Royal India The Intermark KL

KL Fine Dining : Royal India at The Intermark KL - exterior

KL Fine Dining: Royal India at The Intermark KL- interior

Royal India Restaurant at The Intermark; Kuala Lumpur is a North Indian fine dining restaurant. Piqued by a review in The Star, stating that the spices are imported from overseas and mixed by the chef himself to give us an authentic North Indian Cuisine fit for the Maharajah, we decided to give it a try. 

As, with all fine dining restaurants in KL, we called up ahead to make reservations, turns out we didn't have to, aside from ours, only another table was occupied for lunch. 

We were very excited, being Indian cuisines fans that we are, our other Indian fine dining experience in KL just being "Spice of India" at KLCC Suria, where we were disappointed by the food and price. For the same kind of taste that they are offering at "Spice of India" I think "Namaste" at TTDI are more reasonably priced. 

Ok, back to Royal India Restaurant at The Intermark, hmm.. decor was tasteful and staff was very polite and attentive. I noticed that there is a private function room at the end and also another corner where you can draw the floor to ceiling curtains to give you privacy for a small private gathering. 

It was lunch and we were ravenous, but we didn't want to order too much as there are only the two of us, so we settled on Mutton Dum Bryani, 1 butter naan, 1 garlic naan, butter chicken and raita. Pappadums are complimentary. Of course, we couldn't help ordering Masala Tea to complete the meal. 

The Complimentary Pappadums

Royal India at The Intermark - Mango and Mint Dips

Pappadums was light and crispy , mango dip was delectable without being saccharine, but the mint dip wasn't outstanding.

Royal India - Dum Bryani

Royal India - Dum Bryani

Dum Bryani was aromatic and flavorful I would say but not overly. Delicious enough on it's own, but the tender mutton serving is a tad too little for a meat lover like me.

Royal India at The Intermark - Butter Naan

Royal India at The Intermark - Garlic Naan

Butter Naan and Garlic Naan was soft, among the better naans that I've tasted.

Royal India Restaurant - Butter Chicken

Butter chicken, so far it's the best Butter Chicken that we've had in KL (giving our very limited exposure to Indian fine dining here, maybe someone would like to recommend a better place for us to try?) It's creamy and not too spicy or  oily with the tender chicken chunks cut just the right size. 

Royal India Restaurant - Raita

Raita (yoghurt) was thick, not sourish with a hint of sweetness I would dare say, with the carrots and cucumber diced and not "invisible" like Spice of India's Cucumber Raita.

Royal India Restaurant - Masala Tea

Masala Tea came with milk but you can choose your desired level of sweetness by adding the sugar yourself. The Masala Spices are just a hint though.

I would say, if you are one who love fine dining in KL and don't mind to shell out a few hundred RM for a meal, then go all out and order their King Prawn Tandoori (priced at RM150) or Lobster Tandoori (priced at RM 190), needless to say, we are not that type haha..

It was a nice lunch, with nice company and ambience, food portion was just nice but I don't think that this will be our favorite Indian Restaurant in KL just yet. The search is still on! 

Oh, for those who are working around the area and prefer a more down to earth dining that is easier on the wallet, there's a foodcourt at The Intermark at LC if I'm not wrong called the International Food Hall, there's Subway, Porto Romano, Belanga and Hameed's among others. Eating area is quite large and it's not very crowded. 

I snapped a few pictures as per below:

Restoran Belanga at The Intermark KL

Hameed's at The Intermark KL

Porto Romano at The Intermark KL

Eating area at The International Food Hall at The Intermark KL

Seafood in Kuala Lumpur

Istana Bambu - A Halal Seafood Restaurant in KL

My husband is a big fan of seafood and we always try to try out the local seafood in the places that we visited. But, we have been staying in Kuala Lumpur and eating out for the past two years and the only seafood restaurants in Kuala Lumpur that we have visited are : Aroma Ikan Bakar at Pantai Jeram, Suraya Seafood at Kampung Baru and Bangsar Seafood at Bangsar. 

We love Aroma Ikan Bakar at Jeram, it's just that it's too far out, whereas Suraya Seafood at Kampung Baru is in town and we always dislike getting stuck in the KL traffic jam. Bangsar Seafood Restaurant in my honest opinion tasted average and overpriced. 

Where can we find delicious food in Kuala Lumpur? Which restaurant serves the best halal seafood in Kuala Lumpur? On our way back from Zoo Negara recently, we passed by a seafood restaurant signboard "Istana Bambu", hmmm.. sounds interesting. Since, we were ravenous after the Zoo Negara trip, we decided to give it a shot. 

The Bamboo Gazebos

Istana Bambu's Surau

It was drizzling when we got there, but I absolutely loved the decor and ambience, it felt like you are stepping back in time, during the kampung days inside an Istana, yup.. it's definitely aptly named. The seafood restaurant is spacious and you have a choice of sitting on the standard table and chairs of our time or sitting down cross-legged on their many Bamboo gazebos. There are also koi ponds at the entryway leading to the restaurant dining area, which are great for my boys to entertain themselves while we wait for the food to come. Surau area is also provided and the toilets are romantically lit and very clean (maybe because I came in immediately after the cleaner finished his work?)  

We ordered sweet and spicy crabs, butter prawns, kangkung belacan and sup tulang. Drinks were starfruit juice, lychee drink and kedondong asamboi juice. The crabs serving was huge, I think there were 4 crabs and they were very fleshy, soft and yummy. Butter prawns was creamy and delicious but I think it would taste nicer if the prawns were a bit crispier. The kangkung belacan looked fiery but  was actually  not spicy at all, tasted nice but a bit drenched in oil. Sup tulang was mild and fair, would be nice if they added carrots in. Oh well, but then again I am comparing the sup tulang to the Indonesian's version, which isn't exactly a fair comparison because Indonesian's are expert in preparing Sup Tulang. Starfruit Juice was delectable although they used mature starfruit hence the yellow color instead of young green starfruit. Kedondong Asam Boi was just an impulse order, I've never tasted that drink before but I was pleasantly surprised, if you like sourish drinks, you should try this one out. 

Sweet and Spicy Crabs

Butter Prawns

Sup Tulang

Kedondong Asam Boi, Starfruit Juice and Lychee Drink

It was a lovely seafood dinner at Istana Bambu and we would definitely go back again for special occasions when families or friends visit us in Kuala Lumpur but not for frequent dining though, I find the price to be a bit on the high side, though not as overpriced as Bangsar Seafood. 

Istana Bambu is at Lot 841-842 , Jalan Hulu Kelang, Ampang, 68000 Ampang, Selangor Darul Ehsan. 

Map of Istana Bambu is:

Map from www.istanabambu.com.my

You May Also Like:

Naab Restaurant - Mont Kiara

Royal India - The Intermark

Busaba Thai Restaurant - Bangsar

New York New York - 1 Utama

Resepi Pasta Carbonara

For english click here.

Pasta Carbonara memang sangat enak dimakan, anak-anakku amat menggemarinya kerana rasanya yang sungguh lemak. Setiap minggu pasti akan ku sediakan samada spaghetti bolognese atau pasta carbonara untuk wira-wira kecilku, paling tidak 2 kali seminggu :) 

Antara Pasta Carbonara kegemaranku yang dijual di restoran adalah Creamy Carbonara di Paddington House of Pancakes, yummy,, sungguh menjilat jari, sekali makan pasti tak cukup untuk ibu dan anak. 

Hmm.. sempena hari cuti ini, malas sungguh nak keluar untuk sarapan, ku sediakan pasta carbonara yang amat mudah ini untuk anak-anakku. 

Resepi Pasta Carbonara ini amatlah mudah kerana aku hanya menggunakan pasta sauce yang dibeli di supermarket, selalunya aku beli samada Prego's Cheese and Herbs ataupun Dolmio Mushroom and Herbs, mungkin anda ada pasta sauce kegemaran sendiri? Tiada masalah kalau anda menggunakan pasta sauce jenis putih dan creamy yang lain ye.. 

Berikut adalah ramuan-ramuan bagi Pasta Carbonara:

Sos Pasta Dolmio

Streaky Bacon- kubeli di Cold Storage

1 botol Carbonara Sauce kegemaran anda

1 peket (100gm) streaky bacon

3 telur sederhana besar

2 keping keju cheddar 

cendawan segar mengikut citarasa

1/2 cawan air

pasta jenis kegemaran anda

Cara memasak Pasta Carbonara:

1) Rebus pasta dengan sedikit minyak, masak secubit garam dan sedikit serbuk herba italian

2) Di kuali yang berasingan, rebus 3 biji telur tadi separuh masak

3) Hiris streaky bacon mengikut saiz yang diinginkan (dalam 1 cm lebar?) dan goreng hingga garing dalam minyak atau mentega yang sedikit.

4) Masukkan cendawan segar ke dalam kuali streaky bacon tadi dan masukkan sos carbonara bersama air dan biar mendidih.

5) Masukkan keju dan kacau hingga larut.

6) Akhir sekali masukkan telur separuh masak.

Tuangkan sos carbonara di atas pasta anda dan hidangkan semasa panas.  Nikmati hidangan anda!

Pasta Carbonara - hasilnya

Anda mungkin meminati:

Resepi Spaghetti Prego

Ayam Goreng Berempah

Jus Avocado

Cheap Mirrors and Curtains in Malaysia

Curtains and curtains accessories shop in Nilai 3

It's official! We are shifting to  a new place soon :) This time around we are taking a semi-furnished apartment so that we can decorate our house to our own liking without having to accept the furniture provided by our landlord. 

my living room curtains

The apartment's living and dining area is kind of small though, so we thought of putting up a large wall mirror at the dining area to open up the small space. We scouted around at a decorative mirror shop at Viva Furniture Mall but there wasn't a wall mirror big enough that we liked. A few furniture shops at LDP Furniture Mall carry a wall mirror and cabinet set that is beautiful but cost at least RM1200, just buying the large wall mirror will cost us about RM800. Next, we tried a mirror and art frame shop next to Restoran Puteri at Taman Tun Dr Ismail, 12 Jalan Datuk Sulaiman, the man quoted us RM800++ for a mirror approximately 6 feet by 3 feet, same price with or without frame. They can also custom make your rmirror but custom made mirror will cost more. 

We thought of asking the other art frame shops like Jansen art Gallery at No 6 Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad 1 and also another art frame shop a few stores down but didn't think that they carry wall mirrors of our required size or can custom make our mirrors. So, we put the mirror search on hold for a moment. (We bought it at last at Nilai 3 - read the end of the article)

Next on the list is curtains, the new apartment have a lot of ceiling to floor windows and for decorative and privacy sake, we are on the hunt for beautiful curtains that are also cheap and won't take too long to be delivered to us.

First stop, Jundeco the Korean curtain shop at Ikano Power Centre, we didn't specifically searched for them, we were just around the area. The salesgirl though seems like zero knowledge in helping customers  deciding on the design and curtain fabrics, all she said is if you are interested, then put in your deposit and the boss will come down to your place for measurement and she will bring along the fabrics sample and curtains design for you to choose. Well, no 1, I have already measured my windows, no 2 if have put in the deposit and then I am not satisfied with the price, design or fabric, will I get my deposit back? No 3, it will take about 2 weeks for the curtains to be ready as the fabric and sewing is sourced from Korea. Well, with all these things considered, we scratched Jundeco off the list.

Next stop: GI Deco & Design at 38 Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad, TTDI. I am really impressed by the salesgirl that attended to me, Esther. I was a bit unsure of what I wanted and of curtain designs available, so she showed me some samples for me to get an idea. She also explained to me the various designs of curtains available to enhance a room. Based on the color scheme that we were considering, she took out samples and samples of fabric for us, the fabrics were really gorgeous, but after a quick calculation, at about RM3000+ for just the master bedroom, I guess it's way out of our budget, we still have to have curtains for the living room and guest rooms.

I figured most curtain and curtains accessories shops in malls in Malaysia would cost about the same like GI Deco, so we didn't check the lines of shops at Viva Furniture Mall instead we headed out to Nilai 3 Wholesale Centre to test our luck for curtain and the large wall mirror.

A shop at Nilai 3

After going through 3 or 4 shops at Nilai 3 Wholesale Centre, we decided on Nafisa Classic at lot 231 & 232 Jalan Nilai 3/8, the curtains fabric choices are quite wide and the boss there gave us quite a good price. The sewing is free for a normal french pleat curtain and normally will be ready in 1 hour. In our case, since we custom made curtains for the whole house, the boss asked to give him 3 hours. It was nearing evening and I don't really want the seamstress to rush with our curtains, so I asked the boss if he can deliver it to us instead in 3 days time and surprisingly he said ok! yeah! phew.. manage to avoid going down to Nilai 3 again just to collect the curtains.


On our way back, while searching for a place to eat, we saw a row of shops under a tent selling wall mirror of various sizes and decided to try our luck (we went to one shop earlier and saw a large mirror going at RM200 but no delivery - it wouldn't fit in our Proton Gen 2). After haggling and choosing and inspecting the mirrors (you got to inspect them really well, since most of them have some scratches or some part of the wooden frame is chipped) we managed to get a 6 feet by 3.5 feet mirror with a dark wooden frame at RM280 with delivery to KL! Yeay! What a difference from RM800 at TTDI to RM280 at Nilai 3 Wholesale Centre, yup definitely worth the drive up.

Customers waiting for their burgers at Nilai 3

While you are there, food there is not really fantastic, but the burger stall next to 7-11 is pretty decent, the food stall opposite it don't really sell anything but nasi goreng and similar dishes, my nasi goreng was a tad too hot for my kid to eat. The Mango Ice blended also tasted too sweet and artificial.

My Mango Ice Blended at Nilai 3

My Fried Rice - Super Spicy

Ah, but Nilai 3 Wholesale Centre is the place to go for cheap furnitures, cheap curtains and cheap wedding souvenirs. Map of Nilai Wholesale Center is here.

View Larger

Carbonara Recipe

Creamy Carbonara with Bacon

Untuk Bahasa Melayu, klik di sini.

My kids love spaghetti and we alternate between bolognese and carbonara at least twice a week. It's really quite hard to find a good restaurant in Kuala Lumpur  that serves delicious bolognese, I always find it a bit too tomato-ish, so I prefer to cook spaghetti bolognese at home instead. 

But for carbonara, I would recommend House of Paddington's Creamy Carbonara, it's really delicious, I always eat it with my second son and it's always barely enough for both of us :) 

It's a lazy Sunday today, so I decide to whip up Creamy Carbonara for my kids using instant carbonara sauce of course. It's a simple recipe and very fast to cook. 

Below is the Carbonara Recipe:

1 jar of Carbonara Sauce ( you can try Dolmio's Mushroom and Herbs or Prego's Cheese and Herbs)

1 packet of streaky bacon (about 100gm)

3 eggs

2 slices of cheddar cheese

fresh mushrooms as desired

1/2 cup water

spaghetti or any type of pasta as needed.

halal bacon

Dolmio Pasta Sauce - tasted a bit tangy so I diluted it with some water

Cooking Method:

1) Boil the pasta with a bit of oil,a pinch of salt and some dried italian herbs

2) Separately boil three eggs (make it soft boil)

3) Cut the streaky bacon into small slices and fry them in a pan with 2-3 tablespoon of butter until crispy.

4) Add in sliced mushrooms into the streaky bacon, then add in the Carbonara sauce and water, simmer for a while.

5) Add in the cheese and stir until melted.

6) Lastly, put in the soft boiled eggs. 

Pour the Carbonara sauce on the desired pasta and serve hot.

Enjoy!

Creamy Carbonara Breakfast with hot strawberry tea - yummy!

You May also like:

Mee Bandung - Asian Noodle Recipe

Creamy Mashed Potato

          

Indoor Playground For Kids at Ikano Power Centre

Go-Kart at Ikano Power Centre

Ikano Power Centre is a shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur located at Mutiara Damansara, very near to Royale Bintang Damansara Hotel. It is one of our favorite haunts to bring the kids if the weather is too hot or if it is raining as there is a big area for indoor play for the children. 

My kids will always spent a long time there going around from one kiddy rides to the other (without me inserting the coins of course) and they always go back tired but happy and us praying that they will sleep early that night so that we can have some quiet time together. 

Pet Safari at Ikano Power Centre

We will always start with Pet Safari on second floor, it's actually a pet shop that sells pet supplies and also pets such as dogs and cats. They also sell aquarium fishes, koi fishes tropical fishes and exotic animals like snakes, scorpions, tarrantulas and different kinds of lizards. I think the staff there would have recognized us already as "the parents who always come in with their kids but never buy anything." 

After that, it's the merry-go-round and kiddy ride in front of Pet Safari and if daddy or mommy has some errands to do, we will let them go into the indoor playground for an hour. Admission is pretty cheap on weekdays, if I am not mistaken it's $8 per child for unlimited playtime. 

Kids Indoor Playground at Ikano Power Centre

Otherwise, we will head to the opposite end near All IT Hypermart and Toys R Us for them to play in the castle placed in the open area near the baby changing room entrance or just looking at the animals kiddy rides there. Recently, Kids Arts and Fun Zone has also expanded into that open area and now they display their inflatables and also a small go-kart area there. Mikail will not allow us to pass that area without him playing the go-kart and at $10 per try (I think it's only for 10 mins) and him insisting on at least two tries, it's getting quite hard on the pocket. So, now we try to avoid that end except for the occasional treat. (Dear Readers, please note that a new indoor playground area is now open, therefore there are no more GO-Karts and inflatables near the Toys R US end, please read about the new indoor playground here)

Indoor Play for Kids

Kiddy Rides at Ikano Power Centre

Indoor Playground at Ikano Power Centre

Children Indoor Playground

There is also Little Da Vinci outlet at Ikano Power Centre and I would love to enroll my son there if I am not moving out of the area soon. Sigh, I had wanted to enroll him last year but he was too young. Da Vinci Programmes starts from 3 and 1/2 years old sadly. The arts and craft displayed in the shop looks very interesting. 

Da Vinci Creative Kids at Level 2

Baby Room at Ikano Power Centre

Baby Room at Ikano Power Centre

I love going to this shopping mall as I feel it is one of the lesser crowded shopping malls in Kuala Lumpur and very kids friendly. It's a great place to just bring your kids to run about and release their energy.

You May Also Like:

Playground @ Perdana Lake Garden

Horse Carriage Riding at Titiwangsa Lake

Jungle Gym @ BSC