Senso @ Hilton

I’m seldom online because once in a while my day job (yes, I do have one) catches up on me.

These days I’m spending longer hours in the office and shorter hours lying on my bed sleeping. In between earning my dough, staying healthy, having a social life and maintaining this blog, I don’t have a lot of spare time to do some of the stuff I enjoy doing, like chatting on msn or watching the latest movies in the cinemas.

Hilton Hotel is becoming like my second home. Not because I stay there (I wish), but without fail, every single day after work I’d drop by the fitness centre for an hour or so, either to lift weights or to use the pathetically small swimming pool they have on their first floor.

Sometimes at night, I enjoy coming here to chill out.
I like the hot chocolate they serve at Cafe Cinno.

Without a doubt, they make the best hot chocolate in the whole of Kuching.
Unlike the conventional they served elsewhere that are probably made with chocolate powder, the hot chocolate at Cafe Cinno comes in a mug of hot milk and a glass filled with rolls of chocolate. Actual hard chocolate rolls.

You’re supposed to chuck those chocolate rolls into the hot milk and give it a good stir. I find that doing it this way makes the beverage smoother, creamier and more satisfying. At RM8 a mug, it’s not all that expensive compared to Bing or Coffee Bean either.
If you pass by Hilton these few days, you’d noticed that they’ve been promoting this trio of singers called ‘Reflections’ like crazy.

Yea I thought the girl on the right look pretty easy on the eye too. ๐Ÿ˜›
In fact, she looks even more yummilicious in person.

The girl is Relene. She looks Japanese but she’s actually Filipino.
Relene sings alongside her mother Arlene and a pianist from Thailand called Dio at Senso everynight except Mondays. The trio was performing in places like Tokyo and Bangkok before they decided to make Kuching their next stop.

I was there last Friday and Senso was packed to the max.
Reflections performs mostly covers from the classic 80s, but every now and then they throw in a bit of modern pop tunes to hype up the crowd.

How well can a Filipino sing? Not bad in fact. That’s why you see so many of them on American Idol.
Strange thing with these performers is that when they talk, they talk with a heavy Thai/Filipino accent, but when they start singing their accent automagically disappeared.

Hey, at least it’s great that Senso is doing something different from the rest of the bars and pubs in town.
Sure, Kuching still seriously pale in comparison to KL and Singapore when it comes to nightlife. Those big cities have got clubs so enormous they could fit the whole Kuching in, and then some.

But hey, at least we’re improving.
If you want R&B, there’s SoHo. If you wanna shuffle, there’s MC3. If you want house music, go Links. Now, if you want good live music, you’ve got Senso.
Someone bring more variety into Kuching nightlife please. Otherwise, it’ll just be Ah Beng tetno music everywhere, and we’re seriously sick of those.

That, dodgy dangdut bars for dirty divorced old men to grope all over scantily-dressed Indonesian women half their age.


Music of the Week: There’s this catchy new song they kept playing on the radio called “Ipohmali”. When I first heard it I thought it’s another one of those “yo-yo-yo American rapper from da ‘hood kickin’ it up from the east sidez 2 da west sidez” kinda guy releasing his new album.
Surprisingly, the rapper is a Malaysian. An Ipoh boy to be exact. He’s so damn good he’s even got the whole rapper lingo and accent nailed down. Check out his blog here.

66 Replies to “Senso @ Hilton”

  1. damm now know how to enjoy luxury life
    filipinos are great singer like Regene verlasquez (sp??)
    that choc. must be tempting for nicole
    just a suggestion,
    try getting a set of dumbbel to do in your room,
    safe time n space
    so u dun have to go gym too often yet benefit from it.
    normal people can simply come in and swim mer?
    dun let hilton ppl caught ur post or they might come after u ๐Ÿ˜›
    when I am younger, I always go to Hilton for pissing n shitting
    very nice toilet ๐Ÿ˜›

  2. Since Kch don’t have night life place like Singapore why don’t you venture and open one. sure those Ah Beng will switch to your place ;p

  3. Yay, I’m one of the top 10. =) Malaysia is always like this. Although I am still underage *ahem*, I observe all this. I find other country’s are like better than Malaysia’s.

  4. And oh, before I forget, there’s one band in KL is good. They’re filipinos too. They have good voice. Their band’s name is Musiquesense. Corus Hotel.

  5. seems like Kch is fast catching up while Miri is still lagging behind. Miri seriously lacks places to hang out at night.

  6. The most amazing hot chocolate I’ve ever tasted in my entire life is at Lindt Cafe, Sydney. It is SOOOOOOOOOOOOO good!!!!! You actually feel super-duper happy after that! ahahah!

  7. Always nice to find a time to have by yourself once in awhile. Was always curious about this, what is your day-time job? I always figured that this was smarter..cause how much money can you make from blogging anyway? Well, I honestly dun have a clue..so dun roll your eyes at me now.

  8. Yo thanks for the heads-up on the Point Blanc song and blog. It’s been such a long time since I heard from Poetic Ammo. His blog is cool and you can really feel his love for the music. Ipoh mali!

  9. Ipohmali is sing by 1 of the member of Poetic Ammo.. his name call Point Blanc.. He’s good.. the song is featuring with Jaclyn Victor.. i like the cute little baby rap.. his other songs in his latest album also very nice.. got cantonese rap song also! if only we can heard it from chinese radio station..

  10. Hot chocolate in Kuching Hilton..sounds great!! Anyways it seems that Kuching Hilton may have done some renovation since my last visit there..it looks very much cozier.

  11. “That, dodgy dangdut bars for dirty divorced old men to grope all over scantily-dressed Indonesian women half their age.”
    umm…i didnt know that gropping bars were legal in kucing leh ???? does this mean that they whole place will be filled with kuai low when i’m done with this email ???

  12. Hi Kenny! I’ve been reading ur blog for the longest time but this is my first time ever to comment. I’m so happy that you appreciate Filipino singers…because well, I’m a Filipino myself and I’m currently studying in Singapore. Haha..I acknowledge we do have a lot of really talented singers in the country, with some making it really big in the US and elsewhere (like Lea Salonga, a Broadway artist who also did the singing for the main characters in the Disney movies Mulan and Aladdin). There’s this band Rivermaya too, they’re my favorite, and they’ve been touring Asia too. Hope you can catch them one of these days=)
    Btw, you’re really funny and I love your blog:)

  13. i agree that kenny is funny. what’s the purpose of working out since you’ll be having milk & choc afterwards. cartoon lah you..!

  14. kenny, have you been to their zeta bar? it’s pretty cool over there. everyone should have get your ass there cause’ theres only 3 zeta bars in the world which are Kuala Lumpur, Sydney and London. i met Hannah T and Serena C there :))

  15. The girl you say looks Jap but is Philippine… She doesn’t look Japanese, I guess you havent met any Japanese ppl. She looks totally Philippina, or even Malay…

  16. What are you talking about? Filipino bands in a hotel bar are nothing new! Its actually a back-track for Senso!
    Hilton’s old bar, Margaritas – used to have Filipino bands all the time! As does Holiday Inn and Merdeka Palace and Catscity!
    And although this band is not bad, they aren’t that great also la. But better than most other Filipino bands.
    Did Senso pay you to write this?

  17. That hot choc looks GOOD. ๐Ÿ™‚ If you really want to know about accents: it’s because when you sing the frequency of your voice changes and that changes the vowel sounds hence making the accent standard.
    Yes, I am a nerd ๐Ÿ˜›

  18. Omigosh! Marina dangdut! hahahaha! I have to admit, I did went in there once. And they have this so call live band. Divided into 2 groups, the red team and the white team. And as expected, they sing dangdut music. I was curios!!
    Yes, SoHo is the only place for those who love R&B music, but wish they have a bigger dance floor. The crowd, classy. VA (Victoria’s Arm) is where you can see all this “tunggu bas” ladies waited for free drinks served to them..
    I love Kuching. Even thinking of moving to Kuching my end of this year. Kenny you should tell me more about Kuching that really going to make up my mind to really moved to Kuching for good.

  19. Hey, Kenny, thanks for the post and I’m glad you like my music. I’m just trying to make Malaysians be proud of themselves with my music:) Hope you’ll like the album when it drops 1st quarter 2007. Thanks for your support again, take care.

  20. dude, u just dont knw how good rap is supposed to be ler.. ๐Ÿ˜›
    pointblanc is still better than that j0ne fella i saw on tv the other day tho. yuk

  21. Relene doesn’t look Japanese at all. One look and I’d think she’s Malay, Iban or Filipino. Definitely not Japanese.
    But I suppose it’s a matter of perception.
    Nice post though – especially on the Choc rolls.

  22. Sigh, I always thought that Western countries are supposed to have more decadent and fattening desserts and drinks… so far there’s no hot chocolate like yours that I’ve seen in Melbourne (and I have demolished a lot of chocolate here).
    How come you never visit Melbourne Kenny, then I can read your blog about food places that I probably have missed right under my nose…
    Looking at your Kuching food photos makes me want to eat them all!!! All at once!!!

  23. Dude, it’s “shorter hours lying in my bed” not “on my bed”.
    Sorry just can’t help it. Hehe. Interesting read nevertheless.

  24. i have to agree with tequilla888
    Hilton is abit out of date..
    Filipino bands and singers exists 19years ago.. one of the oldest pub in Kuching is D’ New Bunny Pub and have been importing Filipino bands and singers since then, until now..
    Next to Marina.. Infront of the Lok Lok store..

  25. The hot choc at hilton looks nice..since it’s something different….but since im more or less in the line of fnb, chocolate powder is more expensive than the chocolate they use at hilton..cocoa powder is cheap la….

  26. Hilton has gotta pay you for this sort of publicity no doubt! Soon you’ll receive a call from Paris to claim your payment.

  27. hey….i like ur article bout kuching..erm…nway y u didn’t mention bout VA in Merdeka Palace?The place is nice too…I love to drink Hilton’s hot choc too..n first time i saw the rolls of choc inside the glass..i thought it was “RANTING BURUK” like in the Mr. Bean show…

  28. Thanks everyone for making it clear that i am not japanese! I just look diff. in pictures and in person! After our contracts in Japan, we went directly to Kuching, and took some Japanese style with me so i guess thats why, kenny and some other people thought i look Japanese. Yes i also look like a Malay, or Iban, from indonesia and Thailand and just recently when i was in Sri Lanka, they think i look a bit Indian! So there. I guess u all have to meet me in person to say what i really look like.
    Thanks for this nice blog! I do miss that Hot Yummy Chocolate drink. One day ill come back for a Visit!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Navigation