What a Mess!

Post call day. A usually groggy one for me. Extra groggy with today being Ramadhan, and the household waking up too late for Saturday. I woke up 10 minutes before Subuh after a spring numerous calls from the hospital. I must have blocked out the sound of the alarm. Funny that even Puan Anita and the maid were fast asleep. Due to the phone call interruptions, I actually slept at the lounge, in front of the TV. With the Olympics blaring.

I survived this call though. The last one for Ramadhan. Now, it was time to sort out the patients in time for my Raya break coming up from Thursday. As for the boys, the were enjoying their time at the apartment. So much so, that the place - their room especially was a right mess. They managed to convince me to bring their Wii along, and they have been jumping up and down all afternoon playing with it.

We decided to go out for take-out rather than cook for tonight's Iftar. I took out some Indian food, and were really sleepy after the meal. just sorting things out for the night although I was still expecting a call from the hospital coming in any minute as one of my patient was en route to the Emergency Room. Time to do a bit of clearing up then ......

Pre-Raya Errands for Anita

Puan Anita has had a busy last couple of days where she had to do the pre-rays errands. Staying at the apartment meant that she can't leave the kids at home while she went out. She was worried that the maid couldn't cope. Therefore, going out during the day meant that she would have the kids in tow. Even with a driver, it was a pain.

So, she was out the last couple of days, and managed to finally shop for herself. The Raya cards were also sorted, and finally, the change for suit Raya was done this morning. Most of the bank teller had run out of small change by afternoon, so she had to go early.

Since Idlan was at the Quran school in Gombak, Anita and the gang were back home, leaving me for iftar alone at the apartment since I was on call. They would be back later this evening, but I would be out for my evening rounds already by then. If I was lucky, I might be able to get back home by midnight ……

Well Done Pandelela

After watching the fantastic run by Usain Bolt to win the 200m sprint, I switched the channel around and it landed on the aquatic centre. There it was, a medal ceremony for the 10m diving individual and guess who came up with the bronze?

Well done Pandelela. I knew she was diving but it was too early for my sahur. I recorded the athletics and as soon as I got up for sahur, I played back the events to watch the 200m. I knew that she was in contention but her earlier dives were not very good, and I thought she had blew it. Fantastic effort!

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 ….