No Water

The water shortage fever had finally hit us at Gombak. We ran out of water this afternoon prompting a call from Anita earning me about it. But it was too much of hassle turning round to have a shower at the apartment before returning home with the traffic jam and all.

And with the water shortage, we had to have dinner outside as well. Double hassle on a school night. That meant picking the boys up from their Quran class and drive out to get food. By the time dinner was done, it would be 9 already. And we would pray then that the water would be back so that I can have a shower.

Well, we were still out since the boys didn't touch their food at the restaurant earlier - the food was bad. We were now waiting for pizza, in the car waiting for the order. I was sure I would head straight to bed once I was done with the shower ....

Xmas Dinner

I was about to leave the hospital to get back to the apartment for a quick shower and microwave dinner when I found out that Anita and the boys would be out with my in-laws for dinner. The boys wanted Chinese, so we went to my Dad's favourite at Corus Hotel.

Anita had just arrived at the restaurant when I called her. And since I was already in the car, I decided to head to the hotel as well. Luckily the traffic wasn't too bad, although it was a crawl in front of Sunway Pyramid.

The hotel was packed with people having their Christmas dinner at the main cafe, full of singing and drinking. There were live bands playing, and people mingling about. The Chinese restaurant - Ming Palace - was a lot more sedate. And we were able to have the dinner in peace. The food was already served when I arrived, and being hungry from work, I went straight for the food. Much better than the microwave dinner I would have otherwise in store.

By the time I was done with dinner, I already had a couple of patients waiting for me at the hospital. I went straight in, and was back the apartment by midnight. Shower only came after that ....

Cough. Cough.

One would have thought that I would've packed it in after returning from Idlan's swimming session, I would have gone straight back home to rest. Well, not tonight. We decided to go to KLCC and ordered dinner there. Well, it was take home really. Even the boys were too tired to stay for long. But there was enough time for a quick drink while waiting for our orders.

Unfortunately, it tired off Idlan, and before long, he started to cough. It went on for a fee more minutes until he had his inhalers. It lingered on until we reached home. It looked like an early night for him.

It had been a while since he had an asthma attack. We should have given him a couple of puffs on ventolin before he had his swim. Careless on our part really. Now, he was a lot more settled, and hopefully he would feel better tomorrow morning.

Chawan Time

I think I would turn this into a ritual. From now on, upon returning home from trips abroad, I would have a meal at Chawan. It felt good when I did it earlier for dinner. It was helped with then fact that the admission were nice and slow. I was starving when I reached there after my first series of admission.

I ordered the usual - daging salai masak lemak. It went down very well indeed. I guessed the bland seafood of Atlanta finally took its toll. I really could do with Anita's cooking and now, some local favourite. And proper coffee as well! Not the usual Starbucks fare. We were talking Kopi Kampung type here.

That was it. It was now officially a ritual!

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.