Spoils from the long weekend

Was in KL over the long weekend to celebrate a friend’s birthday and also to visit my dad, since I won’t be seeing him next weekend when he comes to visit. (I’m going to Bintan, whee!)

As always when in KL, I ate a lot and shopped a lot. And I have the goods to back it up too. I made the rounds of my favourite malls (KL Plaza for F.O.S., Lot 10, KLCC and One Utama) and visited a new shopping centre, The Curve, and discovered a new store, called Kamiseta. At first, I thought it was a local brand, but on looking at the website, have discovered it’s a Filipino label. Lots of trendy casuals in pretty colours of blue, pink, green and red. Very summer-ready. I had to exercise restraint and in the end, narrowed my choices down to three tops.

Total takeaway: 7 tops and 1 pair of shoes

I really love the food in KL and it really helps to have a father who is a huge foodie and loves wandering around looking for places to eat. Where and what I ate:

Hilton coffeehouse – Eh, it wasn’t great at all. I had taken the KLIA Express to Sentral to meet my father (incidentally, it’s a great ride and so fast!), so we decided to have lunch at the Hilton for convenience sake. He had nasi lemak and I had the steak sandwich. Both very ho-hum. Not going back there!

Friend’s house somewhere in Jln Pantai – I know, I know, it doesn’t count cos it’s not a restaurant, but such a good meal it was. I killed my throat with bbq chicken, pork ribs, steak, grilled sweet potato, noodles (since it’s a birthday), salad and birthday cake from Bakerzin, all washed down with some peppermint tea with honey. Oh, and her house is quite possibly the largest house I have been to in my life. Just the size of her bedroom (with walk-in wardrobe and bathroom) is probably ¾ the size of our apartment back home.

Oversea restaurant, Jln Imbi – my favouritest Chinese restaurant in KL. No visit is complete without me partaking of their homemade tofu, char siew, steamed soon hock and the veggie soupy dish with century egg (I can never remember the proper name). The giant prawns are slurpilicious too.

Ms Read, One Utama – I didn’t even know there was a café in the store! I guess it’s just like the Blood Brothers café here in S’pore. I had tea there with my friends and their mum and had the classic chocolate cake, a monstrously chocolatey mess of rich fudge sauce and vanilla ice-cream. I tried some of my friend’s banoffee pie and that was yummy too.

Sao Nam, Tengkat Tong Shin – I’d wanted to visit this Vietnamese restaurant the last time I was in KL, but unluckily it was closed the day we went, and we had to settle for an Italian restaurant nearby. Ever since my days in Australia, I have developed a huge liking for Vietnamese food. Everything is so fresh and tasty. Unfortunately there aren’t many good Viet restaurants in S’pore; the only one I liked has since closed. We had the mangosteen salad, a fantastic tart taste sensation, the rice paper rolls, duck with orange sauce (some of that French influence I guess), salmon with dill (unusual but incredibly tasty) and the deep-fried eggplant. Was too full for dessert.

Ah Koong’s Seafood Place, Jln Pudu - We wanted the pomfret soup, but they had run out of pomfret, so we had to settle for some other kind of fish. The best thing about this place is the outdoor setting where you pick and choose all your liao and then sit inside the icy-cold air-conditioned room and sip on longan tea while they get your order ready outside. I love taking the bee tai mak (or loh shee fun, as the Malaysians call it) soup with oysters, abalone, eggplant, loads of fish and veggies.

Winter Warmers, The Curve – Cosy little English concept café with floral tablecloths and wooden furniture. I wouldn’t go back for the scones or the waffles (too soft and the jam tasted horrible), but I was so charmed by the way they served the iced tea. It comes in a little pitcher with a mini cocktail glass. I had the iced peach tea which came with some peach jelly. Great for a hot afternoon.

Total takeaway: 1 satisfied belly and probably 1 extra kg in weight