Monday, May 18, 2009

Middle Eastern Cuisine- Al Rawsha Restaurant

I was delighted to have my first middle eastern cuisine in my life. Usually ,I will be thinking middle eastern cuisine is not my cup of tea until I have tried it .

From the menu of the Al-Rawsha Restaurant along Jln Seraya ,Ampang, I don’t know what to order but from the menu middle eastern food has some similarities with the local mamak food.


After my uncle had ordered , we were waiting for the food to arrive . While waiting , I noticed that the surrounding has a very decent and simple decoration. As we were sitting outside of the building sheltered under a canopy while the rain was pouring , we felt the breeze was adequate to keep us cool.
After the first dishes had arrived , it was the mixed grill meats (chicken , beef , mutton) served with Branni rice. I have to mention about the rice , the size of the grain is long and thin . When I first sink my teeth into the rice , it was soft enough to be called rice and fluffy.





Can u see the rice grain?

Next is the mixed grill sausages + meat balls , the meat balls were attached to each other , typically the round meat balls are separated individually , not attached to each other . But these meatballs were attached to each other ,in other way it is :plucked it and eat it . Don’t look at the dish of meat balls and say that it is too little for my stomach , in fact it is very filling !



The following dish comes with a soft bread underneath the grilled chicken . The bread was different with the mamak type of roti canai . The bread is minus the oiliness but additional crispiness .


The pastries corner , the tray on the bottom looks like ‘wantan’ don’t you think?



All in all, I felt very satisfied with the middle eastern food . One thing to mention , if you are on veg diet , there are limited food to choose from. Below is on of the veg we ordered.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Wesak Day 2009


The night before Wesak Day , I was flipping my street directory book on Buddhist temple in Subang area. To my surprised, I found none of the temple is in Subang, but there is one in Bandar Utama-Chempaka Buddhist Lodge . I located the area and I drove there early in the morning at around 7.30 a.m. I reached there quarter past 8 . Upon reaching the site , I noticed there are cars at the shoulders of the road leading to the temple . Temple is located at the end of the housing estate. I hastily found an empty space next to a corner house in a back alley . As I walked towards the temple , more and more cars were arriving . Entering the gate of the temple , there are lots of activities happening in the temporary stalls which includes charity offering , bathing the Buddha and blessing from the monks .

After bathing the Buddha , I entered the main temple which consisted of 3 floors ,LG,1st floor, 2nd floor. On the 1st floor is the main shrine , the intricate designs of the statute of Buddha and the simple but elegant decoration mesmerized me . I participated in the blessing ceremony and hymm singing until noon. The sense of familiarity I experienced before when I was small came back to me . I still remember those days when I followed the hymm singing and I was still too young to be able to recognize the Chinese words on the chanting book .

On the 2nd floor, there are also different types of deities and Buddha statues in separate rooms.
After the prayers , I was told by the monk that there was a vegetarian lunch to be served . As I climbed down the stairs to LG, I was startled to see the whole hall was full with people . I was in the line queuing for my turn . The situation was very under control although there were lots of people . I sit together with a family of 7 , and we were served with vegetarian 盆菜 and vegetable curry. As I never in my life eaten a vegetarian 盆菜 , I tried and I felt that taste of the pork cutlet was almost the same as the real ones . I like the meat balls very much especially with the savory taste of broth incorporated into the meat balls, as my first bite , I can feel the broth oozed out from the meat. I was very satisfied with the meal and I called it a day .

vegetarian 盆菜


Full of crowd.

I felt that I have fulfilled my ‘duty’ as Buddhist followers.

The full address of the Buddhist is:
Chempaka Buddhist Lodge
60,Jln SS23/25,Taman SEA,
Petaling Jaya,
www.chempaka.org.my



A female newscaster was recording for NTV7 channel.