HARD ROCK BIRTHDAY HAMBURGERS

IT WAS QUITE FUN LAST NIGHT. I'd been invited, along with several other press members, to witness Hard Rock birthday - in this case the day it was founded in London 39 years ago rather than when it was opened in Penang which if you can cast your mind that far back was in December last year.

Anyway the whole day had been put aside to do funny things in house, like the employees had to swap places with Management - apparently GM John Primmer was pretty sporting, and was last seen in the role of kitchen stewart mopping the floor ... and they had lots of other events like a birthday cake shaped like a hamburger etc. They were also offering patrons a special set menu at RM19.71 nett for one day only - that's what an original HRC Hamburger served with Seasoned Fries, Apple Pie and Milk Shake would have cost in 1971!

Everything culminated in the Hamburger Eating Competition at the Hard Rock Cafe last night, and 20 people were down to take part in it. Not sure if all arrived cos I didn't stay till the end, but the first two rounds were hilarious: they had to finish off a Double Decker Cheeseburger ... as each was 7 0z it meant 14 0z of meat plus bun and salad to imbibe .. and as fast as you can. That's nearly a pound of meat, ie 1/2 a kg. As one of the other reporters put it, "Kua liao pun pa" ie just one look and I'm full.

They were at it hammer and tongs, but the 3 eventual winners who emerged were Jason Tiong, Clay Quinn and Howard Ooi: First prize went to Jason who did it in an amazing 3 mins and 18 secs: he must have really wolfed it down without chewing, which really is the secret as it's the only way to do it. Once you start chewing you’re done for. The hungry (or was it greedy?) guy won a 3 Day/2 Night Hillview Deluxe Room with breakfast for 2 and a dinner voucher worth RM150 at Hard Rock Café. If he can face going there again!

Interesting to note that two of the three winners were locals - most of the Matt Sallehs who took part were knocked out! Anyway well done to all of them. All in the spirit of things.

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARD ROCK!

BADMINTON STAR TURNS 80

THIS IS IN DANGER OF BECOMING A "Society" rather than food blog, but hey, at least it's free! That's cos only two nights ago we were one of the chosen few ... actually there must have been nigh on 500 people there that night ... to attend Dato' Eddie Choong's 80th birthday party at Jade Palace in Abu Siti Lane.

It was indeed a grand celebration indeed, with no less than the Chief Minister himself attending with his wife Betty Chew. Dato' Eddy (I call him DDE for short - Dear Dato Eddie) was in fine form, and for an 80 year old, incredibly fit and VERY with it - he can joke, eat and talk better than most younger people I meet, and definitely drink them under the table! Yes, our very own Badminton Grand Master is the bee's knees.

Anyone who was anyone was there - all the datos and datins, dato seris and datin seris, dato and datin wannabes, other former badminton champs from yesteryear, bankers and restaurateurs, society folk; even a humble old food writer like me had been invited ... and a lot of press. Poor old CM; he can't even go anywhere private although this occasion really wasn't supposed to be one because even Astro had been invited!

He also took the opportunity to launch his autobiography "Dato Eddy Choong Talk About History", which was being sold to raise money for charity. It's in Chinese translated into English which rather meant the wording was a bit strange, but it's in aid of a good cause and good of him to donate all the proceeds, and a wonderful way to capture history.

He is, after all, one of Penang's greats. There're some good black and white pics of him in action from before.

The food, considering how many people there were, was acceptable. One can only appreciate the mayhem that was going on behind the scenes in the kitchen; it must have been controlled chaos. Unfortunately the band was a little bit too loud; as the ceiling is very low there was a lot of resonance and it was sometimes ear-splitting. Old friend Marlene Fox rendered her usual "Yue Liang Tai Piao Wo Di Xin" which I must say she does very well for a Mat Salleh.

Dato Eddy gave his speech quite early on in the dinner, followed by the CM who was his usual energetic self - he spotted me in the crowd and told me that he has already written the preface to Great Dining in Penang 2 which is great news - and after a couple of courses they left, to great fanfare.

It was a great do, and they put a lot of effort into it; the but when the evening descends into karaoke you know it's time to leave so with that we sloped off quietly as Dato Eddy was still doing his rounds YUM SENGing with everyone else.

Happy Birthday DDE, and many more to come!