Truckin while Waitin

It would become a routine from now on. Idlan will attending tuition in Melawati every Tuesday evening. Anita would stay in Gombak after school and should I have time, I would be joining her in Melawati while waiting for Idlan to finish his class.

While waiting, there were a few food trucks near the tuition venue. We decided to sample some pasta and were pleasantly surprised. My carbonara was superbly done and I must say that in was impressed. The only problem were the variety. There were three trucks parked there and all three seemed to have almost identical menu. Mainly Italian and Mediterranean.

I was pretty sure I've seen this before

Luckily there were a few more traditional restaurants around there. So, should we became sick of those cheesy offering, there would always be tomyam.

I must say I recognised the truck from the recent Foodgasm Fest we attended back in November. We didn't get to sample the food then since they ran out of food. Now we knew why the food ran out. They were rather good.

Looking forward to next week...

Foodgasm Fest 2015

The weather proved to be both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, the rain washed away what was left of the haze which had been blighted us lately. The sun was shining and the sunblock were off the cupboard for the first time in weeks - not for me of course! It was a feel good weather. Even a small ray of sunshine could lift the mood, coupled with it the promise of garden party with food galore in the middle of town, it seemed perfect! It sounded so good that it seemed like the whole of KL congregated at Dataran Petaling Jaya, opposite AmCorp Mall last Sunday for Foodgasm Fest 2015.

And with that, came the traffic horror story of almost epic proportion. With the traffic warden turning up well past their due in time to issue summons. It was gridlocked, but more on that later.

The rain also proved to be the architect for trouble at this festival. The grass field was filled with mud and one couldn't avoid them since the queue was so long and the terraces of food stalls sat right in the middle of the quagmire! It was slowly turning into a mudfest.

Back to the traffic! We should have turned back the moment we saw the line of cars stretching a couple of kilometers along the Federal Highway leading into Jalan Timur. We persevered and was rewarded with a one hour crawl. And even then we didn't manage to get a parking spot. People were parking their cars at their fancy and before long the whole of Jalan Timur turned into one giant parking lot! And there were no traffic warden in sight.

Anita and I decided to escape via Jalan Gasing, back towards our apartment and took the LRT for a couple of stops landing right next to Dataran PJ.

Looking at the length of the queue, we decided to have a quick bite at the A&W restaurant nearby. No such joy. The queue there stretched right out of the joint. We soldiered on onto the field. The wait for each stall was at least 30 minutes and some of them had run out of items and having problem replenishing them as their supply car were caught in the jam!

We circled around and the only place without a queue were the vape tents. They were the craze at the moment! There were mud everywhere and Anita scrapped the idea of opening her picnic mat. Journey ended!

Back to the LRT station, onto the car and onwards to the nearest restaurant for lunch. It was past 2pm by then ....

So, it was a missed opportunity firstly from the traffic point of view, and secondly the state of the field.

There were plenty of area at the edge of the field which were covered, but you still have to get your feet dirty to get to the food stalls. And to add to that, there was no guarantee that you would get what you wanted due to sheer number of people turning up! It was a great idea but the organiser should have encouraged the punters to use the LRT and have the traffic wardens on hand to prevent congestion.

Hopefully no more muddy field in next year's chapter because I would definitely be coming again - on an LRT that time of course! And preferably early in the morning. Great idea, but suspect execution!

Food Truck

It was not something we usually get to see here in Malaysia. A food truck. Quite literally one. Not one of those small van where the vendors stuffed their wears to a pasar malam before laying them in the open under a tent.

This was a purpose built kitchen truck, where they cook and prepare food, complete with benches like I saw on the Food Network on TV. To see them in the flesh worth a second glance, and in Anita's case, worth a sample.

We were at Melawati to pick up some washings when we stopped at a cafe. At the entrance parked this truck opened for business that evening, selling burgers. Gourmet ones.

Reasonably priced and the burgers - all prepared from fresh ingredients with home made patties - were something else.

Google www.burgergilerpower.com for more info. Apparently. they would be parked at Melawati - in front of Espressolab, opposite the Police Station - three nights a week, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Will definitely give it another go.

New Kid on the Block

Let's be honest. One don't normally expect to find chic cafe in Melawati. This being a rather middle-class, predominantly Muslim neighbourhood, people there tended to be conservative. The demography was also on the older side, mainly a place for the retiree. The neighbourhood had been around for more than 40 years, which explained it.

It was a surprise when we bumped into a newly opened branch of Espressolab when we went there the other day - and when we bumped into the food truck parked right in front of it.

Free wifi, decent ambiance, but the coffee was not really that great unfortunately. It may be our bad luck that the evening's brew just was not up to scratch. Or at least we hoped so. Still a nice place to hand around. Didn't sample the free wifi though as I had LTE.

The location was nice enough that I might be coming back for another look. The outlet did not offer much cooked food though from looking at the menu, unlike the branch at Great Eastern Mall.