The First Day

A right shine!Being on leave has its perks but at the same time stretches the day making the day felt longer during Ramadhan. After a hearty sahur, we went back to sleep and only woke up way past 10 am. I then had to drive Puan Anita around, to the bank, then for grocery. And lastly of course Pasar Ramadhan. But I would keep the Pasar Ramadhan tales to another entry.

The traffic today was really bad especially driving back from Great Eastern Mall through Jalan Ampang. A good 45 minutes just to enter MRR2. Since returning from the Penang trip, we have yet to give the van a good cleaning. That was sorted out, wax and all at GE Mall. And ad usual, I overspent again at Cold Storage. My trolley seemed to be filled with nachos!

GE Mall has yet to get into the spirit of Ramadhan yet. There were hardly any deco up for the time being.

Return to Express Sushi

It has been a while since I visited Express Sushi at Great Eastern Mall, arguably the best sushi fast-food outlet in town. Miles better the more accessible Yo! Sushi at least. Since coming here a couple of years ago, the main chef - Eric has been busy with another of their outlet. There was a period last year that the quality went down a bit, but today it was almost back to when I first came.

The ramen for startersSince it was just a quick stop, we had to be quick. They now have a lunch menu which came in handy. My set - salmon teriyaki set - came with ramen, potato salad and a bowl of rice. Not bad for RM26 actually.

And the mains has arrivedBut they were soon goneThe outlet is located on the Lower Ground Floor of Great Eastern Mall, next to Delifrance.

Quick stop at Alexis

It has been a long day. Not about the work, but the errand I had to run after coming home from work. First thing, I had to drive Anita to Bangsar to pick up the cake for tomorrow. That done, picked Idlan up from Quran School, and off we went to Great Eastern Mall for some more shopping at Toys'r'Us there, mainly for the tidbits in the goodie bags to be handed tomorrow at Idlan's class party.

By the time we got that sorted out, it was already time for dinner. As usual, it would be pizza for my boys and their favourite pizza joint there was at Alexis on the Ground Floor. Why you may ask? The pizza there was prepared in a wood fire oven. Well, allegedly. They were thin-crusted and nice.. The portion were also reasonable. Not too big, and not too filling either. And between the two of them, they would finish the pizza easily.

I had my usual salad and pasta for dinner there. The rocket and pine nut salad there was highly recommended, although the pasta could be hit and miss. Tonight, my carbonara was good, but Anita seafood pasta - I've forgotten what it was - was not so great. Another favourite of ours were the seafood pasta in parcel. Usually nicely cookers and delicious.

If you were out for a drink, or dinner, around Great Eastern Mall I'd definitely recommend giving Alexis a try. Yes, the price was a bit on the high side. Certainly more expensive than say, Delicious, but with good company, it could be great night out. The musical line-ups during weekends were not too shabby either. Usually jazz-infused and classy. Personally, I have never attended one. Maybe, with the kids on tow, those time where we can visit a jazz bar and chill, may have gone into a hiatus.

Xmas Decorations Exploration - Great Eastern Mall

In keeping with the 1Malaysia spirit, Xmas is the time when Malaysians from all walks of life celebrate few things in common. It's the end of the year, school is off, the paycheck comes early, usually with bonus on tow and you can see sales everywhere! 1Malaysia indeed! So we celebrate it as with our brothers and sisters in this great nation of hours ….. we go shopping!

The foyer from the 3rd floor

In the last few weeks, we took the time to visit many of the shopping malls around Lembah Kelang. Most of the big ones were covered, some have already been blogged. During this weekend alone, we visited three. The keyword there was 'visit'. We hardly bought a thing. What typically caught my eyes were the decorations. The first one I liked to mention is the Great Eastern Mall. We went there for dinner last Friday evening. The was a Jazz Band coming to play at Alexis, so that's where the hip crowd were. In the main foyer, they have stalls and a stage. Apparently, during weekends, there will be visits by Santa and his helpers. Rudiolf included as well.

Idlan, Puan Anita and IrfanThe decor there was children friendly compared to other places. There is a snowman, a few Christmas trees. There was a stall keeper handing over candies to kids when we were walking by. The stalls mainly sold ornaments, cards and toys. Not much to shout about really. Maybe because it was in the evening, there were hardly anything going on. According to the shop keeper, there will be carol singing, life band, balloons and other fun stuff during the weekend. That will be a better time to come visit.

After checking out the stalls, taking pictures and mingling about, we headed upstairs for dinner at Cozy House. It was usually packed but for some reason tonight, it was quiet. For some reason, I fancied a steak. The way it was written on the menu made me order it. Apparently it was supposed to be spicy. After all, the name was 'Bombay Steak'.

The not so well done Bombay Steak - you can even almost taste the blood. O positive I think - don't argue, I'm a HaematologistWe soon found out why they were losing clientele. The food was not like it used to be, and a far cry from its sister restaurant, Cozy Corner at Ampang Park. In fact, the food there had also deteriorated if you read my entry a few months back. Not only that there was hardly any spice, the 'well done' steak I ordered came almost straight from the fridge. Nearly as raw as the sashimi I enjoy. The fried rice was not great either and Irfan only managed a couple of bite. Since the theme seemed to be raw, we might as well head to the basement floor to Express Sushi for some proper raw stuffs.

We did some groceries right after that before heading home. The verdict - better to head there during daytime especially weekends. There will be much more activities there then.

Date of visit - Friday, 11th December 2009

The best potato salad in town - Express Sushi, Great Eastern Mall

The first stop was Great Eastern Mall. We got there early and did some groceries at Cold Storage downstairs. We then ventured up to the main lobby. Apparently for the last week, there were booths and stalls selling Halloween paraphernalia. Unfortunately Halloween was last night and most of the stalls have already packed up. I am sure the boys would've enjoyed coming here last week.

For lunch, we headed for Express Sushi. The food was excellent as usual, and the highlight for today is the potato salad and grilled cod. The grilled cod was especially nice. It was the first time we tried it. It was simple enough. Grilled with just some oil and sesame seeds, with a splash of soy sauce. The texture was just right and the potion was reasonably big.

IKEA was next .....