Bangsar Shopping Center

The afternoon before Raya was traditionally the time for me to be the designated driver. Doing last minute chores and shopping would be my specialty. This year, I had to go over to Bangsar Shopping Center to get some cupcake among other things.

Plenty of people were doing their last minute shopping today. The decorations over at BSC were pretty simple, but the central foyer was always filled with goodies and hampers.

My destination there was O'Gormet, and I was lucky that I managed to get the last few cupcakes on display. Red Velvet. Yummy!

Chores were done, and I was home by 4 pm. After a quick visit to see how Mum was doing - she was making ketupat for tomorrow, I then headed on home. More chores.

Iftar at Latest Recipe

For the final Iftar for this Ramadhan, my brother-in-law took all of us out to Le Meridien. Unfortunately, Latest Recipe stopped doing the Ramadhan buffet since the weekend. So, we settled for the standard buffet there.

While I was settling down, I heard a voice calling. It was a friend from Sheffield, who was with his family for Iftar as well. I last saw him about three years ago when I visited him at Prince Court Hospital. I I was not mistaken, it was during Ramadhan as well. How time flies.

Food there was great as usual. They had all my favorites, salad, sashimi, tandoori, laksa. They also had pasta, where my children's eyes lit up when they were able to order off the menu straight to the chef, and the food was prepared in front of them.

The boys started out, appropriate I might add, with the chocolate fountain. That kept them hyperactive all dinner long. Irfan, especially enjoyed the dinner. He had the chocolate-covered marshmallow of course, then pasta, biryani rice and waffles. Really worth his buffet admission price.

Irfan enjoying his startersStarting things off with a bowl of salad. I'm civilised that way ....Then came the raw stuffsThe tandoori was especially nice this evening, although I was disappointed that they did not have the spiced pappadoms like before, which went down brilliantly with the mango chutney. I was full by the time I had dessert - ais kacang, custard pudding and sago gula Melaka. A hefty dinner indeed.

The boys mesmerised by the chefBuffet here at Latest recipe had long been my favorite as they serve all my favorite dishes. They had at one point Peking Duck - not tonight. A good place if you wanted variety, or simply if you were in a group and you were not sure what the rest of the group prefer to eat. You could't really go wrong here. And again, Selamat Hari Raya.

If you want to know more about Latest Recipe at Le Meridien, please click here.

Coming to an End

Ramadhan was coming to an end. No more Tarawikh. No more Pasar Ramadhan and as usual, the city dwellers left for their kampung. And KL was practically empty. Traffic was going to be a breeze.

But I was sure the Raya break would also turn KL into another atmosphere all together. Where else could you get to visit Dhaka, Jakarta and Yangon within a space of a few minutes? Come to central KL during the holiday period and you would get to see that!

Selamat Hari Raya.

Iftar at Bumbu Desa KLCC

This year, the family Iftar was at Bumbu Desa, KLCC. It was yours truly given the task to pick the venue. My first choice was supposed to be Restoran Warisan near Dataran Merdeka. Unfortunately, despite numerous attempt at calling, no one picked up the phone.

I tried my luck with a few other places but they were all fully booked. During lunchtime today, I headed over to KLCC to make the booking as again, nobody answered the restaurant number, nor the supposedly Iftar booking hotline. I went straight to book the tables and made the food order for Iftar as they only cater for ala carte. They did not have a Ramadhan buffet.

Not expecting much, we gathered at the venue just before 7pm, surprised to see that all the order was already on the table. Cold. The place was packed, so we just sat down, ordered drinks and chatted until Iftar time. And that was when the second surprise came in.

The food was actually quite nice. Better than we hoped for as the expectation was rock bottom to start with. They offer Sumatran - Sunda and Padang - cuisine. Most of the item in the menu were already familiar to us. Sufficed to say, even their sambal and vegetable were very well prepared. Their specialty dish was ayam bakar. It looked plain, but the meat was really succulent. They also had a variety of tempeh - a Java offering. There were also grilled prawns which was lightly buttered, again a must-try.

The place had a reputation for bad service. It was packed, but we got what we ordered for. Not much ground for us to complain about service tonight really.

Unfortunately, the lack of a Ramadhan menu made ordering for food rather awkward. There were no starters, and at the end we did not bother to order desserts. They did bot Wen offer dates for us. Room was at a premium. There were not much room to maneuver in and out of our seats. We had to leave early since the surau was five floors down. The children were getting loud by then. And the price was not exactly cheap either.

Even if the food was nice, I wouldn't recommend the venue for Iftar mainly due to the way the menu was set up. Ordering ala carte for Iftar lead you to either under or overestimate the amount of food to order. Plus, you had to order in advance to make sure there weren't any wait for the food. Even Spice of India next door had a special Iftar menu. And don't bother calling the restaurant beforehand to make a booking. Nobody would bother to pick up, and you might as well just come personally you make the booking.

I thought I also include this video taken after Iftar with the children on the ride.

Iftar at Dewan Perdana Felda

I have mentioned before that I was never that keen on Iftar outside the house. I only went if there were special occasions. I went for one last night, at the Dewan Perdana Felda, to join a few of my friends whose children went to same school as my boys.

It was a mixed experience. A packed hall, and we got to our table rather late as our host were stuck in traffic. Managed to get some rice and drinks just in time for the Maghrib azan.

The hall was huge, and Anita been there a couple of times before for weddings. It was my first time. Getting a parking spot was a challenge. There were spaces in the underground parking area, but since we were late, there were queues leading into there as well. We were lucky to find a spot just outside the hall.

There were at least 120 tables, most of them booked, although it was still possible to walk in. Food were arranged on small stations, peppered throughout the hall. The main attraction was roast lamb, but the queue was rather atrocious. Atrocious meaning if you talk the loudest and hassle enough people, you get to be served first! I could not even bother to start. Never been a fan of lamb anyhow.

There were biryani, white rice with Malay dishes, and not to mention the noodles, laksa, and other cookies and kueh. The Malay food there were excellent. Couldn't comment about the lamb though because I did not taste it. The laksa was also nice. The Malay kueh were also quite a find.

The lamb roastAfter it was doneThere were no specific food for children, but the rice and spaghetti should be fine for them. There were ramps for pram and wheelchairs, so access was a doodle. The surau was located in the basement, fully equipped, with a lift if you didn't fancy the stairs. There were even able to accommodate Tarawikh here if you wish. And there were after dinner entertainment as well.

They had a local nasyid group, Uniq, singing a few songs.

We hung around until about 9. Had to leave early since the boys would be in school the next morning. On the whole, food was nice, but lacked variety. The hall was comfortable although the waiters were rather sluggish. The service could have been much better. But if you were desperate to have a night out for iftar, you could do a lot worst then here.

Price? I did not pick up the cheque, but the counter mentioned it was around RM60.