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.

A Long Sunday

Started the day with a long ward round, then rushing straight for lunch at China Treasures to celebrate Idlan's and Mum-in-law's birthday lunch. Luckily, we spent the Saturday evening at the apartment as I was called in during dinner last night. The journey to hospital to start the day was pretty short.

Lunch was great. It was especially good when my brother-in-law paid for it, with 20% discount with me being a Sime Darby contractor. The boys especially ate plenty.

This was followed by a short drive to amid Valley Megamall for one of Idlan's classmate's birthday party. It was Laser Quest! Oh boy! The boys went berserk in the arena. Irfan did not join his brother, giving a tummy ache as an excuse.

Next was a drive to Bangsar Village to buy some games for Idlan as part of his birthday. Of course, Irfan also got one.

Back to the apartment afterward as I had plenty of paperwork to finish, before it was time for the Thomas Cup Finals. It looked like Malaysia won't be able to make it ...

We left for Gombak just after Maghrib after the boys finished their homework. Certainly a full day, and I was sure I would be knackered later tonight .... Weekend was gone!

A Quick Stop

Right in the middle of the journey. The boys wanted a drink. Anita wanted some jambu batu. And I wanted the toilet. A convenient stop.

Supposed to be a five minutes stop, it lasted close to an hour, prayers and all. Good thing that the new stall there - Tu dia Pak Tam - was clean and welcoming.

And then the shopping for fruits began.

That's it. I would be waiting in the van with the boys ...

Tasik Raban

For lunch, my father-in-law wanted some local Malay cooking. Tempoyak, ikan patin and all. On the last few occasions we were back in Kuala Kangsar, we went to Tasik Raban for his fix.

It was a local Malay Food restaurant located about 30 minutes out of Kuala Kangsar. The main draw there was the fish. They have the best, fresh local catch. Located on the main road to Gerik, it was popular among the motorcycle riders making the journey to the East Coast.

Place was still emptyLooks fresh, but not my kind of fish ...Ulam of courseAnd the grillTime to head homeOn a Monday afternoon such as today, there were hardly any customers and we were able to pick and choose the fish we wanted from the grill. Anita loved the food more than I did - I was more of a sea water seafood guy rather than a fresh water fish fan. And, I was definitely not a fan of tempoyak.

Laksa Anyone?

One of the main attractions at Kuala Kangsar was its laksa. But as usual, it was pretty difficult to get the authentic taste. Most of the joints seemed to be commercialised and you'd be better off getting laksa in KL which tasted better.

We stopped at the main bazaar complex in town as it was open on the Sunday evening and left disappointed. Maybe we should've been picky. The stalls nearby was closing up when we passed by and we didn't have much of a choice.

Off we went to order some laksa. It was not exactly tasty, the portion was pithy and it turned out to be more expensive than we expected and the place was dirty and full of flies. No win unfortunately.

Irfan was unstoppable soon afterThat didn't stop Irfan from enjoying his afternoon meal. He finished his plate of laksa, with extra bits of egg yolk. He sampled my ABC and decided against it after a few sips.

So, we should've done some homework and find a better stall. Better luck next time.