Return to Marriott

Since we had the voucher after the mishap a couple of weeks back, we returned to the scene of the crime for berbuka. This time, we were seated indoors, but the marquee where Anita had the fall remained unchanged. I guessed they never quite took heed to what happened.

Anyhow, apart from a slight variation, the spread remained the same. The satay was overcooked this time however. And the place was just as packed, that being Sunday and all. And with that, almost every table had children coming along - ours included. No privacy if you were coming here for a date!

Food was well topped-up and I tried some other stuff, mainly noodles as I wasn't in the mood for rice - been having rice for berbuka almost every day. The queue for roast lamb remained long, so again I gave that a miss. But the highlight remained the fruits and pudding. Idlan had two helping of chocolate cakes - he was right hyper in the end! Big mistake.

We didn't hang around for too long this time as we had already made reservations for Despicable Me across town.

Compared to most places, the buffet here remained the most reasonable price-wise, although the spread was limited tonmainly local Malay cuisine. Well worth checking out, but make sure you were seated indoors.

Decor at Pavilion

I had a couple of hours to venture around Pavilion yesterday as I needed to do some payment at the bank. Anita and the boys did some shopping while they were there.

Suffice to say, with Aidilfitri less than a couple of weeks away, the decor was already up.

The main lobby was transformedCloser look at the houseWouldn't mind the songkok if I couldn't get the carTime to head out towards Bukit BintangWhat was in store? A life-size replica of a Malay kampung house, which one could enter and explore. I didn't have the time to do so though as the boys were hungry when we got there - obviously they weren't fasting.

There was also a Mini car promotion, and in the spirit of Aidilfitri, it was wearing a songkok. And a huge one at that.

On the way to the bank, I passed by Fahrenheit. Some scenes worth taking photographs for there, but unfortunately I only had the HTC One on me. Quick snaps and then in was off again.

Entering Fahrenheit Fake coconut treesDikir Barat at Sungai Wang PlazaReturning to PavilionNot sure who this fellow isAt the entrance to Pavilion I noticed a metal artwork which was designed and made by one of my patient, Nizam. It was gorgeous and he had a couple of work up there. My wife was impressed to say the least.

Might be returning there armed with a proper camera. When it came to details, sometime mobile phones may not cut it.

Berbuka at Latest Recipe

Last week, I confirmed an invitation for iftar from a Pharmaceutical company. The problem was, the iftar would be on a post call evening. And that particular call happened to be a busy one. But being Ramadan, I didn't really mind the extra hours I was awake. I was munching away most of the time I was up.

When it was finally time for iftar, I was already very tired and grumpy. All I wanted was to be in bed. At home.

It turned out to be great, with great company. And the food was good.

Clever way to present the fruits

The iftar was at Latest Recipe, one of my favourite hotel cafe. It was at Le Meridien, KL Sentral. It had local, Indian, Japanese and a bit of fusion food. But what was great was despite the number of people, there were food aplenty, and the crowd control was good. The cafe itself was relatively small and we were seated by the lift.

What did I have? I started out with some sashimi. If you think that was bad, there were some on my table who opened with oysters. Next, I had some chicken rice - which was nog great. The Indian selection was good, so was the teppanyaki and pasta.

But the highlight was definitely the afters. There was plenty of local fruits - I had a feast of rambutan. Puddings, ice cream, ais kacang. You get the picture.

Those are not test tubes! They contain the dressing for the salad.A surprise birthday cakeWe also had a surprise birthday for one of the Pharmaceutical Rep. Cakes and all. Plus the hearthy singing from my Boss.

This wasn't the first time I had iftar at Latest Recipe. The standard was still up there as far as food was concerned. Crowd was always a challenge and reserving a seat can be difficult. If somebody were to offer me iftar in town, Latest Recipe would definitely be high on my list.

Early Start

Attending a meeting this morning, I had to leave for work extra early. But that didn't stop me from having a nap just after sahur. I ended up leaving the apartment at 6.45, starting my rounds just after 7 in the morning.

A quick look outside, little did I realise that the crawl on the roads leading to and from Persiaran Kewajipan had already started. It was already busy with the honking and all. No wonder the patients complaining that sometimes they couldn't get enough rest.

And the queue didn't last until about 10 in the morning. And would start again just after three. Madness!

Iftar at Marriott part II

From part I ...

The food were actually well prepared. The satay especially was very nice. The grilled fish were rather overcooked. The most popular dish that evening was the roast lamb. The queue was long and since I wasn't that much if a fan, I gave that a miss.

For the mains, I had some chicken rice and then went for asam laksa. By the time i went for my Maghrib prayers, I finished most of the starters. I was already full by then. My boys had satay and Irfan had some Indian food. That kept them occupied before going hyper from all the dessert.

Unfortunately, while getting out of her seat, Anita stepped off the platform onto a wet flooring behind our table and slipped. She knocked her knees falling flat on the floor, leaving her with a nice bruise. Her brother went to complaint and after finding out what happened, the Duty Manager arrived. To cut a long story shot, we got the dinner refunded. But since the payment had been made during booking, we received vouchers to return.

Another problem with the place was the surau - prayer room or musalla. They didn't have a proper place for absolution, which for such a hotel was rather sad. We had to do our cleansing at a toilet. But at least the room they prepared for praying was comfortable.

On the whole, the food was actually quite good. Price-wise, compared to other hotel of similar stature, the price here was among the most reasonable. You could cut cost further if you have the dinner at the banquet hall rather than the poolside.

Would we be coming back? Well, we didn't have much of a choice really since we got the vouchers. Would I recommend it? Yes, most definitely. But parking would be a nightmare if you were to arrive late. Traffic to and from the hotel was also notorious.