CNY at Suria KLCC

When it comes to decorations, Suria KLCC should just sack their whoever is in charge and learn a thing or two from Pavilion. For a supposedly the main showpiece mall in the nation, they clearly need to put more effort in.

The main promenade should have been transformed with lantern or what not. But instead, it was left bare. And the effort they put in for the main foyer was akin to a task given to some high school kids, doing their mid term project. It was that disappointing and lame.

If I had my way, this area would have featured heavily as part of the CNY decorationsSuria KLCC has definitely lost their mojo as far as the festivity decorations were concerned. And before long, they would lose their prestige. But then again, one doubts if they really cared …….

Yuzu Japanese Restaurant, KLCC

The original plan was to look for dinner. Some Thai food, tom yam soup and steamed fish to be exact. We went to five stalls and two restaurants, and all of them were closed. Aidil Adha is a bigger deal in Kelantan than anywhere else in Malaysia. And as the majority of the Thai food stores were run by Kelantanese, most of them would be back home up north.

Since it was just me and Anita, we pressed on to our other destination, KLCC. After the errands were done, it was time for dinner. We have been eyeing the new Japanese restaurant on the top floor of Suria, Yuzu. It was certainly well made up, taking the place of what was previously a Sundanese food outlet, right next to Little Penang Cafe.

The ambiance was relaxingOur drinks, Apple Mohito and Shirley Temple.The setting was modern, but the ambiance was authentic. The waitresses were even in Kimonos. We ordered from the oversized menu. For started, we went for salmon sashimi platter and mango and soft shell crab rolls. For the mains, I had my usual pick, salmon don and saba (mackerel) teriyaki. Anita had some wagyu beef. As for drinks, we had a couple of mocktails, I had apple mohito and Anita had Shirley Temple.

The food was actually very good. The sashimi and mackerel were fresh. The wagyu beef was exquisite. Even the mocktails were gorgeous. The rice on my salmon don was a disappointment however. I was expecting a more starchy rice, but the one we had were rather plain. A minor complaint really in the scheme of things.

The salmon sashimi platter for starterThe mango and soft shell crab rollMy salmon donAnd also my mackerel - saba - teriyakiAnita's wagyu beef. Now you see it .....Now you don't. All done inside 5 minutes.Another thing we noticed was that the service could have been better in term of speed. The pace was, should I say pedestrian. We waited for quite some time for our drinks, and our starters took longer than expected. Be prepared to wait if you asked for the wagyu beef. And mind you, the restaurant were hardly full, and we entered before Maghrib, before the supposed peak hour.

Would we come back? Of course. I would avoid ordering don (rice) however. And I believe that the gozen set might be faster to prepare, so go for that. The restaurant is located on the top - fourth - floor of Suria, near the middle of the mall. Also, be prepared for a tight squeeze as the table arrangement was not conducive for children and prams. More information on the restaurant can be found here.

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.

Suria KLCC Ramadhan 2011

Irfan finished his kindergarten classes at around noon, while Idlan at 3. So, this three hours today was spent taking Irfan for lunch at KLCC. He wanted pizza. We stopped at Pizza Hut. Since it was still Ramadhan, I spent the half-hour staring at him gobbling the round cheesy thing down.

Right after, I had the chance to explore the decorations on offer at KLCC. A couple of years ago, Suriar KLCC enrolled the brilliance of Dato' Lat for the decor, and the result was unforgettable. Just peruse this link just in case you dis not have the chance to experience it.

This year, things were scaled back. I mean waaaay back. But it was not as lame as Mid Valley. They had a replica Malay kampung house - with a gamelan troupe playing during lunchtime. There were of course, the obligatory stalls around it - again selling food, biscuits and clothing items as with other venues.

According to the information at the counter, they had activities all through the month reflecting the local Aidilfitri celebration. I was sure they had the tourists in mind.

View from the third floorPersonally, I did not think it was worth the effort making a special trip to look at the decor. The one featuring Lat from two years ago was definitely a one-off. As a central tourist attraction in the Capital, I thought they could have done a lot more. For God's sake, they even had a four-story Christmas tree a few years back ......

At the Hairdresser's

Upon arriving back home front Gohtong Jaya, Anita reminded me of another thing I missed before the school open for the boys cone Tuesday. They needed some serious haircut. The last time they had theirs, it was at Saw's in KLCC. They had since grew fond of the stylist they had there last. A very nice young man called Truno.

We were lucky that he was available when we turned up. He started working on Irfan first. That would take him at least half an hour. Idlan's hair was not as long. But by the time they had finished, I better start thinking of iftar. I would fancy a bit of Tandoori as there would be a football match tonight. United playing Citeh for the Charity Shield. I can assure you that come the kick-off whistle, there wouldn't be much charity on display!

On the way up to the salon, I bumped into an old friend from Shuffled Sheffield, Darman. It has been a decade since I met him. He has not changed much. He has now married his girlfriend and they had a couple of girls.

This entry was prepared and uploaded using the SquareSpace Android app I was beta testing.