Bangi Briyani: First class Briyani :: World Class Tauhu Bakar~~

Kambing briyani. A++

I've done a review on Bangi Briyani before, but I don't think I did the place justice then because I didn't order briyani. But on this particular visit, I did. In fact we ordered chicken (me) and kambing (Mazlan) briyani, and to put it mildly-- it was fantalicious (i.e., fantastically delicious). I hereby declare Bangi Briyani one of the best briyani houses in Bandar Baru Bangi. Please keep in mind however, there's only 3 briyani places in Bangi to my knowledge and this is the only one I've been to so far, so we'll keep the praises in moderation. Or, quoting Mazlan's favorite word: wassatiah. For me, the expression would be: Paling sedap! kot. (To his annoyance).

The restaurant is located on the row of shop lots behind Az Zahra and An-Nur hospitals. For 3 pm, there was quite a pleasant crowd.  An old school friend with his family came in and sat themselves at the next table.  Surprisingly he still recognized me and came over to say hi, albeit I have less pimples, brown contacts (as oppose to my nerdy glasses) and a new guy within a 5 m radius. Powerful thing is the brain; a fact which never cease to amaze me. They can never do that with a video/image recognition system. The new guy would set off an intruder alert alarm and the system would shut down. 

Chicken briyani. A++

Mazlan went genius that day and ordered the tauhu bakar. I have never been a big fan of tauhu related products but the dish was superblicious (in case you're wondering, it's two-word-combination night). It was crunchy and fresh and could kick Chef Wan off the Asian food channel forever. The peanut sauce was divine and contrary to popular belief, it is not the same as kuah satay. They must have used some very high quality dried shrimp to make it too because I didn't break out spotty the next day. Good stuff.

So there you have it: delicious briyani and mind-blowing crunchy superb tauhu bakar, excellent menu selection, friendly waiters, cozy sofas, fast service and fresh ingredients, complete with old school mates as fellow diners. You know what you need to do next:

buy property in Bangi.

Tauhu Bakar. Superb. Go for it. 

Bangi Briyani, 

Bandar Baru Bangi

Cleanliness: B+

Food: A

Price: Around RM50 for two people including drinks and appetizers. Thank you Mazlan. You're the best :)

Satisfaction Level: A+

Service: A+  

Atmosphere: A. Nice crowd, calming atmosphere, comfortable seats.

That Cafe @ Balai Seni Islam Kuala Lumpur

Hisham, KakShan, Shima & Mazlan! Selamat Pengantin Baru!

This entry is really about the cafe at the end of our visit to Balai Seni Islam. But to recap the highlights of the day, we first stopped by kak Shan's--my wicked Vandy cum Maxis sister's--nikah ceremony that morning. I ended up handing her mom ang pau in a Maxis Hari Raya envelope like a cheeky school girl, but that's because I accidentally left her present behind and it was the only envelope I could dig up in the car. Awfully sorry kak Shan. Will Poslaju your prezzie as soon as Mazlan signs the card. 

Next, we stopped by the Tugu Negara monument because the patriotic side of Mazlan had found out I had never been. In retrospect, I remember feeling a deep sense of appreciation for the warriors who fought for our country, something which you kind off miss out from the tiny picture in the textbook, no matter how long you drool over it. Why on earth didn't my teachers organize a school trip to Tugu Negara? Now I know the source of all this annoyance I've been carrying around my entire life. The weight is finally lifted off my shoulders.

An old hand-written Qur'an..

Chinese calligraphy of Bismillah

And finally, we stopped by Balai Seni Islam, an art gallery in Kuala Lumpur which had more pieces in the souvenir shop than the entire collection on all three floors. But, there were some really nice pieces that stood out in my mind: a beautifully hand-written Qur'an from long ago with only few verses on a each page, a Chinese calligraphy of Bismillah, a pretty kurung-like dress with enormous sleeves that would make me feel like a beautiful princess.

The daggers mesmerized Mazlan the most. He had a piece of steel he wanted to de-daggerized from since I knew him--so we were checking out all the designs from Mughal and Iran because that's where they all seem to come from. We do know the secret of an everlasting dagger-&-owner relationship though, thanks to his wikipedia friends. And since this knowledge may get lost in the modernization era of Malaysia, I am just going to put it down here for the reference of our children and children's children because its really important*: the length of the blade must match the distance between the two nipples of the owner. (Custom-make one would be your best shot). Surprising huh. Well, at keast now you realize why you're not so crazy about the coveted, ancient, priceless dagger your grandpop left you. You need to workout more. 

Shwerma and latte. A++

And final stop was the cafe, and oh was it serene. It became fun discussing the menu although there were only two food sets available to order: baklava or chicken schwerma. That's a 50-50% chance I would choose a dish I love, or regretted--the highest to date. There was definitely not enough data to plot out a probability density function and write code to make a decision. So I just ordered what Mazlan did: the schawerma and latte. It was delicious. It took ages to arrive but I was feeling really forgiving that day, mainly because I messed up with KakShan's wedding present. Thus the waiter received a smile f.o.c. and Mazlan didn't punch him.

So stop by the Balai Seni Islam Negara and then the cafe. And then shop till you drop at the souvenir shop next door. They have some pretty wild quality stuff there. Don't forget to drop by Tugu Negara too with your kids. You don't want to deprive them of the Tugu Negara experience like I was. I know they'll be overwhelmed by the size. It's gigantic.

That Cafe @ Balai Seni Islam, 

Kuala Lumpur

Cleanliness: A++

Food: A 

Price: ~RM35 for two. Thank you Mazlan :) 

Satisfaction Level: A

Service: B 

Atmosphere: A++ serene. I could spend the entire day there reading.

*if google can really look up this info from a food-blog!

Just Thai :: Just try it~

Chicken with cashews and dried chilis

Once again, I am expanding my territory beyond Bangi and Cyber. This review is on Just Thai in One Utama way over in PJ. Mazlan had a business meeting that afternoon which requires lots of muffins and coffee at shopping malls--much to my amazement and stupefaction, seeing as we never ever relocate our faculty meetings to Starbucks or even that mamak place across the street. Anyway, at the end of it, he sent his driver over to fetch me and join him for dinner. (In the perfect world that is how it would have happened. Of course I had to drive there myself in 6 o'clock traffic.)

So after maghrib prayer we scoured through the mall looking for a suitable restaurant. We passed by Kenny Rogers a few times but ironically on that day, Mazlan for once in his life didn't check my facebook status (it was "mengidam Kenny Rogers...") and being the extremely bashful person that I am, I couldn't figure out how to get him to click on his FB app without it seeming too obvious. He only read it out sometime later, while we chewed on desert *tongue in cheek!*. 

Fish cakes.

Tom yam. A++. Go for it!

But anyway, the Just Thai place was just marvelous. Definitely not my first Thai restaurant, but definitely the first Thai restaurant that got me blogging and that's saying a lot.  In the last intentional Thai food excursion (which I would rather forget), Nadia discovered cicak eggs in the tom yam and we swore Never Again. The curse is finally over! Though I would never reveal the restaurant name because they might have become a better place since then........ 

somewhere in Cyber. Near the street mall.

Belacan Kangkung.

The menu looked too complicated after a long day of work so we ordered the dinner set that was on offer. It came with rice, some 3 dishes, appetizer and desert. The Tom Yam was the most delicious entree, I couldn't get enough of it. It had santan (coconut milk) in it, something which I would never ever dream of putting into tom yam, but somehow it works. The fish cakes, chicken and the belacan kangkung was nice. The pandan jelly was good too, although it was a bit hard because it had too much agar-agar in it. But maybe that's how it was meant to be. You can never be too sure with these Siamese dishes. They probably toned down on a few ingredients to get it going for us Malaysians and that halal certification.

So the verdict? Just Thai comes highly recommended. Just give it a try. Just once!

Pandan Jelly. Very hard.

Just Thai

One Utama, PJ

Cleanliness: A+

Food: A

Price: Set A for 2 people. ~RM50++. Thank you Mazlan :)

Satisfaction Level: A+

Service: A++ waiters very friendly, food quick to arrive.

Atmosphere: A (nice crowd)