Tea Time Fajar

Dubbed the current ‘family favourite’ in our household, I lost count just how many times me and my family went to this place; to the point that the staff even recognizes us upon entry. The Fajar Complex centred eatery (they’re right in front of the CIMB Bank) does not differ much from its main branch, but is more accessible to the public and is known for its swift services. We’ve tried a bunch of stuff from the café (as evident in the pictures below) but my personal favourite has got to be their Satay Chicken with Fried Rice dish. They definitely use peanut butter in their sauce (as oppose to the usual peanut satay sauce) and I for one am not complaining. They also have this Borneo Fish Burger that I like (as they’d use actual fish meat rather than a pre-made patty) but on one occasion the fish was a bit pungent for my liking. But do give them a try yourselves as they do provide a sizeable variety of heavy food and light munchies.

** Current status – Has been closed (as of May 2024) 

*FYI, this is the Ginger Fish Rice (I think)... 

... my personal fave, the Satay Chicken Fried Rice...

... the Fish Fillet Meehoon Soup...

... my dad fave, the Peanut Butter Toast...

... the Nasi Lemak...

... the Nasi Lalap...

... the Ais Batu Campur...

.... and the Borneo Fish Burger

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Restoran Selera Rasa

Let me tell you guys a funny story of my previous visit to this place several years back. Me and my partner were dining at the Malay establishment (located within the Ba Zhong commercial area, in front of the ABX courier office) when it finally came time to pay the bill. There was nothing extraordinary about the amount that we had to pay as they were pretty standard and reasonable for these types of restaurants. What was embarrassing however was when I opened my wallet and realized that I had used up my money to shop elsewhere hence I was staring at an almost empty content. As I whispered to my partner and found out that he too did not have enough cash at that time, we sheepishly had to inform the waitress of our predicament as my partner dashed to a nearby ATM (which was not that far away but felt very far for me who was forced to wait for him at the restaurant alone). Needless to say, we never went back to the place up until recently (and made sure that we have enough on-hand cash before stepping into any eateries of course).

As far as I can recall, their menu did not differ much from when we had ‘the incident’. We were there for lunch one day (this was right before the fasting month) and discovered that they still serve various types of soupy dishes (as evident in my partner’s Sup Tulang) as well as pre-cooked food. The food that we had were satisfactory and palatable but nothing much to comment beyond that. Overall, a very tasty but normal meal for us. But they do have other cooked-to-order dishes for you guys to try out so why not give them a try.

** Current status – Still in operation (as of May 2019) 

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Mother's Day Special 2019

Since I still have no idea what to blog about regarding the fasting season (got any ideas?) I might as well post about this year’s Mother’s Day that coincidentally falls in the middle of the same month. We usually had a low-key dinner to celebrate the event but this year I thought it would be fun to try out one of the special offers specifically catered for that day. And after going through a bunch of them online (it seems that not many places offer them this year; maybe due to the clashing ‘break fast’ offers) I decided to bring my dear mother to this ritzy looking buffet at the Calvary Crown building (yup, that interesting looking tall building visible from the Sin Onn roundabout and right next to the Calvary Church).

Yes, I did wonder about the building for the longest time and since this is the perfect excuse for me to actually go into it, I wasted no time in doing so. I really wanted to explore the so-called rooftop (on the 11^th floor) that I kept hearing about from other people but just my luck, I was assigned a table on their main ballroom instead (on the 10^th floor). I did thought of just going up there on my own for some photos but got overwhelmingly shy so I regrettably decided not to. Oh well, next time maybe (sob sob…). And just so you guys know, the place is open for booking for any types of function and houses an international school & a café on separate floors.

So onto the actual buffet yes? There were tons of Chinese dishes, western dishes as well as desserts line up for us to choose and I personally think that it was worth the RM55 per adult that we’d paid for. The dishes were delicious, with my personal favourite being their mini chocolate tarts. Their chicken soup was also very memorable since it was not too creamy and has just the right amount of herbs and spices splash into them. My mother was already talking about going there next year so you can imagine just how satisfied she is. Anyway, HAPPY (belated) MOTHER’S DAY to all mothers out there… 

*What could have been (sob.. sob..). Picture credit goes to their FB page

*Yup, we were given ticket upon entry & payment (but no door gift? I did see some roses lying around but nobody gave it to my mom so...)

*The overall view of the place...

... their buffet tables...

.... and what we actually ate :-)

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Cahayanila Cafe

This year I do not have anything special line up for my annual Ramadan post, so I decided to just go with the flow and see what comes to mind during this fasting month. So I’ll start off with this relatively new café, located on the 1^st floor of a commercial building in the Fajar Complex area (right behind the PTPTN branch to be exact, on top of a Vivo/Oppo smartphone shop). I admit that if it wasn’t for a promotional post about their Ramadan buffet in some FB page, I won’t even know that they’d existed in the first place. It’s mainly due to the somewhat non-strategic area (as the stairs going up to their place is somewhat hidden in an alley in between the building) and no visible signage. But the food that they’ve prepared was quite good as they went for the one-main-dish-per-day concept (and it was Nasi Kuning during our visit). Granted, the pre-cooked buffet was limited in terms of choices but at RM12.00 per adult, I still think that they were okay. Not outstanding or anything but still very satisfying.

** Current status – Has been closed (as of Nov 2019) 

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Centre Cafe

Yes, I do realized that it might not be the most appropriate thing to post about a breakfast joint during the start of the Ramadan month. But then again, this has been sitting inside my laptop for a while now so I thought that I might as well put them out while I have the chance. Located right in front of the Guardian store at Fajar Complex (on the same row as Neela Cafe), the café only opens during the day because they mainly serve dishes suitable for breakfast and brunch. Me and my partner were there quite early that day so you can probably see our choices of pre-cooked food below. Taste-wise; nothing too distinctive but still very filling. The price was pretty reasonable as well so that might explain the gathering crowd every morning.

** Current status – Still in operation (as of May 2019) 

(P/S: Sorry for the weird positioning of some the pics as the place has a rather small space & I was sitting at a very nonstrategic place as well) 

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