revisitingkl

[revisitingkl]

Akan datang

When i get the time, i want to post on some of the cool stuff that happened at the IFLA conference too - namely, the excursion to Rimbun Dahan, the tour of KL National Library, and the dinner at old-school Sek Yuen Restaurant!

[revisitingkl]

VCR front porch

Is ruled by cats

Sleepy cats

Gangsta cat

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VCR cafe at Jln Galloway

Went quite often as it was a few minutes walk from Paloma Inn. But tends to get crowded.

Nice upstairs with glass window passageway

They are supposed to be famous for this banana chocolate peanut butter cake. Haven’t tried.

[revisitingkl]

Hutong @ Lot 10

Recommended by a KL friend, this was a nice one-stop place for local food in an air-con food court setting. Located in Bukit Bintang area. Can get crowded though at meal time. I had the Hock Chew Fishball bee Hoon soup - was pretty good (Fuzhou-style fishballs). It’s a bit like the Malaysia Boleh food concept in Singapore but less chaotic. And the range is quite extensive.

http://www.lot10hutong.com

He also recommended Tokyo Restaurant, also at Lot 10, for the 6th Avenue Cheesecake - located in Isetan store at supermarket level for take-away or level 5 for dine-in. The Isetan store itself is worth checking out (not that you will be able to afford anything but conceptually interesting). They even have an in-house bookstore. I haven’t tried the cheesecake yet - costs 20 RM.

http://lwinlee.blogspot.com/2017/06/6th-avenue-cheese-cake-tokyo-restaurant.html?m=1

Pics of Hutong:

I’m guessing these are all well-known local food names.

[revisitingkl]

Pudu prison

Finally....after missing it so many times when it was so close to me. All that’s left is the entrance.

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Hipster cafes cont’d

Hmm I seem to be doing a continuous run of these places :P Half-hanging my head in shame (half only). Feels a bit like I’m living in an Instagram world - the kind I typically scorn.

Can’t be helped that the neighbourhood I’m in has a few and I stumbled upon Jln Sultan. Today in Chinatown I walked further up the street to Merchant Lane cafe on Petaling street.

Stopped along the way at Nanyang Art Supplies - wonderful shop - and the little stationery shop next to the cafe.

Here’s Merchant’s Lane cafe:

[revisitingkl]

Chicken chop craving

After discovering a web list of top 5 Hainanese chicken chop places in KL, I’m on a hunt for chicken chop. Only natural since I have an obsession with chinese western food and the more old-school the better.

Failed attempt at Sin Kee Restaurant at Brickfields today. I found it but arrived way after lunch which ends at 2pm :P Spent too much time at the Bank Negara Museum and Art Gallery. Didn’t know currency could be so interesting. And then there was the interactive kid’s section - museum was mostly empty so I got to try out all the stuff without the kids in the way. Yay.

Here’s my 2nd attempt - SUCCESS!

And I probably ordered too much. Chicken chop (wonderfully drowned in gravy), old cucumber soup, and pandan Chin chow drink. But I did finish all of it. And yes, that is a great chicken chop. Though I overheard this convo between these 2 older men at my table - one ordered a chop, the other was clearly just accompanying.

Non-eating guy: “So good meh? It’s just chicken chop.”

SACRILEGIOUS!

Eating guy was nonplussed, matter-of-factly: “It’s the gravy.”

[revisitingkl]

Lim Kee Cafe at Tianjing Hotel

Near Mingle cafe in Chinatown. It’s hip joints like these that make it Cooler Lumpur i guess (no I don’t mean the festival)! At least this is what I’m noticing a fair bit since my long-ago solo trip in KL where I had the time to wander around. Like 15 over years ago maybe. I’ve been back a few times since but these were very short stopovers/visits to my long-time KL friend - so it’s mainly straight to her house.

Re. Lim Kee cafe, nice decor but just note that this cafe is original to the hotel with a limited menu (of interesting drinks) - not the well-known Lim Kee chain that does traditional egg and toast breakfasts.

[revisitingkl]

Mingle Cafe on Jalan Sultan

Management also owns the Leaf and Co. cafe next door and Mingle Hostel. All housed in an old building.

Saw these framed historical documents on the wall - belonging to a Chinese Literary Reading Room! So this was what the building was used for back in the 50s-60s. Pretty cool.

There was also a ‘zero-waste’ shop counter at the centre of the cafe selling (i guess natural) liquid soap and cleaning agents. As well as nice-looking sewn cloth substitutes for sanitary pads. This was interesting to see after recently hearing about the period panty. She also sold a mini cleansing cloth pad (wool fleece on one side and a woven cloth on the other) meant to be used in place of facial cotton pads. No pics for that. But it was a pretty cool set-up.

The back of the cafe was most interesting with this elaborate grill/gate?

And across the street from the side of the cafe was this building.

Original building name: Yan Keng Benevolent Dramatic Association

Also spotted on Jalan Sultan:

[revisitingkl]

Nam Heong Restaurant

For lunch

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Methodist Boys Home

Lovely sprawling compound with nooks and corners. On the same grounds as Wesley Church.

[revisitingkl]

Day 2

Wasn’t sure I could get up in time for Wesley Methodist Church but managed to. Chose this as it was reachable by LRT (according to Google map 1 min from Plaza Rakyat). And I had also been to the Wesley in Penang so might as well continue my tour of Wesleys in Malaysia. (Irony is I don’t think I’ve been to Wesley in Singapore) And probably also cos it looked like an old church building.

Plaza Rakyat was only one stop away from my LRT Hang Tuah - but the church’s backgate which was indeed 1 min away was locked. Didn’t expect that the big detour would end up 10-15 mins long - and involved walking through Chinatown. But if not for that I wouldn’t have discovered some shops i could have lunch at. That street turned out to be really interesting - at least stuff that I like.

Wesley Methodist Church

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Jalan Sim Chew Kee

This is an interesting little neighbourhood - away from the looming buildings, highways and grotty streets I associate with KL.

If you can be bothered, figure out my notes here.

Sekeping Sim Chew Kee is the building with the odd sculpture at the top of the entrance.

What I like is the yellow house on the left of Sekeping.

[revisitingkl]

This is the second day here and it’s been unexpectedly good so far.

Just a record up to this point. Will be adding pics/details later.

Day 1:

Checked in at Paloma Inn

Late lunch at Sarang Cookery - a very thick Soto Ayam

Had indigestion rest of day from eating so late cos I thot I wld get breakfast on the plane (come on, SilkAir! Drinks only??)

Took a nap cos I had slept at 4am.

Woke up still sleepy.

Wandered around thinking I was walking to Bukit Bintang (apparently where I am IS Bukit Bintang?)

Came across Pudu Jail, now cleared and they will be building a condo I was told. Can just imagine the jokes on the inmates residents. Took some pics of what’s left. I still remember my first view of Pudu jail - think the surrounding walls had murals - left quite an impression. It looked so old and stark and dungeonish the word ‘gaol’ seems to apply better. CORRECTION: taxi driver just told me the building I saw is the old Pudu bus station! Better go and check properly.

Noticed a pink Catholic Church off the main road next to the jail old bus station so went to visit.

On the way back passed a mixed use mall of hipster cafes selling local and western food and gourmet supermarket with its own cafe. Only the nasi Kandar restaurant had decent number of people. Couldn’t really find anything simple to eat like noodle soup. Bought an organic soy milk and pear.

Evening: decided to have dinner at 8haus next to Paloma Inn. Quite a treat as there was a really nice live performance - singing duo on guitar - nice voices and they sang the Chinese pop songs I liked. The place has that chillax Taiwanese vibe so it’s that kind of music I guess. Interesting mix of guests too. A group of guys having a night out (whom you wld expect to see more at a soccer bar). A couple of couples. An elderly couple (from the neighbourhood?) who switched out their stools for chairs with backing. A family with grown children who looked like they came specifically to support. For a rather out of the way cafe, it seemed to do ok. But I Guess it was also Saturday night.

[revisitingkl]

Think I’ll just start this since I seem to be taking quite a few pics and saves me the sending of pics over WhatsApp.