A lovely lunch at "Secret Garden" !

When we were in High school, our classmates were like  brothers and sisters during our school days. 

The moment we all left High School in 1976 (48 years ago), each of us had our own plans of what we wanted to be. Some lucky ones continued to college or university, while others started working for a living. Each of us, so young had no real idea what the future held for us.

I thank God for letting me live to this age to be able to see my old classmates again. 

Some whom I don't even really mix with but after 48 yrs, it's refreshing to meet each other again and reconnect . We have all changed and are not as we were in 1976. We have matured, and became more understanding and respectful. Most of us become grandparents to our kids.

  Our school reunion is mainly to share our experiences and stories. During this sharing, we also learn from each other, things we were not aware of before and one of them was about the "Secret Garden" by David. 

A few of us were curious about this "Secret garden" so, on the 6th Nov 2024, I went with Christie, Richard and David for our reunion visit at this Eva Secret Garden Cafe, Penampang. True enough, I felt it was worth a visit. It has a beautiful garden with a fully airconditioned Non-Halal Cafe, run by a Taiwanese lady. 

This place also caters for functions like weddings, birthdays and other events

Opening hours is 12noon to 8pm but closed every Tuesday.

Food needs to be ordered and paid at the counter.
It's advisable to order your food before you settle down on a chair in comfort because the food will take a while to arrive and the Cafe only accepts cash or boost/transfer online. No credit cards accepted. 😅 

For teatime, they have delicious cranberry scones and cookies 

to go along with a cup coffee or tea.

Let's meet Earl Grey💓
He's the most attractive cat in the Cafe. 
The owner not only loves nature but obviously an animal lover especially of cats.

Look at him! He has found a chair to his liking right next to us all😂

Tips jar for the cats "9 Lives saving!"

At the back yard, there also a "cats and dogs" grooming service.
There is also a dog hotel so in case you wanna go on holiday, here you can leave your pets, at a cost.

Our most pleasant lunch gatherings at Eva Secret Garden Cafe:-

Ice  Lemon  Honey : Rm12 
Very suitable to quench our thirst for a hot humid afternoon.

Iced Lemon Passion fruits. 

The sweetness and tardiness of this fruit drink is very refreshing. 

Their signature dish
 Taiwan Braised Pork Rice : Rm15 
Christie and I ordered this.
Richard also ordered this but in noodle version.
Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of his particular order.😅

A scrumptious meal at lunch.

An irresistible all in one bowl dish that has braised pork belly, hard boiled eggs, with  2 slices of pickles. So Yummy😋😋
I once made this kind of dish which is so easy to make and very delicious by following one of the utube "Souped up" videos. But eating in this kind of conducive environment  and good company makes it even up to "5 stars"😂

Melted in your mouth Chinese  Braised Pork Belly.

David ordered Golden Crispy Chicken Rice : Rm18

All the dishes looked so delicious and I wished I could try them all but my eyes are bigger than my belly, so I can only make do with a bowl of braised pork in rice.😁

Taiwan Pork Dumpling : Rm 15 

After that, I ordered another plate of dumplings as snacks 😋
If you are used to eating Shantung Pork Dumpling then be prepared that this dumpling is completely different in taste and the skin texture, unlike the Shantung version.

Passion fruit yogurt as dessert  : Rm12 

Self service plates and cutlery

The garden is so well maintained with so many beautiful flowers. 

Abutilon Striatum (Red Vein Indian Mallow) also known as Chinese Lantern flower.
Of all the flowers, I was fascinated most by this flowers because of it's unique appearance. The first time I saw this flower was in 2019 when I visited the garden of a friend (Ms Wong). At that time, my phone camera was not as high tech so i did not have a high quality, crisp image as today.

According to google, Abutilon Striatum is native to South America. 

 An evergreen shrub and the flowers bloom for months. 

 It is a desirable plant ideal as wall shrub, and looks very pretty when planted in containers.

It is easy to care for and grows well in full or partial sunlight, on a well drained rich moist soil.

The plant can grow up to15 feet and about 4 feet wide but with regular pruning to maintain the ideal height of 4-5 feet. To make the plant bushier, pinch off the branch tips.

It has an orangy red colour, bell shaped, and the petals look like red veins. 

This photo was taken by David with his fancy high tech phone camera.

Beautiful shots by David.

 My first impression of this flower was, it looks like Cinderella's puffy dress😂

  

There are also a good varieties of hibiscus but I only took photos of the purple and yellow ones which I have not seen before.

Purple Hibiscus

Orangy yellow hibiscus

Orangy hibiscus at the car park

Costus Spiralis also known as ginger spiral.

White Bougainville

Beautiful Orchids.

Periwinkles

There are many more beautiful flowers and plants which I don't know their names such as this.

Another beautiful unique flower

 At the back yard, there are a few rooms as homestay for guest. I managed to contact Eva for the room rates. 

Standard room Rm120 per night (2pax)

Family room Rm 210 per night (4 pax) 

Check in : 2pm 

Check out : 12pm

A brief glimpse of the interior of the home stay . 
It is a very clean peaceful homestay. 

For more information, you may call the number of the owner shown in this card.

I have snapped a few of their items here to give you an idea what they have in that cafe. 

Snack menu 

Pasta Menu 

Smoothies 

Fancy Drinks 

Mocha Varieties

We ended up enjoying this homely lovely place for 3 hours with lunch, including a short tour around the garden, even though it was a hot day. It has a conducive environment that made us all very relaxed and comfortable.

Kudos to David. 👍 Because of him, we discovered this hidden gem in our own hometown. 

 I  can tell based on our conversation, laughter and sharing our stories, we all really enjoyed our lunch. It seems our chatter was so interesting that Richard commented about the "criss cross conversation" that makes us all laugh. What he meant by that, Well, we need Richard to tell you about it. 😂 It was indeed a beautiful memorable afternoon lunch gathering.

Thank you David, Richard and Christie for making our lunch time such a wonderful experience and a memorable one. 🙏