Indian – sixthseal.com

Vishal Food & Catering BLR, Brickfields

October 23, 2018 by HB

Vishal-BLR

I got recommendations from 3 separate people to try Vishal BLR (banana leaf rice) after my previous post on the best lunch spots around Brickfields. I did a bit of Googling and heard a lot of positive things about them. Thus, I roped in my colleague and went to check it out just now. My office is in Menara 1 Sentrum but getting lunch partners interested in Indian food is a bit of a hard sell. The workplace is predominantly Chinese, and we usually go for Chinese food.

Vishal-Me

However, I’m a huge fan of Indian food and two of my favorites around here are Husen’s bombastic onion chicken and Singh Chapati House. I’m also going to Singapore in a week’s time and I booked 1 Michelin star The Song of India to check out their Deepavali dinner.

Vishal-Banana-Leaf

I decided to see if Vishal would impress. It certainly has its legion of fans. Vishal BLR is a 9 minute walk from my office, which is at the upper limits of how far people are willing to go for lunch. The furthest place we’ve been is 2 minutes less than this.

Chicken-65

I was told to get the fish cutlet and the “red color chicken”. Thanks June…that’s very helpful. 🙄 It’s not like most Indian chicken dishes are red. Hehe. She later clarified it looks like tandoori chicken and it’s fried, so I think I managed to get the right one. It’s Chicken 65 but I later found out this was the wrong red colored chicken. It wasn’t anything special.

Fish-Puttu

I also got some fish puttu, which is minced baby shark fried with egg. This tastes exactly like the dai chow shark’s fin and egg dish they serve at old school Chinese restaurants. The one you wrap in a lettuce before eating. It’s very plain. I expected more from Indian food. It didn’t make me go doo doo doo doo in joy.

Stringray

My third selection was stingray cooked in a sour sauce. “Eh, how come this dish sour one?” my friend squinted suspiciously. I also noticed she didn’t eat the stingray after that first bite. The flesh of the stingray was overcooked and rubbery and the sauce wasn’t the best I’ve had.

Vishal-Brickfields

I want to say that the flavors are beautiful and inviting. That it’s a symphony of seasoning on my palate. Or probably a Bollywood tune since it’s Indian food. That the distillation of spices and aromas into a song-and-dance in my mouth with lots of loose-flowing saris and grinning men doing the Indian head bobble on my tongue is a magnificent experience. That it was a “10/10 groomed mustaches” experience.

Vishal-Food-Catering

Unfortunately, I found the whole experience rather mediocre. Worst still, I felt like I have wasted my calorie allowance by eating this BLR. The prices are quite reasonable though – RM 6.20 for the rice with refillable veggies and curries and around RM 6 per small plate of protein. But I probably wouldn’t ever return. Have you ever been to Flavortown? I have, and it’s not here.

Kok Siong Penang Nasi Kandar, Puchong

January 3, 2018 by HB

Nasi Kandar Kok Siong

Kok Siong? A Chinese run and operated nasi kandar place? I thought it was pretty unusual too. This is actually a very famous nasi kandar place in Puchong. It’s always packed with people and there’s a long queue for the star – the nasi kandar stall. The stall is located inside a coffee shop of the same name. I popped by for lunch today coz I’ve been craving nasi kandar for a while now.

Nasi Kandar Puchong

I hear the dishes to try here are the fried chicken and the lamb curry. I got both and also their omelet with rice and half a salted egg. I’m not sure if it should be called an omelet coz it’s fried on the outside and steamed on the inside. It tastes more like a Chinese style steamed egg. There’s lots of onions inside for flavor and it reminded me of something you could get in a chap fan stall.

Kok Siong Puchong

This is my plate of nasi kandar. It costs RM 20 for everything. The basic stuff is the rice and gravy – you can also add their omelet to this. Sides are fried chicken and lamb curry and also a salted egg. It’s not an unreasonable charge, I’ve had more expensive nasi kandar for less in Indian places. However, the proof is in the pudding! Is it good?

Kok Siong

I’ve read a lot of glowing reviews before this and people have told me via word of mouth that it’s delicious too so when I ate it I had high expectations. The large crowd here certainly bolstered my opinion. Unfortunately I found everything to be over-salted and I didn’t really enjoy the food. The fried chicken was quite spiced (as in there are lots of spices, not that it burns your tongue) but nothing spectacular. I much preferred the fried chicken at Wong Soon Kee.

I must admit, I questioned myself multiple times. Everyone says it’s good! Are my taste buds really that out of sync? Is the fact that it’s too salty mar my experience? But I eat 3 packets of Mi Sedaap all the time! I’m used to sodium overload. Did I go when I wasn’t hungry? No, I was famished! I concluded that it’s probably just not my thing. I won’t go again but I ate everything on my plate (mostly coz I don’t like wasting food). However, plenty of people like this so your mileage may vary.

Macha & Co Banana Leaf Restaurant

August 12, 2016 by HB

Macha & Co Banana Leaf Restaurant

Macha & Co is the new place that just opened up in Kota Damansara a few weeks ago. I live across the street watched the renovations with interest. I was just talking about it with my better half last weekend. The restaurant serves banana leaf rice, which adds another halal option in addition to Sari Ratu Prima. I decided to pop in and see what they’re all about.

Macha and Co

I actually spilled all the fork, spoons and serviettes when I was eating here. The tables were a little close to each other and I was slightly clumsy and bumped into the next one, bringing the utensils crashing to the floor. The waiter had to clean everything and replace the tissues but he did it with good humor.

Banana Leaf Rice

This is the Banana Leaf Set Meal (RM 9.50). It’s the main dining option here and includes white or brown rice with 3 vegetables, 2 papadams, fried salted dried chilli, acar, rasam and curry/dhal. Banana leaf rice is usually a completely vegetarian meal by default. I like the peratal pumpkin and the deep fried bitter gourd.

Varuval Chicken

You can also order from a wide menu of tavams. I assume tavam means sides. They are various vegetable tavams, dry spiced tavams, curry tavams, seafood tavams. I went with the Varuval Chicken (RM 6.50) coz I like eating my rice with meat. It’s quite good. They also have more premium sides like Fresh Red Snapper Head (RM 68) and Black Pepper Peratal Crab (RM 22.50).

Receipt

The wait staff here is very friendly. I ordered a Diet Coke and they added a line which said “Terbaik bro” (The best, bro) to the bill. I thought it was funny but a little dangerous to have this system. I read about servers calling customers fat, racist names or other misc slurs in the United States appearing on the news. I used to work as a waiter in Melbourne so I know the kind of humor the restaurant industry has and I don’t think it’s a good idea to make custom order lines (that’s what its actually for) visible on the receipt.

Macha

Macha & Co Banana Leaf Restaurant also serves other items like roti canai goreng but their signature menu is banana leaf rice. The lunch cost RM 20.90 inclusive of drinks. There’s not a lot of people here yet, probably due to a combination of factors – parking is a problem and this area is predominantly Chinese. It’s located in Dataran Sunway so there’s a lot of competition and the F&B turnover is quite insane…for instance, both Flaming Melt and Sabah Kampung Beef Noodles has closed since we went. It’s pretty good though, I’ll be back to try the other items!

Biryani @ House of Pakeeza Restaurant

May 26, 2016 by HB

House of Pakeeza

House of Pakeeza is a rather strange restaurant. It looks like it had gotten lost in the 1970’s and popped up almost 50 years later. This eating establishment is located at a block of shops called The Right Angle in Section 14, Petaling Jaya. It’s a stone’s throw away from Jaya Shopping Centre. If you work around here, you’ll know that this area is horrifically congested. The narrow streets are often double, sometimes triple parked.

Pakeeza Restaurant

I was craving for some nasi biryani and decided to pop over for lunch. The dimly lit interior is manned by waiters in white starched uniforms. The dated chequered tablecloth is topped with old school wine glasses and adorned with a plastic rose in a glass bottle. It doesn’t look nostalgic as much as lost in time, with the disco era wall panelling reinforcing the illusion. It was also empty. I was the only customer there and it sounded like I was the only one who’s come in for a while.

Beef Biryani

House of Pakeeza used to serve good nasi biryani, or at least that’s how old timers remember it. This might be true decades ago, but it certainly isn’t now. I ordered a Beef Biryani (RM 15) and was disappointed to see that the sad biryani rice is barely spiced and the beef isn’t cooked together ala Hyderabadi style. It’s just a very plain mound of biryani rice with chopped spring onions scattered on top (something I’ve never seen before) and a few slices of beef on the side. The beef was tough and barely edible.

Salted Lassi

However, the eggplant curry served on the side was quite delicious. It had tons of flavor and was actually hot, compared to the room temperature rice and meat. I also ordered a Salted Lassi (RM 5.40) which also turned out to be good. The salty and acidic yoghurt drink was excellent.

Kulfi

Pakeeza specializes in Moghul cuisine and they also carry a Northern Indian ice cream called Kulfi (RM 5.20). I had kulfi when I was in Sri Lanka and I loved the saffron flavored creamy frozen dairy treat. Kulfi is technically not “ice cream” per se but a type of frozen dessert from the Indian subcontinent. I was served a grainy cardamom and pistachio flavored scoop full of ice crystals. It tasted sandy and gritty, like it’s been melted and refrozen many times and way past its use by date. It’s the antithesis of a smooth kulfi.

Pakeeza

I would give House of Pakeeza a pass if you’re also tempted to try them out. The bill for lunch cost me RM 28.16 which is slightly below average for a similar Indian themed meal at the nearby Anjappar. However, it doesn’t taste very good and left my craving for good biryani unfulfilled. There is a good reason this place is deserted while another Indian restaurant down the street is doing a roaring business. I should have gone around the corner to Anjappar instead coz they have really delicious biryani but I wanted to try Pakeeza. Oh well, I know where to go next time.

MAHBUB Restaurant, Bangsar: The Best Nasi Briyani Ayam Madu

May 3, 2016 by HB

Nasi Briyani MAHBUB

I’ve loved nasi briyani ever since my late mom took me for my first taste of it when I was around 7 or 8 years old. Unfortunately, my better half does not share the same love for nasi briyani so I often go to eat it alone. I was talking about Fierce Curry House (which has really good Hyderabadi style nasi briyani) with Samantha and Michelle the other day when Sam told me about this awesome briyani place in Bangsar.

Restaurant Mahbub

I’ve actually eaten at Mahbub Restaurant before but didn’t think much of it at the time. It serves briyani with ayam madu (honey chicken) – a distinctively Malaysian-Indian take on the dish. I do like the sweet taste of the honey chicken but I prefer my protein to be cooked *together* with the briyani ala Hyderabadi. However, I decided to pop over again after my Invisalign appointment to reacquaint my taste buds…after all, my last trip was over a decade ago.

MAHBUB Bangsar

No kidding, MAHBUB Restaurant has been around since 1974! They also have an air conditioned space where you have to pay a small premium to sit in. It’s attached to the main restaurant and has a different menu with slightly higher prices but I thought it was a small price to pay for the comfort. It’s so hot lately with the heat wave that I almost lost my appetite from heat stress so air conditioned dining is a must.

Ayam Madu

The main draw here is as mentioned the Nasi Briyani Ayam Madu (RM 13.50). The honey chicken is really quite good and the portions are generous too. I was quite surprised to get more than a regular portion. I was given 1/2 a wing in addition to the huge chicken breast. I usually don’t like chicken breast coz it can be dry if not cooked properly but there are no such issues here. The honey soaked chicken breast was tender and full of white meat. It was very satisfying to eat.

Nasi Briyani Ayam Madu

The honey cooked chicken is perfectly balanced too. It’s slightly on the sweet side but the nasi briyani is served with achar pickles on the side so the acidity cuts through the richness of the chicken. They give you curry dal on the side too and everything is nice and hot instead of the lukewarm stuff other places tend to have. The nasi briyani is decent too – lots of spices and herbs inside to give it that distinctive flavor.

MAHBUB Restaurant

I thought MAHBUB Restaurant is a satisfactory stop if you’re craving for nasi briyani. The meat portion is huge! They definitely don’t skimp on the protein here. The entire meal set me back just RM 16.65 with a drink. They also have Bukhara style nasi briyani on Fridays which adds more spice to the rice so that’s something to consider. I’ll definitely be back for more, especially when I’m hankering for a good ol’ chunk of white meat to go with my spiced rice!

Hyderabadi dum biryani @ Fierce Curry House, Bangsar

March 3, 2016 by HB

Hyderabadi Biryani

Fierce Curry House has consistently won awards for best Indian in the past few years. They have seriously good (and authentic) Hyderabadi dum biryani and I’ve been craving for a proper biryani meal so I popped over after my Invisalign appointment at Imperial Dental Bangsar. Fierce Curry House is just a 5-minute drive from the Telawi area.

Fierce Curry House

I’ve been here a couple of times, usually by myself, since my better half doesn’t like Indian food. I suggested eating biryani over the weekend and she wasn’t keen on it at all so this is something that I enjoy alone. I normally get my “biryani” fix at random mamaks around my place but I wanted something genuine this time. The “biryani” served at nasi kandar places is just pilaf – a completely different dish.

Fierce Bangsar

My first exposure to Hyderabadi dum biryani is (surprisingly) in Sibu. We have a place that serves up good chicken dum biryani and I often went when I was in primary school. My late mom liked it too so that’s probably where I picked up eating biryani from. Hyderabadi dum biryani is kinda like nasi briyani gam Johor – the protein (chicken, mutton, etc) is cooked together with the rice. There’s also an insanely good Hyderabadi dum biryani in Kuching made with camel meat!

Specialty Hyderabadi Dum Biryani

Fierce Curry House has a wide selection of Hyderabadi dum biryani. You can have Lobster Dum Biryani (RM 240), Crab Dum Biryani (RM 140) and Scallop Dum Biryani (RM 80). Vegetarians can also opt for Mock Meat Dum Biryani (RM 25), cheese fans would be at home with the Paneer Dum Biryani (RM 25) and fish lovers would be happy to hear about the Cod Dum Biryani (RM 80).

However, all those meals need a 24-hour turnaround. Fierce Curry House only makes two types of biryani which is available every day – Chicken Dum Biryani (RM 17) and Mutton Dum Biryani (RM 19). It’s their flagship and you’ll see waiters carrying stacks of the dough-wrapped biryani metal containers out of the kitchen. I’ve tried both and the mutton version is a lot better. Their chicken is boneless thigh so it can be dry at times. I have a higher standard since the biryani place I go to when I was young served whole bone-in thighs.

Papadum

You’ll be presented with complimentary papadum when you’re seated.

Papadum Dip

It’s paired with a deceptively spicy dip. The bright and pleasant green looks like mint but it’s actually chillies. Very hot ones. I also enjoyed the tiny shot of soup called rasam which they provide as an amuse-bouche – it’s mouth-wateringly sour, with lots of vegetables and tamarind inside. Perfect to whet your appetite.

Watermelon Lassi

I ordered a Watermelon Lassi (RM 7). It’s the lesser known cousin of the Mango Lassi and it’s fresh – the lassis here are made with freshly squeezed juice. Fierce Curry House has a wide range of lassis, I can recommend the Salted Lassi and the Masala Lassi if you want to try something different.

Dough Sealed Biryani

The biryani container comes sealed with dough around the metal lid. This locks the moisture in during the cooking process.

Dough Seal

You have to peel off the dough before you can dig into the biryani.

Biryani Rice

I went for the Mutton Dum Biryani (RM 19) which is served with Mixed Raita, Vegetable Achar and Gravy. There are pieces of mutton inside the wonderfully spiced biryani rice. The long grained Basmati rice is cooked to perfection – it’s fluffy and you can see the individual grains. It’s delicious! I liked the raita too, the cool yoghurt goes very well with the rich and salty biryani rice.

Mutton Biryani

I highly recommend Fierce Curry House if you’re craving for an authentic Hyderabadi dum biryani. The entire meal just cost RM 26. It’s a very reasonable lunch meal for the quality of food. It’s always packed though so you might have to come at off-peak hours and parking can be a pain in this area. There is a sister outlet in Publika called Fiercer by Fierce Curry House but I feel like the original outlet is still the best. Service is outstanding too, which is a rarity except in high-end Indian restaurants.

Cafe Ind – Indonesian and Indian food

February 22, 2013 by HB

cafe ind

I’ve wanted to come here for ages but it was always closed when I was out. I heard the food is good and they serve both Indonesian and Indian cuisine – thus Cafe Ind. My good friend Arthur came over and dropped off some of his muesli cookies…

(which I’ve almost finished, eating them as a midnight snack)

…and we headed out to check out the curiously named Cafe Ind(dehouse).

Nasi Pecel (RM 14)

Nasi pecel is one of the unique Javanese rice served with pecel (cooked vegetables with the classic Javanese spicy peanut sauce) and warm plain rice (nasi putih). It tastes best when eaten with fried tempeh and the traditional cracker called peyek. In reality pecel has a lot of versions and ours has it’s own uniqueness. It’s served with chicken satay on a lemongrass stick and herbal boiled egg.

nasi pecel

I got that from the menu liner notes and it doesn’t leave much to the imagination. It’s a really good dish where every single one of the sides tastes good. Arthur ordered this one and I tasted the tempeh, which I didn’t think was tempeh at first.

It’s not deep fried but cooked so flavourful that it made a convert out of me. I like the way they skew the chicken stay onto lemongrass stalks too!

Nasi Tumpeng (RM 15)

Nasi Tumpeng is traditional Indonesian rice platter served during special events such as birthdays, weddings, or any other occasions. It’s somewhat a Nasi Lemak for big occasions. Our aromatic rice, served on a bed of banana leaf, is complemented by several different which varies daily. You have the honor to have the Tumpeng as the mark of an achievement!

nasi tumpeng

That semi-garbled bit of liner note in the menu describes my dish perfectly. It’s santan (coconut milk) rice with with a nice hat made of banana leaf on top – cute! 🙂

There’s a side of kangkung, which goes very well with the peanut sauce from Arthur’s Nasi Pecel. The chicken kurma is superb too! Choice, tender cuts in a flavorful and creamy curry. I also like their spicy beef and the otak otak that’s made in-house.

Indian Ginger Tea (RM 6)

indian ginger tea

This is an iced ginger tea which is rather diluted from the vast amount of ice they put inside. It would have been much better if it had been thicker.

Butter Curry Chicken (RM 14)

butter curry chicken

This is something we ordered from the Indian menu. They have three menus – one for Indonesian food (which is what we had for mains), one for Indian food, and one for beverages. There are three (3) pieces of chicken inside, including a drum. I thought it was delicious!

mulu ice cream

We also went to the new Payung Mahkota and had the Mulu Ice Cream. It’s the best ice cream I’ve had in Sibu! Very complex textures with the cake, ice cream and muesli sprinkled on top. I said this would be national level ice cream – it’ll be great even in KL! One of the best ice creams I’ve ever had. It’s hands down the best dessert on their menu.

kahlua ice cream

The liqueur ice cream is pretty good too. There’s Kahlua and Blue Curacao. The former needs to introduction, being the most popular coffee liqueur around but if you’re not familiar with the latter, it’s used in cocktails for it’s blue color. The refinishing citrus taste from Blue Curacao comes from the laraha fruit, which is a predecessor to Valencia oranges.

blue curacao ice cream

The orange juice I drink back when I was studying in Melbourne uses Valencia orange concentrate around winter if they have a severe shortage of Australian oranges – it’s 100% orange juice squeezed daily otherwise and they’ll tell you when it’s not by stating it on the label – a very transparent move I love in Australian products.

payung mahkota

Dinner at The Cafe Ind is great! I had a lot of fun talking to Arthur about everything. Thanks for getting the desserts! 🙂

waitress

I like the service there – the waitresses are knowledgeable, speaks English and will take the initiative to ask if there’s something they don’t know (which a lot of Sibu and KL restaurants don’t do).

I asked her about the tempeh, which doesn’t seem like the usual deep fried ones I’ve had. This is much better.

peeping tom

The Cafe Ind charges for water though – RM 2 for a glass of RO water and RM 4.50 for mineral water. However, the meals are very reasonably priced and dinner came up to a little over RM 55 for the both of us. I love the ambiance too, Cafe Ind would be perfect if they turned off the flashing lights and pop music.

cafe ind sibu

You have the honor to have the Tumpeng as the mark of an achievement!

A wonderful array of Indian sweets

January 9, 2013 by HB

sss

I’ve been a huge fan of these absurdly sweet concoctions since I first encountered a variant of the diabetic-inducing delicacies in Sri Lanka. The first time I had it, I had a look of pure shock in my face from the insulin response. It delighted the Sri Lankan shopkeepers.

The SHEER amount of sugar inside will astound you.

indian sweet vendor

I recently found one a place in town called Bakti Woodlands that offer similar sweets. It called mithai and touted as South Indian in origin, but most are from the continental Indian area (most of the sweets are similar throughout the region, with just different names).

sample box

They had a sample box of 10 different types of sweets for RM 10. I bought that and spent the night savoring the sweets and went back for more a few days ago.

They didn’t have the boxes anymore – I was told that the sample boxes are only sold during festive seasons. I knew what I liked and what I didn’t so I bought it a la carte at RM 1 each.

mithai

What I like about these sweets is that you can taste the different types of milk (goat, cow etc) inside. Here’s a sample of the sugar laden, ghee-infused concoctions that will delight (and challenge) everyone with a sugar tooth:

Jangiri

jangiri

This is the most common sweet you’ll find around here. It tastes like a very light and fluffy doughnut and is made with urad flour and sugar before being deep fried in ghee (clarified butter).

indian sweet stall

There’s a stall just beside Bakti Woodlands selling it for RM 0.70 instead of RM 1 but I find the former to taste slightly better.

Mysore pak

indian confection

This wonderful slice of sweet heaven is made with a truckload of ghee, sugar and gram flour/dhall flour. The interesting thing about dhall flour is that it’s gluten-free, which means my niece can probably eat it. This is my second favorite mithai (Indian confection / sweet).

The dude who was behind the counter didn’t recognize me at first until I brought up the topic of the sample box. He was intrigued and asked me if I was doing research. I wasn’t. Heh. I bought RM 30 worth the second time, and here’s the second video of him introducing the sweets – first one didn’t turn out right.

Laddu

laddu

There’s a type of laddu that costs RM 2.50 (as opposed to RM 1 for the others, like the one above). It’s a huge, fist-sized round ball made with brown sugar, cashew nuts and dried fruits.

There’s also a smaller type of laddu, generically named Ghee Ladhu here:

coconut laddu

The word laddu means “small ball” and can contain almost anything. There are some with ground coconut (the red one) but I prefer the plain ones with raisins inside.

Halwa

indian sweets

This has gotta be my favorite mithai ever!

Halwa is a very generic term that describes a lot of sweets across the Indian subcontinent and even to the Middle East. The name itself is Arabic for “sweet”. I first encountered it in Sri Lanka. I’ve also heard it referred to as barfi.

almond halwa

I like the white almond slices that contains an obscene amount of condensed milk. Halwa tends to be crumbly and insanely sweet. I imagine the recipe for it looks a little like this:

2 tons of sugar
40 kgs of ghee

for a tray of sweets. Heh.

apple halwa

I’m particularly fond of the apple shaped halwas. I highly recommend this if you’re willing to test the limits of your insulin tolerance. It’s sweet, crumbly and has a distinctive milky taste that you can smell as well as taste. The “stem” of the “apple” is made from a clove stick! 🙂

apple sweet with cinnamon stick

You might need a shot of insulin to stabalize but its worth it! Melt-in-your-mouth buttery goodness! 😀

Guess the price of my nasi campur (photo included)

December 30, 2003 by HB

Guess how much this combination of nasi campur costs? There’s more
sotong pieces than meets the eye, some of it is obscured by the chicken
drumstick. No, I didn’t play “Hide the sotong” intentionally, it was
due to the real estate on the styrofoam packs. By the way, “Hide the
(most expensive item)” is a technique where you cover up a more
expensive item with a less expensive one – like covering a drumstick
with cabbages. This is an extreme example, it’s just to illustrate the
point. I’ve never done that intentionally though, not for any moral or
personal reasons, it’s just coz I don’t bother.

The way things work over here is like this – you get handed a plate
or take away pack filled with rice and you choose whatever you want
from the array of dishes displayed. You can opt to have as many items
as you want and the portions you choose is up to you. The price (which
can vary depending on time of the day, whether you’re a regular, as
well as many other factors) is tallied up when you’re done, based on
your choices. However, “Hide the xxx” doesn’t work all that well
nowadays, because the proprietors usually check underneath due to the
popularity of this method.

Back to the post, my lunch has a drumstick, sotong and chili covered
brinjals. You don’t eat for a couple of days and then you feel hungry
enough to eat a horse. 😉 Anyway, guess how much this nasi campur pack
costs?

The Taj @ Crown Princess Deepavali Buffet

October 23, 2003 by HB

The Taj.

This is the write up of the annual XM Malaysia Deepavali dinner at
The Taj @ Crown Princess. There are heaps of photos in this post, which
would probably hurt me more than the US$ 60 I just paid for excess
bandwidth, but hey, it’s Deepavali tomorrow. 🙂 Anyway, XM Malaysia and
Zenith Media booked the entire restaurant for the annual get together.

This is one of the many fringe benefits we get at XM. Free beer
anyone? 😉 Anyway, the tables were half taken by Zenith and half by XM.
Our table had mostly tech people, plus quite a few Project Managers and
two from Creative, IIRC. Caveat: I don’t remember all that well when
I’m on this particular GABA agonist my doctor prescribed (Shh! People
who know shouldn’t comment about it. :p) and when there’s free beer
involved since the two potentiates each other, resulting in an early
loss of inhibition. 😉

Anyway, about the food at The Taj, it was okay, but not great. Don’t
get me wrong, it’s good…just not as good as their desserts! They have
really great desserts and sweets. I like this particular brown chunky
thing that I don’t remember the name of, but readers from Melbourne,
you can find it opposite the Clayton station exit (from the City). It’s
two shops down from that discount bottleshop where I usually buy my
beer. The shop specializes in North Indian sweets.

Well back to the event, like I said, I don’t remember much, but
there was this speech where 3 new people from XM and 3 new people from
Zenith Media gave a speech describing their first weeks and the best
one gets RM 500 and the one which the judges deemed was the worst has
to sing a song. Oh right, I just remembered something VERY
EMBARRASSING…I blame the venue for not labeling the toilets properly.
:p

Anyway, about halfway through the event, I felt the urge to answer
the call of nature, as one tends to get after drinking beer – which not
only is a liquid, but a diuretic as well. I walked to the toilets –
there was one male and one female, both side by side. I went into the
male one, saw a toilet for the disabled to my right and went straight
in and relieved myself.

Well, the urination process took longer than usual, considering I
had a full bladder and suddenly…there was this feeling that something
wasn’t right. I stood there, aiming my member and trying to think about
what it was that felt unusual. It’s…voices. Female voices. “Why are
there female voices in a male toilet?”, I wondered. I zipped my pants,
forgot to flush and opened the door to…

A group of females standing right outside the door! I stared blankly
at them. I think both parties said “What are you doing in the guys
toilet?” and “What are you doing in the girls toilet?” at the same
time. There was about 6-8 of them and I knew all of them. How
embarrassing…that damned toilet sign, it looked like a male one! Chih
Ning wanted to grab my digicam and take a photo of me in the girls
toilet but good thing I made a quick exit, escaping the laughter behind
me. 😉

I think I didn’t even wash my hands in my hurry to get out…

I strongly suggest better signs to distinguish the male and female
toilets to avoid situations like this. I’ve lived at on campus since
2000 while in uni and the toilets and bathrooms are co-ed so I wasn’t
too bothered about it, but this is Malaysia. It’s a good thing that all
the people in the female toilet at that time were from either XM or
Zenith Media. If there were any strangers, I wouldn’t know what the
outcome would be from that mistake. 🙂

The Taj. Fine North Indian Cruisine.