Coliseum Cafe, Plaza 33

For some unknown reason my son was reluctant to eat here on 23 August 2014. Maybe he had another preference, I do not know. But one we entered all that changed when he choose his meal. 

Entering Coliseum Cafe at Jaya 33 is a modern experience. Decor is top notch with a little hint of their humble beginnings. They have pictures of photos back in the day when Kuala Lumpur was just starting to boom. 

We occupied the seats near to some wall photos of old KL. 

Tin mining and the infamous kapal korek   

Mountbatten Road, now known as Jalan Tun Perak. Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, commonly known as Lord Mountbatten, was a British admiral, statesman and the 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma. His adventurous and daring acts are more linked to India.

He was the last viceroy of the British Indian Empire and became the first Governor-General of Independent India in 1947. Mountbatten was assassinated on 27 August 1979 by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). The name Mountbatten pays tribute to its link to the British Empire and its role in Malaysia, when Jalan Tun Perak was formally known as Mountbatten Road

A cartoon by Lat on Coliseum Cafe, when it was still known as Batu Road, today it's called Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman

Lat's take on Coliseum Hotel

I presume that Selangor Padang was Merdeka Square or Dataran Merdeka  

A full white crew for Malaya's first fire station

Rubber tapping is still done today

My son posing

Hot Cappucino RM9.00. Not the best. Coffee lover better stay away

Hot Latte RM9.00. Same verdict. You're better off at Coffee Bean

This is what my son ordered. Baked Crabmeat RM20.90. To sum it up in one word. Brilliant tasting. Wholesome crab meat fueled with spices. Not dry and did not taste any small shells in the meat. He enjoyed this dish

Close up. Very hard to say no to this dish

Reverse of the crab. Beautiful red

Hainanese Fried Mee RM15.90. Nice but I will post at a later date a better one

Supreme Chicken Cordon Bleu RM29.90. Oozing with beautiful flavors with each bite  

RM28.90 Chicken 4 in 1. It's basically sausage, cheese and fish wrapped in chicken. MY verdict, nice but I rather spend an extra RM1.00 and get the Cordon Bleu. Mushorrm sauce is great but I miss chunky mushrooms. It lacks visual presentation and taste when you fail to see chunks of mushroom in mushroom sauce

Close up 4 in 1 chicken

Banana and Chocolate Spring Roll RM11.90. My son loved this and finished the whole dish. Unlike providing goreng pisang, they had wrapped the bananas with a popiah wrapper and deep fried it. It taste much better that our last outing here. The banana popiah was crispy but soft and not too hard like the last time   

Apple Pie RM12.50. Yummy. This is a must have dish. Trust me. The photo says it all

The bill. No charge for water

Royal Selangor Pewter Factory and Visitor Centre

Located at 4, Jalan Ushawan 6 | Setapak Jaya, Kuala Lumpur. Tel : 4145 6122. 

Pewter is a malleable metal alloy, traditionally 85–99% tin, with the remainder consisting of copper and antimony. Copper and antimony act as hardeners. It has a low melting point, around 170-230°C unlike steel at 1370-1510°C. 

In 1885, a young pewter smith, Yong Koon sailed from the port of Shantou to Kuala Lumpur. It was the discovery of tin in Malaya that had lured him and thousands of other Chinese to the fledgling tin-mining town. 

Initially business was door to door and later, operating from his shop at No. 23 Cross Street. All his products were hallmarked or stamped with the mark "Yu He Zu Xi". "Yu He" meaning Jade Peace (the name of his shop) and "Zu Xi" meaning pure tin.

Subsequently, they moved into their own shop house at No. 219 Pudu Road. 

With products ranging from children's gifts, wine accessories, cuff link, flash drive, trophies to cutlery, there's something to suite everyone's budget and taste. 

They also own Selberan and Comyns.

Picture quality in this post is better as I was using a Canon G11 camera.

Admission is free. Open daily 9.00am to 5.00pm.

Visitors are greeted to the world's largest pewter tankard, recognized by the Guinness Book of Records in 1985. It is 1.987 meters tall, weighs 1,557 kg and has a capacity of 2,796 liters 

Yong Koon

First Shop

Women employees working

The main entrance

Administration and Management employees who have worked more than 5 years get to place their palm print on the wall. What a great way of giving due recognition to staff and also great interior design motif 

Some old pewter replicas of old Tanah Melayu currency 

Old tools used for pewter making

Small scale of kapal korek

Close up of the tin dredging bucket

Actual size of the tin dredging bucket

Rear view of the kapal korek

Old pewter items, Chinese motif

Traditional pewter candle holder made for temple with gold plating

Altarpiece Candle stand

Incense Burner, late 19th century

Yong Koon, ledger book and other personal effects

Old pewter items, casserole bowl 

Sauce cup

Abacus used by Yong Koon, early 20th century

Apparatus used during the day for making pewter items

Trophy

Corporate logo's over the years

Yong Koon old clothes, made from silk

Old molds used for designing pewter items. These are solid blocks of wood. I understand that Yong Koon use to carry it from house to house to do sales. He would make pewter items based on what was requested by each household. Imagine how tough life was back then 

A thin sheet of pewter and a cutting tool

One of the melon pots made by Yong Koon, with his personal engraving at the bottom

Yu He Zu Xi markings

Modern version of the melon pot, highly polished

Shavings from the pewter is recycled (melted and reused) to produce new products

The three ingredients to make pewter

Since tin is scarce in Malaysia, it is now imported from overseas in 45kg bars

Factory workers hand prints

Closeup 

We were provided welcome drinks, 100 plus in pewter tumblers

Bottom with inscription, Visitor Center

Factory

Pewter smith in action, Vion, our tour guide with my family and friend

Pouring pewter into the mold 

Melted pewter, due to the heat the pewter smith will need to wear 4 layers of gloves

An artist providing designs to the pewter item

Some of the items used to design the pewter item

Before (right) and after product (left) 

The shavings from the pewter will be melted and reused

Three stages before the final product (far left) 

My son was allowed to give a try on knocking a sample design

More pictures on the factory area

Work station

F1 trophies

Latest F1 trophy in the form of a helmet

Selberan is now Royal Selangor Pewter

Foundry, where you can design your own pewter items from scratch at RM150

Yong Peng Kai

School of Hard Knocks. RM60. You get a chance to make your own pewter bowl

Molds and the tools

You are provided with a thin pewter sheet

My son the pewter smith

First you know the name in. Don't knock too hard. You will know later what I mean

My daughter wanted in on the action too

The bowl slowly taking shape. An expert takes 10 minutes. It took me half an hour and not as great looking as the expert

The end product. Can you see the mall hole. That's what happens when you engrave the name too deep in

Once I patch this bowl, I'll use it as an ice cream bowl

The bowl we made comes in this elegant box

The apron my son used was given to us as well

The apron and bowl we made was presented to us in this lovely paper bag

Entrance of the Sales Gallery

Inside the Sales Gallery

Golf items

Dinning set

Wine items

Vase

Lord of the Rings Goblet

Chest set

Koi fish

Belts

Cufflinks

Selberan is also there

Gorgeous Peacock

Walking stick

Comyns

Animals

Owl

Crab

Shirts

Postcards

There is also an eatery inside