Cafe by the Exit

We were done with the flowers and the children had had a field day getting us to by them toys. Next came a bit of respite before the drive home. Great timing as there was a nice little cafe right by the exit.

Ice creams and drinks this time around.

But what caught my eyes were the cute decorations and the furnitures. The theme for the decorations were butterflies, while the furnitures were made from recycled oil drums, painted and turned into chairs and tables. Very neat.

And that came during the time when the national news were dominated by oil drums. One of the Government prosecutor was abducted and his remains was found in an oil drum encased in cement! Gruesome stuff!

After the ice cream was done, it was time to head back to reality. And reality was only a 45-minutes drive away ...

Too Many Smokers

After missing out on yesterday, I decided that I would drive my car into town straight after the ward round, enjoy a nice lunch and just chill for the afternoon. Anita and the boys would only be back later this evening, so I got some time for myself.

After a nice lunch, I took a walk across town wary of what looked like impending rain coming a bit later. I had to strategise. I picked a small space at a cafe, ordered my drinks and ten everybody around me started lighting up. It looked like I was at the smoking section. And they occupy the best seats. Those who prefer smoke-free environment would have to cope with the seats indoors with poor view, blasted with industrial strength air conditioning.

I thought on the whole, we non-smokers were given the worse deal. We had to put up with the worse seats, and huddled near screaming infants who normally occupy these areas. I didn't see any vapers around there though. Because that would be a other story to be told ....

The weather when I set off for the rounds earlierSo, I had to be content with the smoking. I was sure that my shirt would be smelling of tobacco for the rest of the day. At least I had a couple hours of down time. But not for long. I already had an admission waiting at the Emergency Room. Happy Sunday all.

Merchant's Lane

Even the name stroke a cord. This is the new cafe - opened in the last couple of months, located at Petaling Street. It was at the quieter end of the street, towards Bulatan Merdeka, located right next to Advanced Tertiary College.

Nicely tucked away on top of a stationary shop, if could prove to be tricky to find as the sign leading up the stairs were pretty small.

But once you got into the cafe, you would surely be charmed by the rustic surrounding and ambiance. You might mistaken to be in either Penang or Melaka. An old pre-war building, a converted shophouse - apparently it used to be a brothel! - with the exterior and anterior walls preserved.

The ceiling was opened up letting in natural light making the place appeared bigger and cosier. There was the main part where the coffee counter was located with an open seating area, but should you venture towards the back, there were more seating, and this time it was out in the opened. A pretty unique find and from now on, I would definitely be sitting at the back!

I stopped there to join my KLickr friends during the recent photowalk, and I would definitely be taking Anita along the next time. She would definitely love it.

How was the food? The menu was still pretty basic, and they were heavy on the breakfast and comfort food. I ordered some fried salmon with wasabi mayo. It was really nice, plus a hot mocha. A definite retreat away from the hustle and bustle of town life.

There were parking lot right opposite as well if you plan to drive in. In my case, I was on foot all the way from Central Market with the rest of the gang. Certainly a great little cafe with plenty of potential. It would sure to generate plenty of Instagram photos and Swarm check-ins. Highly recommended!

EAT ME!

I wasn't being rude here, but that was just the name of the cafe at Telawi, Bangsar which we visited last Saturday evening. Anita had been talking about having churros for quite some time. It brought back memories of us strolling at Hyde Park 20 years ago when we bumped into a stall selling what was called "Brazillian Doughnut". It suspiciously looked like churros though, and Anita loved that.

She finally got her wish, all the four of us parked our van at Bangsar Village II and walked across - in the haze - towards the cafe. It was located right next to KGB (Killer Gourmet Burger) - and I believed that they share the same owner.

It was essentially a cute little cafe mainly serving desserts and chocolates. Nothing heavy on the menu, and churros was one of the main feature. We sat down and Anita ordered the churros with milk chocolate dip, I had a creme brule while Irfan had a lovely chocolate waffles. The drinks were also pretty fancy with me ordering iced tea infused with mango.

The churros came out first, and it was rather hard - not as soft as I remembered and certainly it was no doughnut. My creme brule was excellent although it could do better with less herbs. Irfan's waffles was too rich and he only managed a quarter of the portion.

Anita's hot chocolate and my iced teaIrfan's pick soda floatsIrfan desperately trying to go through his waffleDone with my creme bruleThe decorations was best described as pastel-theme. The seats were confortable and once you were inside, you would be insulated from the noise outside. The soothing background music also made a difference and there was wifi as well, but I just used my faster LTE instead.

On the whole, it was a nice little place to unwind and we would not mind going there again. The pricing I thought was rather steep but I understood that that was the going rate for the ambiance and quality food nowadays. We might order the churros again next time just to make sure that the less-than-expected delivery was just a one-off. But even without the churros, there were enough going for the cafe for us to come back. It had competition however, no less that Jasmyn's just a couple of doors down.

The Hospital Next Door

Pantai Hospital next door to my apartment had undergone a najor renovation in the past year. And the fruits of the work were there to see with the opening of the new outpatient building.

On the ground floor, there were a number of shops and cafe being opened. Enough for us to go if we needed a quick bite.

We had the chance to explore the place when Yat and Syahril was at the hospital. There was the usual Starbucks and Subway, added to that was Secret Recipe and PappaRich, enough to keep me going. There was also a small Borders bookstore as well as a small mini mart.

Shame that they were opened until late. It was closed by 8 pm, although it opened early in the morning. Well worth a mention actually since it was only a five minutes walk from my door ....