Lunch at F.EAST

Again, I had some time this afternoon to sort out some family stuff and at the end, decided to have lunch with Anita. Anita picked the spot, a new fusion cafe on the second floor of Bangsar Village II called F.EAST.

Initially I thought it was going to be one of those typical western cafe. But it turned out that the majority of the menu items had local flavour in them. The menu read "asam laksa", "mee sup", "nasi ayam" etc. But looking at the restaurant at first glance, you would not have guessed it.

Lover the decor!So 70sGorgeous lightingI just loved the chairs and tablesThe decor was also different. It had a definite 70's styling to it. Furniture-wise at least. I especially loved the lighting. Very reminiscent of my childhood.

The food was not half bad either. I had the asam laksa. Not perfect, but good enough. Mine could do with some boiled eggs and better laksa, although the "otak udang" was a nice touch. The soup was faultless however.

Anita's koey teow soupThe "otak udang" was a nice touchThe pandan chiffon cake. Terbaek!I would definitely go there again, and compared to other more established cafe at the mall, the place was still empty. Hopefully the business would pick up in the next few months because the cafe offered something different.

P/S: Try the pandan chiffon cake. It was dynamite!

Lunch at Al Halabi

It was not often that a restaurant which looked good on the outside, served good food. At least not often here in Kuala Lumpur. So, Anita and I decided to be a bit more adventurous this Sunday lunchtime and for some reason, I fancied some Arab food. I passed by this particular restaurant on a newly opened section of Pavilion recently but it was too late for lunch then.

So, I decided to give this one a go. It was called Al Halabi, located on the seventh floor, through the escalator near Times Bookstore. It was part of a new section called Dining Loft.

It was spacious with a separate seating area in filled with natural light right at the back. A lot of shisha smoker back there, so we decided to take one of the seats in the main area. Very nice setting, true to Middle Eastern theme, with some of the waiters who were actually Arabic.

The cooks were definitely from the Middle East and they have a butcher there preparing fresh meat and ingredients, plus a baker who actually baked the puffs and bread traditionally. The grilling was also done in-house as well and the produce were displayed by the main counter as if you were sitting in a market. It was reminiscent of Marche.

What did we order? I started with some hummus with sliced grilled meat, and for the mains I had grilled pomfret while Anita had chicken tikka. We had some rice with them and I had some Arabic mint tea in the end.

I was impressed. I could feel the succulent fish melting in my mouth and the dips were amazing. Even the mint sauce tasted authentic - and made from real mint - while the rice was a joy. The mint in the tea was a touch to light to be honest and it finished up tasting rather bitter.

We gave up on desserts since we were just too full.

The seats were very comfortable as we were on a sofa, and I now understood why the patron seemed to sit down there for hours! We ended up sitting there for nearly a couple of hours, nibbling away at our food, before finally leaving the place. The staff were OK, although the Arabs struggled somewhat with their English. The other staffs who spoke English were Filipino or Bangladeshi. How I wished that the locals would work there, as I could see that most of the patron were locals.

Highly recommended although I hope that they could maintain their standard in the future. The place was still rather new when we visited.

Quiet Town

It was Deepavali Eve and I observed that the city centre was rather quiet tonight. We were on our way back from Great Eastern Mall for a quick dinner, fully expecting congested traffic en route home. But there were not too much to see.

The few stalls and restaurants opened also appeared deserted. Rather strange to be quite honest. Maybe it was the sign of the economy slowing down ..... but the surprise was even the Indonesian were staying in ....

Deepavali Morning

The morning started early with a few phone calls, which prompted an early ward round. Once that was done, I realised it was still early and the admission had yet to start.

I had a quick read on the Facebook and found out that some friends were actually having breakfast nearby. Anita suggested that we join them and I went straight to pick Anita up and join them for breakfast-cum-lunch.

It was a nice sunny morning to kick the day offTime to leave the apartmentWished I could've taken all these along ...

This was followed by an easy morning while waiting for the calls, carrying through lunch with a bit of shopping thrown in before I drove back to the hospital. The admission carried on until it was time to head back to the apartment for dinner, and I was just waiting for prayers before heading back to the hospital. Hopefully it would wind up early tonight as I had to start early tomorrow, plus the drive to Parkcity.

Happy Deepavali

Unfortunately somebody had to be on call, and per the last few years, it had been me. But to be perfectly honest, I don't really mind. As long as somebody can cover my Raya breaks, I would be more than happy.

Deepavali this year fell on a Tuesday. Most of my Indian staffs were still working on Monday, with only Tuesday being off. The day after the call - Wednesday - would be slightly awkward since I had to rush across to Parkcity for the morning clinic before coming back for the afternoon one at Subang. I imagined I would be flat out by Wednesday evening. My children on the other hand had been enjoying a four-day weekend as school was closed today - Monday.

At Sunway PyramidAt Bangsar VillageAs for tonight, I had the chance to take Anita and the boys to Great Eastern Mall for a spot of dinner. The place appeared rather subdued, with very minimal ceremonial decorations. We headed back after the apartment shortly after I could do with an early night ....

To all my friends and colleagues, Happy Deepavali!