The BEST Birthday Party EVER - Tharen's Fancy Dress Restaurant

I heard about Tharen's Fancy Dress Restaurant last year from a friend. Since I left my birthday organisations til so late this year, I decided to give Tharen's a go since it seems like they have every thing handled. Just show up and have fun. Originally I wasn't going to get people to dress up in costume since it's a friday night after work, but everyone really got into the mood, so costume it was!

The restaurant is located in some back street of Kings Cross, at first I was a bit apprehensive going, but the minute I got to the restaurant, my jaw dropped. We were greeted by people in costume, a red carpet and a fire breather!!! We got into the restaurant and immediately went into the toilets to get changed. What did I get dressed as?

Sari!

Once I was dressed, we immediately hit the bar, with a drink in hand, we observed the surroundings better. Every chair in the restaurant had a hat, and the walls were covered with more hats! There were coat stands full of wigs, masks and boas. We started picking and switching hats around and trying them on and trying them on other people. Within 5mins, the madness started! There's not much I can say, except the following photos have already been HEAVILY censored:

Pirate!

This is what happens when you don't bring your own costume

My cheerleader and sexy cop!

Gus learning how to use scissors!

We actually had a magician come to our table and did a whole heap of tricks with us! It was amazing! 1 foam ball in my friend's hands turned into 2 balls which turned into 4 balls!!

Hungry people

OMG!!!

My turn for revenge!

At this point.....things started to get at little.....out of control.....

Trailer Trash Willy Wonker?

We had to stop with the madness when the food came out.

Moroccan Lamb

Spatchcock

Veal

After the entrees, me and Moishii decided to go through with our plan. The plan? Costume change! I couldn't decide what costume to wear, so the best thing was to wear both! And what did I wear?

My belly dancing outfit and my "supporters"

Close up of my Supporter #1

Closeup of support #2

One of the reasons I couldn't go for lunch with my workmates on my birthday was because I had to go buy bike shorts to wear under my belly dancing skirt. I only realised the night before that it was completely see through!!!!!

One of the many waitresses

Dinner was a 3 course meal including entree, main and dessert. There were 6 choices for each of the course, but for dessert, you can let each person choose their own dessert, or go with a Bomb Alaska. I told them I've NEVER had a Bomb Alaska in my life, and they needed to make me an extra bomby alaska!

FLAMES!!!!!!!!!

Sparklers!!

Bomb Alaska with a cookies and cream centre

After dessert, the madness continues.......

And part of the madness was me going around taking photos with random strangers!!

I think I took about 10 photos with her

Who is she?

And him?

Errrrrrr......?

Maybe we're related???

Moishii decided to get in on the action as well

This party was seriously insane. Nonstop costume and hat changes, cheesey music for singalong and dance along. Even the waiters were urging us to get onto the tables and chairs to dance! Most of us were acting as if we were drunk, but most of us were completely sober! The place was just sooooooo much fun everyone got into the mood!!

This is officially the BEST birthday party I've EVER had! EVER. It was worth every cent I paid! By the end of the night, I had foot cramps from dancing nonstop and jumping around. Infact, I pulled a hip muscle when we congo lined our way around the restaurant, up the stairs, over furniture and back downstairs again! I can't recommend this place enough! I had an absolute blast!!!

Thanks to all those that came and helped me make it the best birthday party I've ever had!!!

Tharen's Fancy Dress Restaurant
13-15 Kellet Way
Kings Cross
http://www.tharens.com.au
Ph: (02) 9326 9510

All staff meeting

This was supposed to be the biggest and best All staff meeting we've ever had. I mean, it is the big boss's retirement party as well. This year it was held at the Entertainment center. The minute we arrive, we bags a table to setup camp. Before you know it, the food starts coming out, and little do you know we're standing right next to the food door!!

Peking quail roll

The sober shot (It's rare)

Curry puffs

Japanese beef on rice crackers

Vietnamese rice paper roll

Food trolley

Coconut Thai salad - They lied, they said there's beef in it. LIARS!

A bar full of food

Asian theme

Tempura veggies

Soft shell crab with spicy curry seasoning

I can't believe I didn't get a photo of the best dish of the night. Fried coconut prawns! But then every time that dish came out, everyone dove at the waiter scrabbling for the prawns. I had to be quick otherwise I wouldn't get any, let alone a photo.

As for the party, its probably been the most disappointing one that I've been to. I mean there was plenty of food and alcohol, but there was nothing special about the party. It was just a party. And there were no chairs! I was in so much pain I actually took my boots off so I could stand in my socks to ease the pain. Even then, I left around 9:30pm. I guess we'll have to wait for the xmas party.

This is going to be a hectic month!

Things have been hectic for me, and its barely started. My sister and the kids are here from Singapore, meaning I'm pretty much going to disappear all of December. I've still got events in my social calendar for December, but I certainly won't be taking the responsibility of organising anything else (Which for some reason, always gets passed to me). I was going to write some nice blog posts and throw in some photos I've taken, but here's a quick summary as to what's happened in the past few weeks:

- CookieJar girls night in - Mey kindly offered her place for a bit of a girls reunion. Which involved make-your-own (MYO) viet summer rolls, a bottle of delush Chianti red wine and fondue (amongst other junk food). It started off with a bit of girly banter, which turned into a full of bitch-fest that resorted in dirty jokes! As it always does! After stuffing ourselves until we could barely breath, we settled in for a perving session of Jessica Alba. Good Luck Chuck. Now I found this movie HILARRRRRRIOUS! People think Jessica Alba is just a pretty face, but I can tell you, she's fantastic as comedy! Plus she's HOT! Like H-O-T. I've said this many times, even at one work function (Yes, bad move) that I WILL TURN GAY FOR JESSICA ALBA! God that woman is hot.

- Moishii's 27th Birthday - This was held in Bexley North in some dodgy joint called "Ruby Lounge", and the Greek Night was called "Caramela". The restaurant was attached to some dodgy pub that even the locals don't frequent. The good thing was that the drinks were super cheap! Hellooooooo Vodka! $4 a vodka is pretty darn good IMO. The bad thing for the restaurant was, because they made us wait til about 8:30pm before we could go in (even though they're supposed to open at 8pm), we found out about the cheap drinks. So when they charged me $7 for a vodka, and others $4.50 for a straight OJ, we just decided to hit the pub instead. Which we ended up doing because by 10pm, all we had was dip and salad. And poor gus didn't even get a bread roll and had to share with someone else. So after about 3-4 vodkas at the bar, we headed back into the restaurant at 10:30 get a platter of unknown meat and some chips. After 5 mins of eating that, most of our table gave up on the platter leaving alot of the food untouched and hit the pub again. 45mins of drinking, we all head back inside only to find out that for our $40, there's no dessert, tea or coffee included. With that, a few of us decided to leave. Some headed home, whilst me, Cherry, and voice of an Angel headed off to Burwood where we ordered mass amounts of food and dessert before calling it a night after 1.

- Fisherman's Wharf Seafood Restaurant - I took my parents to the new seafood restaurant that has opened in the top level of the fish markets for Yum Cha. We were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food. Infact, alot of the people we saw at Yum Cha, usually frequent the various yum cha places in Chinatown. Looks like there is stiff competition out there.

- Sydney FC vs LA Galaxy - After David Beckham saved our lives last time, I decided that I had to go watch him play when he was in Sydney. We actually had pretty darn good seats for the price we paid! I brought my DSLR along to get a few action shots, but in my eagerness to take photos, I didn't check my settings properly. I accidently changed the mode whilst taking my camera in and out of my bag and when it mattered the most, the shots came out blurry!! *cries*

- The Malaya - Our once-every-3-weeks lunch with my workmate found us at Malaya again. After hearing me rave on and on about the Sze Chuan eggplant, we went back and ordered the set menu for 2 people. I was a bit hestitant at first, simply because I hate Otak Otak. I've tried it many times in Singapore, and regret it every time I get it. But the ones at Malaya were TO DIE FOR. If Otak Otak tastes like that in Singapore, I'd order it more often! We paid $50 each for lunch, but the food was so unbelievably good, it was worth every cent!

- Pizza and Party - We had a farewell lunch last friday for a workmate and ended up at the Australian Hotel for some beers and pizza. No photos here because we were all busy eating. And I decided to lay off the alcohol at lunch as well. Not because I was being good and cutting back on the alcamahol, but because we had our work xmas party that night and I didn't want to be sleepy for it! Our xmas party this year was at GPO. At first I couldn't understand how they could fit a few hundred people into the place, that is until I found out that we booked the entire bottom part of the GPO. All the usual restaurants (Post, Prime etc) were closed. In the underground section, all the bars were stocked with all you can drink beer, wine and champagne. There were pool tables and heaps of arcade games (Daytona and pinball machines!!!!!). We also had the dancing head thing where they put your head onto these digitally created bodies and generate a music video clip for you.

Unlike last year, which was heavy on alcohol but light on food, this year was a perfect balance. There was food EVERYWHERE. We had a sushi bar, an oyster bar, a pizza bar ontop of all the trays and trays of finger food that included fish and chips, spring rolls, vegetable crumble pies, meat pies, quiches, calamari and the most DELUSH rare wagyu beef rolls. By 7pm, I was screaming I was full! By 7:30, whilst shoving another spring roll down my throat, I was still screaming I was full. This continued until about 9pm, when we all abandoned the food and hit the open bar for some much needed vodka. Next thing you know, I was on the dance floor. By 10:30, when people started getting sufficiently sloshed, they brought out more pies (after the dessert already came out) to help with the alcohol munchies! HOW COOL IS THAT! So everyone started eating again before we hit the arcade games, where I am the reigning queen of Daytona. 4 out of 4 races! EAT THAT!

I also complained to my workmates that I've never been kicked out of anywhere before. So one of my workmates stayed with me until EVERYONE had left and we were surrounded by security asking us to leave. Woohoo!! Ok, well I wasn't FORCEFULLY EJECTED from the venue, but I finally lasted until the party ended! So to celebrate that little achievement, we headed off to the metro for more drinks before I stumbled home at 2am.

- The Kids - Now that I've semi caught up, my sister and the kids are here from Singapore. I've got a few days off here and there in December to spend more time with them. We're currently planning on going fruit picking again and possibly to the Blue Mountains. I was also planning on doing the Bridge Climb with my brother and my nephew (When he arrives), but I think its going to be hard to get a date that will suit everyone. So I might forego that and use my day off to watch my nephew compete in the tennis camp again. We'll have to see what happens.

So if I'm very quiet in December, I'm not ignoring you, I'm just busy with the kids. I'll try to update this post later with a few piccies. And as for the rest of my holiday posts, that's going to have to wait. I think its becoming a pattern. I can blog my heart out, but once I get close to having to relive my Mykonos experience, everything comes to a screeching halt....

Bonanza!!

Friday was our end of financial year party for our group within the company. This has got to be the best party of the year. Ask anyone about the party, and all they can do is rave about it. One of my workmates even told me that if I ever have leave the clashes with the party, CANCEL YOUR LEAVE. And considering the success of last years Bollywood party, I would agree with him.

This year's theme was Wild wild west. Since I still had my cowboy hat from our conference, I thought I'd go with the easy option of plaits, jeans and a gun. So I went to my local bargain store and picked up a $2 gun/handcuff/badge set. All dressed up and ready to go, we left work around 5:30 and arrived at the party in about 15mins. Security is very strict and would not let people in even if it was one minute before 6. So we decided to stop by the local pub for a quick drink before the party started. We walk in only to see other people had the same idea as us. Excellent, at least I don't look like a freak all dressed up. Within seconds of arriving, the security guard runs up to me and demands that I hand over my gun. Wha? The guy wants to confiscate my gun. I offered to put it in my handbag, but no, the gun must be confiscated, but I can get it back when I leave. Like WTF? Ok......fine. I hand my gun over and grab a drink. I REALLY needed a drink. From where we were sitting, we could see people getting let into the party, so I decided to head over to the bar and collect my gun back.

The bar tender comes up to me and goes "What can I get you?"
Me: "I want my gun back"
Him: "O...kay...I'll be back..." *backs off slowly*

He comes back a minute later with the manager of the bar. I screamed at him "YOUR SECURITY GUARD CONFISCATED MY GUN!! I WANT MY GUN BACK!!!"

So with a screaming woman demanding that she gets her gun back, he quickly jumps into action and starts looking for my gun. After a few minutes of digging around, he still couldn't find it. This is when he stands up, pulls out a MASSIVE chain of keys and goes "I'll be back".

He comes back a few minutes later, with the security guard to give me my gun back. I then get escorted by the security guard out the door. Like WTF? I wasn't the only one there with a gun anyway! And hello? Have you SEEN my $2 gun??

Its the very threatening orange tip

Anyway, after that whole incident, it was time to PARTAYYYYYYY!

Bonanza time!!

As we walk through the gates, you can tell how much effort they've put into this party:







The party was held at Wharf 8, same place as last time. The minute you walk in, there is a massive bathtub filled with alcohol:

Of course, I don't drink beer, unless there is mango in it of course. So I hit the Margheritas! Arrriba!

Cheers!

Not only is this an end of financial year party, its also a farewell party for our Big Boss. So we knew it was going to be massive. And what party would be complete without Moishii?

Cheers again!

Wasn't I just drinking a Margherita just then? Yes I was, but then I spotted the trays of unlimited Moet.......

...that kept getting topped up!! With the alcohol coming hard and fast, it was time to get some food into me quick smart!

Curry corn fritters

These were easily our favourite of the night! Or maybe both of us was very hungry, but we ended up chasing people down for these little delightful morsels!

Some pastry thing with salsa

As I was shoving the fritters in between mouthfuls of prawns and other canapes, I heard a calling for the dancers. Which was me! That's right! They held boot-scootin lessons for the few weeks leading up to the party. Basically you learn a routine, and you perform on the night. The best dancer gets a nights accommodation for 2 at the Westin Hotel whilst the runnerups get a bottle of Moet. So I dragged Moishii into the next room with me (Theres 4 rooms in the party that slowly open up through the night) for a quick rehearsal before they let everyone else into the room.

Announcing the party

After our rehearsal, the doors open and the 1500+ people started streaming into the room. This is when they get the other dancers and singers to come out for a bit of an intro, including our MC for the night (Who looked REALLY familiar). I was actually facing the audience, and wasn't really looking at the stage, besides, I was a bit tipsy nervous at this stage and wasn't seeing straight. I heard them announce the MC, I asked who it was and all I heard was the word "Comedian" before I lost interest. Which is a good thing considering the music started playing and I almost lost my cue!

On stage with the MC

I remember somewhere along the line, I looked at Moishii and he was making faces at me. He was trying to tell me something, but nothing was sinking in. Whatever it was, it could wait til after my performance. So when it ended, I ran up to him and grabbed a seat whilst the other speeches were going on. This is when he kept screaming "PAM!! PAM!!!". Pam what? What the hell are you on about mate?? "PAM!!!!"

Apparently, our MC was Jean Kittson. And Jean Kittson, was Pam Sandwich in "Let the blood run free". LIKE OMG!!! Both of us absolutely love LTBRF!! Not only was it hilariously funny, but everything that happed on that show, would have been an idea I would've come up with! I could've been their script writer!! We HAD to get a photo with her! After food that is.....

Specially bottled water

Food bar!

Nachoes, sausages for hot dogs, burritoes

EAT!!

Mini burgers

Outdoor BBQ bar

After scoffing down food and more alcohol, we decided to roam around to try and track down Pam Sandwich. We walked to the outside tent that had been converted into some big carnival like thing.

Poker table (With fake chips)

There was also a bucking bull, that I just HAD to try out. If I could even get on the damn thing!

HAAAAALP!!!

Me flying off

After flying off the bucking bull and skinning my arm and bruising my elbow (Now I know why they made me sign my right to sue away), we decided to head back inside to hunt down Pam Sandwich.

We walk around the stage and grab a few drinks where I spotted Pam Sandwich heading back to the stage for round 2. I run up to her and ask if I could grab a photo with her. "Of course!" she said. So I stood next to her, posing, ready for the photo when I suddenly turned to her and screamed "PAM SANDWICH!!!!". She looked like I had just slapped her but managed to recover in time for the photo:

Pam: "Who is this freak? Who remembers THAT character???"

Anyway, after getting the photo out of our system, we found a spot ready for the best dressed contest

We decided to roam around a bit and grab a few quick photos:

Some band

Confetti!!

Grabbing a coffee to recover from all the Moet and Margheritas

We called it a night around 10:30pm since I had to get up really early the next day for beach volleyball. But danggggggg it was a good party!! WE MET PAM SANDWICH!!