Over to Starhill

Starhill Gallery. The photos suffer from lack of light. - Spherical Image - RICOH THETA

Since I was already around there, I might as well have a look at Starhill Gallery, across the road from Pavilion. Not much going on there, except for people having some nice lunch. A quicl snap, then I was off!

Walking around Starhill

The last time I walked around Starhill Gallery must be about a couple of years back. I went to the cafe on the ground floor since then, but that was about it. Not really my cup of the this place with its imposing architecture and much more imposing price tag on the items on show, not really a place for a weekend shopping trip.

The Debenhams here was still going strong, plenty of items, much like the chain in the UK. But that was almost all that I could afford. Plenty of boutiques and high end restaurant here, plus some really rediculously expensive home furnishing items occupying the upper floors! Complete madness.

Intimidating no matter which angle you look at it ....Are those edible?We were there killing time before berbuka at Marriott next door. Even window shopping gave me headache here ...... But in terms of ambiance, the place was top notch. A place to meet and be met, especially at the cafes downstairs.

Starhill Tea Salon

I have to admit that I'm more of a coffee drinker, but the rest of the family, Puan Anta and the two boys are tea people. Wierd! But my boys sure love their tea, but yesterday, it was just me and Puan Anita, and we sampled the tea salon at Starhill. Not just any tea salon, but THE Starhill Tea Salon.

We went there late afternoon - after we were done with Ampang Park. It was a spur of the moment thing when we decided to head for Bukit Bintang. The place was packed as usual for a Sunday afternoon, but that did not deter us. I had to buy some print inks anyway.

The utensils being lined upI didn't bother with the tea. I had mint lemonade instead .... cheat!After the hustle and bustle, it was time for an afternoon drink. Then we remembered about the tea salon which we saw before but did not have time to check the place out. It was full - at least the best seats, so we decided to wait. After about 5 minutes, we got the seat which we wanted. It was buffet high tea on Sundays, but they mainly served dessert. We decided to order a la carte.

And that was a mistake since Puan Anita's pasta took a good half an hour to be ready. Luckily the drinks came first. Anita had some Assam Tea. I chickened out and had some minty lemonade - good for a hot Sunday afternoon.

The place was fantastic in terms of ambiance, and the staff there knew their tea. We actually had a conversation about which tea to order, and the taste was described pretty well. They had a separate smoking and non-smoking area, which was always a plus.

Everything about the presentation was quality and I was sure the patrons there would not have tolerated otherwise. The teapot was sturdy and the brew was perfect, at least to my untrained palate. Puan Anita approved of it as well.

The assam tea is finally brewed!We would definitely be back there in the future, but we would probably avoid Sunday. Why? Because they do not have a set tea with scones on Sunday. They had the buffet instead. How expensive was it. The tea, my mint drink, Puan Anita's pasta as well as my snack put me back around RM 150. Not cheap .......

If you were interested, the salon is located on the Ground Floor, straight through the lobby of Marriott, or through the entrance at the back of Sephora if you were coming from Pavilion or Bukit Bintang.

Enak KL at Starhill Gallery

As I mentioned in my previous entry, we made another excuse to go out for a family dinner last weekend celebrating Mum's birthday. I was given the task of picking the venue. It turned out to be a tough one. Mum wanted a Malay restaurant, preferably buffet.

I searched online as well as taken out my restaurant guidebook. A few names came to mind. We did Rebung last year. Ibunda was full. Seri Malaysia and Warisan was closed on Sunday. We did not fancy going up the KL Tower or KLCC again. Hotel restaurants? None of them offer a real Malay treat, plus we did Le Meridien the other evening.

I wonder what Imran actually picked?The boys got their order of nasi goreng first. And a yummy one at that.In the end, we went to Enak KL at Starhill Gallery, Bukit Bintang. It came highly recommended, winning the best Malay restaurant accolades in the last couple of years. Plus we never been there before. I booked a table for the 11 of us, and we arrived at around 8.30. There was no buffet, so we picked items of the menu to share.

The food were surprisingly good. The ambiance was exciting, the children could not stand still, while being mesmerised by the dimmed lighting of the whole of the Lower Ground floor of Starhill. The service was excellent! The staffs there made us really felt welcomed, and Mum was happy.

The order has arrived. From left clockwise, asam pedas jenahak, ayam gurung berempah, daging hitam and gulai udang.Kerabu asparagus.We had asam pedas, prawn curry, daging hitam and kerabu asparagus, among other things. They tasted nice. I must warn you however that the place was not exactly cheap ….. but I supposed you would get what you paid for, and everybody had a good time.

Some of the items however ran out. I was told that the daging bakar was a specialty. Maybe net time ...

More information on Enak KL can be found here.