Return Visit To Pavillion KL

Well last Sunday I gambled on a return visit to the Pavillion Kl, reasoning that there will be not that much of a crowd as they should still be away for the Chinese New Year holidays and our own guest workers favourite gathering spots itself are away from the area. Well I threw the dice correctly and was rewarded with easy parking, not so hectic crowds and a surprise buy at the infamous JCo donuts. Well more about that that later.


Well the reason I made this return visit is because I wanted to check out the Loaf Bakery and the Mercato Supermarket that seems to be getting some good press. I have no interest in the premium shopping experience because I already work in a similar premium shopping district so this holds no attraction to me. However the main reason was because I wanted to dine at Tony Roma's because my wife just got her bonus and she wanted to give a treat for the family and this was the nearest location to home. Well the experience at Tony's is always great as evidenced by my daughter's reaction in the video below. We tried out some new starters and the kid's loved it so they will become a fixture in our future visits there.




Since Tony's was sited in the Gourmet Emporium, it was a short step away to the Mercato. Expecting a great display of foreign foodstuff, imagine my disappointment that there is actually nothing much on offer except for a good pasta sauce and canned sardine selection at reasonable prices. Although it has an admittedly superior bakery within of Norwegian origin, when compared to The Marketplace at Gardens it is a poor imitation of a premium supermarket and will not see me a hurried return visit. A similar disappointment awaited me at The Loaf, since I was expecting a similar bakery experience to what I have seen in Japan but the store does not actually measure up. You can get similar or better offering from any of the other Japanese Bakeries locally, even the bakery at the now defunct Yaohan was much better, so unless you are willing to pay premium prices just for the privilege of dining at a bakery owned by our ex-premier I would suggest you ignore the hype.

And hype is what bedevils another store for me, that is the overhyped JCo Doughnuts shop that has seen queues snaking around the shopping floor. Well we tend to avoid being like lemmings and sheep in following the crowd, but since this time the queue was much shorter than the first visit we joined the queue to see what the fuss was all about. Well first up the bad impression I received was the fact there is a staff going around saying you can jump the queue if you buy a dozen, without any choosing allowed, together with a beverage which to me is a sign of bad marketing as an ethical store do not resort to such hard sell tactics. I applaud their policy of allowing pregnant ladies to go to the front of the queue, bad this hard sell just leaves a bitter after taste. And when finally we bought two dozen of many types(well they had an offer and this gives an opportunity for us to taste as many types as we can what) and had it at home, imagine my disappointment when my family cannot distinguish the difference between their donuts and donuts from DunkingD for example. Granted they may have some "premium" toppings and fillings, but sorry to say my wife and I especially cannot taste why these doughnuts are so sought after, especially in the dough. So we both agreed that there will be no need for a return visit to this store or Pavillion unless we happen to be in the neighbourhood. Visits to Suria KLCC and Gardens Midvalley would do as nicely. At least our disappointment (so many disappointments are used in this accountlah, I know) was salved by the fact that we had free parking for the occassion, courtesy of spending more than RM100 at one the Pavillion outlets.

Of Trains, Planes and Hotels

Well I have been travelling so I could not spend too much time on the blog in the meantime. Anyway recently I went to Bintulu again to accompany a mission to a meeting with a client over there and I must say that it only took an intermission of three months to change my travel experience. Well first of all I must talk about the train ride I took on the ERL transit service to KLIA. It is a little sad to note that these trains most times travel quite emptily even though they provide excellent speedy service to those who have easy access to their stations to and fro the KLIA. But I guess that is just it. It is only convenient for those who have easy access to their service and coupled with the fact that their fare for two persons makes it more logical to take a ride to the airport from your doorsteps, makes the service not so popular I guess to the majority of the people.

Anyway the check-in service at the airport for people like me who travel for business with as little luggage as possible so that I can usually check-in without baggage has changed a bit. Now they have service kiosks similar to what I have seen overseas. It has made it convenient a bit for people like me who has no problem interfacing with a machine, and I like that for Enrich card holders like me I can choose my seat, but it does take more time than before because the interface is not that userfriendly and the touchscreen is not that sensitive that you may need to touch a few times before it registers. In fact I see many people having problem of not knowing what to do when they make an error so it is no wonder that a ground staff still has to be stationed to assist the people. It does defeats the purpose a bit I guess especially since I saw that for those who needs to board urgently still has to be manually check-in to speed things up. The airline should have done a better job informing people about this new system so that they give sufficient time to get familiar with it. Anyway I did not expect to see the infamous breadbox being served on this three hour flight but it was duly served. On the flight in it was salad roll and chicken pita while on the way back it was three sandwiches. Served in a pretty box that you can take away if you have no appetite to eat bread on board, the bread are just barely appetising and I do miss the rice or noodles they used to serve on board as they were more filling. And I do not know if they really can economise with such expensive looking breadbox. I guess that the real cost saver in making service this way is the fact they managed to save at least one cabin crew from the roster, as there is only two crew to serve the whole economy class instead of three or four previously. But I pity the crew, even though there is not much work in the way of food serving, they do need to jump around when they are paged in the cabin. Well let's see if they can maintain their level of service with such a skeletal crew.

Meanwhile on the ground I found out that there is a new business all-suite hotel just opened in Bintulu. The fact is the hotel was still under construction when I was last there so it was a surprise to me that it managed to open in about three months. In fact they have not even advertised in the net so it was no wonder that I could not find any information when I googled for hotels in Bintulu. Looks quite impressive with nice modern looking suite rooms with king sized beds, hanging LCD widescreen tvs and separate bath and toilet stalls. As the room rates is comparable with the usual hotel I stay in, I will definitely stay here in my next visit but that means saying goodbye to the seaviews and cute wall hanging pictures in the washroom. Nah just kidding as I will not miss the hotel that is actually getting a bit musty and old in room amenities. The only problem I foresee is that the new hotel only has one coffee house, so entertaining would still be a problem but since it is attached to a shopping complex, I foresee no problem for personal shopping. Nonetheless I would still have to go to Bintulu town proper to get my regular fix of layered cake as there is no good bakeries in the immediate vicinity of the new township. Well with things looking up for business in Bintulu, I may make a return visit sooner rather than later. Until then, cheers!

My Ulam Garden

Why is it when people describe ulam in English we usually call them as jungle herbs. Some of the ulam I like are definitely not herbs like ulam raja, petai and four angled beans although daun kesom may qualify although I would consider this more of a fern than a herb. To me these are all Malay salad vegetables since we do not use them to herb our dishes in the western sense, although the ulams do impart some qualities to the dishes they are cooked in, that is if they are not eaten raw with sambal like a salad which is the more common way they are prepared. Well I do not actually want to talk about the classification of ulams but was inspired to mention about some ulam growing in my garden after reading some articles on them.

The first ulam that I have grown in my garden is the king of ulam itself, which is Ulam Raja aka king ulam in English, although the formal name is wild cosmos. Initially growing wild from seeds transferred by the wind from my neighbour's garden, it is now growing well enough in my backyard although the ulam does much better in my wife's village house. I first came across the flower plant when I visited one nursery specialising in such jungle produce, but the impression I got at the time was that it was a finicky plant to grow and propagate. So it was to my surprise that seeds from the flowers was the propagating agent, and if planted in a damp soil area grows easily enough without much care though it is a short lived species. You can see the black seeds in the picture of the ulam raja flowers. But since the plants are easily renewed with new naturally growing seedlings, it is not such a big problem to maintain a healthy community of ulam raja in your garden. With beautiful pink flowers that can qualify itself as an ornamental plants, the shoots are the parts that are usually eaten as the ulam. Nonetheless you need a healthy quantity available to satisfy a meal table requirements, at least a fistful. The taste is quite unique unlike something that is easily describeable, mildly peppery with a little tartness. Deserving its kingly pretensions. Nonetheless this ulam is sometimes substituted by a pretender called daun selom, that has a similar taste although differing in texture and appearance.

The other type of ulam that is growing well in my garden is the creeping four angled beans that has basically colonised my back fence. At one time when I had a maid that came daily to my house, I was wondering why there was only infrequent harvest from the bean bush. After she left was only it was discovered that she had been picking up the beans to eat at her own kitchen. No wonder as this previously lowly ulam has now reached the status of restaurant menu item, with price to boot even at the wet market. In my home the bean is usually eaten raw with sambal or fried with sambal, although some day old beans that has lost their crunchiness can be cut up and rejuvenated in stews or in fried rice. Again something that is quite difficult to describe in taste, it is something that just becomes easily palatable when eaten.

Another ulam that grows in the garden is cekur, a member of the galangal family. Yet this is an ulam that has to my knowledge not been used in my kitchen although it can be used in kerabus, nasi ulam and some other dishes. It was grown by mother in law most probably as a seed bank, as it can die off if not taken care off. The reason for this is probably because of its use in malay culture as more as a home remedy for various ailments, so to ensure easy access it was grown in the garden, some in the pot and some on the ground itself. Nonetheless once it has grown, it does not require much care to thrive, just some watering and fertilisers once in a while as it seems quite pest resistant on its own.

Finally I just want to touch on an ulam that I wish I had a garden big enough to grow. This is the petai or Parkia Speciosa. Stinky beans that are very good health, and for me a good reliever for constipation, they only grow on tall trees. Rarely found in a garden due to their size, I was amazed to find several fruiting specimens growing in the Lukut Fort grounds when I visited previously. Too bad the fruits were hanging from branches that was so high up as they must be century old trees, otherwise I would have got a free feast of this highly priced beans that are now widely accepted by all cultures in Malaysia, even transplanted Mat Sallehs(caucasians). Just be prepared to suffer the embarassment of smelliness when you do your toilet business.

To finish off although my wife dreams of having a western style herb garden, I always tell her that we actually already have a better version, that is a malay salad garden. Anyway to know more on the ulams mentioned above, this webpage should be useful. Cheers!

Goodbye Old Faithful

Today I would be surrendering my old company handphone model Nokia 7210 after a long service of six years, which I guess is an ancient model but good enough for such a long period of use. Well basically I am a very basic handphone user who is not so enamoured to regularly change my phone as compared to some fellows who I know changes their handphone every so often. Another reason was that in my previous assigment some of my client facilities disallow camera phones to be taken in, so I saw no reason to upgrade my phone even though I am entitled to change my set every three years. So models came and went while I stuck with the early colour screen model. Actually I was also not so impressed with phones that although having many functions like camera and such, but to me quite bulky to carry around. So I also waited for Nokia to come up with a model that is as slim as the 7210 but have sufficient functions to satisfy the current needs for some time and quite obsolescent proof as I do not think that I would be changing models that soon, hopefully for at least another three years.

Well to me Nokia finally has come up with a worthy successor model, the model 6120 classic that has the most functions and already with 3.5G and dual camera on board, so I guess the phone should meet my needs for a while. I think Nokia is also hoping for the model to be a classic model since they have labelled with the classic moniker, as I do not remember if there was a preexisting 6120 model before this, and this is no updated model then. I've looked at Sony Ericsonn models and also quite impressed with them but being such a long time user of Nokia I have trouble with the interface. In fact I also have trouble with the Symbian interface of the 6120 model but at least there is some familiarity to help me along. Well here's looking forward to a good long usage of the phone, at the very least now I can more easily take photos for my blog eh? Well goodbye old faithful, I hope you at least get recycled and get a new lease of life.

Tucking into Kingly Pies.

I guess many people now knows of King Pies. The pioneer halal meat pie specialist store has now spread their wings to six locations in Malaysia, proving that you do not need to be a franchise concept from the west to make it big. Offering english-styled pies from bare bones pie bars rather than the original restaurant style outlets in their home country of South Africa, who would have thought locals has readily taken to the concept as another convenient quick meal source, that to me is a far healthier alternative than the greasy burgers from the prevalent fast food joints. I guess the flavours they offer in the spicier versions makes it easier for the Malaysian tastebuds to accept, thus being more welcome than the normal british styled creamy versions. Since their shapes are also easier to eat on the run without the normal spillovers that can be associated with other fast foods, also gives them the advantage to succeed. Their largest sized pies also is suffient for a good meal, enough to satisfy the biggest of appetites.

Well imagine my delight when I found another franchise start-up offering meat pies as their major offering in Gardens Midvalley. Called Tucker Box, as you can guess it originates from Australia and is owned by real Ozzie partners, so you can be sure they stick to the script. And what delights me further is that by taking a leaf from King Pie and making their pies as halal, it has become accessible to people like me who can only drool at their great looking pies when we visit Australia. Being OZ here means more conventionally Brit, and for people like me who love such a taste but usually are only able to obtain this version at more high priced establishments, just love being able to buy such meat pies at more affordable prices. The best thing for people who like variety like is that three of their smaller pies will cost about the same as their large pies, so you can get three flavours for the price of a large pie. That is something you cannot do at King Pie, bummer. You can also get sweet pastries at the shop but we only bought a variety of savoury pies to tapau when when we were there, so can't comment on their taste. But I can tell you their meat pies even meet the taste demand of my fussy eater, the elder daughter. Fair Dinkum to you mate!Whatever it is for pie carnivores like me, here's hoping for more such halal meat pie outlets opening up, as sandwich bars just do not cut it for me. This is not say that there are no local outlets offering good meat pies, the ones from Secret Recipe are great, but since they are not specialists the variety is just not there and furthermore the meat pies are offered more as sit down appetisers rather than meals on the run. Anyway most of these outlets are not halal, thus the moslem consumers are usually left out. So here's looking to more King Pie's and Tucker Boxes opening up.

Return visit to Gardens Midvalley

Well I could not wait to make a return visit to the Gardens so yesterday the whole family again trooped off to Midvalley. Well the best laid plans can certainly go awry and since circumstance once we reached there dictated otherwise, we could not actually explore the Gardens as we had initially hoped. Instead we spend almost equal time between Midvalley Megamall and the Gardens. This is because once parked I had to go to the Megamall to withdraw some cash and since the ATM was just beside the Jusco entrance, we did some windowshopping there before proceeding for lunch at Little Vietnam. This is a restaurant that I have been meaning to bring the family that I remembered of when we were heading towards the Gardens where the kids actually wanted some Japanese food again. Despite the initial sulk they loved the food there but on the way to the Gardens again, only then I noticed that the connecting passageway now encompassed the dining area of Little Penang Cafe as otherwise we would have dined there. However I had discounted the thought as there was a long queue when when we initially passed through.

Well we explored the Marketplace more thoroughly and spent some money on a salmon steak and some sushi. I must say the salmon steak was indeed very fresh when I panfried it for dinner, much fresher than those offered at other supermarkets. I also found some cans of Milkmaid creamer, a brand that I have not sighted for a while which I purchased to see if the taste is still as good. However the axis of the visit was my wife's treat for the family at Gelatissimo, which we had to forgo during the first trip as we were already stuffed then. As a gelato, it is really a good serving as that has been raved in certain blogs and articles, much better than brands like lecka-lecka. However being a genuine gelato, it does quite quickly melt especially if you have it on a cone, so do slurp fast so as not to waste such a luxury. And it is indeed a luxury, as 2 cups of 2 flavours and 2 cones of single flavour gelato sets you back almost fifty ringgit. But the flavours are really yummy and as authentic as you can get, deserving the premium pricing. However a word of caution for Muslim customers, do check for alcoholic content of certain flavours like tiramisu, fruitcake and rum and raisins as being the genuine article they do have the prequisite alcohol in them as pointed out by some Malay counterjocks that day. Thanks guys for the heads up. Otherwise indulge in some out of this world flavours and forget for a while your dollars and sense.

Confrontation with the black-headed rats

Last evening I noticed that the black-headed rats that I talked about previously persisted in bringing back girls to their bachelor pad. No wonder because after checking with their landlord, it seems that the vacate notice has not been served yet thus they were still bold enough to continue. Taking the bull by the horn, I increased my surveillance to the extend the girls tried to hide behind the car to escape being photographed. They then shrieked that I was being a hard-ass in harassing them but I told them off that if they think they can do nilly-willy in the neighbourhood, I can do much worse. It came to a boil to the extend that they effected a bollywood type escape whereby the boy who drove them off reversed the whole way through to escape my paparazzi lens.

About an hour later three boys came to confront me with the presumed intention to threaten me to stop but I stopped them in their tracks when I said that I am just taking evidence on behalf of their landord. I told them the fact that their landlord is aware of their actions and just waiting for the right time to evict them. Then they tried to make peace by defending their action but one dumbo said they only brought back girls to change their clothes. I wryly told him off that it amazes me that girls needs hours to change their clothes, behind closed doors even. They then tried salvage their lease by promising not to repeat their actions but I said this matter no longer rests with me. It is up to their landlord and the neighbourhood watch is also now keeping an eye on them and just waiting for me to say when. Well let's see how things develop in the next few days okay.