The Kucings group was looking for a place to have a meal on Sunday evening and JPH suggested Pride of India at Desa Sri Hartamas. At first glance, the place looks posh and expensive and empty (!!) and it was already 7:30pm when we got there. Anyway, we decided to go in.

As it was Father's Day, there was a set dinner going for RM39.90nett per pax butwe decided to go a la carte.

The cuisine is predominantly Northern Indian which means it's all nice and rich, my favourite type of Indian food.

We ordered:
Chicken Vindaloo -a Goanese stype dish cooked in viegar and whole spices - this was qutie yummy and I enjoyed it. The chicken was very tender
Fish Tikka Masala - a hot spicky king's favourable dish, the chef's creation - which was not too bad but there wasn't much fish in it and I thought the fish was rather mushy.
Aloo Gobi - potato and cauliflower - which was good
Bhindi tamatar Curry - Ladies fingers with onions and tomatoes - this was delicious.
Chicken Tandoori - this was REALLY nice and tender unlike the ones you get at the mamak stalls

All this was accompanied by a selection of plain Briyani rice (I liked this because the fragrance was just perfect and they also put in shredded carrots and celery) and various type of naan (plain, garlic and sesame seed)

For dessert we shared some Kulfi (indian ice cream). I love kulfi but this one had a mango in it which I thought detracted from the original kulfi taste ..

The damage? RM125 for the five of us ...

Opening Hours:
Everyday 11:30-3:00pm, 6:00-9:00pm

Pride of India
7G, Jalan 22A/70A, Wisma CKL
Desa Sri Hartamas
50480 Kuala Lumpur
(this is the row behind Maybank, same row as Karma)
Tel: 03 62014477 or 019 6903266
Fax: 03 62044478
e-mail: prideofindiakl@yahoo.com
Website: http://www.prideofindia.com.my

Twas the Tuesday before the start of Lent and CM invited SA and I for pancakes, I was wondering about the significance of pancakes and was enligtened about Shrove Tuesday through the Wikipedia on it and via the BBC website.

So, where else can one go to for good pancakes in Kuala Lumpur? Paddington's Pancakes of course! We trotted off to the branch in Hartamas Shopping Centre and had a pancake feast that included pancake burger, pancake lasagna and mini pancakes for dessert!

When one is in Bangkok, there is no need to step into a Starbuck's for one's coffee needs. There are many local chains around which serve really great coffee and also helps the local community as they use local coffee beans.

Apart from Black Canyon which you can find everywhere and which serves a really delicious alcoholic coffee concoction that includes Kahlua, there also Doi Tung, result of the Thai princess' royal projects.

At Doi Tung, the coffee hails from the northern part of Thailand and served in really nice ceramic wares. The arabica coffee is sourced through the Doi Tung Development Project of the Mae Fah Luang Foundation.

About the coffee at Doi Tung
Arabica Coffee trees introduced under the Doi Tung Development Project Crop Substitution Programme are planted at altitudes of over 1,000 feet above sea level. The plants bear premium grade coffee beans needed for the production of high quality, aromatic coffee. The harvested coffee beans are processed and sun-dried, carefully graded, roasted and sold under the ‘Doi Tung’ label.

To read more about the Project, visit www.doitung.org.

There are not that many Doi Tung coffee shops around, one being in Suan Lum Night Bazaar and the other at IMPACT.

Anyway, G and I visited an exhibition at IMPACT when we felt that we needed some coffee and biscuits so we popped by Doi Tung for our coffee break!

I guess one of the reasons that I love Bangkok and why I go there so often is because of my good friends, G and L. I think it's great that our friendship has lasted so long, since meeting each other in the Land of the Rising Sun back in 1997. Since then, G has gone on to receive her doctorate, so it's Dr G now and L has gotten married and now daddy to one really sweet little girl.

Still, whenever I'm in Bangkok or they're here in KL, we always meet up and partake in the sharing of food while catching up on what's been happening in each other's lives.

February was no exception. But L was so busy that we only got to meet once, all of us. It was near IMPACT and it was a restaurant, when translated into English, means Golden Cockerel. We ordered lots of seafood including my favourite goong woon sen (prawns with vermicelli in hot pot), steamed fish, deep fried prawn salad, veges, squid and so much more I can't remember, except being extremely full at the end of the evening.

Met up with Col for lunch while I was in the City of Angels. It's great meeting up with him when I'm there because he always takes me to eat in places I woudn't know about. This time it was in a small cafe on Suhumvit. Unfortunately I can't really remember the name (this is what happens when one tries to blog about something that happened months ago!)

Anyway, between us we ordered a crab fried rice and an ulam type dish but Thai style as well as fried Shanghai noodles. I really like Shanghai noodles but pity that I've never seen them in KL. It's like glass noodles except flat and square, kinda like kuey teow except made from pea flour. The first time I had it was during one of my earlier visits to Bangkok and I do know that you can get them at the supermarket (dried ones) and cook them at home.



I also had a nice refreshing lemongrass drink to quench my thirst (from all the walking) and I thought it was quite cute with the "flower" made out of carrot!

I've been really slack with updating the blog, but I've finally settled down and downloaded the photos so will start updating the past few months eating forays.

The first major makan trip this year was to Bangkok, in February. Got there just before Valentine's Day so apart from feasting my tummy on yummy Thai food, I also feasted my eyes on beautiful roses everywhere. There was a promotion at Siam Centre whereby they could print messages and photos onto the petals of these HUGE red roses, as big as my palm! I asked where they were from and was informed that they are grown in the northern part of Thailand.


On my first morning in Bangkok, I walked out of the guesthouse onto Silom Road to catch the BTS and there was this long queue stretching from the corner of Saladaeng towards Central on Silom. I remember thinking to myself, "Wow, the Thais are now so disciplined and queing up for the bus." Anyway, as I walked pass them I realised that the queue wasn't for the bus but it kept going pass the bus stop. Curiously, I followed it and you'd never guess what was the "pot of gold" at the end they were queing for - ROTI BOY!!! Yup, true-blue-red-and-white Malaysian home-grown ROTI BOY!
I felt SO proud to be Malaysian - MALAYSIA BOLEH! :)


No, I didn't buy any Roti Boys while I was in Bangkok but enjoyed my other favourite foods instead, especially gai yang (grilled chicken) and papaya pok pok aka som tam (papaya salad), staples of Isan food. Sigh .. if only I could have it everyday ...