My Next Birthday Present

When I was out with Puan Anita in Monday, at the bookstore, she had found out what to buy for me for my next birthday. This book!

It should be amazing with great facts about the great lady to inspire a generation. And not to mention a great front cover ......

Return to Rebung

After the packing was done for the day, I invited my parents and sister to join us for dinner to celebrate Irfan's birthday. We went to a restaurant not far from the apartment, a familiar one called Rebung. It is owned by a celebrity chef, Chef Ismail and the Angkasawan, Sheikh Muszaphar.

The blast time I was there was a couple of years back for iftar. We booked a table earlier as to not have to worry about seating outside and creating too much noise with my boys and their cousin about.

The table was waiting for us when we arrivedThe birthday boy taking his seatKicking things off with satayThe buffet spread was simple but had all that you need. Starters, light meals, nice rice dishes, prepared on site, and not to forget the desserts.

I did the rounds, and had satay for starters and then laksa Penang. For the main meal, I took three dishes with the rice - sambal tumis, masak lemak daging salai and asam pedas ikan pari. This was followed by ABC and teh tarik. You could also have roti jala, roti canai, rojak among others if you fancy them. Failing that, there was always ala carte. That was what we did for the children. All this in the background of a live singer. Nothing fancy, but it helped liven up the atmosphere.

A decent spread. Not too many items, but they were all nice.I hope that the nasi lemak was not from the morning stockThis two had been yapping up all eveningFinishing things off with ais kacangI must say that all the items were above average in terms of quality, and well worth the buffet price - which was not exactly cheap. If you have visitors coming over, you could certainly bring them here to sample the local food. It doesn't have the glitz of Songket - no shows when we were there - but the quality of the food alone was enough to make up for that. Highly recommended.

Irfan Was Seven

Being on call during the long Chinese New Year break as one thing, but being on call on my son's birthday was quite another. Irfan turned 7 yesterday, and although we planned to have a quite dinner together, but finding out that I was on call, my parents-in-law took the boys and Anita out for lunch.

After finding out about the plan, I devices one of my own. I finished my clinic on time, sorted out what needed to be finished in the ward and headed out into town to surprise them. I arrived at the restaurant about five minutes after they did. And was quickly spotted by Idlan.

Next came Irfan's surprise present. Can't tell you what that was ......

Birthday at Songket

It was my brother-in-law's birthday today, and last night, we joined him and my in-laws for dinner. Anita picked the place and she came across a Malay restaurant along Jalan Yap Kwan Seng called Restoran Songket. It had a snazzy website, and Anita was quickly drawn to it. Made our reservation and got there early just in case the heaven's opened and traffic became mad. And it was a revelation.

Nestled quietly behind a bigger mall - can't recall the name of it, but where Tomy Roma's restaurant was located - one had to pay attention to the turn. If you were to miss it, then one might get stuck in the traffic on turning back. Any how, it was well sign-posted and we got there the first time. Parking was ample, although the lighting around the car park was rather dim. I did not see any security guard posted there, but I assumed that there were.

There were couple of parts to the restaurant. The open area and a more conventional in-door dining near the bar. There was also a private room, but you would miss one of the main attraction to the restaurant - the dance show.

We were seated at the terrace, a nice airy covered area, right along the dance show area. The waiters there were very personable and attentive. The menu were straight forward, and they gave us clue as to the portion. The waiters seemed to know the menu items intimately as they described them pretty well. I was impressed. Our orders were complicated but all the items arrived even though we did not see the waiter taking any note to the order.

Then, there was a cultural show. We were not talking about a 5 minutes do by some amateurs here. These were proper dancers, and their set lasted 45 minutes - going through the routine of Malay, Indian and Chinese dances - complete with interactions with the audience, ending with photo op should you wished to join. If you have a foreign visitors coming to visit and you were looking for some authentic local food, with a bona fide cultural show in a great ambiance, you could not be wrong.

Let's talk bout the food. The starters were disappointing. I had some tauhu sumbat and otak-otak. Pretty average. But the same cannot be said about the main dishes and soup. They were very good. Not the best - but it won't embarrass your foreign guest if you brought them there. The best dish I had that night was adam pedas. The oxtail soup was rather too mild - but I was sure you could ask for a spicy one should you wished for as the staffs there were so attentive.

The staff found out that it was my brother-in-law's birthday, but we couldn't find the time to get him a cake. The staff soon sorted that out with a complimentary slice. Well played the manager!

We were greeted by the manager and the chef on the way out after the meal. I must say that I was impressed with the service, and would definitely bring a foreign visitor should I need to show one around. I was sure that it would be a memorable evening for them. A word of caution for the Moslem readers, as although eh food served there was Halal, the restaurant also ran a bar, and served wine. They assured me that the dishes were separated though, and I have no doubt that they do.

The price was also very reasonable - I was the one paying the bill. The bottom line was, I would definitely be coming back to the restaurant.

Party Time

It came a day early, but I didn't think Puan Anita was complaining. Farha, and gang had sprung a surprise for her, a birthday cake on their Aidilfitri open house. She was not expecting that, especially my less than enthusiastic response to her request to pick her up from home. I asked her to get the driver out instead.

I had to endure a 45 minute ham from my clinic to get to Farha's even though it was on the other side of Subang Jaya. Unbelievable. And my friends manage to keep their mouth shut about the cake until I turned up!

She was surprised. The cake was gorgeous, but the highlight for me was the tiramisu prepared by Azida. Gleefully I took some home for afters!

We hung around for a bit, mainly embarrassing ourselves with tales of the old times in the UK. Surprised at the collection of photos that Farha had kept, it was rather strange to look at how different but the same we were. Great stuff!

Thanks again Farha, Azi, Yatt, Itul, Syahril and Debby plus the others for making it an afternoon for Puan Anita.