Just In Time

Irfan been asking for pizza all day. As if he was doing the fasting. But both of the boys would join us for berbuka. When he arrived from his Quran class this afternoon, he reminded us again. So, we had no choice.

We called for delivery and luckily the delivery arrived in time for Berbuka. Irfan was happy ...... Next, we would be doing a quick packing after Berbuka. We would be at the apartment for the next week. It's school holiday time - Summer Break - for my boys!

Bad Experience at Ben's

We finally had the chance to sit down for lunch at Ben's General Food Store. I was meaning to do this after the visit when I accompanied Idlan for some pizza. Today, I sampled some food, and the service there first hand.

On the previous visit, the restaurant was only half full, and I commented on how good the staffs were. It was packed today, with queue outside, and the service definitely eroded. Not only that some of our orders were messed, the waiters had the cheeks to come over and explained what we did wrong. Apparently, since we ordered mains which included salad, the starter salad we ordered would come together. But the problem was, the orders for starters and accompanying salad were completely different, and still the waiter insisted that we ordered wrong.

Playing spot the foreigners ....The food preparation area ....Anita was hungry at the time, and was rather mad at the waiter, and we had to explain again what we ordered and how we insisted our orders to be prepared. It was finally rectified when the shift manager came to speak to us.

The pizza for Irfan was fine, but apparently, we had to pay for the the extra parmesan - something we did not have to do three weeks ago. Hmm! Odd. Maybe in three weeks time, we should be forewarned to bring along an oxygen tank just in case we would be charged for the air we breath. You never know!

Irfan went hyper after all the fizzy drinks ...The pizza has arrived ....Told you I was not into green peas .....I think, the problem was not so much the food, but the "we know best" attitude of the staffs there. Anita thought it was more to do with the fact the majority of the patron that afternoon were foreigners, and hence we were treated as second-rate customers. To be honest, I kind of agree with her. Unfortunately, this was still true in many of the more affluent areas and hotels in the capital. I guess, all of us have the urge to please the foreigners more than our own people ……

As a result, I had to reduce the rating for this outlet, and warn that it may be best not to visit it during busy hours ….. unless that you are a foreigner ….

Ben's General Food Store, Bangsar Village

Coming straight off his Lego camp, Idlan was understandably hungry. He did not have lunch earlier, although he had a late breakfast. Straight away, he told us he wanted pizza. We were settled at The Loaf earlier, but since it did not offer pizza, Dina, our guest, suggested we head across to Bangsar Village and try Ben's.

Again, it was quite a find. We went there a couple of months ago, but could not get a seat, and had to settle for an alternative place. Now, we understood why the place was packed during lunch.

I did not have the chance to peruse through the menu, but they mainly offer Italian and fusion food. We went straight for pizza and milkshake. It was a ten inch, thin crust pizza, and Idlan finished them all on his own - with the help of sprinkling of parmesan of course.

I did managed to sample half a slice. It was very nice. Nice crisp base, tangy tomato topping and nice smooth mix of mozzarella and cheddar. Served piping hot, in a nice little place and a personal roll cutter.

Idlan and Anita did some groceries while I was with Idlan. Irfan joined us later and we ordered another pizza for take-out.

The pizza has arrivedIdlan working on themOne more to go

Since it was a quick stop, we would definitely be returning. It must be the Raya spirit, as I was kind to both restaurants - The Loaf being the other - I entered this afternoon.

The restaurant was located on the Ground Floor of Bangsar Village, right by the main foyer, directly opposite Village Grocers. I have to warn you that the place tended to be packed during weekends, especially lunchtime ….

P/S - we had a slightly different experience the next time we came here.

Return to Marmalade

We moved Idlan's Lego camp to today from initially yesterday. That meant that I had to spend the afternoon at Bangsar Village, watching Irfan finish his delicious-looking pizza at Marmalade.

We have not been back to Marmalade for quite a while. There was a birthday party going on then, so we ha to settle for a table near the entrance. The good thing about Marmalade - and for that matter Fit For 2, on the top floor - they cater specifically for children. The menu was just right for them, basically a mix-and-match affair. You take one meal, and pair it with your drinks for a fixed price, and the choices were pretty good. and there were nice desserts to go with it for the parents.

And the milkshake to go with the pizzaIt was all done. Contrary to the reports on Facebook, I did not give a hand to finish off the pizza!There were macaroni and cheese, pizza and other pasties. Irfan had a mini-pizza and vanilla milkshake. As usual, he would pick the pieces of onions away from the main dough. But he managed to gobble everything down by the end - minus the onion bits of course!

Just in case you were with a child the next time you were in Bangsar Village are, do give either Marmalade on level 1 or Fit For 2 on level 3, a visit. You would be pleased!

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.