Royal Selangor Pewter Factory, Kuala Lumpur

The Royal Selangor Pewter Factory is a must visit museum in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

It is one of the best known Pewter brands in the world. 

Even Harry Potter bought a pewter cauldron ,standard size 2 and I'll bet my book case,that that cauldron came from here.

A dull grey alloy, that can be shaped to make durable objects and some objets d'art. 

 A guided tour of the factory reveals its colonial history and how one family and some royal patronage has gone on to shape such  widely exported products.
They export to India too BTW. We were informed by the almost invisible employees of the museum.
Such concentration...
Had i ever toiled with such concentration, i would have cracked the exams of the entire world. All I can garner at the moment -scant scenes from  my English lit class...

Double,double toil and trouble
Fire burn and caldron bubble...

OK, the lady was making beakers...

Passing them on to her neighbor who hammered them so...I so wonder who she was thinking of, when she hammered those even wedges onto the glass?

 We tried the same at the School of Hard Knocks. Just after the museum tour finished.
First the name is hammered onto the pewter disc...I hammered the boys names too. I was missing them.
And you try your best not to hammer your fingers...

Like Sneha here...

While posing for a group  pic. 

 These were stationed at every table...they assume you know how to spell and hammer. These are slim metal rods with letters in reverse. Just like the type writer keys of yore.                                                                                                                           

 
 Now that very disc is placed on that hole in the wooden block and you hammer away. I will never reveal whose head I was imagining under that pewter disc.
Never.
Ever.

 And finally Smiles.
Shonita found the right use for her pewter disc.
Only it was too small.
We really needed this...

The largest  beer tankard in the world.2796 litres weighing almost 1600kilos. Imagine the size of the hand that will be able to lift such a tankard. Maybe Orion?

That was the complete knock.

Collections and souvenirs and objects you can buy here are many. I loved this chess set...but it was way out of my budget.

royal selangor.com

This chess set is limited edition, from the Lord of The Rings series. Recognise the chess men? There are Hobbit glasses you can drink from and even Smegul/Golum shot glasses to drink from. 

And you pay for them with INR. Check out the Lord Of The Rings Collections at the Royal Selangor.    

This museum was time and money well spent.

Steeped in history, one will never know how many men have given their lives  to mine this dull grey Malaysian treasure.

So what are you visiting today???                                                          

Some Shopping at the Mega Shopping Festival, KL and Penang

#MalaysiaJao and Shopping. That's what we were here for.
So agenda on course.
Shopping.

This is the Mitsui Outlet Park,KLIA Sepang. Yes,the Japanese Mitsui.

So close to the KLIA ,that you can shop between flights. This outlet park has just a season old stuff.
On Sale.
And the deals are great. So its a fab way to spend time if you are waiting for a connecting flight.
The Mitsui Brand Outlet is Swanky and has discounts galore , I found a bag at an amazing price.
Le Creuset also had an outlet at almost 50% discount.  But I had a lot to shop for before buying cast iron pans.

Yes ,I know ... make decisions in haste and cry every time you fry an egg later.
I cant believe that I chose a handbag over a cast iron pan.
Vanity !

I had an agenda.
An emotionally expensive agenda.
A story that deserves its own place in this blog post.
There was another bag too...
A backpack.
Nike.

Nike.com

The goddess of Victory.
Which I finally found at the Gurney Plaza Shopping Mall, under the moonlight ,by the sea.
The shopping mall at a hopping distance from the g hotel Kelawai where we were staying.
And when I actually found and bought what I was made to...it was that elusive feeling of having climber Mt Olympus.
The back packs ...were the subject of many calls and whatsapp messages. Let me just say that Calling and Internet services in Malaysia are just great.
And then the AirMax.
Even though these are the third on his shelf...

Which one do you think I bought? Ah the second...

Yes, the second. By virtue of the fact that EU size 45 is not available in black. Mine would have had heels BTW.
And after all the scouting in Bukit Bintang, KL( Pavilion, Berjaya Times Square, Fahrenheit 88, Starhill Gallery, Sephora,Lot 10  and Mitsui Brand Outlet Park), I finally found the AirMax2015 in Queensbay Mall, Penang .
One of the largest malls in Penang,here I also found what I had been looking for.

Porcelain.

And Tea.

 And some tea pots...

 Oolong tea...Somewhere in here,but my box definitely had Oolong.

 And a lesson on how to brew and pour tea at the Purple cane Tea house, Queensbay Mall.

And some Korean sheet face masks and also some local perfumes in pretty recycled bottles that are painted.

 The bottles are brought back by the customers for a discount of RM 5 .

 And some employees paint them.

The perfumes were all for about RM 79.00. Not a bad deal at all.
After dinner at The Bayview Hotel Three Sixty° Revolving Restaurant and Sky Bar we went to visit Batu Ferrenghi, the night market in Penang.
Of course, some more shopping...

But my owls deserve another blog post.


So what are you shopping for today???

360° View- As High As You Can Get- Malaysian Holiday-Atmosphere 360°

The climb may be tough ,but the view from the top is always worth it.

Our last evening in Kuala Lumpur ended in a truly spectacular place. The revolving restaurant @KL Tower,Atmosphere 360°.
The restaurant is atop a tower with an observation deck and the revolving restaurant on top. With probably the fastest elevator around(any lift is fast if you compare them to our lifts in Mumbai), the ride to the observation deck takes less than 40 secs.
The Menara Kuala Lumpur is the 7th tallest free standing tower in the world. 

The entrance lobby is decorated breath takingly with the Muqarnas pattern with  beautifully inlaid diamante crystals.

 It was a little difficult to capture the image of the geometric patterns, primarily because of the lights and flashes going off everywhere. The pattern is based on a millennia old geometric pattern that is specifically done by the  Iranian craftsmen from Isfahan.
The observation deck was full of families beautifully dressed in the Baju Melayu and Baju Kurung, patiently waiting for Iftaar.

This group of kids thought I was positively nuts, when I asked if they would smile for me for a picture...

You can see the Petronas Towers from here. Also visible was the shopping district , the Golden Triangle and Bukit Bintang ,and the Pavilion Shopping Mall  and the Royale Chulan Hotel that we had just visited.
That is why its called the observation Deck.
Close to Iftaar time, we moved to the restaurant.
What struck me first was the view.

And then the food was another visual treat.
We had been introduced to the best of Malaysian Cuisines already, but this was a spread.
I only wish I had been 10 years younger, I would have eaten so much more.

Always start with desserts first.

But here, that is not a good idea. All these desserts and more you can eat again, but the fish...

OK ,this is where I tried the tuna carpaccio and the mussels and the scallops and there were oysters too.

The trick with raw fish is COLD and lots of lemon juice.

And if your nostrils can take it...wasabi.

OK, this was not my plate, just the other food blogger with us,this crab leg was what I really wanted to try, and it was fabulous.

That was my plate with the chicken satay and peanut sauce and the Roti Jala and Chicken Murtabak, the roti similar to our Baida Roti and the relish was pulled meat Serunding Daging.

The satays were super fast moving...

especially the Chicken satay.

And that was cooked shell fish.

And some fabulous Gado-Gado salad.

The company was good, the view fantastic and the food ,even better.Now that the palette had gotten used to the flavors of the region, the food was just WOW!

I only rue the fact that I couldn't eat any more of the crab.

The only thing I wouldn't have tried was the custard made with Durian. Was I grateful that my Allergic Rhinitis had played up exactly then allowing me to not smell the Durian.

So when are you going to Atmosphere 360°???

Smart and Sassy Dining, Penang Food Trail

Smart and Sassy and modern dining ,Spoon Cafe, Ghotel,Kelawai , Penang.
The next step in my Malaysian holiday.
The first evening in

To start with desserts.
I mean, you never know which meal might be your last.                                                                                                                      So before I indulge in any cholesterol rich, meal at a buffet- this spectacular buffet at the G hotel,Kelawai, I needed to try the desserts.
And what a spread it was.
Spoilt for choice.
Totally.

I quite loved the flavor of the pandan leaf. In rice and in the sponge cake too. Cream ,every where is dairy free , so I skip that ,but the cake was good.
So was the Kuih with the pandan and some kind of jelly.

What I really loved was the visual appeal of these tiny rainbow cake bites. However, I love homemade. So I passed. But the gelato was to die for . Twice. Strawberry. Coffee. Repeat.
And then there were the Kuih Bahulu , Bread and Butter And Raisin Pudding with a vanilla sauce and Marshmallows and the candy and fruit skewers and the ubiquitous chocolate fountain.
And jello shots.
And some lemon meringue tarts ,which were good and tart.
I loved the granite platters too...

The frozen or super fresh fish was up for the offing at the Atmosphere 360 in Kuala Lumpur too ,but I never had the guts to try them there.  Its was now or never... if you have been keeping track ,I cant eat fish with my boys as they are allergic to most shell fish. So I tried the mussels and the prawns and also the oyester, however, I prefer the cooked version.
A little wasabi and lemon juice goes a long way , but this is certainly an acquired taste.
The salads were awesome and the bread spread was vast too.

These were what were interesting.  The local Penang /Nyonya cuisine . Presented in cute casserole dishes. u cant believe that I passed over a Le Creuset casserole on 50%discount at the Mitsui Brand Outlet, Kuala Lumpur for a Guess Tote.
Vanity.
Anyway, squid, crab ,prawn and fish curry.
My only difficulty was that the prawns were not shelled. We are spoilt in India. Jumbo prawns are shelled here. So I had a major problem...
The curries was fabulous. Not all had coconut and they were tangy and spicy and Yum.
I joted down the names... but cant seem to find them.

Nasi Putih Pandan was the carrier for my curries. I loved the flavor of Pandan in the rice.

The nyonya sour and spicy fish curry Gulai Tumis Ikan was the best. 

And they had an assortment of tapas , spicy ,fried, crisp and yumm. The glutinous rice  cooked in banana leaves has been making regular appearances and was nice. 

What was really cool was the effort made for our vegetarian companions by the chef. A wonderful platter of dal, rice pickle and papad ,to ensure that they didn't feel left out. 

Yup, the pic of that platter is somewhere in this miasma...

Overall, the stay at the G HOTEL, Kelawai ,Penang was comfortable and the food superb. 

I would love to go back again.

Planning to attack unshelled prawns next time...

So what are you waiting for???

Of Kuala Lumpur and Some Food

That Malaysian Holiday,it was all about the food , but I would be doing KL  a great disservice by not blogging about the mighty Petronas.

These are the most iconic of all buildings in the world-The Petronas Towers.
I learnt two things here.

    1. That vertigo is not to be laughed about.
    2. That Dan Brown has forced me to look for symbols in whatever monument I see and question them. However bizzare they may be. Here it was the Rub el Hizb Islamic symbol. The two overlapping squares in unicode (8 pointed star)ending the Arabic Chapter in Calligraphy. I read about it first after I noticed it in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

This picture was taken after the Suriya KlCC experience.
Majestic , these twin towers 86 levels high . And with a concrete ,steel and glass facade. Oh and the Sky Bridge is where I realised that vertigo comes to one and all.
41 and 42 levels above and all you can see is the clean and planned  BBKLCC /Golden triangle or the Bukit Bintang Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre area of KL city. The observation deck is at the 86th level.
Suria KLCC houses a shopping complex of upmarket brands and offices. Small tableaus recreating village life and Kites had been set up in honor of the holy month of Ramadan . Salam Aidilfitri is the greeting of the hour, a way to greet the people in the holy month of Ramadaan.

Before the ascent to the top...in two stages-one to the sky walk bridge -the 41st floor at 170m and then the deck at level 86, you will be guided by a virtual presentation. This little boy had the time if his life walking through the video.

The Petronas Sky Bridge is almost like a walk in the sky. I needed the force to be with me... Luke ...Luke...

Solar panels and the logo of the Suria KLCC visible from the 41st level skybridge.

The ride up to the 86th level was in two stages...level 83 and then up three levels to the observation deck. This was the coolest thing. The interactive TVs could read the bar code on our tickets and produce visuals.

I tried looking out and taking pics from the observation deck but I was beginning to feel giddy.
A few more pics...

So I sat and looked around.
There's more about the BBKLCC and stuff but it was time for dinner already. At the Big Apple Restaurant in the Berjaya Times Square ,Kuala Lumpur ,dinner was served.

Iftaar is the meal at the end of the Ramadaan fast and is had at 7:28pm after the prayer  plays on the Radio.

Rose drink and pitted dates

 So every one fills up their plates and waits patiently for the fast to end. The Ramadan fast ends with a date and a sip of the Rose drink.

signsolutionsshop.com

While wandering, I checked out the dessert platter first.
Such a huge array of fruit and sweets. I had tried the Malaysian Papaya and melons the same morning and of course the star fruit and Dragon fruit are common enough in India. But ,I had only ever tried the Rambutan in a can.

I wasn't quite sure how to open it... camera in my hand you see...
So flash a smile and you get tons of information.



                    A fresh Rambutan is firm ,sweet and tastes similar to a lychee. Its a lot easier to peel and the seed is smaller. The mango steen was thankfully peeled and the startfruit sliced. I loved the star fruit here. Tart and sweet and juicy.

Spread of Ciku-Cheeku,Rambutan starfruit,Rose Apple(from crocodile and monkey story) etc

The ones we get in India are way too tart to eat without the requisite masala salt. This was delicate and  not as tart but sweet-nice.

Bite sized desserts made of Pandan leaf and also the Malaysian Kuih.

The cookies were different too,ubiquitous chocolate fountain and snowy marsh mallows...

I tried coating my dragon fruit slice in chocolate too...Strawberries taste way better.

That was the pièce de resistance. 
A huge barbecued lamb with roast vegetables.
And gravy. All nicely carved out for you.
When you have the lamb, the veggies are just add-ons.

  There was a slew of accompaniments, pickles, relishes and preserves. Fish-Anchovies seemed to be the favourite. Beef and chicken and veggies were served too                               Salted duck eggs quartered were being enjoyed too.

That was the chef doing tempura. He did oyster(or was it scallop?) and squid tempura for us.
Lemme say I am not really partial to  Japanese cuisine.  I love my flavours strong and my music loud.
So wasabi is good. But a tempura does not inspire my taste buds so.

The chicken and the roast mutton and barbeque's we eat here In India too. I was more interested in the fresh sea food . And I had a taste of it all.

Coming up, more food adventures in Malaysia...