Good Evening, Bangkok

See, I love Malaysia. However I feel about Boston or New York City or whatever, I'm happiest at home. I mean, when I compare what I have here versus what I have there, it's no contest, really.

The mall in which I pretty much grew up has always been one of my favourite haunts. 1 Utama has everything. Cinema, fairly-stocked book store to just laze for a couple of hours, Intenci...oh wait, nevermind, and Good Evening Bangkok.

God, I love the place. It's located on the Ground Floor of the New Wing by the Rainforest area. I've been going there for a few years now, mostly with Zulie and Liyana, 2 awesome eating buddies. And we all love this place.

We usually get the same stuff. I think a must-have is the Seafood Tomyam Soup (not the clear one, just get the regular one). One bowl can be shared between two people. Personally, I prefer sharing with Liyana cos she doesn't eat seafood. Awesome. The soup is spicy enough such that there's a kick to it, but not overly spicy to the point where you don't really want to have more of it.



The soup alone is enough to have with rice, actually. But, natcherly, we go for more. The other thing we generally get is Pandan Chicken!



The Pandan Chicken here is usually very tender and somehow blends perfectly with the Tomyam soup. I mean, they're both equally good on their own, but together, it's like magic. A good analogy would be that the Chicken is like Xavi and the soup is like Andres Iniesta, and together, they form a potent combo. No? Not feeling this analogy? Nevermind, moving on...

Since we had a Fourth for this outing (Vanessa), we got a 3rd dish (well, 4th, but I hardly count their stupid Kangkong as a dish. It's like saying Edward Cullen is a real vampire) which was the Green Curry Chicken. And holy shit, it's good.



The curry is spicy. And good spicy too. Blending the curry, with the soup, and using that as gravy for the chicken, and it's like the feeling when you win a huge poker pot, your team wins the European Cup and you score the girl of your dreams, except all three things happen simultaneously, and in your mouth. That sounded dodgy, but I'm just saying it's awesome.


Xavi + Iniesta + Messi = This

The downside though is that this place is pricey. It costs about 40 bucks per person per meal, so it's a little expensive to be going there often. Plus, if you went there often and kept ordering these, your brain would explode from pure delicious-ness. But every now and then, it's a grand place to go for some great food at the world's greatest mall (completely objective).

Overall, I give this a barnstorming 9/10. And oh, as was suggested by my buddy, Zain, I now have an arbitrary price ranking for the restaurants. Just to be a bit creative, here are my 4 categories:-

C.Chew = Cheap = RM 15 and below
Mid-Level Exception = Moderate = RM16-RM25
Puerto Rican Specialty Factory = Pricey = RM26-RM50
Firebolt Broom = Expensive = RM51 above

So, clearly, as I told you the prices earlier, this one is classified under Puerto Rican Specialty Factory. As a parting shot,THE DORKS WILL ONE DAY INHERIT THE EARTH SO TAKE THAT!

Claypot Chicken Rice in DJ (2)

I would've posted this up a lot sooner but my internet was down over the last few days. Somehow, I survived the immensely traumatising ordeal. Seriously, 5 days without the internet is no laughing matter.

Anyway, this is the second of the two Claypot Chicken Rice stores in DJ that I mentioned. This place used to share a coffee shop, also in DJ, with some other stalls but gradually became too popular (always a good sign) and thus moved out to become its own store.



And my friends, this one is really good. It's open for lunch and dinner with the exception of Wednesdays (no idea why). It's a little pricier than the previous place, but it's completely worth it. Well, with a couple of caveats.



Firstly, this place is packed. Really packed around dinner time, i.e. you have to stand and wait for a table. Therefore, it's not difficult to see that you have to wait a really long time for the food. This is what turns a lot of people off.

Let's suppose you decide to wait since, like I said, it's completely worth it. But then you think, "Hmmm, I've been waiting a long time. Maybe I should ask the lady." Well, that's a terrible idea. The boss, Irene, has a temper as long as the attention span of an ADD kid. 'The customer is always right' be damned. She will tell you off and tell you to be patient. She will yell at you and tell you to wait. She will not-so-politely tell you that if you're tired of waiting, you can leave.

How does one get around this, one might ask. Well, there are three things. Firstly, wait for it, but that's not really optimal. Secondly, you could come really early, but I understand that you have to make your contributions to society. Thirdly, give her a call, and order in advance. Call her (number in the picture) about half an hour to forty-five minutes before you intend to eat and it's all good. You will escape the wrath of Irene.

When my family goes, we usually order 2 large, 1 small (for the 4 of us) with Extra Chicken. A large one is like this:-



Whatever it is, they don't stinge on the chicken, unlike the other place. The chicken is always tender and is optimally complemented by the cap. Brilliant stuff.



Avoiding the caveats I mentioned earlier, this is a fantastic place for dinner. 9/10 on my scale. I promise you, you will feel fulfilled after this meal.