Victoria Station in Kuala Lumpur

Check out our non-smoking cabin. 

We're at Victoria Station having dinner after what I think is a very productive Sunday (did the groceries and everything). And I am blogging on location. My husband is busy with the camera as usual and the waiter has taken our order.

Victoria Station is on Jalan Ampang near the Chinese Embassy. Its an isolated building (not in a mall..yayy~). In the car, hubs had given me a choice: "My darling darling wife, shall we eat at Victoria Station or Madame Kwan's?" My reply: "Victoria Station please, I've already done a review on Madame Kwan's". He hits the gas pedal, does his crazy James Bond turns and we were parked behind Victoria Station in less than 5 minutes. I am telling you, his Waja is growing on me. It's got a good grip on the road too when hubs does his emergency brakes which is at least 5 times per trip--and that's from the house to the nearest G-mart store. 

But anyway. This ain't no proton review or of hubs driving skills. We are having dinner in a static train coach: at the best seat in the house! Although I must say, I have been on the tubes at Victoria Station in London and the coaches are nothing like this. This is more like the inside of a pirate ship with curtains from your grandma's recycled baju kurung. Regardless, the setting is comfortable and different and it's not everyday you eat steak in an unmoving cabin. All other restaurants I've been to serve food in a room.

Our food has arrived--very fast. We had both ordered steak. I went for Colonial steak--the most cheapest item on the menu at RM35.90. Actually, second cheapest. The cheapest is Minute steak which is a ringgit less and probably would have arrived earlier. Mazlan ordered T-bone steak at RM65.90. Wife is feeling generous and she told him to go for it. Actually, wife nearly forced him at steak-knife point for the priviledge of paying. Lucky wife.

check out the buns! Yep, we get free buns and butter while we wait for order
to arrive. They've clinched it! A++

Colonial Steak. Mine. B

T-bone steak. Cooked medium well perfectly. B+!

The steaks are good. Chew. Chew. Mmm~~!...Done medium well and quite luxurious. This cow has had much oxygen from the fresh mountains of New Zealand. Lucky cow. If you'd notice, I rarely order red meat because---as the Brits would put it---it's not my cuppa, but the full page introductory section in the giant menu has sucked me right in. Apparently, the Victorian Stationers started off as butlers for the Brits. They mastered how the Brits got their steaks done, improvised on the technique, quit work as butlers and started their own steak business. Suddenly butlerless, the Brits now needed to get new help, and having lost their focus, got ushered out of Malaysia in the process. Merdeka!

Just in case I told it wrong. Here it is.
[Click to read].

For convenience in parking, good food, fast service, free buns and and an unusual dinner setting, head to Victoria Station. Remember it is not a train station nor a bus station. It is a food station. I must say a special thank you to my husband for his kind company. It must be awful having dinner with wife while she blogs after every mouthful. Will try to chat animatedly with you in car on way home instead of holding tightly to door handle Yang.

This is the entrance.

Victoria Station, 
Kuala Lumpur

Cleanliness: A
Food: B
Price: Expensive. RM135 for us both.
Satisfaction Level: B+
Service: A++ superb. I thought they might know I blogged on food or something.
Atmosphere: A --loved the coach setting. Very adventurous.


May Allah help the victims and families of MH370 during this testing period. Only He is capable of all things.. Ameen...

Suraya Kpg Baru: fresh fish, fast service~~

Check out the telur dadar --- my favourite!!

Welcome to another edition of food intertwined with another flash of my life with my homies. Thank you to Allah for all the blessings He bestows on myself and my family. May we always be grateful servants.

This was us on our way back to Bangi from Ampang Point, where we had spent the whole afternoon at Harvey Normon quizzing the enthusiastic salesman on all aspects of Television and ended up not buying anything. His name is Wan so if you ever find yourself there (there's a sale going on at Harvey's up until the 30th of this month and all the cool flat-screen TV's are virtually free), please seek him out so that he will get the commission he deserves.

So in the car my husband asks me in his Ulu Klang accent: my darling wife, where should we go eat? My answer was: "rice and no malls. How about Kampung Baru?" I can't remember what he said in reply but he did a U-turn and lo and behold we where in Kampung Baru in 3 minutes. It must be the new LED lights in the car. 

Kiki :: Taiwanese, anyone?

Me and Kak Shan

Numerous people have been telling me that I need to do more reviews of KL restaurants. So I am obliging as I wait for the Faculty CNY celebration pending at 4:30 pm (that's in 15 minutes). Lets see if I can get a post out in 15 minutes. Dress code today: RED! Red psychology is very interesting, so to speak:

1. Extroverted, optimistic, courageous and confident.
2. action oriented and physically active
3. center of attention
4. radiate a great deal of energy
5. ambitious and competitive
6. explorers and pioneers
7. passion and enthusiasm for life
8. always in a hurry, wanting to do everything right now, patience is not your best virtue. (my husband was right)
9. does not procrastinate (this is a LIE)
10. hard worker (this too)
11. flare up quickly, calm down quickly 
12. strong need for control associated with basic survival instincts
13. somewhat of a know-it-all, not wanting to appear ignorant
14. determined when you want something, but have a short attention span (in my mom's favourite words: HHTA hangat hangat tahi ayam, as if all other animals have cold t***).

Gobo Chit Chat: Delightfully Special..

Gabo Chit Chat's favourite customers :)

This is blogged on location as I wait for hubs to come back to the table with his 5th plate of food. Gobo Chit Chat is one of those places that calls for a write-up immediately. Let me just say that it's just us two this time-- and we are out on a date to rejunvenate our love (ha ha ha). We had just spent the entire afternoon at AEON Seri Kembangan trying out the massive body-crushing massage chairs at what felt like a free day at the spa and then we headed straight for Gobo Chit Chat at Traders Hotel.

Citrus BV2: Wicked Food!

With one of my wicked sister.  Does she look familiar? 

This was a weekend brunch with my Wicked Sisters, kak Shan and Kak Sarr. So called because we went to see Wicked together a lifetime ago in Singapore. That, and because we really are wicked. Sometimes.

Seoul garden: k-pop buffet

Birthday boy is on far right.

Let's get one thing straight: Seoul Garden does not serve soul food. That would be zikir and lots of remembrance of The Creator; or in my husband's case a whole round of Mufti Menk lectures. No. We went to Seoul Garden for Hafiz's birthday. And with five paying souls, birthday boy eats free.

Hard Rock Cafe KL: for my birthday!!

(Click on pictures to enlarge. Credits to Mazlan Mahdi for the awesome pictures).

Checking out the (expensive) menu.

I guess I am penning this one down more for the memories than the food. Because definitely HRC serves great food. That goes without saying. 

I've been to all the HRC on the east coast of the united states, and several in Europe just for the sake of the hurricane glass (takder keje I know). But somehow when I landed in KL back in 2007, my HRC-glass collecting days were O-V-E-R. The adventuresome little voice inside me now sees life through more sensible lenses. Collecting HRC glasses doesn't bring any worthwhile benefits. Time to move on to more interesting stuff, -- like cameras. Or the hot PMO who's been sending me facebook messages. 

So, essentially, this is my first visit to HRC KL.

My Apple crumble. Which I wouldn't have ordered
if I knew there was cake coming...

Armand and Qayyums Burger. One each.

Mac and Cheese with Garlic Bread. From the kid's menu. Iman's

Fish and Chips. From the kid's menu. Shima's.
She thought she was on a diet. 

Here's what we ordererd: fish and chips (A-), beef burgers (A++), pasta (A), and warm sensuous apple crumble splurged with fresh vanilla ice-cream (soo good its sinful). 

Towards the end of lunch, after everyone had dutifully paid the restroom a visit and popped their balloons ---a kind little lady dropped by our table and made everyone balloon hats and balloon bracelets (I don't know if she's commissioned to do so or homeless)--- this pretty waiter suddenly appears carrying chocolate cake with lighted candles and asks me to stand up on the chair. 

Then he shouts really loudly: birthday girl in the house!!! (or something like that anyway) and suddenly the entire restaurant was singing happy birthday at the top of their lungs like I'm their best friend and they owe me money. I was blushing light peach under my BB cream; it was an extremely embarrassing moment. Standing on a chair reminds me of that day I didn't finish my maths homework, so it wasn't really a huge honour. And Mazlan recorded the entire scenario. But he's going to burn it on a DVD and keep it in a box under his bed because his wife looks too cute on camera on her 26th birthday.

My HRC birthday cake. Just the right size. Because we were STUFFED.

As we left Hard Rock Cafe, we stopped by the HRC souvenir shop and Mazlan got me a hard-rock glass as momento to this memorable afternoon -- adding one more glass to my collection. In return, I got him a Zippo HRC lighter even as my brain screamed you're encouraging him to smoke. Never mind. I love him just the way he is. In sickness and in health. Insya'allah.

Love ALL, serve ALL.
Makes me feel all warm inside.

So love all, serve all, is the catchphrase at HRC. Try going to Hard Rock Cafe KL in your yellowish bullet-ridden singlet and green quack slippers and see if they'll let you pass the door. Make sure you record the entire scene and send me a copy. That will teach them for making me stand on that chair.

Me and Balloon woman's friend.

Before food.

Hard Rock Cafe, 

Kuala Lumpur

Cleanliness: A

Food: A (all American-food)

Price: I am guessing approx RM400 for entire family. Thanks abang. If we went to KFC for my birthday I would still have been happy. Well maybe not as happy but still happy laa....

Satisfaction level: A (my family rocks!!)

Service: A (waiters were nice)

Atmosphere: A 

posted from Bloggeroid

Al-Ulfah: Arabic Food, Rocking Malaysian Flavour!

Click on pictures to enlarge.

Mazlan's 

Awesome mint tea!

Al-Ulfa is this little restaurant by 7/11 Ampang. The tagline: Arabic Food, Malaysian Flavour! Mazlan had been going on about the place ages. He took me there approximately 5 months after he first mentioned it, so now I kindoff have a rough idea of how long it will take for him to do something once he's set his mind on it (i.e., approximately half a year). That means we'll hit Legoland sometime in April 2013. And I should be getting my ring sometime next month. :P

Ikea :: meatballs galore!

This was last weekends trip to Ikea. After an afternoon at the swimming pool at the Cyberjaya Community Center, with the kids choking on water so keruh you can't see two fingers poked into your goggles, Mazlan thought it was time to head back to civilization. That would be dinner at IKEA apparently.

Since I hadn't done a review for quite some time it seems (and you noticed Picasa has wiped out all my pictures from this blog -- oh well), Mazlan out of the goodness of his heart ordered the entire menu at Ikea-- even though all I ever wanted was the meatballs. Instead, I ended up with the Creamy Salmon and Fish & Chips. In retrospect though, thank goodness and alhamdulillah everyone was hungry and none of the food went to waste.

Begin review..

Ben's -- Grey restaurant with food full of colour!

Don't take Ben seriously folks.

This lunch experience occurred few light-years back at Ben's, a restaurant on the 1st floor of KLCC-- tucked away behind the escalator right next to the overpriced Godiva chocolate store. For obvious reasons, Ben has always reminded me of Michael Jackson's pet mouse; the one he sang passionately about. Ben and  Jerry's ice-cream comes to mind too, readily accessible in little tubs at the Blockbuster video store right across the street from campus way back when I was slaving for my degree in some foreign country. Unfortunately, Ben was also the bear actor that killed Brad Pitt in Legends of the Fall. Now Ben has come back in the form of a restaurant to haunt me. 

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)

Sakura Kristal :: Calm, Serene, Relaxing Atmosphere with great food!

This entry is special in itself. It was lunch at Sakura Kristal a few weeks back with Mazlan on his 30++ birthday. By the by, Mazlan is this guy who came into my life and swept me off my feet at a rate of 343 m/s; thats the speed of sound at regular atmospheric pressure in 20 degrees celcius. For us audio engineers, the frequency domain does have it's benefits: for one thing, nobody probably understands what we talk about to each other mostly because it's below 20 Hz. Like now.

The menu

The original plan for Mazlan's birthday was actually the KL tower for lunch, over a pseudo-romantic view of KL in the hot blazing sun as we sip on fizzy apple asam boi not holding hands. But at the last minute we did a detour and instead attended a business talk somewhere in KL that morning, visited his mom in Melawati in the afternoon, followed by my grandmom in Sungai Buluh in the evening and finally coffee with his old school friends in Hartamas later that night. Talk about a Saturday full of new introductions. We couldn't fit in (DS) Najib if we wanted to. Not that we wanted to. No, definitely not.

View from where we sat. Hills in the  background.

I so so loved the place. It was open-air and vast! The tent of a ceiling was some 100 feet above, so lots of fresh air. There was a mild breeze coming from green hills you could see in the distance, and a gigantic propeller for a fan that looked like it had been confiscated from one of those old ancient planes the Wrong brothers crashed. The menu was not bad either: a wide variety of local and western cuisine at pretty reasonable prices. I was so impressed with the place, I presented Mazlan with a small birthday present which I had actually thought of saving for next year. It was that nice~.

Do stop by the restaurant if you are in the Zoo Negara area. If only for the serenity and calming effect if not for the half-starved animals. It definitely worked for me.

Mine. Fetuccini alfredo. Delicious. I wiped the plate clean.

His. Nasi goreng black pepper steak. He wiped the plate clean!

Having fed me really well, (and some private breathing exercises),  he took me to meet his mom. And for the record, it was a good meeting, alhamdulillah. :)

Jasmine Tea. A++

Sakura Kristal
Taman Melawati, Kuala Lumpur

Cleanliness: A
Food: A
Price: I am guessing around RM50 for two people. Thank you Mazlan!
Satisfaction Level: A++
Service: A
Atmosphere: A+++ (I loved it, I can set up camp there).





p/s thank you to my regular visitors. Sorry I haven't been updating a lot lately. Will catch up soon. Insya'Allah.

Insaf: ordinary place, outstanding briyani!

My nasi briyani and chicken ayam madu.
So gorgeous.. A++

When Izham told me he wanted to take me to the best briyani place in the whole of Malaysia, I was pretty skeptical. Best briyani place? In Malaysia, really? Briyani tastes the same everywhere, and FCM has briyani that is good enough already. For me at least. And for Miza too, my personal consultant on mamak food and mamak food expert.

We arrived around 6:45 pm, the time we were told to arrive before they confiscated our table and handed it over to someone else. The restaurant was quaint, sweet and squeeky clean, and reminded me of those small cafe's in Portugal that had a big Hola signboard outside only the locals knew about. There were few people seated already looking starved. Two bored looking couples who didn't look like they knew each sat together at the next table, and it eventually dawned on me that the restauranteurs seated them randomly to save on space. Thank goodness we had our own table -- I thought, before an odd couple from Bangsar were seated beside us few minutes later. 

Apples that rock~~

Mango juice and veggie acar. A++

When the azan finally came on, the restaurant was in full-blown bustling mode. We both ordered the nasi beriyani with ayam madu, and, in the anticipation, I forgot to ask for chicken thigh and got a big chunk of chicken breast plopped onto my rice. The meal also included veggie acar, dal sauce, dates, an apple each, mineral water and mango juice. And though I was enjoying the evening I still was a bit skeptical about the whole Best-Briyani-in-Malaysia-business Izham was selling me. So I took my time munching on my apple and watched everyone dig into their food wholeheartedly. Even the couples at the next table seem to be friendlier to each other after buka. It's called briyani-breaking.

By the way, the apple was so crunchy and sweet, I would have gone to eat there if only for the apple. 

Finally, in deliberate slo-mo, I started on my briyani. And from the first mouthful, I was literally blown away~. It was so gorgeous. Better than Bangi's briyani house 3 times over, and better than FCM's by more than 7 on the Richter scale. The chicken, although breast-meat, was incredibly tender for some incomprehensible reason. I wonder what the chefs put in it. I guessed ginger, but I couldn't even taste a hint. I guess we'll never know unless I work there.

There you have it, I concur, hands in the air, you were right, the best briyani I have ever tasted, and trust me, I have tried briyani all over the united nations including Saudi, Dubai, London and New York. The uncle slipped the bill under my plate, so I knew how much our meal cost, as if he subtlety wanted me to know how grateful I should be! Alhamdulillah! And thank you Izham, for the apple.

jazakallahukhairan kasiran!

Restoran Insaf
Jalan TAR, Kuala Lumpur
(address and phone number on left)

Cleanliness: A
Food: A++
Price: RM40 complete meal for 2 people. Add RM5 for parking at the back.
Satisfaction Level: B+ I wished we didn't share tables. It was a squish and a squeeze.
Service: A - fast and friendly
Atmosphere: A. Friendly Malaysian hospitality. Like MAS. Except the waiters dressed appropriately.