How the mighty had fallen

After a trio around town to run errands and visit some family members who was admitted into one of the local hospital in KL, myself, Anita and her parents had lunch at the once famous Cosy Corner, at Ampang Park right in the middle of town. The place used to be and to a certain extend, still was full of patron come lunchtime, with queues of legendary length. The food there was really good, both of the locals and Western variety. The service was fast and prompt, making it ideal for a quick lunch meeting for the corporate types on a budget.

The laser time I was here must have been a good couple of years ago. I used to remember the food being excellent, or at least much better than its sister outlet, Cosy House at Great Eastern Mall. Unfortunately this time, the food was frankly bad and the service - as the core of the waiters and waitresses comprised of Indonesian workers, the order were messed up, and the right ones did not go to the right table. It was frankly a mess. A far cry from what it used to be.. To make mattered worst, I ordered a sirloin steak - cookers to well-done. It came with some basic vegetable and a few slices of French Fries. It did not even come with gravy. When asked, apparently, I had to pay extra for them, and they only came in in black pepper or black sauce. I just shook my head in disgust. How do you expect me to guzzle down a dry piece of steak with some chilling sauce. Disgusting!

The irony was, the steak came with a small Malaysia flag. I felt like assaulting the Manager's eyes with it ..... I was that disappointed. Suffice to say, I would not returning the any time soon. I would rather have the McDonald's downstairs ....... and that was meant to be an insult .....

Thaipusam

Woke up this morning contemplating taking my camera out and drive the 4 km to Batu Caves. It was arguably one of those local festivities that was known worldwide. I have seen Discovery Channel documentary on the event from years past. Even the photograph of the day on BBC featured the celebration in Batu Caves.

Instead, I decided to stay home as I promised to take my in-laws out for lunch. My Mum wanted to have Yee Sang, a traditional Chinese sort-of-appetizer where the everyone toast a selection of nuts, ginger, salmon into a thick splash of sweet honey. We do it almost every year. I already had a Yee Sang on Thursday night at PJ Hilton after the MSH Council Meeting. So I was kind of slow for this one.

This year, we had it at Corus Hotel. It used to be called Ming Court, and since Anita was a child, she was fond of the place. There was also a Japanese eatery at the same hotel, but we prefer PJ Hilton for that. The Chinese dinner here was not bad, and today was no exception. Rather than taking the set meal, we decided just to order a few items as there only 4 of us, an the children.

Later in the afternoon, Anita wanted some retail therapy time, Abd we went to BB Plaza. I wanted to get some new DVDs, but apparently, the place was under surveillance. No pirate DVDs for the day I was afraid. Anita made up more than that from her shopping though. Getting in was murder and I had to park the car around Jalan Alor. The entrance to the BB Plaza car park was closed and getting around the place was almost impossible.

While Anita was shopping, I had a quick wander round to Low Yat. I wanted to check out the Nexus S. Unfortunately, only a single dealer ha it in stock and he offered it to me for RM2500. I thought it was a bit steep. I would give it a couple of weeks and see if the price would come down. I was hoping for something around RM1800. Impossible I guessed.

It was a nice relaxing day, but it will be back to the grind tomorrow. My partner, Bee will be off and I would be looking forward to the big Friday clinic. I also have a stem cell infusion due tomorrow morning as well as other planned tests for the patients. I will then be on call on Saturday. Looking forward to a busy weekend then ...... not!

Birthday Lunch

As tweeted, the family went out for lunch in Kuala Selangor. Fresh seafood. Sunday afternoon. Nobody would say no to that. Add to that gorgeous weather and smooth drive. It was a pleasure.

Got there in one pieceI wasn't joking when I said freshThis is a frequent place for us to dine, every couple of months or so. It took around an hour and a half to get there. Via Sungai Buloh, then Ijok. 70 km on the clock to reach the place. Kuala Selangor has certainly changed over the years. There are now big shopping areas with Tesco making a big investment there. A couple of brand new highways were also being constructed, one connecting Kuala Lumpur to Kuala Selangor, and another as part of the West Coastline highway between Kelang and Lumut. The road was rather winding once you pass by Sg Buloh but it was well maintained. I kinda enjoy the drive there and I can imagine those on big motorbike would enjoy is as well. The main attraction there is the Kg Kuantan Firefly Reserve. I have never been personally there, but from what I heard, it was well worth the trip to enjoy the fireflies in the early evening. I heard that they were building a resort near there as well.

Condiments .... checkedDrinks .... checked - my mum-in-law's dragonfruit juice that wasHere comes the dishesThe restaurant we frequent was located in a small village just north of Kuala Selangor town, heading towards Sabak Bernam. Just across the river, taking a left turn into Pasir Penambang. It was a quiet village, mainly inhabited by Chinese doing business processing fish and other sea products into dried salted fish and crackers. There was a small fresh fish market but after a couple of trip there, the price there was really expansive compared to if you haggle directly with the fishermen. There was only a couple of big restaurant there. The one we went to was called the Riverview. Simple and understated, but it certainly serve fresh, delicious seafood at a very reasonable price.

All was doneTime to goMy father-in-law did the ordering and we got our favourite sweet and sour crab and steam fish. And did I finish them all? The restaurant was also an antithesis of 1Malaysia. The patrons came from all races, with occasional Mat Salleh thrown into the mix. To get the coordinate of the place, it would be best just to click on one of the photos which will land you onto my flickr page. There, you can find the exact coordinate. It’s highly recommended if you have a spare time for weekend lunch. A nice drive and great food. But beware, there was a long queue for table yesterday as the place can be full during weekend. So, drop by early. We reached there just after noon. Be sure to try the freshly baked bread that goes very well with the gravy of the meal you choose. 

A Simple Birthday Lunch

The plan was to have a party this weekend. It will still go on on Saturday but since I was at home, everyone insisted that I came along for lunch. We took Irfan to Delicious at Dua Residency along Jalan Tun Razak. Anita's parents were also there. We brought out Irfan's present and we did have a great time.

We also brought along a cake to school for Irfan to celebrate. According to Idlan, everyone sang and Irfan blew off the candles. Cake was gone in record time. As for this Saturday, everything was booked at Fit For 2. We were not planning for a big one. It will be Idlan's turn for a big party this year. That has already been booked even though his birthday is not until May. It's good to plan .....

Delicious was empty when we got there but it soon filled up. Anita wanted to try Full House at Jalan Yak Kwan Seng but they were doing some construction work there today. Never been there but from what I heard it is a good joint. Maybe next time. As you can see, he got the Lego set he always wanted although it certainly not for his age. I spent the whole afternoon fixing it up for him ... and it was now in pieces again .... I've given up since ... 

Trip to Kuala Selangor

Nope! He's not reading the map. It was a Toys'r'Us magazine.Irfan's Pingu class today was cancelled. One of the kindergarten that his teacher is teaching at had their school concert today. The whole family plus my in-laws went to Kuala Selangor for a spot of proper seafood. We planned to leave early, but knowing the boys, things got delayed. We only managed to leave Gombak by 11.

Stopping over near Ijok for some rambutanWe took the MRR II via Sungai Buloh, driving on route 54 passing Ijok on the way to Kuala Selangor town. It was only around 65km away. I can imagine, if the weather is right, minus the screaming kids in the CRV, it could have been a cool drive. We had to stop a couple of times for toilet and rambutan break. A small stretch of the road was still narrow and windy. I can see parallel to the route that there are new, wider roads being built Not sure it that was part of the coastal highway being constructed, from Kelang, via the coast up to Lumut.

The weather was cloudy. It was drizzling a wee bit when we join the Kelang-Tanjung Karang main trunk road. The road widened a fair bit by then. To our surprise, there was a big Tesco already open just before the Kuala Selangor town. The last time I went there was early last year mind. We drove past the town towards Tanjung Karang, over a small bridge, then took the first left off a traffic light after the bridge into a small kampung. This is where the good restaurants are.

Sweet and sour crab ... Yums!And the aftermath!We quickly settled to order our food. We had steamed fish and sweet and sour crab among other things. It was gorgeous. The boys were rather cranky since they had had plenty of junk food on the way in. I made it worst by splashing some sauce onto Idlan's face while cracking the crab claws with my hammer. He was livid. We finally left for home by 2. It was always surprising that the journey home felt much faster than going out. Both of the boys, plus their mum were asleep as soon as we left the town. The drive back was much more pleasant.

Update on Wednesday, November 25, 2009 at 9:09AM by Haris Abdul Rahman

Since there were many queries, I have attached a Google map of the restaurant;

Arrow indicates the location of the restaurant

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