Basil at Bangsar

Duck noodle and otak-otak

nostalgia: UK comedians

Went to Petaling St tonight looking old DVD of my favourite comedians while I was doing time in UK a few years back, some favourites of mine include Jo Brand who used to be a psychatric nurse(you can see her live here), Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie (yup from Dr House) from A Bit of Fry and Laurie and Jeeves and Wooster (and don't forget Hugh's role in Blackadder with Rowan Atkinson (a.k.a. Mr Bean)), Rik Mayall especially in his role as Alan Beresford B'stard a selfish, dishonest, devious, lecherous, sadistic Conservative the from the show The New Statesman, Ben Elton and Ade Edmonson from The Young Ones. What about Monty Phyton and the Flying Circus, especialy John Cleese and Michael Palin. Was also searching for Julian Clary...mmm, or failing that maybe I could search for Whose Line Is It Anyway - UK version hosted by Clive Anderson with Tony Slattery, Paul Merton. as I think the joke is even cruder than the American version. with Colin Mochrie, Ryan Stiles, Wayne Grady etc

I put the link from You Tube on the comedian stated above so you can have a feel of their talent.

Urfortunately can't find any of them there, so I end up with box-sets of Alo-alo and Benny Hill... and oh.. ROOTS... you remember Kunta-kinte?

Casa di Napoli in Klang

Down in Bandar Baru Klang, actually at No 12 Jalan Tiara 2C/KU1, Bandar Baru Klang, stone throw away from Jusco at BBK, there is a nice little Italian Pizzeria. in Klang?? Did I type it wrong?? :) . Edin Mehmedovic and his partners been running the place since 2004.

We tried the salmon salad, chicken.. (forgot the name) and spaghetti... very tasty, and the serving is adequate even for the big stomach of mine. Ah by the way I get a complementary cappucino on the house. I forgot to mention the tiramisu is mouth watering and it gets better when it actually melts in your mouth :)

A certain Kurau King has a whole lot of better pictures of the place during day time here and here.

Firefly to Penang from Subang Airport

I have never been on a propeller aircraft before so when I booked the Firefly from Subang to Penang I was a bit apprehensive. Well, check in at Subang was a breeze at 6.15am the waiting lounge was vast but not many people around, there was another flight to Kota Bharu at about the same time but the total number of passengers that morning was less than 50 I should say. The aircraft was nice maybe it was new, I think less than 1 year old, 4 seats abreast, with 2 stewardess on board. It was a smooth flight and we reached Penang in 40 minutes. No complaints at all about both the outward and inward flights.

Mutiara Parahyangan executive lounge, Bandung

The flight from Bdg to LCCT is at 5.15pm and we checked out of the hotel at 3pm, and reached the airport at 3.20pm. After 20 minutes we were all checked in and no where to go. With 3 kids in tow we need to have a place where they can be comfortable and we checked out the Mutiara Parahyangan executive lounge on the 1st floor of the Bandung Airport. It was no luxury but we have the place to ourselves for the next 1-1.5 hours and the rates is quite OK plus there is complimentary food n drinks.

Massage for Udin & Aina

Udin & Aina experiencing foot massage at at Heritage Chic Spa, Bandung

Sajian Sambara, Bandung

Another place where we wouldn't miss if we are in Bandung, the restaurant Sajian Sambara at Jl Trunojoyo specialising in Sunda food.

For more info please surf to http://www.sajiansambara.com

Kg Daun Culture Cafe, Bandung

http://mattingtong.blogspot.com/2010/03/lunch-kg-daun-bandung.html

Its a restaurant located within a resort style residential area in Bandung. We droppped by this restaurant on our way down from Tangkuban Prahu and this is actually our first visit to this restaurant after our umpteenth trip to Bandung.

Well, we should have been earlier.... the setting is fantastic, patrons are seated in little huts spread around a valley with a stream flowing by in the background, we were there for lunch but it was chilly for the kids and that only makes them even more hungry.

Food was good .. soto betawi mmm... succulent sate kambing... even though a bit on the high side (well someone got to pay for the nice little huts and the scenery you know) and you just feel like going to sleep after you have eaten your meal. The atmosphere is so inviting for a nap, what with all the cushion spread around in the hut and there was light rain just when we finished lunch.

Kampung Daun Culture Gallery & Cafe (website www.kampungdaun.net )
Jl. Sersan Bajuri Km. 4,7 No. 88 RR1 – Bandung
Phone: 022-2787915, 2784572, 2784573
Fax: 022- 2787881

Warung Nasi Ampera Bandung

Another local Bandung restaurant, but this one with many branches/outlet all over Bandung city even in Jakarta and Bogor. For more info go to www.ampera.co.id/

My Angkot

I like this Angkot (angkotan kota ) in Bandung because it bears my name :)

Amanda Browfee Cafe

Browfee, combination of ‘Brownie’ and ‘Coffee’... yummy, at Jl Dago No.167

No trip to Bandung is complete without a visit to Amanda cafe known for its browfees, i.e. brownies and coffee :). It sells steamed brownies, so sweet - a no no if you're a dentist. I read somewhere that the company was founded by PT. Pos Indonesia retired employees. Amanda the name is “Anak Mantu Damai” sorry I dunno what it means though.Its normal to see tourist carrying bags of the popular brownies up the Air Asia aircraft back to KL. So much so that even the customs officers at LCCT will give you a big smile when you show them the brownies. There are so many different flavours to choose - From the original chocolate flavor to other variants such as cheese, blueberry topping, tiramisu etc. At this outlet at Jl Juanda (Dago) they have a cafe type outlet selling brownies and other local dish and you can have it in the cafe together with coffee etc. I just love the brownies with ice cream.

Sometimes people from outside Bandung just buy theAmanda Brownies Kukus from cars or vans parked along the street, mostly on Jl Dago and Jl Martadinata. At a higher price of course compared to buying from Amanda outlet.

Rumah Ebo in Bandung

photos from Mar 2010

Tired of going to a hotel we want to explore the cosy, homey type of service you get at a fraction of the cost of a monotonous hotel and this is what we found in Bandung. If you need a home away from home, Rumah Ebo is the place. Its a house with 9 rooms and best thing about it is all rooms has a landscaped garden right at your doorstep with a fish pond all around it and the sound of running water adds to the relaxed atmosphere. The whole place is well maintained, clean and cosy.

There are single, twin and queen bed size rooms and we took the family room as there are 5 of us. It is a huge high ceiling bedroom with a connecting lounge/room with extra bed. Just nice for my family.It is on a quiet road even though its only a few metres away from the busy Jl Juanda (Dago).The staff are all very helpful and a cheerful lot.

Breakfast is right at your room door and you can have breakfast right on the garden/lawn too :)

A few FOs are withing 5 minutes walking distance from the hotel along Jl Juanda (Dago) including Grande, Blossom, Raffles City, Glamour etc. the Heritage Chic Spa is on the next road and there is a nice restaurant serving western to local food 2-3 minutes walk away.

Rumah Ebo details are:
Jl. Imam Bonjol No.27, Bandung, Java 40132, Indonesia.
email : rumahebo@yahoo.com website: http://rumahebo.wordpress.com
Phone : 62 22 2533773,
Fax : 62 22 2506629
and speak to Kiki the Operation Manager

A bold statement on a lorry in Bandung

I saw this lorry on our way down from Tangkuban Prahu in Bandung. It says SUAMI TAKUT ISTRI (husband afraid of wife) very honest :), then on the mud flap you see SALAH OBAT (wrong medicine)

Hotel Sawunggaling, Bandung

from 28 JaN 2008 POSTING
This time we put ourselves in an old small hotel down a leafy street but not far from the malls/Factory outlets. The staff are very friendly and helpful and by our second day we 've known most of them and we really felt at home. Even the manager Ms Ade Mardiah was around to greet us. U can visit their Website: www.bumisawunggaling.com or email direct to the manager at ade mardiah and the contact details are : HOTEL BUMI SAWUNGGALING
Jl. Sawunggaling no.13, Bandung 40116, Phone 022-4218254, 4212043, 4212045 Fax 022-4218253. Price starts at about Rph 390,000 or somewhere there and it is really value for money and I highly recommend it.

Our room is on the ground floor with a small balcony and ..... right across our room is the SPA :) which we duly visited after a long day of shopping :)

Update May 2008; view from the 1st floor room above the dining area








Update July 2008; Photo of the bath in the Spa in the hotel








update posting Nov 2008;
The Sawunggaling Room, largest room in the hotel - the whole family of five are tucked into one room with extra bed. High ceiling with 2 (did I say 2?.. yes 2) balconies.

other posts:

http://mattingtong.blogspot.com/2010/03/hotel-sawunggaling-bandung.html

http://mattingtong.blogspot.com/2009/11/hotel-sawunggaling-bandung.html

http://mattingtong.blogspot.com/2008/01/bandung-again-hotel-sawunggaling.html

Our factory open house

Well its actually the 2nd Zulkaedah, way past Syawal but yesterday our factory had our open house in Shah Alam. In these bad times we could still organise a get together with the staff and customers and suppliers in the Raya spirit.

Grilled lamb portion and chicken is the spotlight of the day, even a whole lamb on the grill failed to take the spotlight away from the other 2 main dish.

We also had satay, mee, laksa, nasi goreng but from what I see on the day those are bottom of the slurp list of our foreign workers namely from Bangladesh and India. They huddled around the lamb tent waiting for their turn.


There was good turnout, weather was nice. started very bright and hot but laedter turn cloudy :) most of the invited guests were there and I hope the staff went hope with stomach full of good food :)

Chong Kok revisited

My favourite kopitiam in Klang is the Chong Kok kopitiam. It has been around since prewars I believe because the phone number on the billboard is still 5 digits :) Those days it used to be a bar with a hotel on the first floor but since the 70's more and more frequented it as a coffee shop, aka kopitiam.

The secret could be in the oldman making the coffee, maybe he has been around since day 1, his coffee making look simple and easy and within minutes the excellent coffee is on your table. My favourite is to drink that with the roti bakar and roti steam, perfectly burnt on an old arang stove top it up with a perfect 1/2 boiled eggs, yummy. 2 kampung eggs boiled in old pot I guess with all the 50 years history in it making it a nowhere to be found Chong Kok Special.

Food	Steamed Bread with Kaya and Butter, Hot kopi-O, Toasted Bread, Half-boiled Egg, Toasted Wholemeal Bun, Nasi Lemak with sambal Sotong, tauhu sumbat
Location	Jalan Stesen Klang, Klang, Selangor
Address / Direction	No 5, Jalan Stesen Klang, Klang 41000 Selangor, Malaysia
Contact	03 3371 0996