Too Many Smokers

After missing out on yesterday, I decided that I would drive my car into town straight after the ward round, enjoy a nice lunch and just chill for the afternoon. Anita and the boys would only be back later this evening, so I got some time for myself.

After a nice lunch, I took a walk across town wary of what looked like impending rain coming a bit later. I had to strategise. I picked a small space at a cafe, ordered my drinks and ten everybody around me started lighting up. It looked like I was at the smoking section. And they occupy the best seats. Those who prefer smoke-free environment would have to cope with the seats indoors with poor view, blasted with industrial strength air conditioning.

I thought on the whole, we non-smokers were given the worse deal. We had to put up with the worse seats, and huddled near screaming infants who normally occupy these areas. I didn't see any vapers around there though. Because that would be a other story to be told ....

The weather when I set off for the rounds earlierSo, I had to be content with the smoking. I was sure that my shirt would be smelling of tobacco for the rest of the day. At least I had a couple hours of down time. But not for long. I already had an admission waiting at the Emergency Room. Happy Sunday all.

End of the Road?

Since the closing of Bukit Bintang Plaza, its sister Sungai Wang Plaza seemed to have aged considerably. It was slowly turning into a dump unfortunately. Certainly it had not aged gracefully.

When I was there yesterday, quite a number of the business had closed. Some of them had moved across to Berjaya Time Square just along the road. Some of them had packed up while most of the IT vendors had moved to Low Yat next door.

It was a Sunday and usually the place was the buzz capital of townApparently the main foyer was occupied by a K-pop dance event. It was already done.In the past years, there were still plenty of vendors selling phones at the main foyer and walkway. It uses to be multiple floors of them. Yesterday, it was down to just a single floor. And even then, you can't get the really up to date gadget any longer.

This was one of the earliest "Famous Amos" store in the country. And still serve the best cookies.But it was depressing to look around everywhere ....I was convinced that its days are numbered. Maybe once the MRT station operational the situation might improve but at the rate it was going things were. It looking too good. The whole of the third floor was practically empty. I didn't even bother going up to the loft where there used to be a big eating area.

Time had certainly moved on ....

The KL Tower

The last time we had a meal at the revolving restaurant must have been a couple of years back. It was under a different management and the food then was better than when we visited recently.
On the plus side, there was a few new attractions - the old Blue Coral aquarium and F1 simulator were still there - including a new mini-zoo. There was also a new platform opened with shops and space for cultural dances and activities, dubber the 1Malaysia Cultural Village. There was also a crane pulling up a table for dinner should you wished to have your dinner dangled up in the air. Not my cup of tea however!

The Bukit Nanas Forest Reserve had now been reopened and one can walk down the hill via a jungle trail from the tower. Certainly the tower had plenty of things going for it at the moment.

Not much of a view unfortunately with the haze ...There are a few taller ones ....But, the management would have to be more slick. There was the perennial issue with parking which was a pain. Luckily this time around Julia booked a spot with the valet. And booking our table at Atmosphere 360 was a bit of an ordeal. I had to personally turn up there to finalise the booking as initially the management insisted on me paying the 50% deposit. I wouldn't mind paying the deposit but I had to either bank in the money into their account and email them the receipts, or alternatively give them my credit card details, which included a photocopy of the card front and back! That would be silly don't you think.

So, I might as well turn up there and pay up front. And then there was the surcharges for the window seatings and the fact that they could only accommodate up to 10 on a single table. We were in a party of 11! So we had to book 2 tables, and had to pay the surcharges twice!

Do not look at the sun!My Dad having a peekCoupled with a limited selection of food and lack of a la carte menu, bringing kids would not be much fun. The lunch buffet package cost around RM90, and dinner package cost twice that. I guess you would be paying for the novelty factor.

I wished that the management could get their activity streamlined fitting with their status as one of the premier destination in Kuala Lumpur. And another thing, I could see that although the locals made the majority of the front line staff members, there were plenty of foreigners about. What impression would this give to our visitors?

Lunch at Al Halabi

It was not often that a restaurant which looked good on the outside, served good food. At least not often here in Kuala Lumpur. So, Anita and I decided to be a bit more adventurous this Sunday lunchtime and for some reason, I fancied some Arab food. I passed by this particular restaurant on a newly opened section of Pavilion recently but it was too late for lunch then.

So, I decided to give this one a go. It was called Al Halabi, located on the seventh floor, through the escalator near Times Bookstore. It was part of a new section called Dining Loft.

It was spacious with a separate seating area in filled with natural light right at the back. A lot of shisha smoker back there, so we decided to take one of the seats in the main area. Very nice setting, true to Middle Eastern theme, with some of the waiters who were actually Arabic.

The cooks were definitely from the Middle East and they have a butcher there preparing fresh meat and ingredients, plus a baker who actually baked the puffs and bread traditionally. The grilling was also done in-house as well and the produce were displayed by the main counter as if you were sitting in a market. It was reminiscent of Marche.

What did we order? I started with some hummus with sliced grilled meat, and for the mains I had grilled pomfret while Anita had chicken tikka. We had some rice with them and I had some Arabic mint tea in the end.

I was impressed. I could feel the succulent fish melting in my mouth and the dips were amazing. Even the mint sauce tasted authentic - and made from real mint - while the rice was a joy. The mint in the tea was a touch to light to be honest and it finished up tasting rather bitter.

We gave up on desserts since we were just too full.

The seats were very comfortable as we were on a sofa, and I now understood why the patron seemed to sit down there for hours! We ended up sitting there for nearly a couple of hours, nibbling away at our food, before finally leaving the place. The staff were OK, although the Arabs struggled somewhat with their English. The other staffs who spoke English were Filipino or Bangladeshi. How I wished that the locals would work there, as I could see that most of the patron were locals.

Highly recommended although I hope that they could maintain their standard in the future. The place was still rather new when we visited.

Happy Sunday

I just can't help it. I woke up early after sleeping in front of the TV last night. The intention was to watch the ManYoo- West Brom game, but I guessed the lull of the pillow was too strong! I ended up being woken up by Anita after the game finished. 2 nil to United she said before I stumbled back to sleep in the bedroom.

So, I woke up just after Subuh this morning, at around the usual time I woke up during work days. ANd I just couldn't get back to sleep. I ended watching YouTube reviews and was quite interested in the latest offering from BlackBerry. The Android-powered Priv. It retained both the physical and the excellent software keyboards from the Z series. If the tide is ride, it could be a winner! It's not yet available in Malaysia. Maybe when it was released, I'd have a look.

It was still too early to get to the hospital for the morning rounds. But maybe I just have a shower and see what was for breakfast .... Good Sunday all!