Nasi Lemak Maybank Sea Park

Today I feel like having nasi lemak for dinner. Not just any typical nasi lemak but something special. So I searched around on the interweb and found a few well-recommended nasi lemak place including this one near Sea Park in Petaling Jaya.

The official name for this stall is Bumbung P.J Ibumie but they're also well-known as Nasi Lemak Maybank and Nasi Lemak Bumbung. The setting is entirely outdoor so I presume the business will be affected when it rains. They open from 6:00 in the evening until late at night. I took my family to sample their famous nasi lemak with fried chicken. The verdict: I like the nasi lemak but the sambal is not spicy at all. I prefer my sambal hot, the hotter the better. The fried chicken was ok too. My son Adam Farihin accidentally (as always) tipped over his newly served drink but they offered to replace the drink for free which is cool. You can find Nasi Lemak Maybank in Sea Park near Petaling Jaya next door to the Maybank branch there. Just set your GPS to Sea Park or find Maybank Sea Park on Foursquare.

A little caveat, the stall is located right next door to a Bak Kut Teh restaurant so if you're ultraconservative you should bear that in mind. I'm sure they don't mix things up or share utensils or anything but still I thought you should know that. Somebody commented on Foursquare that they add plastic bag while frying the chicken to make them extra crispy but I'm sure that's utter nonsense. They would be crazy to do that when the kitchen area is open for all to see. Overall I'd give the food 3 out of 5 stars.


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Sara Thai Kitchen

While holidaying in Kuantan last week, a chanced upon Sara Thai Kitchen situated along Jalan Gambut in the middle of town.

This restaurant received numerous favorable reviews on Foursquare so I felt compelled to check it out.

First up was green chicken curry. I have my reservation for weird-colored curries so with that in mind I find this one not to my liking. Different people has different taste I guess.

The chicken Tom Yam was okay. Perhaps if it was spicier or hotter it could taste better but we had the kids in mind when we ordered.

Apart from that we also ordered some omelette and fried calamari. The calamari was to die for.

The restaurant is easy to find, the atmosphere is relaxing with imported Thai music in the background and the staff is warm and friendly. One thing I noticed though is the presence of "beware of snatch thief" posters all over the wall which is a bit unnerving. It's like we expected a snatch thief to barge in and rob us in broad daylight at a moment's notice.

Overall I think Sara Thai is a decent place to eat with your family. The food is good and the price is quite reasonable. Most meals starts from RM5.00 onward. Sara Thai Kitchen is located right in the middle of Kuantan along Jalan Gambut.

Huck's Café

Last week I went to my first company annual dinner at Huck's Café in Bangsar.

Tucked deep inside Bangsar Utama, Huck's Café serves authentic home-cooked Asian, Italian, Mexican and Western food.

Huck's Café is different from the other restaurants because everything is prepared fresh using mostly organic vegetables, spices, herbs without MSG, additives nor colourings

I have never heard of this place before and apparently my boss found out about this place solely through word of mouth. As you can see, they like to keep the place gloomy and dark, I mean romantic for dinner.

Huck's Café doesn't usually accept walk-in customers and you have to order 5 days in advance through their Facebook page.

You can let the chef surprise you with their choice of dishes or you can pre-order in advance on the Facebook page.

I must say the food was mostly good but you'll have to wait a while for them to come one by one.

This is what I had for dinner that evening, seafood spaghetti with oysters. They serve generous portions of food so after having the appetizer and half of the main course you should be pretty full already.

They have Mr Huck as the main chef plus another Malay chef to help him in the kitchen. Some of the waiters are Malay too and the menu here is pork-free. Despite the lack of halal logo, you can say this place is just as halal as IKEA, Old Town White Coffee and your local McDonald's store.

As my company's dinner was held a few days before Chinese New Year, they served yee sang for everybody too, naturally. This is my first encounter with this tradition. Pretty messy.

For dessert we were presented with about half a dozen choices. I had to try the famous crème brûlée dish where they torch the caramel topping with fire while the custard base remains cold.

Needless to say this dessert is simply marvelous and one small bowl is simply not enough.

For RM88.00 per pax I have to say the food served at Huck's Café was worth the steep price tag. This place is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 7:30 PM till midnight. Tables are limited and the place can hold about 20 diners at any one time so reservation is a must.

Huck's Café is located in Bangsar Utama, turn left about 500 meters from Bangsar LRT into Jalan Abdullah. You can visit their Facebook page for more info, menu pictures & reservation.

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My Supplement

Dieting & weight loss is a huge industry. People spent billions every year on weight loss products, diet food and exercise machines to get that ideal weight. For me personally, I don't believe in supplements and expensive exercise machines. I like to do it the natural and least expensive way. Yes supplements might work for some people, even if the product is totally BS, at least the placebo effect will make them think that they have lost weight. At least for a while. Me, I have never taken any forms of so-called diet food or supplements. I watch what I eat. I eat small portions of food, avoid snacks and junk/fatty food and exercise regularly, every day whenever possible. People nowadays have it easy. They eat too much and didn't do anything remotely physical let alone exercise. They drive everywhere, park in front of the door step and take elevators. And you wonder so many people become obese every year. I don't want to become part of the statistic.

That's why every morning, I will get up at 6:15 am and jog for 2 miles around my neighbourhood. At least I try my best to when it doesn't rain or my alarm clock doesn't fail me. It's tough to wake up that early, especially for working people. But tough is just another excuse. Excuse is just a state of mind. Excuses are for weak people. You want to change how you look then do something about it. Don't let anything get in your way. Eat healthy food, exercise and a huge dose of will power are everything you need to succeed in your weight loss program. Forget about those expensive supplements or diet food or exercise machines. Most of them won't last for long if you don't have the willpower to change.

So here are my supplements. One small Sony Walkman and a pair of cheap Power running shoes which has been abused mercilessly every day and not very sightly to post here. My wife bought that running shoes for 170 ringgit for my birthday 2 years ago. Of course if you can afford Nike or Adidas then by all means buy it. I bought the 1GB Walkman for about 150 ringgit 3 years ago and it had gone through the washing machine once, dried up in the sun for a month and yet survived to this very day. I have also replaced the broken earphone twice, with the latest being this awesome one from Senheiser. In addition to that I also like to listen to great music while I run. Music that makes you want to rock your head back and forth, jiggle your body or run a little bit faster. It may be pop, hip-hop or rock & roll, evergreen, doesn't matter. As long as it sounds great to you. If you like you can download all the music that is currently in my Walkman right now below.

So altogether I spent about 280 ringgit for the Walkman and replacement earphones over 3 years to lose 20 kilos. Not so bad I think. The rest is about stopping yourself from indulging in the good things in life like fast food and that second helping during dinner. And don't eat rice. The fastest way to look slimmer is by avoiding rice, trust me. You can see the difference in a month. Yes your friends or family might not be very helpful seeing you eat so little during lunch or dinner, just ignore them. If they love you they will understand and support you. In the end if you succeed, you have everything to gain and nothing to lose. Success, it's a state of mind.

Afif's awesome running playlist

Ahmad Dhani & The Rock - Munajat cinta 

Alexandra Stan - Mr Saxobeat 

Alif Satar - Lelaki seperti aku 

Altimet feat Dj Fuzz - Ikrar 

Bruno Mars - Count on me

Couple - Lagu cinta untukmu 

Dj Fuzz feat Malique - I get the paper 

Eminem feat Dr Dre & Skylar Grey - I need a doctor

Fall Out Boys - Dance,dance 

Fall Out Boys - Sugar we're going down 

Garbage - Push it

Gigi - Ya ya ya 

Green Day - Know your enemy

Green Day - Misery

Green Day - Warning 

Gym Class Heroes feat Adam Levine - Stereo heart 

Jay Z - Dirt off your shoulder 

Jimmy Soul - If you want to be happy 

Katy Perry - Last Friday night (TGIF)

Lady Gaga - Edge of glory

One Buck Short - 10:04 

One Buck Short - Fast times

One Buck Short - Kerana tiada pilihan lain

One Buck Short - That day 

One Republic - Good life 

Otis Day & The Knights - Shout 

Selena Gomez - Who says 

Sha-na-na - Those magic changes 

The Script - The man who can't be moved

Tilu - Jangan jangan cuba 

Undilah

XPDC - Apa lagi nak di kenang 

Zivilia - Aishiteru
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Bumbu Bali, Puchong

Bumbu Bali is a world famous Balinese cooking school on the island of Bali, Indonesia. You can find cookbooks at many book store featuring recipes from that school.

This Bumbu Bali place that I went to today is a Balinese themed restaurant in Bandar Puteri Puchong which has no connection whatsoever with the school in Bali. For your info, bumbu in Malay means herbs.

Actually I followed a colleague and a few clients for lunch today and we were looking for a good place to eat nearby. So I casually suggested Secret Recipe and then suddenly everybody started to laugh. They thought I was kidding. Apparently Secret Recipe is not expensive enough to treat your very important clients.

My drink for today is this delicious banana milkshake. RM9.00.

I have never been to this place so I have no clue what's good here. To be safe I decided to try a little bit of everything hence this Bali Trio meal which is basically barbecue chicken wings with fried calamari and sate lilit (satay wrapped around lemongrass). The chilli dipping is extra spicy just the way I like and they also serve mayonaise and that other dipping which I didn't try. RM45.00.

My friend had this nasi campur Bali which is Bali style fried chicken and rice and that thing at the bottom. RM28.00.

This is siap mepanggang (I think) which is really roasted lamb with rice. RM24.00.

Having western food like this chicken pasta in a Balinese restaurant is a crime really. RM16.50.

For desserts, we had this pisang bakar which is basically banana caramel with ice cream. No idea where that 'bakar' part came from. RM13.00.

Bumbu Bali opens everyday from 11:00 am till late. The two-storey restaurant has a really nice Balinese style deco and the ambience is quite cool & relaxing. No air-conditioner in here and yet you don't feel the heat from outside.

However the Balinese background music can sound a little bit mundane after a while.

If you don't get a heart attack from all the sinfully delicious and cholesterol-laden food, perhaps the bill would. Lunch for four will cost you something around RM215.00. That's an average of RM50.00 per person for an average meal set. Even having a cute manager who looked like Fazura couldn't help ease the pain. Bumbu Bali is located in Bandar Puteri Puchong, Selangor. This place is run by Eddy and his wife from Bali (so they say).
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Arabian Food at Bandar Putra Permai

Arabian/Middle-eastern food has come closer to home for me with the newly opened Arabian Food restaurant near Bandar Putra Permai right opposite of Pasar Borong Selangor.

My colleagues and I decided to gave it a try yesterday during lunch. The menu served is standard middle eastern cuisine like hanith lamb, chicken kabsah, aukdah and hummus. A plate of the main course starts from RM10.80 (chicken aukdah) onwards.

Royal Arabian set. Roasted chicken with bread and rice. They serve a really generous portion of chicken and rice. I mean they could easily feed you and your kid in one serving. The chicken is simply humongous!

Roasted chicken set. Every meal menu comes with free Arabian fragrance tea. Apart from individual meals they also serve family set menus starting from RM35.00 for 3 people. Very reasonable compared to Saba or others.

This was what I had for lunch yesterday, chicken kabsah. I've been yearning of having some Arabian food for days now and my dream came true yesterday thanks to the generous Mr. Mazlan (God bless!).

The regular Barbican drink is on the menu but nowhere to be found in the restaurant. We had this Rich drink instead which tasted almost as good.

Why you should try Arabian Food? One because it's closer to home (if you live in Bandar Putra Permai/Taman Universiti/Equine Park/Taman Puncak Jalil and second this restaurant is run by locals not some already rich foreign Arab owners.

The place is clean and service here is fast and excellent. We got all our meals within 10 minutes and the price is reasonable too. No government or service tax some more. For some delicious Arabian food right near home, I would definitely recommend this restaurant. Arabian Food restaurant is located at no 31 Jalan BPP 8/1, Pusat Bandar Putra Permai next to Ana Edar and Domino's Pizza. For directions, click here.

Taktaz Restaurant

Last week I get to taste some Iranian cuisine courtesy of my manager at Taktaz Restaurant in Serdang Perdana.

After gazumping too many Arabian food of late, Taktaz restaurant is a fresh change.

Located in bustling Serdang Perdana, Taktaz is situated right in front of the South City Plaza mall between a row of similar Middle Eastern restaurants and shops.

This restaurant is owned by Iranians (obviously). The waiter had very little grasp of any English or Malay language so we had some difficulties explaining our order. Fortunately the lady owner did know some English and she came to help out.

 
We both had some chicken and lamb kebab with their signature saffron rice and not forgetting the regular Barbican drink. Their rice is big and long, unlike the regular rice that I'm used to.


Their kebab is roasted and served with vegetables which is a healthier alternative compared to my regular fried and fattening every food.

To be honest, I find Saba's hanith chicken and rice tastes slightly better than Taktaz's rice. The kebab is awesome but the rice could be better. Maybe I should try some more dishes before I give my final verdict.




The restaurant is nicely decorated with Iranian motives and the place is peaceful and quiet when we came to visit in the afternoon. My sources say it will get a little bit crowded later in the evening.

Their price is standard middle eastern/arabic range with meals starting from RM10.00 each and lunch for two persons today costs RM45.00.

You can check Taktaz Restaurant out at Serdang Perdana, right in front of South City