Berbuka at Latest Recipe

Last week, I confirmed an invitation for iftar from a Pharmaceutical company. The problem was, the iftar would be on a post call evening. And that particular call happened to be a busy one. But being Ramadan, I didn't really mind the extra hours I was awake. I was munching away most of the time I was up.

When it was finally time for iftar, I was already very tired and grumpy. All I wanted was to be in bed. At home.

It turned out to be great, with great company. And the food was good.

Clever way to present the fruits

The iftar was at Latest Recipe, one of my favourite hotel cafe. It was at Le Meridien, KL Sentral. It had local, Indian, Japanese and a bit of fusion food. But what was great was despite the number of people, there were food aplenty, and the crowd control was good. The cafe itself was relatively small and we were seated by the lift.

What did I have? I started out with some sashimi. If you think that was bad, there were some on my table who opened with oysters. Next, I had some chicken rice - which was nog great. The Indian selection was good, so was the teppanyaki and pasta.

But the highlight was definitely the afters. There was plenty of local fruits - I had a feast of rambutan. Puddings, ice cream, ais kacang. You get the picture.

Those are not test tubes! They contain the dressing for the salad.A surprise birthday cakeWe also had a surprise birthday for one of the Pharmaceutical Rep. Cakes and all. Plus the hearthy singing from my Boss.

This wasn't the first time I had iftar at Latest Recipe. The standard was still up there as far as food was concerned. Crowd was always a challenge and reserving a seat can be difficult. If somebody were to offer me iftar in town, Latest Recipe would definitely be high on my list.

Dinner for Mum

Being a good son that I am, I took Mum out yesterday evening for her Birthday dinner. Unfortunately, Julia couldn't join as her son, Imran was not well. We would have another bash during the weekend with her family around - reason for another meal!

We went to Latest Recipe at Le Meridien, KL Sentral, one of my favourite buffet outlet. We had a hefty meal. In fact my parents sampled almost everything on display except for the raw stuffs - they left that for me. And my boys as usual, went bananas at the chocolate fountain.

We stayed on for coffee, and only finally went back home well past the boys' bedtime. It was well worth it. Irfan fell asleep in the back of the van on the way home. Bless! I could not take much picture as the boys kept pinching my iPhone.

Now that he was full, he was occupied with my Galaxy SNice meal it wasHad some lovely apple crumble to round things off. Yummy custard ....

The meal was good as usual, although the Indian selection was rather limited last night. It was well compensated by the line of sashimi I gobbled. I suffered some terrible reflux last night as a result.

What was left was planning for another family meal this weekend. It had to be dinner on Sunday as Julia would be in Port Dickson for a conference this weekend. It would be at Legend's Water Chalet, where we had a really great outing the last time. I would be occupied during the day as well, as I would be doing a photowalk. It would be the Scott Kelby's Annual Photowalk. This time, I passed on to Ripi to do the planning. We would be starting off from the same spot as last year, around Central Market. It should be great fun.

Iftar at Sudu

Earlier this evening, I was treated for Iftar at Hilton Kuala Lumpur, after attending a meeting there prior. The meeting ended just about Maghrib time, and I was served with dates at the conference room before being ushered down to the restaurant for the meal. When I was invited down, the usher asked me, "Dr Haris, would you like to come with me. We are taking the lift downstairs to Sudu for your meal." What? Sudu? Sudu literally translated as 'spoon' in Malay. Surely the could have come up with a more catchy name.

But anyhow, to Sudu I went. It was a buffet, and since I was already late, they have had a table reserved for our party, and the rest of the crowd has already been sat, starting their dinner already. Getting food was a breeze.

The restaurant itself, to be honest lacked real estate. It was pretty cramped, and we had to tussle to get to some of the corners to pick up our food. They had separate areas for starters, main meal, desserts and drinks. For starters, I had some beef kebab and satay, plus some kueh before moving on the the mains.

For the mains, I had some biryani with some chicken. I must say that the satay was a lot better than I expected. There was also lemming lemang but according to a friend of mine, it was rather too soft in the middle. The peanut sauce however was very tasty. The biryani was on the dry side, but was not bad at all.

After a good chat, I went for the dessert. And this was when I came across the sushi corner. Why not? Half a dozen slices of sashimi later, I was back to have some fruits and guess what? Some sotong kangkung as well. It was never going to be as nice as the one from Penang. In fact, it was pretty bad.

To top things off, I had some ais kacang and more fruits. I knew that I was piling up the calories, but at least I did not sample the lamb roast - or kambing golek! I'd probably have a coronary if I did so.

Yes, the place was cramped, and we were seated outside the actual restaurant, but in a comfortable corner. The service however was excellent. The waiters and waitresses were very attentive, and nothing was too much to ask. The tables where cleaned and plates were cleared without being asked, and they addressed us very professionally. They had staff manning all the stations, from kebab - which were freshly sliced and prepared to our request, to the nice ladies behind the ais kacang and sotong kangkung counters. But I was sure that that quality of service came with a price. According to my cousin who commented on Facebook, it would likely be more than RM100 per head. The dinner was not exactly extravagant, but I can see why it could cost that much.

There was limited information on this joint from the hotel website here, but the reviews online has not been too kind. Would I recommend it? Not really especially with the excellent Latest Recipe next door at Le Meridien. The combination of low lights and cramped space did not make for good photographing opportunity unfortunately.

Lunch at Favola

The whole of last Sunday was spent at a Medical Meet at Le Meridien and for lunch, I was treated for some nice dining at Favola, an Italian joint on the 8th floor, right next door to the Grand Saloon, where we had the meeting.

My talk was in the morning, and it was more of an update of we learned during my recent trip to London attending the European Haematology Association Meeting back in June. With the talk done and dusted, the lunch was a lot more relaxed, and I shared the table with a couple more senior Haematologist and another Doctor with the Pharmaceutical industry. We had a nice chat, and the nice lunch helped.

It was a sit down dinner rather than buffet and food were pre-ordered. The antipasta were some smoked salmon, salad with goat cheese, plus fire-baked pizza and spaghetti. The mains were fish, but the mains were not the highlight. We finished things off with some succulent ice-cream with fresh raspberry.

The pizza was definitely one of the best in town. Pretty simple but biting and filling. The pasta was great as well. My fish was unfortunately overcooked, and with the tangy sauce, it did not make for an experience on par with the antipasta. I should have ordered an alternative instead. Oh, well!

I would definitely give the place another visit with my boys in the future especially with a 10% discount on foursquare check-in. Let them decide on the pizza, since they were expert when it comes to the sticky, cheesy round thing. I would also like to explore the pasta a bit more. More information on the outlet can be reached here.

KB - the flight out

Idlan at the loungeTruth be told, that was the boys first ever flight. We were all apprehensive. Puan Anita was not keen to endure the now -dreaded 10 hour drive from Kuala Lumpur to KB. By he time we reach Bentong, we were tearing our hair out already. A couple of our cousin’s were getting married - yes, to each other. Gulp! Therefore we had no excuse but to return to KB. It was doubly nice to make the journey to visit the extended family before Puasa as well.

Idlan with his Tok AbahGrumpy travellerAfter finishing my clinic on the Friday morning, I made the short hop to KL Sentral via taxi, checked the boys in, and took the ERL to KLIA. The boys were EXTREMELY excited. I sat with Irfan while Puan Anita had Idlan with her. My father-in-law also took the same flight. Weather was great. We got them stuffed at the lounge, and they had some more food and attention by the stewardesses on the flight. It was a smooth one. No drama. In fact, Irfan cannot stop chatting through-out. The whole cabin can hear his voice.

So, what was Adik up to? - Ferraro RocherHow about Abang? - More Ferraro RocherWe reached KB just before 4pm, and quickly settled into our hotel room. My mum-in-law came by road with the maids, and they arrived just before 5pm. Perfect timing. The boys quickly got themselves acquainted with the facilities. After tea, he went out later that evening for dinner at one of our auntie’s house. Food and Kelantan has always been great friends - so, needless to say, the food was gorgeous - we had nasi ulam that evening among other things.

Idlan with his first ever boarding passDid the boys retire early that evening? - No way!