Sunday at B.I.G.

The B.I.G. - Ben's Independent Grocer - at Solaris Dutamas was an imposing store at so many level. It was located on the Lower Ground, and one could never miss it.

We could spend the whole afternoon at the place alone. There were rows of groceries, plus a couple of nice cafe to sit at to pass the time - code for husbands to sit down while the wives were doing the shopping.

We sat down at the cafe yesterday to have lunch. The food was OK. The lasagna and pizza were great, but the salad not really. In fact it was rather disappointing. It was meant to be a Mediterranean el fresco twist to it, but fallen miserably short.

Sitting for lunchThe salad was not really nice at allThe lasagna however was superbLet's ask what Irfan thought of the pizza .... self explanatory ........ and the mocha was not badAfter lunch, my boys went berserk at the grocers. Especially the more domesticated Irfan. He kept piling up the baskets with all sorts of food. Idlan couldn't care less. Everything was clearly and well laid out. And the other plus about the place was the majority of the staffs there were locals. Communications was easy. The butcher however was Australian .... which was a bit strange.

I wonder what that big "B" was doing in the middle of the aisleDefinitely a place to visit. A nice place to spend Sunday lunch, if you have some groceries to do.

Changes of Plans

The morning started smoothly enough with the nice weather and the quick drive from the apartment to the ward. The ward round also went fine. We then went for a late breakfast at Bangsar Shopping Center where we bumped into one of the boys' buddies and their parents.

Unfortunately, that was the highlight. It went downhill after that. Or at least, not according to the plan.

The original idea was to head out to Low Yat to survey for the laptop for the Haematology Society. But with, the breakfast cum lunch finishing later than planned, we decided not to go together. I would go to Low Yat alone - Anita likes to walk around Pavilion usually.

I then got a call from my sister that my Mum had been under the weather since last night. She had a slight virus I think and had been feeling sick overnight. Much better today, and we bought her and Dad some tea. We hang around until late afternoon, until I had to go back to the hospital to review a couple of the inpatients.

So, two big plans for the weekend had to be shelved. The photo walk and the trip to Low Yat for gadget browsing. Never mind. At least I got to spend some quality time with Anita and the family. Happy Sunday evening all ....

Raju for Breakfast

As I finished my rounds early, I decided to have a late breakfast slash early lunch. A convenient 10 minutes drive down the road and I was at Raju's. And even at 11 am, the place was already packed and the Bandaraya people were already in to make sure the punters did not park by the roadside.

Service was excellent this morning, even though I had to wait for a free table. The breezy weather was just relaxing on this Sunday morning. Unfortunately, I couldn't hang around for too long as the crowd had already started building up.

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.

Ampang Park for Lunch

We had a lovely lunch today at Cozy Corner, Ampang Park. It was not really the food, I mean the steak was still not that great, but my father-in-law had a lovely plate of rainbow trout, and I was impressed at how fast he downed it. He had been talking about having trout for lunch, and had been buzzing about it ever since.

My steak on the other hand was not marinated well. Not to mention that the waiter managed to spill some gravy onto my trousers.

Plenty of shops, but no varietyPuan Anita making up her mindAs I mentioned before, the place used to serve much bette food, and the quality had definitely declined in the last 5 years. But after looking at the rainbow trout, we would definitely returned again soon.

And the boys wanted some fruitsAfter the food, we spent the next half an hour walking around Ampang Park. The place hardly changed - the foyer filled with shops selling clothes and the shops mainly selling mobile phones and clothing. But there were plenty of bargain to be had here, and I trust Puan Anita to do just that.