Growing up in Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar has been one of those places where our family visited frequently. Jhaobon, Poushee, Dhanshiri were embedded in our everyday menu. However, as of recent, Cox’s Bazar has become a place of dishes beyond the regular maach bhaat.

Mermaid has become a must visit now due to the ambience their locations provide. Whether it’s their Beach and Eco Resort or their Cafés, they promise to provide top notch ambience and service. During my visit to Cox’s last week I finally managed to drop by two of their branches: Mermaid Café Chill n Grill in Kolatoli and Mermaid Beach Resort in Marine Drive Road.

My first visit was to the Beach Resort where a bunch of my friends and I decided to stay for the sunset (ditching Inani Beach). Upon entering, you’ll feel like it’s more of a forest in a secluded area compared to other restaurants in Kolatoli Road. The entire place is lit up by candles and lanterns giving you a cozy and romantic feeling. Once we reached the restaurant of the Resort, we were amazed at the view! It had props such as boats, a turtle cave, surfboards, swings and more. To top that off, you had a beach view which could be enjoyed sitting at their outside seating area.

Their menu consisted of various segments including seafood, duck, quail, vegetarian, beef, desserts and drinks. Since I already had my fair share of prawns, lobsters, and dried fish at the Bengali restaurants, I opted for a simple Margherita Pizza and a Grilled Chicken. My friend suggested that the Lemonade here is a must try so despite a hefty price, I chose to splurge on the drink too.

It took about 20 minutes for them to serve and I am still trying to get over how good the food tasted here. The Margherita pizza had both mozzarella and parmesan used in it giving it a very cheesy and nutty taste. The tomato base infused with olive oil went well with the cheese overall giving me a tangy taste. The crust was thick and yet the slight burns gave it a rustic taste. They had served chilli flakes, chilli and a garlic mustard sauce alongside the pizza and surprisingly, it was the kick of the mustard sauce that I found the best to go with the pizza.

As for the Grilled Chicken, it came with sautéed vegetables and a mashed potato. What brought a smile on my face was the vibrant color of the plate and the presentation. If more restaurant owners would step up their presentation game, customers would happily pay more for the dish. Coming back to the taste of the entire dish, the sautéed veggies might have been slightly overcooked but the star of the dish, the grilled chicken, definitely made up for it. It was charred perfectly yet had a sweet glazing and the chicken itself was very juicy. The mashed potato also had some mozzarella in it giving it a very creamy and rich texture. The lemonade was what you say “Simple er moddhe gorgeous”. With ice cubes made of the lemonade itself, the drink was really refreshing and the bamboo stick gave the drink a very nice touch. I returned home with a happy heart and stomach that day.

That very night we visited the Mermaid Café as it was close to our hotel and I was craving their Grilled Chicken again. We also ordered a Mushroom Soup and two lemonade. However, this time we were slightly bumped at the presentation. Gone were the vibrant plate and banana leaf. Served in white basic plates came the chicken, burnt vegetables, and weirdly presented mashed potato. In terms of taste, the chicken was definitely the same: succulent and smoky but the mashed potato had no creaminess or the use of any cheese. The Mushroom Soup was quite decent but I would have preferred it having more cream and the bread, toasted. The drinks were the same as of Beach Resort, so we were pleased with that. The ambience of Mermaid Café was quite nice at night with a candlelit setting. But they definitely have room for improvement in terms of cleanliness.

I don’t know how but the next day we wound up at Mermaid Café for a light snack. I decided to go back to ordering a Margherita and regretted it so bad! The pizza was nowhere close to the one I had at the Beach Resort; neither in terms of the look nor the taste. The dough was undercooked, the base under seasoned and the look sloppy.

While the prices are quite on the expensive side and the ++ doesn’t help the wallet either, I would highly recommend anyone visiting Cox’s Bazar to drop by Mermaid Beach Resort during evening. I know a lot of tourists choose to go to the Café instead of the Resort due to the location but in spite of having the same menu, Mermaid Beach Resort provides food and service which is a hundred times better. Honestly, I have never felt so at ease in any other restaurant of Bangladesh as I did here.

Dhaka, Sep 20, UNB -- Everyone dreams of a unique wedding to make their D-Day a memorable one. But German aerial artist Anna Traber took things to a whole new level after she tied the knot with her partner Sven Lier at a ceremony, literally hanging in the air! The usual venues like a church or a pristine beach or a scenic park were replaced with a crowded market area with curious onlookers snapping pictures of the unusual scene, reports The Indian Express

For her special day, the 33-year-old bride and groom were both suspended from a tightrope sitting together on a flower-covered swing. Even the registrar was lifted off the ground for more than 20 feet in the air. Yes, seated on a trapeze opposite the couple, the ritual was quite high on energy.

The one-of-a-kind ceremony began when father-of-the-bride Johann Traber, drove the duo over the thin cable on a motorcycle! And the registrar, Breisach’s mayor Oliver Rein (CDU) was driven by the bride’s brother Falko Traber on the tightrope on a motorbike as well, BiLD reported.

The wedding took place on a sunny Saturday afternoon in the market square of her hometown Breisach near Freiburg and drew a big crowd. Later, photos of the ceremony went viral online.

Dhaka, Sept 12 (UNB) – The long-awaited Meet and Greet event with Nabela Noor is just around the corner! The popular social media personality and beauty activist will be making an appearance in the city on Saturday, 14 September at the Lakeshore Hotel.

The event ‘Meet and Greet Nabela Noor’ has created huge interest amongst her fans in the city and many like-minded brands are gearing up for the upcoming event.

Emerald Events is organising the event while news agency, United News of Bangladesh (UNB) as its media partner.

Commencing at 11am, the event will continue till 5pm in two separate sessions.

Nabela, a Bangladeshi-American, is popularly known as beauty activitist, lover and vlogger amongst her fans and followers. She is also the Founder and CEO of Zeba, a size inclusive, self love-focused movement and clothing brand. Zeba’s mission is to challenge sizing norms and beauty standards.

Her YouTube fans expressed excitement over her visit to Bangladesh through various comments.

Nabela was a guest speaker at  United Nations on multiple occasions. Most recently, she starred in an AT&T-produced series about body positivity called The Bright Fight.

In social media, more than 7 lakh people follow Nabila on Youtube while over 12 lakh on Instagram and more than a lakh on Facebook.

People who are interested to meet the Nabela Noor can buy tickets for the event available at Gulshan’s Hairbar parlour and Bristro-E restaurant.

Prices for the tickets are at Tk 1200/- for gold and Tk 2500/- for platinum.

Inglot cosmetics, Kona by Farnaz Alam, Gala cosmetics, lashes and other fantastic brands will be present at the event with their products and services.

La vie en rose will be participating for the first time and taking orders for their beautiful evergreen roses.

Sugar Rush Cupcakery will also be giving out some scrumptious samples at the event.

Cape Town will be displaying its fabulous outfits which are made for all shapes and sizes. Powder Room will be offering special discounts on their salon services.

Hair Bar is offering free hair-makeovers for a few lucky winners only at the event.

Miniso’s pink panther will also be present with their products.

Snapshot, the premium photography and cinematography service providers, will be covering the entire event.

Lasha, Sept 4 (Xinhua/UNB) -- More than 1,500 new words and expressions have been added to Tibetan vocabulary since 2018, authorities from southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region said.

The list includes frequently used expressions in politics, finance, the internet, over 500 terms related to electric power and 150-plus terms involving Tibetan Opera and traditional Tibetan dances, according to the regional committee on the standardization of the Tibetan language translation.

Many of the expressions once largely emerged in Mandarin but were absent in Tibetan language, such as the famous gesture "finger heart," the short-video sharing app "Tik Tok" which is also known as Douyin, and the "rushing clan," a slang describing people born between 1975 and 1985 who work hard and play hard.

Currently, the list has been published to the public in various ways such as bulletins, mini dictionaries, websites, newspapers and magazines.

"Our job is to serve the grassroots. Take the translation of poverty-relief policies as an example. Only when ordinary Tibetans understand them can we better put these preferential policies into practice," said Gyayum Chogyal, deputy director with the committee.

Established in 2005, the committee has been collecting, translating and reviewing words that were absent in the existing Tibetan language. So far, the committee has reviewed and standardized around 10,000 new words and terms in Tibetan vocabulary.

Tibetan is a millennia-old language mainly spoken in Tibet Autonomous Region and Tibetan areas in four provinces, with subtle variations across the regions.

Berlin, Sep 2 (AP/UNB) — A zoo in Berlin is celebrating the arrival of two panda cubs, the first time one of the rare mammals has given birth in Germany.

Zoo Berlin said Monday that mother Meng Meng gave birth to a hand-sized pink cub at 6:54 p.m. Saturday.

According to the zoo, mothering came naturally to the 6-year-old panda: "She placed the tiny creature gently on her belly and began to warm it lovingly with her big paws, warm breath, and the soft fur of her cheeks."

An hour later, its twin was born.

Keepers only confirmed last week that Meng Meng was pregnant. She had mated with 9-year-old partner Jiao Qing in April, and was also artificially inseminated to increase the likelihood of pregnancy.

Meng Meng and Jiao Qing arrived from China in June 2017.