Iftar at Sri Ayuttahaya

It was work last night, but tonight iftar was with family. Destination, Sri Ayutthaya in Wangsa Maju, one of the more upmarket-looking Thai restaurant around where I live.

I couldn't pretend that I like the place, but for the family, it was about the go-to place as far as Thai food restaurant if we were planning a family do. Good ambiance, clean environment, not bad food, but with a good efficient service - if the place was not packed that was.

The upper floor was kept empty for the evening.So, for fear of the place being crowded and full car park, we set off early. We were there well before 7, and we later found out that the restaurant was only half full. Instead of having a buffet spread, the restaurant offered a Ramadhan set menu for Iftar, making selection easy and food preparation straight forward. We know exactly what to expect, and the food came in early as well as they were pre-prepared.

It was my brother-in-law's treat this time and he was the one doing the ordering. We had the usual selection of tomyam soup, soft-shell crabs, vegetables and fish as part of the set. Food quality was pretty OK, but for the amount you paid, you would really expect something special in the meal. In the scheme of things, it was just about fine.

The food came thick and fastWe ordered separately for the boys. They had some fried rice. As you can see, the tomyam just looked too menacing for them.The fish was definitely the best dish of the night. And it didn't take long to finish it off .....The boys had to cool down after the sweet dessert.Time to go .....You couldn't fault the ambiance and service though, but bear in mind that the place was only half full. A couple of years back, we came here for a usual dinner and the service was rather poor. It was better tonight, but the food remained the same. I would recommend the sister outlet in Damansara if food quality was the one you were looking for.

For dessert, we had the firm favourite, water chestnut. On the whole, we quite enjoyed the dinner tonight. We ordered separately for the boys as the food were too spicy for them to stomach. 

Return to Sudu

I was treated to iftar yesterday by one of the Pharmaceutical company. They checked on me last week to see which outlet I preferred, and I said Latest Recipe at Le Meridien. Unfortunately, we were not able to get a table there, and had to settle for Sudu at KL Hilton, right next to Le Meridien itself at KL Sentral.

Getting there was surprisingly breezy as I thought that I would be late as I could only leave the hospital at 6.30. There was virtually no traffic, until I enter KL Sentral. It was a bit of a struggle to get a parking spot, but I got there in ample time.

We soon settled to our table, and I went to survey the spread. I must say that compared to last year, the place had got much better. The selection of food was good, although not as expansive as Latest Recipe. The place was crowded, with some makeshift table lined up at the corridor by the entrance. Luckily we booked early and our table was right next to the starters and Japanese bar. Great!

Maghrib came, and we started eating. And I must say, compared again to last year, the food was better. The biryani and roast lamb was a bit on the dry side, but I have never been a fan of roasted lamb anyway, so I gave that a miss. The Japanese was good. There was nothing to shout about at the Malay food counter. I had some kebab and satay, while for the main, I took some biryani with some chicken and fish.

But the dessert was superb, and so were the drinks. I imagine that the price here would be steep, and given the choice, I would definitely go to Latest Recipe instead. But given how disappointed I was at Sudu last year, this was quite a nice surprise. The other thing I dislike about having iftar at KL Sentral - be it at Latest Recipe or Sudu - was the surau is located on the lower levels by the car park. You would have to walk far from the restaurant to get there. The management could do a lot better.

Would I come here again? Definitely, if I was not the one picking the tab. If I was the one paying, I would definitely go across to Latest Recipe ….

Apple TV

It took a fair while before Apple TV was released in Malaysia. It was partly due to the limitation of Malaysian App Store, which until only recently sold songs and movies. It was only purely applications prior to that, although it did not stop me from having both the US and UK app store accounts for my fix of movies and videos.

The Apple TV was surprisingly affordable at RM350, but compared to Western Digital media hubs and the like, it was pretty limited in terms of what it could do. But what ever it could do, typically of Apple, it did them well. It could stream. From iTunes. And that was it biggest selling point. And it streamed media directly from the iPads and Macs very well, although at a very noticeable latency.

The unit was much smaller than I expectedAnd it came with a slick remote unitTypical of Apple, it came in a nice tidy packageIt could also perform AirPlay, a way of turning the TV into a computer screen remotely, but the latency and lag were just too long. It was unusable at best. I also suffered from limited bandwidth as my router was located at my study, and I had to use a repeater to get signals onto the Apple TV. Streaming YouTube was effortless, but anything from the iTune Store took a while to download. I ended up downloading onto my MacBook, then streaming it onto the TV.

The situation maybe a little better if the wifi signal was stronger, something I would try on a later venture. At the moment, I was happy with the YouTube streaming, and media from my iPad. And another thing to be aware, the Apple TV unit did not come with an HDMI cable. You would need to purchase that separately.

Heavier Than Expected

I woke up late this morning after going back to bed after sahur. All due to staying up to watch the cycling at the Olympics last night. Woke up at 9, scrambled to shower, then out to get for my morning rounds - no clinic today being Wednesday morning. I was not expecting the traffic to be bad this morning, and I ended up getting into the ward just past 10.

Luckily I did not have that many to see, and soon, everything was sorted out again. Apparently, the traffic jam was just due to the sheer number of cars. It eased off right after the LDP intersection, about one kilometres from the hospital. I should have used the NPE instead if I were to leave a bit later than usual ….

Now It's Azizul Time!

Datuk Lee Chong Wei returned to Malaysia to a hero's welcome earlier today. And now, the hopes of Malaysia for a medal lies on the shoulder of Azizulhasni Awang who just qualified to the finals of Men's Keirin. the race is coming up in half an hour or so. He will be competing with six others.

The twittersphere is abuzz with excitement. So far, no clown politician has yet to make any monkey statement ala the aftermath of Chong Wei's match. We shall see what pans out .......

Update on Wednesday, August 8, 2012 at 1:12AM by Haris Abdul Rahman

Oh dear! I must have jinxed it again. Azizul was boxed in and couldn't find another gear to keep up with the pace. He still should be proud to be in the reckoning. Definitely an Olympic-class athlete. Well done!