A Magical Birthday

KH gave me choice of two restaurants to celebrate my birthday. It was simple choice really, Italian or magic. Magic? That's different. Something different, might as well give it a try. The venue was called J & P Magic House Bar & Restaurant at Jalan Berangan. I made my way there from Jalan Ampang after working hours but the traffic was horrible. The GoKL bus was stranded in the jam, so I alighted and walked over from Shangri-la Hotel. Just fifteen minutes late. The hubby was nice enough to wait outside the restaurant for me. We were the first couple to arrive. Started off with wine which was quite good. The first course was mixed green salad with bresaola beef, feta cheese, and honey mustard dressing. Soup was next. Tasted like a cioppino, but the seafood wasn't very fresh. Then it was fusilli carbonara which we left largely untouched. Too creamy for me. Halfway through dinner, magicians weaved about the tables doing card tricks. Our personal magician for the night was Alex, a rotund gentleman who loved to pull wet poker cards out of his mouth. Haha. Showed us some great card tricks where he always knew which card we chose, would appear at the most unexpected places and even transformed a card in front of us in a shimmering display.



The main dishes were baked spring chicken and Barramundi in cream thyme sauce. The chicken was unimpressive, the fish a little better. Before dessert was served, Alex came to our table again with the offer of more magic. The card tricked spanned several tables with the help of other magicians. Three of us were asked to choose a card and hold it beneath our palms. A countdown was started and in the end, we were asked to look at our cards. My card had turned into a blank card with a birthday wish! Lights flashed and music played (an annoying song with repetitive "I love you"s) and our desserts was brought out from behind the stage. That was a surprise. Two birthdays and one anniversary that night. I liked the dessert, a mini pavlova with lemon-cream. When that was over, the tables were pushed to the side and the main magic show started.





The emcee for the night was Alex. As expected, he pulled cards out of his mouth again, and on top of that some lame jokes. The show opener was Kazu of the Takahashi Twins. Lotsa rope and scarf tricks. Not really my cup of tea. Alex was next with more card tricks. He invited some poor guy up the stage to be his assistant. Made him do a lot of silly stuff on stage. But I'll summarize-- he chose a card, the cut a lemon, the card was in the lemon. Wicked. The next magician was also local, his name was Adrian. Started off with a bowling ball trick that was pretty surprising. Followed up with an annoying light trick that seemed more performance art than magic. Later on he invited a lady on stage to help him with a levitating table. Alex did another trick that involved a goldfish and a MYR100 bill. The highlight of the night was the Takahashi Twins who did a position switching trick. That was it. KH and I ordered our last drinks (sake!) and made our way home. Thanks for the great night dear!