MHB (http://hottestbloggers.com) is a digital and influencer content marketing agency which believes that digital publicity should be engaging while being affordable and cost-effective. We believe in conveying our clients’ message through ethical, high-quality, and trustworthy content in a lifestyle and non-hard sell manner that will stand out from all the junk, tabloid clutter and fake news, capturing the attention of consumers as well as providing positive brand awareness.

MHB is trusted by many brands including Montblanc, Ball Watch, Panasonic, Sony, Leica, Fujifilm, Calvin Klein Watches & Jewelry (Swatch Group Malaysia), Nivea, Chevrolet, Olympus, Lenovo, Casio, Carlsberg, Johnnie Walker, GUESS, Dolce & Gabbana, Hugo Boss and Gucci fragrances, Givenchy, Ricoh, and many more to provide quality and ethical digital media publicity.

We also have strategic media partnerships with many top brands such as Calvin Klein fragrances (Luxasia), Kerastase, Nissan, Ice Watch, Storm London, and more! On a local level, we work with prominent brands like Celcom, Poh Kong, 1 Utama, Atria Shopping Centre, EcoWorld, Encorp, De Jouer, Beaute Library, Nomi Tomo, Shawn Cutler and numerous other brands in need of affordable yet cost-effective digital publicity.

We provide cost-effective advertising packages to suit various brands and budgets, from independent stores to SMEs, all the way to MNCs and global brands.

To celebrate our 6th anniversary, we partnered with Xiaomi, Poh Kong and Element Kuala Lumpur Hotel for a delectable ARTEASTRY high-tea at Trace, the hotel’s all day dining restaurant. The name ARTEASTRY stands for Art, Tea and Pastry, and high-tea is set against the modern, artistic features of Element Kuala Lumpur, providing an ideal combination for a weekend social gathering with family and friends. TRACE restaurant & bar is situated at level 40 of KL’s tallest eco-friendly hotel, and offers a first of its kind artistic high tea while you enjoy breathtaking views of the city skyline.

Our ARTEASTRY experience began with the arrival of a contemporary bento box, beautifully decorated with synthetic grass and black, shiny modern slates – very Instagrammable indeed! The bento box is filled with delicious morsels such as dainty savoury bites containing Waffle with Salmon and Crème Fraiche, Apple Duck in Savoury Cone, Chicken Sliders in Mini Croissant with Tomato Relish, Tomato and Basil Macaroon, Confit Portobello Mushroom and Swiss Cheese Bruschetta. A must-have during high-tea are scones, and the light and fluffy Earl Grey Tea infused Scones at TRACE are served with clotted Cream and Strawberry Jam.

The dessert is the highlight of the ARTEASTRY experience, and sets this high tea apart from the typical presentation of buffet spreads or three-tiered cake stands. “The Red Splash” dessert is literally splashed on your table. The chef places a white chocolate sphere and paints an edible artwork on the table with drops and strokes of Framboise a la Mascarpone, Raspberry Confit, Raspberries, Meringue Sticks, Vanilla Soil, Sponge Fingers and Mango Chutney on a piece of “newspaper-like” food grade paper.  To end the performance, we got to pick the white chocolate sphere and drop it in the middle of the art piece, creating a delectable mess on the table.

The ARTEASTRY is priced at RM128nett for 2 persons, and is available on weekends (Saturday & Sunday), from 1.00pm to 5.00pm at the TRACE Restaurant and Bar, in Element Kuala Lumpur.

The event was supported by Poh Kong who provided us with beautiful pearl necklaces

The event was also supported by Xiaomi who provided us with their latest model – the Mi A1. The Mi A1 runs on stock Android to offer a high-quality software experience designed by Google, underscoring Xiaomi’s commitment to providing more choices for users. Priced at RM999 in Malaysia, the Mi A1 is a beautifully-designed device that combines hardware innovations, including an optical zoom dual camera setup, with great Google-designed software.

Mi A1 incorporates a dual camera configuration similar to that in Mi 6, Xiaomi’s latest flagship device, with wide-angle and telephoto lenses used to incredible effect. The two lenses allow Mi A1 to calculate what is in the foreground and what is in the background, creating a depth-of-field effect that typically requires a DSLR lens to achieve, allowing the user to create photos of unparalleled clarity and colour. In addition, an improved Beautify mode that makes selfies look more natural, now works with the both the front 5MP camera as well as the 12MP dual rear camera. Mi A1 supports 2x optical zoom, which makes photos of distant subjects remain clear, while 10x digital zoom is also supported.

While all that sounds pretty good on paper, how does it perform in real life? So we decided to snap some pics using the phone’s front and back cameras during the high-tea to see the results.

Here are the photos we shot with the Mi A1. Click on the individual photos to open a larger version.

Although it was a rather cloudy day, we were surprised to find that the indoor photos taken in the restaurant were sufficiently exposed, rendering bright and realistic colours as well as the option to be more artsy with the bokeh feature. The contrast and level of details were also pretty impressive for a mid-range smartphone, as seen in the photos of the pool.

The rear camera produced some very natural looking skin tones when shooting people, and even bokeh for portrait shoots. The girls were also impressed that the front camera allowed for decent selfies with an auto-beautify function – something every influencer loves.

Mi A1 is Xiaomi’s first Android One phone, with a software experience designed by Google, offering users a simple, pure Android phone that stays fresh over time with OS upgrades. As an Android One smartphone, Mi A1 comes with the most popular Google services built-in as default, such as free unlimited high quality storage from Google Photos.

Available in Black, Gold and Rose Gold, Mi A1 has an attractive full-metal body design that measures just 7.3mm in thickness, with discreet separation lines for a seamless look and rounded edges for great hand feel. It also comes with a rear fingerprint sensor.

Featuring a 5.5-inch 2.5D curved glass screen featuring Corning® Gorilla® Glass protection, Mi A1 also boasts a 10v power amplifier for deeper lows and higher volumes, ensuring it provides an immersive media experience. A dedicated amplifier also provides support for high-impedance headphones (up to 600 ohms).

Powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor based on the 14nm manufacturing process, as well as a 3080mAh battery, 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage making it a real value for money mid-range smartphone indeed!

Tech Specs & Features:

• Premium full-metal body
• Dual camera, optical zoom:
• 12MP wide angle + 12MP telephoto
• Exceptional portrait photography with background blur
• Beautify, for natural selfie enhancements
• 5MP front camera
• Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 625 with 14nm FinFET technology (Octa-core 2.0GHz)
• 4GB RAM + 64GB internal storage
• Up to 128GB microSD expandable storage
• 5.5-inch full-HD Corning® Gorilla® Glass display
• 3080mAh battery, USB Type-C port
• Rear fingerprint sensor
• IR blaster, with Mi Remote App
• Dual SIM (3-choose-2 hybrid SIM tray)
• Dimensions: 155.4 x 75.8 x 7.3mm
• Weight: 165g
• Available in Black, Gold and Rose Gold
• Stock Android

For more info, head over to:

Element Kuala Lumpur – http://www.elementkualalumpur.com/ or telephone 603 2771 3351 or email element.kualalumpur@elementhotels.com

Xiaomi – http://www.mi.com/my/

MHB – https://hottestbloggers.com/

Photo credits: Andy Kho Photography, and author’s own

Yeah, you didn’t read it wrong, it’s another post about Just Heavenly. The hospitality here is so fabulous I just keep going back! Well, this time, I was there to try out some of their new dishes and got to know the new promotions they have rolled out just before the festive season. So let’s get straight to it!

Cakes are the true MVP at Just Heavenly. But sometimes it can be a guilty pleasure to just buy a piece of cake. What if I tell you, that you could offset the guilt by adding a salad? That’s right, the Saint and Sinner promotion here does just that. You buy a slice of cake and get 50% off any salad! Here are the options:

Chicken Char Siew Salad. This one is popular.

Tuna and Pasta Salad. Slightly on the more substantial side due to the carb.

My favourite was the Quinoa and Pumpkin salad, with medley of greens topped with some feta cheese. The garlic oil just brings all the flavours together so well.

Some of the cakes we got to sample, including the new Black Velvet. Instead of the usual chocolate sponge, it’s made with Black sesame for that surprisingly savoury touch. Yum!

Just Heavenly serves just as delicious savoury dishes as their cakes, shame that not a lot of people know about this. Which is why they’ve decided to introduce the rice plates as their lunch special. Another great option for office lunch or just lunch meeting at Bangsar Shopping Centre. Because…. let’s face it, there aren’t exactly many cheap dining options there. With a price tag of RM17 (with Ice Lemon Tea or upgrade to coffee for another RM5), it’s pretty good value for money.

Butter Marsala Chicken. Their take on an old favourite. The curry looks fairly rich but surprisingly tasted quite light to me. Which is perfect because we don’t want it to be too cloying right? The curries are all made from scratch here you can even taste the freshness. One thing I would say though it’s a little on the healthy side as I think they use mostly chicken breast.

On the other end of the spectrum… if you love all things deep fried, try the Tempura plate. You get fish fingers, sizeable prawns and vegetables all coated and deep fried properly so it’s nice and crunchy, served on a bed of sweet and sour sauce, done with just enough of sweetness but plenty of piquancy to cut through the richness of the fried stuff. All the rice plates come with a refreshing side of pickled vegetables too which I enjoyed.

Last but not least, the Chicken Katsu Curry. It might be Japanese in origin, but the curry tasted more Malaysian, which is interesting. This was the crowd favourite with perfectly fried chicken and generous serving of vegetables. Extra satisfaction mixing the egg yolk into the rice before devouring it. 

The highlight of the night though was the sizzling Koji Rubbed Rib Eye. What’s Koji, you ask? Well, we Foochows should be familiar with this ingredient. It’s a type of yeast normally used to make the Foochow Red Wine. Turns out it can tenderise meat and add a touch of umaminess to the meat. Well, you learn something new every day! The beef is “marinated” for 3 days before a quick sear to perfect doneness (medium rare). The meat is quite tender indeed and very flavourful. I could definitely taste the Koji, which lends a unique depth to the beef. Complemented by a lovely mushroom sauce, it just can’t get better than that! RM80 for this, including coffee too.

And as if that wasn’t enough, I was given a choice to pick another cake as a prize for guessing the ingredient right for the mini sniffing test Nigel got us to do. Well, I do have a slight advantage as I actually have used Koji at home before. Anyway, the Lemon Meringue Pie here is fabulous! Light Meringue complementing the super tart lemon curd. If I were to nitpick, I would probably prefer a thinner and more buttery crust. Otherwise, it’s near perfect!

Thank you once again to Just Heavenly for having me there!

Just a couple of months ago, we attended the launch of @the5tory and we had a little taste of what Just Heavenly Cafe has to offer, and it’s more than just heavenly cakes. In fact, the menu here is rather extensive so I guess that’s why Nigel invited us back for a proper foodie get together so we could eat til our hearts’ content.

And feast we did, though not without a little game of ice-breaker in the form of writing a short story which turned out to be a psychology test. Ah…. Nigel, always one to make the party interesting. Anyway, there are many dishes to get through, so I best not digress.

We started off with this gorgeous looking Char Siew Chicken Salad (RM21). Oh yeah, Just Heavenly is pork free, but fortunately, this chicken char siew was done quite well, with a bit of fatty stuff to make it nice and juicy, good contrast with the grassy green bits.

Something a little more common, the Caesar Salad (RM23), which comes with either beef bacon or smoked salmon and a cling wrap poached egg perched on top, nice touch. Good thing is this is dressed very lightly so you don’t accidentally consume too much calories in the process.

Can’t say I’ve ever tried Salmon Spring Rolls before. This is a little Japanese inspired perhaps? Priced at RM17 for a good portion. Interesting bite over a chatter.

The Fish Fingers come from the Special menu, and these definitely did not come from a box (ahh… the stuff that got me through uni). The flesh is lovely flaky with super crispy crust. I’d gladly have more of these.

This is one of the nicest pumpkin soup (RM17) I’ve had lately, full of the natural sweetness of the pumpkin, thick, creamy, and that garlic toast is something else! So good.

We then moved on to the main, with this glorious BLT Burger (RM30), made with Prime Aussie Beef, chunky mushroom sauce, lettuce and tomato on toasted sesame seed served with chunky chips and salad with feta cheese. A good classic tasting burger which will definitely fill you up.

The Lamb Burghini (love the name) is Greek inspired. I love Greek Food, but unfortunately, I don’t eat lamb so I had to skip this.

The Curryeggy (RM26) looks the most interesting. Egg, Flaky Puff Pastry, Chicken Filling, Curry Sauce. A very hearty combo, best to be shared. Love the crispy curry leaves for that aromatic bite.

The One That Got Away is another item on Special. Made just like the proper Fish & Chips in Australia/UK. I think they used Cod for this but my memory is failing me so this is a wild guess.

And it’s not the end yet! We were fed few more dishes in the form of pasta.

First the Crab Aglio Olio (RM32). The angel hair is a touch soft for my liking, but the flavours were spot on.

Here the Carbonara is served with Penne for a change. Comes with plenty of mushrooms and beef bacon, this is quite creamy and cheesy. Definitely the ultimate guilty pleasure.

I saved the best for last. The Linguine Pesto (RM30) is delicious! I’m also slightly biased because Linguine is my favourite shape of pasta. But the pesto here is delightfully aromatic, and I like how they top it with plenty of greens.

Finally, with what little stomach space we had, it was time for desserts.

A high tea set! I’m fully stuffed at this point so didn’t try everything.

The Play it again Sam, which we also had last time. A tribute to the late Samantha Schubert, Malaysian Actor and Model, this cake is a delicious triple decker melange of Bananas, Strawberries, and Chocolate all topped with fresh cream.

The Rainbow Cheesecake is fun to look at, with no compromise on taste. Thanks to Kevin I rarely get to savour cheesecakes and I definitely appreciated this.

Phew! That was a lot of food! I’m hungry again looking at these pictures and I think I need to return for some of those Linguine Pesto (and the Curryeggy) Thank you, Nigel, for the fantastic hospitality once again!

Just Heavenly Cafe
3rd Floor
Bangsar Shopping Centre
Jalan Maarof
59000 Kuala Lumpur
10am-10pm daily

Jaya One branch
10am-8pm
Genting Skyavenue
10am to 10pm

Imagine seeing the World with only a little or completely without your beloved eyesight!
Dark, daunting and depressive thoughts?
But can we try to see a sightless world from a different perspective?

Imagine seeing without colours, would it cause less racial discrimination?
Or not looking at physical deformities, would it help us to hear a person’s inner beauty?
Will we learn not to judge a book by looking at its cover in a World that often believe and judge in what they see?

Welcome to Arts Beyond Sight, an experiential journey of seeing the creative beauty of Arts without your sight! Visitors will be guided by professionally trained visually impaired Guide thru a 30 minutes of Touching, Smelling, Hearing and Tasting the beauty of Arts seen from a non visual perspective!

Arts Beyond Sight is an effort by Save Ones Sight Missions Berhad (SOSM) a non profit Organisation, Dialogue in the Dark Malaysia (Social Enterprise) and DID MY Innovations Sdn Bhd (Social Enterprise). For more information please email our Founder Mr Stevens Chan at stevens@did.my

Introduction of this year’s solo artist :
Poesy Liang 梁小詩 is an artist, mastering 3 classical Chinese mediums since 6yo. She was discovered as Levi’s 501 girl at the age of 14. As a teenager, Poesy feels at home in a film set – she has worked closely with top commercial filmmakers, leading agencies & prestigious brands – a familiar face in the broadcasting world from high school through architectural school till her late 20s.

She was paralysed twice. In her quest to heal, Poesy experimented with her social media to raise compassion, kindness and empathy, which won her numerous humanitarian awards & recognition. After many reinventions, Poesy re-emerged an interdisciplinary artist who is busy in 3 continents. Due to many requests to turn her life into a movie, she has opted to tell her story through a very short “Poesy Anime” which is still in production.

This exhibition is Poesy’s self-portrait in the dark which borrows some materials from “Poesy Anime” never shown to the public and showcases other unpublished creative skills. All your senses will be activated except for your sight.
This exhibition is suitable for children from 12 years old up.

梁小诗，是位艺术家，自六岁开始掌握书法，水墨画，雕刻等的古典中华艺术。 她在十四岁时被选为”Levi’s 501 Girl”星马区的广告模特儿。虽然年纪还小，她在拍片过程中却是如鱼得水般的自在。陆陆续续的接了不少的广告，和当时当红的商业影片者，知名國際品牌的代理商合作无间，这样的生活从中学一直延续到她二十多岁上了建筑学院时。
她的人生中经历了两次瘫痪。在療癒探索的过程中，她在社交媒体上发起了“恻隐，仁爱，同理”的醒覺活动，取得多项“人道认同”的相关奖项。
測底改造後小詩成為 跨学科艺术家 重新出现， 活躍於亚美欧三大洲之間。
她的经历吸引了不少影片制作者的注意，有者要求把她的劇本拍成电影。而她选择用一部动漫短片 Poesy Anime 来发表她的故事， 目前还在制作中。
這個展覽是小詩在黑暗中的自画像採用Poesy Anime還沒面世的材料和一些尚未發表的创作。
除了視覺之外，所有感官將會被啟動。
這個超視覺藝術展覽適合12歲以上的觀眾。

Here’s a video from the press conference:

Poesy’s Speech:

I’d like everyone to relax, don’t look at your phone, close your eyes. Relax, it’s okay. Close them. Let your eyes take a minute break. Now, listen to the sound of my voice. Can you tell anything from how I sound? Listen to the sounds around you. Can you tell who is sitting or standing? Slouching, eating or yawning? Listen to the sounds outside. What do you hear? Is there a lot of traffic? Trucks? Bikes? For some people, this is their entire life. And for what you might experience as an inconvenience, some might consider a super power. The ability to hear sounds and surroundings in a way like no other. Today, I’ll be talking about the blind and visually impaired. While I’m a person with sight, I’ve come to admire and become close with people in the blind community getting to know them through their stories. From judgement to struggles to joys.
First, I’d like to thank YB for officiating my exhibition. Thank you to the members of the media for taking the time to be here. Today is an uncommon day for me because it is not often that I find myself seated next to a politician in a press conference. I’m an artist, and often more focused on expression than governance. So, it’s great that we are here today, united for the arts & humanity and I am here for a cause that is close to my heart which is to raise empathy for the blind & visually impaired.
It is an honor to be the solo artist for Art Beyond Sight this year. Mr Stevens Chan of Dialogue in the Dark was first connected to me by the Singapore International Foundation. I’d like to thank them both for this opportunity.

For those who hasn’t met me yet, I will offer a brief introduction of why I am here.
I am a founder of a social experiment started on Facebook 11 years ago. It was a movement based on random acts of kindness, I wrote the policy with 4 simple rules – No fundraising, No Commerce, No Religion & No Politics. My movement spread to more than 20 countries, in Malaysia alone I throw an average of 1200 volunteer events per year for the first 6 years. The activities were run without a production budget and were designed for volunteers who were willing to do random acts of kindness and to serve the marginalised community. It was my first of many portfolios of a new kind of art performance. A senior curator who is also the Commissioner of the Arts for the City of Dallas coined my work as the art of life and it gained me many invitations to different countries, to create more movements & to grace the stage of global humanitarian summits at the United Nations in New York. As an artist, you can say that kindness is my art, despite my preceding reputation of a wicked human mind.

I have always been curious to work with the blind. My first project with the blind was exactly 7 years ago in San Francisco. That summer I persuaded a quartet of big named jazz singers & musicians to perform a free concert for 100 blind audience inside a borrowed canteen. The immense reward from that humble project brought me clarity, it was the kind of clarity about life that you will experience when you gain new perspective not with your eyes but with your consciousness. That perspective came to me when I tried to empathise what it was to be blind. Ever since then, I have held a strong belief that the blind can often see a life situation far more clearly than someone who has eyesight. More often that not, our eyesight causes confusion because it makes us judgmental human beings. The eyes receive images, which communicate messages that may or may not be intended. We may be influenced by what we see, and then our perceptions and attitudes are impacted. But, take that sight away, and the distraction of stereotype changes completely. Our intuition becomes sharper.
When Mr. Stevens Chan approached me about doing this exhibition, I saw the opportunity of gifting this extraordinary dimension to the Malaysian public. While normally, I charge a fee for my public speaking engagements and exhibitions, for this it was different. I was compelled to join the cause.
Today is uncommon also because the exhibition we are launching is my self-portrait in the dark. If you were observant, I use a mobility scooter to get around, my story has been told many times in the media but not the way I am about to share with you today. A few years ago in HK, a prominent collector of Chinese contemporary art from Switzerland gave me an important piece of career advise, he told me to share my life story. What he said to me was no different to what the agents, book publishers and film makers said to me over the decades, but speaking to someone who understood & supported artists inspired me to write my own rules. I did not want a 100-minute movie nor a boring old book. So 4 years ago, I started to draw a short animation film titled Poesy Anime slated for global release on social media. This short movie was only going to be 5 minutes long, I wanted it to be short since our general attention span these days are also short. Today you will be hearing the soundtrack of this film before anyone else. This script has gone round the globe and it took 14 writers 2 years to shorten my life story into 5 minutes. To shape the narration, we had a scriptwriter who consults for Disney, a film school professor from a Texas university, while others were media producers & journalists who had interviewed me in great lengths. Needless to say, I had to personally sit through many hours of counseling.
I self-fund this production by selling my art work, painting on the sidewalks in Europe & travelling between 3 continents each year – just painting my way. The final copy of this soundtrack was recorded in London last year with a special music director who was also the last music director of the late great songstress Teresa Teng. To date, I have spent close to USD$22,000 on this production with most of the top professionals offering their services pro bono and now I am offering this exhibition to you for free. It is my birthday and we can consider it my gift to my home country Malaysia.
When you enter that pitch black room later, know that you are sharpening your senses by temporarily taking away your sight. You are not pretending to be disabled, but instead think about expanding your abilities in that darkness. Rest your eyes and let your consciousness take over. I hope you will gain insights from your experience and tell all your friends about it on social media, traditional media and please come back again with friends and their teenage children, the exhibition is suitable for children 12 years upwards. And it will be open from 11 to 7 everyday until Hari Merdeka. Don’t waste this opportunity.
Before I end, I would like to thank the blind guides who will be walking you through the dark room experience. They will only be earning a small allowance each day for an entire month to present this experience to you. To contribute to their dedicated service, please donate to Dialogue in the Dark. You will see the main character of Poesy Anime printed on the tshirts for sale, those are also to help raise funds for the cause. I’d like to leave you with a favorite quote of mine, “If you ever find yourself in complete darkness, you are better off being led to the end of the tunnel by someone blind.” So go forth and have a unique experience that now can only belong to you.

If you are planning to pay a visit to *Arts Beyond Sight feat. Poesy小詩* soon, this is last week’s attendance statistics so you may choose a good day for yourself. (Currently still no queues on their busiest day.) Media day ~> 16 Day 1 ~> 13 Day 2 ~> 28 Day 3 ~> 20 Day 4 ~> 23 Day 5~> 62 Day 6 ~> 47

Here are the Facebook event links : https://web.facebook.com/events/671962409675861/ https://web.facebook.com/events/1415587341889377/

Poesy’s Social Media
Instagram @poesyliang
Twitter @poesyliang, @HelpingAngels @poezjewellers
Facebook
www.facebook.com/poesyliang
www.facebook.com/poesyart
www.facebook.com/poesyprize
www.facebook.com/BaldEmpathyMovement
www.facebook.com/poesyworld
www.facebook.com/poesymusic
www.facebook.com/poezjewellers