Anita's Birthday Lunch

Anita actually had two lunches yesterday, with two sets of friends. And I was only invited to one, as the other was with her girlfriends. I had to cope with being the chauffeur though.

For the lunch that I joined, it was at La La Chong, a familiar place we went to before. Great cooking, with almost fresh seafood - somehow it was not so fresh yesterday. Great company, and great crab ....

Started with the prizes first ....Hmmm .... What to order?Crunching the starters ....The place was surprisingly empty for a Sunday afternoon, so we got our food fast and got to enjoy some privacy. It started with exchanges of gifts, some chit chat before the food came over thick and fast.

We ordered a couple portions of crab, a couple of fish, some cockles and vegetables. I must say that I was impressed by the crispy mantis prawns. The sauce on the crab was to die for - and most probably would so judging by the amount of calories and fat we consumed.

The orders then started to line up. This was the mantis prawn. Gorgeous!The table was soon full .....The birthday girl wanted to try everything ....The killer dish. Quite literally. The fatty crab ....The steamed fish was another revelation. Rather than steamed in a broth, the fish this time around was dry, leaving just succulent flesh to be scrapped and enjoyed with some garlic sauce. The cockles were too bitter for my liking though, so I didn't take much of that.

The crab was best enjoyed with some fresh bun, straight from their oven. It complemented the sauce beautifully, and it was not a surprise that it finished in double quick time.

Then there was time for cakes ....Nice one to top things off .....As I mentioned, the crab was not as fresh as I would hope. Thankfully, the cooking was great, and the sauce really made the dishes work. But compared to the fresh seafood from Kuala Selangor, it lost out big time. But for city dwellers like us who couldn't make regular trip out of town, it was not a bad return. Definitely would recommend the place although the crab may set you back a few bob. And not to be had regularly if you wanted to take care of your arteries .....

How to get there? Rather tricky to be honest. I would recommend that you just punch in these coordinate - 3.124607, 101.607771 - into your GPS devices and just follow the directions. Roughly it was located behind Tropicana City Mall, in Damansara.

La La Chong Seafood, Damansara

Usually, we drove all the way to Kuala Selangor for our routine seafood feast. Yesterday was the first time we actually had something similar to this - a Chinese seafood meal - in town. And it was near Damansara, a place I was not really familiar with, but was glad to have come.

The occasion was Puan Anita's birthday. I wouldn't tell you how old she would be then, but there was a reason why all our cars carry the plate number 9972.

Earlier in the day, she was treated to a day at the spa in Ampang by my friends from the UK. After she was done, I picked her up from the spa, and we drove across to Damansara. The traffic was kind. The direction to the place was a bit tricky though, but I just followed the car in front.

There, we were joined by other friends - Amin and Syahril. In the end, it was a table for 13. We had the usual stuff - steamed fish, sweet and sour crab, soup, prawns etc. Azida, one of our friend, ordered lala - cockles - which was appropriate given the name of the restaurant. We were well bloated by the end of it.

My favorites were the steamed fish and crab. God knows how high my cholesterol went. The sauce went down really well with the hot steamed bun. All sticky and yummy. Unfortunately, I forgotten to snap pictures before we settled down for the food as there were plenty to catch up with the friends. And of course, I was busy stuffing myself as well.

The sight of my plate at the end of it. And this was my forst plate. I had two more after that ....I pity whoever having to clear the table after us .....I swore Syahril did this ....All the photos I had were of the damage that was done after the meal. I would definitely recommend the place again. Parking was aplenty, but the trick would be to find the restaurant in the first place. If you were keen, just enter these coordinates on your GPS - 3.124067, 101.607992 - and hopefully you'd be pointed to the right direction. Oh! And the Thai fresh coconut drinks were not to be missed as well!

I could see that the place would be packed for an evening meal. We actually arrived at the place after 3 pm, and there were hardly anybody there. The place were opened from lunch till late evening, and there was a separate air-conditioned area. The facilities there were clean, with plenty of places for handwashing as well. Refer at the photo above for the address and telephone number. Oh! They provide free wifi at the venue - albeit a slow one.