Suum Cuique

We Malaysians are a spoilt lot when it comes to food. No matter where we are around the world, nothing seems to ever compare to what we can find back home. And we always end up searching in the foreign land for something that is closest to what we grew up eating.

I always complain that there is nothing to eat in Abu Dhabi (AD). Nothing that is remotely similar to what we have in our dai-chow (neighborhood Chinese foodstall), warung (Malay foodstall), mamak (Muslim-Indian food shop) and kedai kopi (local coffee shop) that is. So when a friend, Ciki first asked me to do a writeup on my favourite restaurants in Abu Dhabi, I was flabbergasted. One, a famous blogger like Ciki asking me to write a guest post for her! And two, but there's nothing good to eat in AD!!

And after months of procrastination, and I really mean months, and racking my brains and looking through my archive of photos, I discovered that I had had some really good eats in Abu Dhabi and neighbouring Dubai. We’ve had superb Italian, fantastic Continental, awesome American, tantalising Arabic. So much so that I had problems shortlisting the 5 Ciki requested for!

But anyway, here are the ones which I've finally chosen (in no particular order):

1. Lebanese Flower Restaurant, Defence Road

This place is practically an institution in AD! When AWhiffofLemongrass made a brief visit to the city during a flight transit, the flight attendant recommended this place as THE place to eat an authentic Arabia meal. One of the most popular restaurants in the city, I believe their secret lie in the fast turnover of food, constantly ensuring that all the food are always fresh. Their chicken shawarma (flatbread spread with garlic paste and rolled with slices of chicken roasted on a spit, french fries and pickles) is super moist and super tasty.

You can't go wrong with bottomless flatbread fresh from the oven of the bakery next door, hummus (chickpea dip) and garlic dip (like a garlicky mayo), the quintessential plate of salad, olives and pickles while waiting for your main course of mixed grill (grill lamb and boneless chicken, chicken wing, kebabs, arrayes - grilled flatbread sandwiched with minced lamb) which is big enough to share for 2. Or 3. All for the princely sum of no more than AED60 (USD16). My children love the chicken shawarma (AED6/USD1.65), which I like to think is our Ramly burger for a quick snack on the go. Cheap, fast, fresh and open til late - Lebanese Flower is our version of mamak in AD.

2. Sangeetha Vegetarian Restaurant, Madinat Zayed

There is a plethora of Indian restaurants in town. Mainly because there is such a huge population of Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis in the city. The good news is, we are inundated with loads of inexpensive restaurants offering a wide range of delicious and authentic food from Northern and Southern India. I particularly like the vegetarian restaurants as they have the most amazing curries made from a wide variety of vegetables, beans and lentils and fantastic breads and dosas (pancakes made from fermented rice).

Sangeetha is one such restaurant. This place is not like some of the hole-in-the-wall cafeterias that cater only to the men workers. It's spacious, clean and very family-friendly. Most importantly, they serve hot, fresh food in a jiffy!

I especially enjoy their Mini Tiffin as it has a variety of snacks on one plate plus a cup of chai (tea). There is a small bowl of tiny idlis(rice cakes) soaked in gravy, a small masala dosa (rice pancake with potato filling), a mound of kichadi (savoury semolina pudding), and a vadai (lentil donut), served with sambar (watery dhal curry), coconut and onion chutney and a dessert kesari (sweet semolina pudding). What we know as stringhoppers/putu mayam is called idiyappam and it's served with a delicious creamy kuruma (mild vegetable curry).

Let me say that their vadai deserves a special mention - golden brown crispy on the outside, hot and fluffy on the inside and tastes so, so good!! And what better to end the meal than with a cup of hot frothy chai. Reason the cup comes with a bowl? I'm not quite sure,but I use it to 'pull' my tea to cool it down. I hope that is the reason for it, otherwise the waiters would probably wonder why this weird Chinese lady keeps pouring her tea from cup to bowl and bowl to cup... Again, a fantastic bargain as the both of us can have a decent meal for less than AED25 (USD7).

3. Wasabi, Al Diar Mina Hotel

After a while no matter how enjoyable exotic food is, I will always start to hanker for something more closer to home. And when you're in this part of the world, anything remotely from Far East will hit the spot. And what can be more Far East than Japanese?

Wasabi is one of my favourites not because it's cheap (it's not), but because it serves pork! It isn't easy to find a non-halal restaurant in this Islamic country and I am very thankful that the AD Govt does allow for some establishments to serve this much-maligned meat.

Prices aren't cheap - they range from AED60 (USD16) to AED120 (USD32) for bento meals, but portions are huge making it really value for money. And coming from a place where most Japanese restaurants are halal, it was really an eye-opener to taste pork Japanese-style. Oishii!

I'm no small eater, but one bento meal is usually more than enough for me to share with my 6 year old child. The bowl of seafood over rice was almost like the size of a soup bowl for the entire family! We always leave Wasabi happy and satiated.

4. The China Club, Radisson Blu Hotel, Dubai Deira Creek

Of course, being a true blue Chinese, there is only so long I can survive without a session of yumcha!! I must admit, AD lacks in decent Chinese restaurants, unfortunately. In my humble opinion, most of the good ones are actually found in Dubai. My favourite restaurant for dim sum is The China Club. Thankfully the decor is modern Chinese with only discreet splashes of red here and there.

Every Friday, they have a fabulous Friday Dim Sum Buffet whereby you order the dimsum fresh from a special menu. As many dishes as you please. As many times as you wish. But pork-free, alas..

All the usual steamed delights like har gau (prawn dumpling), siew mai (chicken dumpling), chicken pau (steamed bun);

fried goodies (beancurd rolls, springrolls, wontons, fried glutinous balls); soup; porridge and noodles you can eat.

Desserts (they serve one of the best red bean soup I've ever tasted, and I don't even like red bean soup!) and tea (Chinese and fruit-flavored English ones) are included as well.

5. Fishmarket, InterContinental Hotel

Every now and then, we like to splurge a bit. Particularly when the weather is gorgeously cool at lower 20sC.

The Fishmarket is a charming place by the sea, serving Thai-influenced Asian food. Sitting al-fresco with the sea breeze and enjoying a glass of wine, it can't get any better than this. Another big plus for us is that the children are suitably entertained with the beach just off the restaurant deck, leaving the parents free to enjoy their food at a more leisurely pace.

It's not unlike those seafood emporium/restaurant you find in Bangkok where fresh seafood are displayed for you to choose from and cooked according to the style you want. It can get a bit pricey and the cooking style is been somewhat diluted to suit more the western palate, but what it lacks in authenticity, the ambience and location of the place more than makes up for it.

We like the way they finish cooking the food at your table before serving it from the little stoves. Although the taste is mild according to our fiery Msian tongue, it's nothing some spicy sauces can't fix, served in familiar blue made-in-Thailand jars.

It's always comforting to eat familiar food - grilled fish and prawns, sweet and spicy squid, mussels, stir-fried kangkong and taugeh (water convulvus and bean sprout) and of course, what would we do without our fried rice.

But the best part is yet to come. The long walk back to the car - it's such a pleasure to stroll through the marina. A lovely end to a lovely meal.

And last but not least, what I feel is the best kept secret in AD. The neighbourhood Afghan bakery.

You can find these little bakeries all over the city. Really cheap at AED1(USD0.27) for a dinner-plate sized thick flatbread. Delicious taken while it's still hot but a tad chewy after it gets cold. One man will roll the dough, while the other with bake it in this in-built kiln-oven. It's not so bad to sit in front of the flaming hot oven during the winter months, but I really salute them for doing the same during blazing hot summer months!

So there you have it. Some of my favourite restaurants in Abu Dhabi. I’m still very much an Asian at heart. Although I enjoy my salads, sandwiches, pastas and risotti, it’s still the flavors of Asia that I go back to time and time again. So yeah, AD does have great food in a variety of cuisine. Even for the fussiest Malaysian!

Labels: AD, restaurant, review

When one holds a privilege card, one would tend to spend more in order to save more (that's the twisted logic every retailer/restauranteur would have you believe..). Ours include F&B discounts at the Starwood chain of hotels whereby the member gets to eat free when there is one or more paying customer, which translates to 50% off whenever we order 2 meals. And to add to that, prices in most stand alone restaurants including those in malls, aren't that much different from those in hotels. So great incentive to dine in hotels sometimes! Oh did I mention? Only hotels are licensed to serve alcohol and pork, so that's even greater incentive!!

Recently we were at the Le Méridien Mina Seyahi Beach Resort, looking for a quick meal. We ended up at the Bussola which is a pizza joint - they serve nothing but pizzas - in a casual setting. A good place to hang out with friends as they have quite comfy seats with lots of cushions!


During winter, it's almost a sin not to dine al fresco as the cool weather and gorgeous surroundings make a fabulous dining experience.

It's always impossible for us to order starters and mains as one pizza is usually big enough for 2 persons. It's a pity as the insalatas and bruschettas are really lovely. And even though the pizzas come in thin crusts, 2 pizzas is enough for us 2 adults and the 2 kids .





All of that for the price of one . We ordered 2 mains and 2 desserts and even though it was shared among 4 of us, 1 main and 1 dessert is considered member's free meal. Nice.

Labels: restaurant, review

"So have you written about it?" He looks at me expectantly.
"Written about what?"
"The car." Rolls his eyes.
"No." Returns to reading my new Gordon Ramsay book.
"Why not?"
"I didn't even get to drive it." Still absorbed in Ramsay's use of the f-word in every other sentence.
"But you sat in it."
Puts book down and explains patiently, "That's different. You can't write a review about a car without actually driving it."
"I'm sure you were thinking of blogging about it when you took so many pictures of it."
Silence.
"But that's just showing off."
"I thought you didn't write for anyone but yourself."
Shuts book with unnecessary force.
"Fine."

I write from a perspective of a woman who sees a car as a mean of getting from point A to point B quickly, safely and painlessly. I don't look under hoods and spew "revolutionary BI-VANOS fully variable camshaft control", "258bhp magnesium aluminium composite engine" and "new third-generation common rail diesel technology (that includes piezo-injectors, a faster and more efficient form of injection); power is increased by 12 per cent to 228bhp at 4,000rpm while torque is four per cent higher at 520Nm, developed between 2,000 and 2,750rpm."

What I do notice is cabin space. Boot space. Leg room. I have a thing for spaciousness, so sue me. And since this is my writeup, this is what I observed:

My grandfather's 1969 Austin used to have one of these starter buttons. I remember he would stick the key in and pop this button to get the car started. As technology improved, cars were no longer using such buttons and one would turn the key to start the engine. And whaddya know, we've gone the entire circle and come back to popping buttons to start cars. Only difference is, in the olden days the engine would roar to life. The engine on this one, is so quiet that one would be tempted to pop the button once more as there was barely any discernible sound to indicate the engine was running.

This I really like. Electronic controls for seat adjustment. You turn the dial to adjust your seat. Press the lower square button to adjust the height of the seat. Press the upper rectangular one to adjust the back of the seat. And the middle 'L' shaped one to move the seat forward/backward. No more pulling levers and using your body weight to do the adjustments. Best part is, you can actually set to memory all the different adjustments (buttons 1 and 2)!! When you share a car with someone who is off vast different body size from you and find that your optimum driving position is always being shifted around, you will greatly appreciate this underrated feature.

Just look at the number of buttons and dials on and at the side of the steering wheel!! What in the world are the 2 silver buttons on the top for? Ejecting the driver and passenger in times of emergencies?! :P He did try them out, but only after he stopped the car. Nothing happened.

Err.. I presume the eye-like picture refers to the left and right signal lights. What's the the P thingy?? To stick your tongue out at the rude drivers??

Urmm.. to switch off something, I guess. And maybe to adjust the illumination on the dashboard?? You wouldn't want to be blinded by how fast the speedometer needle is moving..

Aah.. finally something I do know! To control the headlights. Strangely enough, it is not located on the steering column but on the dashboard below the driver side aircon vent. This dial is fun - you have the standard switch off, only sidelights, full headlights and one more, auto headlights. Meaning it switches on by itself whenever it gets dark and switches off when it's bright or engine is stopped. Initially we wondered, "If the headlights switches on by itself when it's dark, will it also know how to high beam the idiot who is driving on the wrong side of the road??" D'uh.

And the "P" button next to it is the parking brake. Yup, in this car everything gets done by a push of a button or turn of a dial.

This fancy little handle is the auto gear shift. The usual D-rive N-eutral, R-everse and P-ark, all this with just a slight pull with your fingers. Not unlike what Schumacher does when he goes tearing down the track at 280km/hr.

No idea why I bothered to take a picture of this. Very obviously the windshield wiper control. There is also an automatic function whereby the wiper will turn on by itself at the first sign of rain. But being in a place where rain is about as frequent as hail in KL, we didn't get to see that in action. I guess I just wanted some balance. Took a picture of the controls on the left, so I had to take a picture of the controls on the right.

Couldn't resist taking these shots of the side mirror. It doesn't just fold in, it folds up. So space-ship like..

Now this is a cool gadget! The iDrive is a computer-like system, which allows the driver and front-seat passenger to control such amenities as the climate (aircon and heater), audio, navigation (GPS) and communication systems. The LCD panel is mounted in the dashboard and a controller knob mounted on the center console. I had fun playing with the GPS system - you can opt for a 1 dimensional or 3 dimensional map, with or without the voice navigator.

See the bottom left picture? When you are trying to park, this will pop up and the white area will light up to green, yellow and red depending on how close you are to the next object. Much better than the irritating 'beep.... beep.... beep..beep..beep.. beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep'!!

And even more buttons. This time for the sunshades in the rear passenger windows. One button for the sunshade on the main window frame. Another button for the triangle-shaped window. And one more for the rear windshield. The kids had a fun time playing with the sunshades.

Little boys and their cars. Look at the smirk on their faces. They can barely contain themselves.

What else did I like about this car? I liked the solid feel of the door. You don't need to slam the door shut. You don't need the little car icon to light up on your dashboard to tell you a door is not shut. It shuts by itself. And the leather seats don't squeak. I dislike leather seats that squeaks when you climb onto. Feels like I'm sitting on a whoopee cushion.

The performance of the car? This car is meant to be chauffeured driven. The leg room at the back seat is virtually endless and once you sink into the plush leather seat, you don't want to get up. The ride is smooth and glides through speed humps as though they were mere bumps on the road. Most comfortable cruising speed at 140km/hr. It was positively yawn-inducing when going at 110km/hr. Excellent handling - corners like it's on rails. Barely swayed when going round the bend. You just want the journey to last forever.. (what else can I say when I didn't get to drive the car.. *sulks* )

Despite all its gadgetry and electronic wonders, I do have some complaints.

The glove box compartment is small. And there is no proper place to put my handbag. For all the money spent on designing this mechanical wonder, you'd think that they could design something to store a handbag.

Price of this Beastly Monstrous Wonder here? Approx USD74K / RM270K. (jamie, this little snippet of info is especially for you.. :D ). Now that's worth smiling about! :)

Labels: car, review

Every year without fail I would have dinner with my parents and sisters ( later their families) on my birthday. This year, it was kinda strange celebrating my birthday for the first time without them. My parents called first thing that morning, so I did get to talk to them. That is their tradition. They will call the daughters, sons-in-law and grandkids who are abroad to wish them Happy Birthday. I feel sad that they have been making more calls than actually sitting down and having dinner with us.

Although I missed my family this year, I was very touched by these posts by my blogging friends and all the wonderful birthday wishes that came with it. Thank you so much for your friendship and support. It means more than you will ever know.
What is the best way to cheer someone up? mrkat knows the only thing that can make me feel better is food. So he took us to Beijing Restaurant, one of the more authentic Chinese restaurant in town as the owner is from Beijing. Since we are creating our own traditions, and the cook is not doing any cooking on that day, the family decided to get me some red-coloured chocolates, instead of the traditional red eggs! They're red and they're round, so justified the non-cooks..!

The cold chicken was really good. We are used to hot drunken chicken, but this chilled version was so fragrant of wine, it was such a waste not to slurp all the soup up (which we did..). The eggplant in hot bean sauce was also very good with hot rice. Wantons and dumplings were average, and more for the kids' consumption. And birthday lunch, of course must have jhiong sau meen (long-life noodles). In this case, any noodle dish would suffice.


I actually had my birthday dinner the following night. mrkat initially wanted to bring us here on the same night as he knew I would like this place and it would lift me up from my doldrums. But we were quite stuffed with the birthday lunch and only had a very light dinner after that.

We didn't realise the restaurant was not in the hotel, and had to walk about 10 minutes to reach it. But it was a lovely walk as we passed by a marina on the way there. The view of the hotel was beautiful from the marina, and it was fun pretending which yacht was ours...

The concept of this restaurant is similar to seafood emporiums cum restaurants found in Thailand. You order your raw food from their wide selection and choose the style you want it cooked. We noticed that the cooks looked Thai and true enough, our helpful waiter informed us they were indeed from Thailand. That explains the fantastic spicy nam pla dip which I generously slathered on my fried rice.

We were served complimentary fish fingers. The kids liked them so much (that's what we told the waiter..) that we asked for and got seconds. The waiter then came with the food cooking in their individual pans - mussels in one pan, squids in another one, etc. Seems a bit wasteful especially when you have only a few pieces of seafood in each pan...

It was a very pleasant dinner - the night was balmy, the air was fresh, food and service was impeccable and most importantly, the kids were kept busy playing on the sand leaving us free to enjoy our dinner without having to worry about them fidgeting or running about. One of the best dinners we've had for a long time. Kinda makes up for not having my parents around, but sshhh.. don't tell him that...

Labels: restaurant, review

This post is long overdue. For you who have been asking about this place, hope the pictures can give some indication on the whereabouts of the place!

You drive along the old federal road to Ipoh. Once you come to Serendah town and pass SRJK (C) Serendah on your left, look out for these shops on your right. They are slightly below the road level and upon turning right, immediately turn left to the road parallel to the main road.


Go straight in and at the end of the road (which ends at a river), you will see this house. This is the restaurant. There is ample parking in front of the house.

The eating area is on the left, just next to the river bank. Hence our name for the place. I haven't the foggiest idea what their real name is!! And the kitchen is at the front of the house.


Nothing much to shout about the place, but their Chinese-Thai cuisine is one of the best I've ever tasted. The menu selection is not extensive, but it is simple, robust, hearty fare at its best!

We usually order these few dishes as they seem to be house specialities.

Fried chicken with little bits of fried garlic. Tasty enough on its own without needing chili sauce.

Seafood tom yum. Tongue-numbingly spicy and chockful of prawn, squid and chicken. Lethal but oh-so-damn-good down to the last drop! You can also order the tom yum with beehoon.

Tofu cooked with minced meat. A dish for the kids, but lovely and fragrant with hot rice.

This is what we usually come here for. Fried fish in a kick-ass sauce topped with deep fried basil leaves. I have no idea what is in it, but the crispy fried fish with this fiery, sweetish sauce is simply fantastic! All that is usually left is just the bone in the middle because we will sapu the crunchy tail, fins and head with all the sauce.

They also do a very nice kangkung belacan. Oh, and if it gets too hot and spicy, this place has a standard tong sui. It has little bits of jelly , cendol, sweet potato, longan and cincau in a sweet broth. Kinda like cheng poh leong. Nice and refreshing after all that fiery spiciness.

Labels: restaurant, review, thai