Return to Harrods

WelcomeI have a confession to make. In the last couple of months, I returned to Harrods at KLCC three times - four in Puan Anita’s case. We celebrated our parents anniversary there the other night, and recently, we went there to have afternoon tea and ended up having dinner instead - it was nearly 5.30 pm then. I feel I was in a better position to comment about the venue by now.

Yes, it kept up to its billing. The great service we had when I went there for the first time was not a one-off. We were treated very well and some of the waitresses even remembered Idlan and Irfan when we returned, which was nice. They knew which was our favourite table, and what we ordered when we were last there. And the great thing was, all the staffs there were local. Communication was never an issue, and so far, we have yet to get our order being messed up. The standard that they kept there was exemplary and I am sure it will be a challenge to keep it up.

Harrods at KLCC was located on the first floor of Suria, right by the middle escalators, on the same level as Godiva, which was the shop right next door to it. The entrance looked innocuous enough, mainly what appeared to be more of a souvenir shop at the front end. But if you walk further in, there was a minibar and then the door into the restaurant. There were I think only around 10 tables, and the seclusion added to its exclusivity. There are also balconies for the cigar smokers to hang around at, overlooking the KLCC Park and fountain - nicer in the evening. The table setting were proper English, complete with silverware and napkins. The toilets were also very clean, with hand towels provided for patrons.

My fruit cooler, mainly berry ....Irfan was clearly bored..... until the drinks arrivedThe much talked-about roast beef and Yorkshire puddingHow about the menu? Yes, it was pretty limited, maybe about 8 items for starters and only a couple of soup selection. There were not that many more for the mains. But what it lacked in quantity more than was made up quality-wise. Not just the first-rate waiter service, the food were cooked to your specification and were very nicely presented. The buns served before the starters were heavenly, coupled with the homemade butter. By now, my favourite entree was asparagus and cheese, while the mains was the seared cod. Puan Anita still preferred the roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. I tried it once. Was not that excited. The boys obviously loved their English Breakfast Tea. We tend to order them fish and chis, which came in large portion. Idlan especially liked the tartar sauce which came with it. I was yet to discover my favourite drink here, a good excuse to come there again. As for the dessert, well, I have yet to sample them as either I was already too full, or the boys were already too hyper that I had to take them out for a walk. Usually it was the combination of the two.

Pictures of the main Harrods branch at Knightsbridge adorning the wallsPopping out at the balcony for some fresh airThe main drawback for the place - as you could imagine would be the cost. It is rather on the expansive side, but not too excessively so. Put it this way, the Chinese meal at Hotel Nikko or Mandarin Oriental were way more expansive than this place. Would I come here again? Of course. Who will I bring? Only Puan Anita and my boys - for now. I can’t afford to bring anybody else! Would I recommend it to anyone else? Definitely! If you have been to the real Harrods in London, you will definitely enjoy Harrods in KL.

Chinoz for Tea

After my trip the KL Design Week, I took the boys out to Tasik Perdana for a spot of fresh air. Unfortunately, it started to rain soon after, and we had to scramble off. Since it was still early, we decided to get ourselves some tea. The easiest to get to was KLCC with its convenient parking and easy exit via the elevated highway. So off to KLCC we went. We decided to have the bite at Chinoz.

Candle-litPizza .... hmmmmm!Trying out the nachosSince it was raining heavily outside, the waitress was kind enough to seat us at the dinner table, away from the smoking area. Both Idlan and Irfan love the food there, especially the tea and pizza. However, over the years, the place has been suffering from its own hype. It used and still is a place of celebrity hang-out, but with the opening of ‘Apartments’ and other new joints around the area and to a certain extend the Mandarin Oriental, the place seemed to have lost some of its exclusivity. The quality of the food has certainly came down a notch compared to a couple of years back. The menu has evolved, and it was still the place to get sushi in KLCC - Sakae Sushi is nothing compared to here - but if the management was not careful, they will start to lose customer. Where do I prefer to have dinner in KLCC? Top of the list was Spice of India, then the Chinese nearby - can’t quite remember the name. Soon, Harrod’s will beat the both of them, if not for the cost to dine there. If not for the pizza and sushi, I might go there less frequently.

Top if off with some iced chocolate .... with a lump of ice-cream on topSo we had our tea there yesterday. We had our pizza, and I tried the nachos. Not bad, although I wished that the nacho crackers were a bit fresher.

KL Hilton Talk

You can tell I was hardly concentrating. I can assure you that the Windows computer was not mine. God forbid!Full day yesterday, but not as full as my colleagues from USM, Kubang Kerian, Abu Dzarr and Azlan. We had a round table discussion followed by a lecture and dinner by Prof Antonio Palumbo, a prominent Haematologist from Turin, Italy. He talked about multiple myeloma, and it was excellent. I summerised his lecture on my hematologiPPUM.com site. It was certainly great to be able to hear doyen speaking about their work, and Prof Palumbo was certainly up there. Azlan and Abu Dzarr actually took a 4pm flight from Kota Baharu, listened to the talk and had dinner, before flying home at 10.30 pm! Now, that was hectic!

Dato' Chang chairing the round table discussionFor the round table discussion, I was asked to prepare and discuss a case, which I duly obliged. I must say that I could have put more effort, but since the offer was at the last minute, I concentrated on getting the message right, without even using a powerpoint slide. Now that was bold, but it through OK. Stirred up some discussion. After about half an hour break, we proceeded on with the main lecture. The talk was held at the new level 7 convention floor at KL Hilton. I was more used to the level 6 facilities, and it looked like the suite there were just refurnished, with plush seatings and state of the art equipment. Well, close. It can’t be state of the art if they were still using Vista! The room used for the lecture was rather small though, too small for the crowd, which was bigger than expected. Even the venue for the dinner was too small. Luckily it was buffet. The majority of the crowd actually lingered in the foyer.

The actually dinner was an eclectic mix of Japanese and Western. The dish was nicer than the previous buffet I experience at the hotel. I still prefer the buffet at the main eatery there, which I think was on the fifth floor, New Recipe. The buffet there I would readily recommend. A bit dear, but you get what you paid for.

Another surprise on the night was the fact that it did not cost me a thing on exiting the car park. Usually at KL Sentral, the parking for conventions and meetings will set me back RM8, despite endorsement. Well done Mr Sponsor!

Dinner at Celadon, Pavilion

On last Thursday night, as a family we decided to eat out. It is rather rare that we go out at night. We prefer to save our outings for the weekends. But since Friday was Awal Muharram and the boys were on school holidays, we decided to go to Pavilion.

Mini-concert going on downstairs, hence the full carparkThe restaurant located on the 6th floor, right next to Spice of IndiaBad move! Apparently we found out after about 30 minutes looking for a parking space at the basement that a local Chinese singing group was holding their 'meet the fans' session the same evening. Hence the long queue for parking and the throng of crowd at the main foyer.

Puan Anita actually fancied some Thai food. Some Tom Yam she said. After a quick look at the stalls downstairs, we decided to go upmarket and eat at the restaurants. We went up to 6th floor. There was a Lebanese restaurant, a Turkish joint - desperately trying to be authentic with the turban-wearing waiters. There was also Spice of India - not tonight. Finally we came across Celadon.

Nice and serene setting. Nice ambianceA word of warning, it wasn't the cheapest dinner I took my family too. We were talking around RM80 per head here, and a couple of the heads were my boys! The ambiance was the main reason we went there. Initially Idlan was in a strop and did not want to go in, but one of the waiter actually spoke to him and asked where he wanted to be sat. He picked the sofa right at the back and off we went. More on the waiters later.

There were also seatings by the entrance if you fancyThe theme was all white, from the chair, walls, curtains and spread. There were general seatings at the entrance, a small more private area with cushions where we sat and a couple of function rooms should you want to organise dinner. There were subtle motif of Thai culture adorning all the ornamental decorations. There was of course the photograph of the King and a miniature white elephant. The salutations and greetings, the dressing of the staffs. There was also peaceful elements thrown in. Since everything was all white, it looked serene when the lights were dimmed. I noticed that every table has its own lighting. There were also some tables on the corridor outside should you fancy some fresh air - if you call the foyer with high ceiling as fresh air!

The unmistakeable Tom Yum. Comes in two guises, with or without coconut milk.The sizzling beefPuan Anita did the ordering. We had soft shell crabs and thai salad for starters. The crab was OK, but the salad which was mainly sour mango and vinegar was too strong for me. I quite liked it at the beginning but the portion was too big. Definitely for sharing. We had the mixed seafood tomyam, which was very impressive. She also ordered marinated sizzling beef, very tender and lightly spiced. My order was the steamed seabass - the reason why the cost was so dear. It was very well cooked, the fish was fresh, too much garlic and mint in the sauce but that was nitpicking. The sauce was good enough to sip. I was full however by the time dessert was on the card. So we skipped that.

The steamed seabass ...... before ........ and afterNow back to the waiters. There were a couple of local and a Thai waiter. The Thai gentleman was the one attending us. I was very impressed when he offered plastic plates and cutleries for my children, and made sure that their fried rice was not too spicy. Maybe it was restaurant policy but I have been to a less upmarket restaurant where the waiters bat their eyelids at the sight of my kids - although they were perfectly handsome just like their Daddy! The air-conditioning was also not too cold.

Would I go there again? Only on special occasions or while on business duty. Would I recommend my friend to go there for a romantic dinner - definitely! The money spent there will be well worth it! The waiters were good, the food was good and the ambiance was very nice.

Time of visit - Thursday, 17th December 2009

Address - Lot 6.37, Level 6, Pavilion KL, Jalan Raja Chulan, 50200 Kuala Lumpur

03-21488708 - no website

Fraser's Hill - Day 1, Part 3 - The Rest of the Day

It's getting misty!The weather was fast becoming gloomy and the mist was closing in by 5.30. We could see the mountain tops being covered by layer of clouds and it was likely going to be raining lather in the evening. A perfect recipe for a night in by the heater I thought. One of our maid can't tolerate cold very well. She asked if she can get her some soup for dinner as my father-in-law would like to have dinner at the hotel restaurant that night, and she don't really know how to eat Western food. She found scones to be strange for a start.

The staircase at the main entrance

After the children had their shower and changed into their jim jams, myself and Puan Anita sneaked out to get some take-away while exploring for places to visit the next day. After about 20 minutes of driving, we stopped by the stalls to order the maid's soup. The cool weather made me kinda peckish. I ordered some yee mee to nibble on while waiting. The place was quite packed at that hour - 6 pm. After a brisk walk around, we returned to the hotel, had our shower and ready ourselves for dinner.

Anita discussing the menu with HenryThe restaurant had a decent selection in the menu if you are into Western food. Steaks, chicken chops, Yorkshire pudding are all on offer. I ordered some chicken pie, similar to what I had at the Smokehouse Restaurant in Telawi, Bangsar the other. I was curious if there were just as good. And they were. The steak that my father-in-law ordered were rarer than expected but the side salad and garnish were all authentic English. I have no complains with the quality and quantity of the food, but as from what I have read from other reviews, the price was a premium. To be honest with hose kind of ambiance and service I should bot really complain. One note of caution though. It was better to order up front as it took about 40 minutes to prepare our dishes.

Unwinding in front of the fireplaceAs we were in a group of 10, we were given a special long table. The eating area was well heated and the candle light added to the atmosphere. The lavatories were freezing however, and that was the only place with a sink. After dinner, we were offered a complimentary nightcap. One can order coffee or tea, or in my case, it was a cup of hot chocolate. We can either have them sent to our rooms and as what we did, had them in the reading room while reading some magazines. What a way to end our first day there.

* The second part can be accessed here, while click here to go to the next installment*