dessert and finger food corner was located just next to the children pool. I can't stop myself to took a small cube of dark chocolate, and it was nice!

Finger foods

Strawberry dessert

The dining area was assigned in every corner, filled up the SkyBar...

Outside the SkyBar

The SkyBar of Traders Hotel, Johor.

I like this special sunken corner (below) very much! It's located next to the infinity pool, surrounded with tempered glass and the blue-lighted relax chair! Overlooking the Puteri Harbour and Straits of Johor...Awesome!

The blue-lighted corner of SkyBar, Traders Hotel - Johor.

Once everyone filled up their stomach, the party began! The beer was serve without interval pause from Carlsberg's 4 pretty promoters. Followed by the music played by the DJ Herbs and Deeraj.

One of the Carlsberg's promoters of the night

We had a glass of the ice cold beer beside the pool and started our photo shooting session...
During the music played, there was a troupe of synchronized swimmers performing in the pool followed by 4 pretty colourful mermaids! That was a surprise! Everyone was busy triggering their shutter of the cameras crazily! Haha! It was a very nice scene with the mermaids swim across and the underwater lighting...

The Mermaids at The SkyBar - Traders Hotel

The mermaids by the pool

Photo session with Mr Boon Aik Pang, Avraam Koustsides and the mermaids

Photo session with Ms Aidah and the mermaids

The 2 colourful lions were performing their dance in the bar and presented the oranges to the Executive Chef - Mr Alan Wong and F & B Manager - Mr Avraam Koustsides.

And the photo session continued...

You can have a excellent view of Puteri Harbour and catch the spectacular sunset (if the weather is good) from the SkyBar of Traders Hotel.

Puteri Harbour during the night

Some high-rise buildings in Johor Bahru can be seen from the bar...

This is also a nice place for night photography lovers, you can enjoy the delightful dinner company with nice wine or cocktail while taking the shots of the beautiful surrounding night view...

The SkyBar - Traders Hotel Puteri Harbour

Persiaran Puteri Selatan, Puteri Harbour, 

Nusajaya, Johor.

Tel : 07-560 8888
Operating hour : 12pm to 12am Sun - Thu, 12pm to 1am Fri & Sat.

https://www.facebook.com/tradersputeriharbour

GPS Coordinates : (N1.41768 E103.65640)

Location map of Trader Hotel at Nusajaya, Johor.

View Larger Map

My article on the Museum of the History of Polish Jews - cover story in Hadassah Magazine

The "Three Hares" motif in the painted ceiling of the Gwozdziec synagogue repica. Photo © Ruth Ellen Gruber

By Ruth Ellen Gruber

This post also appears on my En Route blog for the LA Jewish Journal

I’m delighted to have the cover story in the current Hadassah Magazine — an article about the new Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw.

I’ve followed the development of this museum, which opened its doors in April but minus its core exhibition, since the mid-1990s, when the idea of such a museum was first broached, and I’ve written about it on various occasions — including a JTA piece when the building opened.

Since the core exhibition won’t be open to the public until probably next fall, I focused my Hadassah piece on the broader context of the museum: how it fits into Poland's developing museum landscape; how it fits within the context of the search for national and individual identity.

The museum is not an isolated institution, nor is its mission totally unique. Though its scope and prominence far surpass other initiatives, it is representative of a new crop of Jewish exhibits and venues that focus not on static displays of Judaica and not on the Shoah but on the living Jewish world that was destroyed. 

This trend has been exemplified most recently by the new permanent installation “Shoah,” curated by Yad Vashem in Jerusalem and opened in the Block 27 barracks at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. This, like “Letters to Afar,” employs a variety of prewar film clips showing Jews carrying out all sorts of activities. Its soundtrack merges spritely music with sounds of celebrations, street life and snippets of conversation. 

Nearby, in Oswiecim, the town where the Auschwitz camp was built, a small museum at the Auschwitz Jewish Center, located in the town’s one surviving synagogue, presents prewar Jewish life in a town that before the Holocaust had a predominantly Jewish population. “No one knows that there were Jews here before the war—they only know the death camp,” noted Shlomi Shaked, a volunteer at the center. His mother, born in Oswiecim in 1949 and a resident there until her family immigrated to Israel in 1962, is featured in the exhibit. “I think people who visit Auschwitz should come here first to see the life before they visit the camp,” he said. 

A new Jewish museum housed in a restored synagogue in the small town of Chmielnik, north of Krakow, also showcases prewar Jewish life: After all, noted local historian Piotr Krawczyk, before the Holocaust, 80 percent of Chmielnik’s population was Jewish. That means, “local history is Jewish history,” he said.
One of the key roles of the Warsaw museum will be to support local initiatives. “Until our museum was established there were no proper models in Poland for what to do,” Kirshenblatt-Gimblett said. “We can open a new perspective on how Jewish history and heritage can be presented to the public.”

Read the full article here

Restoran Yeen Lai 云来点心楼（古来） at Kulaijaya, Johor.

Yeen Lai Restaurant (云来点心楼) (N1.66189 E103.60180) is located along the main road of Kulai town. It's one of the oldest shop at Kulai and so do the history started since about 30 years ago...the name of 'Yeen Lai' is well known as 'Yun Lai (云来)' within Johor Bahru, because of their franchises flooded everywhere... even in Bukit Gambir, the upper north of Johor state.

Yeen Lai Restaurant 云来点心楼

According to the local, this was where the famous Yun Lai (云来点心楼) originated and it's the first historical shop of the business...nowadays, the name of Yun Lai spread every corner of Johor Bahru...

We visited the restaurant around noon time, it was not crowded...the dim sum business is handling by group of foreign workers except the cashier. We found out the production of the dim sum had moved to further up 21 miles at Kulai town, and the dim sum are transported every day to this 'old' shop to keep the freshness of the food.

We ordered the chicken feet, Siew Mai (烧卖) and Char Siew Bao (叉烧包). Overall good!

Chicken feet

Siew Mai (烧卖)

Char Siew Bao (叉烧包)

The chicken feet were a bit special on the springy skin, the tiny bones were not messy dropping...Siew Mai was average and the Char Siew Bao was tender on the outer side, juicy and tasty inside, it was one of the nice char siew bao I had within JB and Kulai.

Price was reasonable and worth the second visit.

The only disadvantage is the shop too close to the main road that makes you cannot enjoy the dim sum peacefully, but I guess it became the 'culture' of this dim sum restaurant where the customers won't bother about it anymore...

Restoran Yeen Lai 云来点心楼 （古来）

Jalan Kulai Besar (next to Kulai Centre Point)
Kulaijaya, Johor.
Business hour : 7am - 12am
Close on alternate Wednesday

GPS Coordinates : (N1.66189 E103.60180)

Location map of Yeen Lai Dim Sum Restaurant

View Larger Map

Another visit to Food Republique at Taman Pelangi, Johor Bahru.

This is my second visit to Food Republique (N1.48435 E103.77502) since Jan 2011 which was more than two years ago...
Everything looks the same, but we surprised by the taste of the foods which are much much better than before...

The cafe setting same as it...

I like these yellow hanging lighting display very much, it created the warm & relax atmosphere within...

We had 3 starters, 1 soup and 4 main course for the dinner...

1)  Nachos served with special sauce
2)  Italian Bruschetta
3)  Fried Polenta
4)  Chicken Clam Chowder
5)  Grilled Chicken Chop
6)  Cameralized Cheesy Cheese Bacon Burger
7)  Pan Fried Milked Fish
8)  Texas Honey Glazed Australia Beef Ribs

Nachos served with special sauce

These Nachos were handmade from the Chef - Ben. It was crunchy and went well with the special sauce from Food Republique.

Italian Bruschetta

Cube size of summer tomatoes, fresh garden basil and garlic presented on top of the crunchy biscuit. It had a little bit of sourness and taste good for an appetizers!

Italian Bruschetta

Fried Polenta is one of our friend's Favorite, it's an Italian corn meal fried to perfection. It was crispy from the outer skin and soft, flavorful inside, I tasted with and without the homemade sauce...both perfect! Don't miss this appetizer!

Fried Polenta

After taken the apprtizers, we had another flavorful soup - Chicken Clam Chowder. Rich creamy chicken and clams loaded with potatoes in the clams base soup. Another surprised for us! The finely chopped clams mixed well with the creamy chicken soup...I like it!

Chicken Clam Chowder

After a short break, the main courses started to presented on our table one-by-one...

The first was the Grilled Chicken Chop.

Grilled Chicken Chop

The plate of Grilled Chicken Chop served with the US Russet Potato Fries, Roasted vege and the homemade spicy black pepper sauce. The chicken was well marinated with the special seasoning, nice char with the herbs and succulent inside! And the homemade sauce played the big part of the dish, Delicious!

The homemade spicy black pepper sauce

The taste was nice and difficult to described by words, with the good combination of the char outer skin and the juicy chicken inside. You have to try this if you are a chicken chop lover.

Followed by the Cameralized Cheesy Cheese Bacon Burger.

Cameralized Cheesy Cheese Bacon Burger

The big size Burger served with the US Russet Potato Fries and corn. It was a total different experience on the burger! As for me, my experience with burgers only from the fast food restaurant and the Malay stall along the street...but this was totally new experience for me! The patty was well prepared and mixed well with the bacon, I like the moment when chewing on the char grilled bacon! Mr Ben told me before, they serve a varieties of nice burger. And my friend also noticed me that one of the very nice burger - Honey Glazed Burger which is off the menu too...
Excellent!

The bacon in the burger...

The Cheese, Bacon and the patty

Next, the Pan Fried Milked Fish.

Pan Fried Milked Fish

The butter fish dipped into their special seasoned and lightly flour patted, pan fried with the perfect timing. Served with mashed potatoes and roasted mixed vegetables.

Pan Fried Milked Fish

The fish was really juicy inside with the mouthful of butter flavor! Beside that, it went well with the spices outside and it was another delicious dish serve by Food Republique!

Texas Honey Glazed Australia Beef Ribs. This was the dish we were waiting for...

Texas Honey Glazed Australia Beef Ribs

The ribs served in about 600-700 grams, it's good for 2-3 persons. The ribs were grilled with the Texas sauce, tender inside and slightly sweet. You have to try the 2 different way which are...with and without the sauce. Some part of the ribs was dry because of its shape that the heat hardly reach to every part of it, but...it's time that you can compromise with the sauce...

This was also my first time trying on the beef ribs with Texas sauce, Marvelous!
It is a dish you cannot miss when visiting Food Republique in Taman Pelangi.

We will definitely be come back often to try their new dishes from the new menu. Do drop by if you just around the corner, you might fall in love with the dishes serve by Food Republique.

Food Republique

72, Jalan Kuning,

Taman Pelangi,

80400 Johor Bahru.

Tel : +607-3311718

https://www.facebook.com/foodrepublique

GPS Coordinates : N1.48435 E103.77502

Location map of Food Republique Cafe at Taman Pelangi, Johor Bahru.

View Larger Map