Date Night Like No Other.

I just had that feeling of extreme curiosity for a week when I'm in the dark for something and my boyfriend just gave me very basic instructions like, be ready by 6pm and dress formally.

I just can't help but to have SO many questions in my head!

Where are we going?

What kind of formal?
Semi-formal? Really formal? Specify the dress code, dude!

What's the plan?
What're we gonna do?

This is probably why people never like surprising me because I end up prying every detail from them. Surprisingly, Doug kept this one quite well. However, I did need some girl help.

On Friday, I was chatting with Charms for a whole hour on Whatsapp fussing about what to wear! How I wish she was here in real life to help me pick what to wear. Okay - I lied. It took more than an hour... more like the whole afternoon?

 Told you I took the whole afternoon just fussing about what to wear/how to do my hair/makeup and everything. Aaaaand the occasional unnecessary  girly frantic/panicking of having nothing to wear despite having 100 dresses in our closets.

The irony. Anyway, I went with my instincts and pulled together an outfit-of-the-night. I don't know why I was fussing so much about a date, despite the fact that Doug and I have always been really good friends, doing things together and hanging out as friends and as really good friends almost 24/7.
I guess it's cos this was one of our first real, real dates and he took the effort to keep me in suspense and surprise me - I really am a handful.

"I WANT EVERYTHING TO BE PERFECT." 

Yeah like that's gonna happen. 

 Did my own eyebrows, thinking, "I better not screw this up"... Lay out my makeup. Hey, it's 4.30pm already. Start doing my hair.....

Hey. There's still time... Camwhore time. 

Whee.

Whooops. Still in my robe.

Ok time to go!
A taxi arrived to bring us to our "destination".
 It made me more curious when Doug went, "You know where to go" to the driver.

HOW DO YOU CONTAIN ALL THAT EXCITEMENT??? 

Taxi pulled up to this gorgeous vintage looking building, which to me, looked like something you see from the movies. We definitely do not have stuff like this in Malaysia. 

This is the Roxy Cinema, in Miramar. 

I was quiet for quite some time because I was busy going, whoa....

These pictures are actually from their website http://www.roxycinema.co.nz/ because I didn't manage to snap any at night. This cinema is also functioning like a normal one today!

Went inside and sat at a reserved table for two, at Coco at the Roxy. 

The whole setting of the restaurant was like something from the 1960's. It was so golden and vintage.

 There were framed pictures of super old film posters on the wall. Forgot to take a picture of that because I was totally immersed in my own excitement. Meh.

We went ahead to have our orders taken from the Wellington On A Plate menu. This place was one of the places that was featured on Wellington On A Plate, which is New Zealand's largest food festival, promoting and supporting the local dining industry.

I still was in awe of everything and for a moment just felt the slight awkwardness with Doug because we've never been on a date-date like this before and he's always been such a buddy in my eyes, boyfriend or not. Still taking some time for some things to sink in. :)

Our very fancy starter of Roast beetroot & celeriac Tunisian tartlet wuth Zany Zeus smoked binza , fried greens, and dates. Such a long description! Lol. It had a very complex combination of sweet and sour to it, and also the buttery fried vegetables were a plus!

Le poke.

Doug looking sharp. <3

One thing that I've noticed was that the portions weren't teeny tiny, like fine dining, which was a good thing, because

where's the fun in eating when you get one bite then it's over?

Our mains.

Roast Lamb with saffron roasted potatoes, wilted spinach, Bearnaise sauce and jus.

Tasted as complex as it sounds.

 This dish had to be the best lamb dish I've ever tasted. The smooth, rustic taste of the sauce just blended so well with the tender lamb meat. The potatoes complimented the lamb so well. And also, I ate all my veges, just in case some of you (who know me well enough) are wondering.

"This is so.... PORK!" was what I said when this dish

 arrived at our table and Doug couldn't stop laughing. 

Seriously, look. at. it. PORK.

 P   O   R   K.

This was Pork Belly with mashed Kumara, winter greens and Tuatara Ale relish. 

Differing from the lamb dish, this sauce had a tangy taste, bringing out the flavour of the pork belly in your mouth. Albeit the pork meat wasn't as tender as the lamb. Delicious nontheless! Mashed Kumara seemed like a healthier version of Mashed Potatoes too. *thumbs up*

We talked, made silly jokes, and laughed. 

No more awkwardness! We're back. Until there was one really strange waiter that talked really slowly and stared at us when he served us our food, which kinda creeped me out a little bit. The staff in this place were quite nice and hospitable, although I think they check on us a little bit too frequently because our conversations were sometimes interrupted. 

To wrap it all up, we had this really interesting looking dessert.

The ball of cream isn't really ice cream, which was my first thought. It's actually Salted Caramel to go with the Whittaker's Chocolate Mousse and the Gunpowder Rum delice, which is the white flavoured ice in the little glass. 

Having this dessert, I had so many different flavors swirling around in my palette that I actually took the time to slowly enjoy it. It was exquite. 

A mix of tanginess and a hint of bitterness from the Gunpowder delice, some saltiness from the caramel and not overly sweet Chocolate mousse. 

We were totally stuffed at the end of dessert and enjoyed every bite of the food here.

 Oh yeah. 

So this was what I ended up wearing - my outfit of the night.

Something not too flashy, or too plain. Decided to go with my long blue dress with the long slit in the front paired with my favourite blue clutch my cousin got me from Australia. 

I also donned a looped side pony for a different look from my usual half do or leave my hair down. My hair has been slightly wavier these days because I haven't bothered straightening it anymore.

 I also managed to DIY my eyebrows without looking like an alien as a result, because no one threads my eyebrows as the nice eyebrow lady from SS15 Subang Jaya! 

Really am satisfied with the way I looked that night. Whew. :)

The thing about asking someone to take a picture is that..  4/5 times the picture comes out blurry or too dark, etc. Here's one that was sorta usable. Oh well.

Doug and I walked around the cinema, after being stuffed from dinner,then we called it a night to go back rather than to squeeze in a movie. It was a whole lot of food for a person like me to take in, especially. 

Despite going back home by 9pm, I was beaming all the way back.

We were on the way back until something silly like me getting a bit emotional and tearing up in the taxi when Doug mouthed I Love You. *facepalm*

Bet he freaked out a little. I never ever cry on dates. Or outings. OR SAD KOREAN DRAMAS. 

I guess it goes to show how much I loved all of it. His efforts, his thoughtfulness, his choice in places and food, of the things that he knew I would enjoy, and especially just having him as a typical date just made it so special for me. The girlishness in me just manifested when my eyes started reddening and I started sniffling. Felt like a moron in the taxi... bet the taxi driver saw too. -_-

And guess what? Doug reached into his suit pocket and handed me a handkerchief! Haha! Gotta love his old school gentlemanly-ness.

Since I was told that I don't really post much or feature my boyfriend much on my blog, here's a candid picture of him (which got more likes than mine on Insta..hmph).

 So cute in his suit. How could I not go "awww" when I see him in hoodies everyday and suddenly he's wearing a suit. <3 

Computer games and on-lining to end the night.

I still remember the time when I was asked what my idea was of a Perfect Date in my FHM Magazine interview in January 2012 issue, I think this had to be it. :)

"I should be so lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky." - Kylie Minogue

xxx

 Ashley Mah