Text 8843, 57 rader
Skriven 2014-01-17 22:47:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: trip 74
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One of my old haunts was the JW Marriott up in Bukit
Bintang, near the new KLCC (Kuala Lumpur City Center),
a planned replacement for the old city (down around
Chinatown) and for the old new city (about a mile or
two south of Chinatown). Contrast Putrajaya, where they
moved the government - I believe this translates as
New City - which is half an hour down the road. Anyhow,
this used to be an oasis of international cool in what
was a rather gritty town; now, it's pretty lost in a
mush of shiny upscale urban sprawl. I remember the
monorail being tall and proud, winging its way over
the rooftops. Now in places it's completely lost in
among the midsections of the new skyscrapers.

For a change of scenery, I took Lilli there - well, we
did some sightseeing at the Malaysia Heritage Headquarters,
which includes Rumah Penghulu, a headman's house that had
been abandoned to the jungle but rediscovered and taken
down, carefully rebuilt in the middle of the city; we ended
up, guided by my fond memories of Sentidos Tapas, in the
basement of Starhill shopping center at the Marriott (Bukit
means hill and Bintang means star); we were a little early
for happy hour, which starts at 5, and we were there at 4:30,
but the hostess offered us happy hour prices, 3 pints for
MYR50, or 25c an ounce for Tigers, a regular bargain in a
country where alcohol is heavily taxed. In Malaysia, booze
is widely drunk, even by some Muslims, and is expensive.
In Indonesia, only the infidels drink it, but it's quite
cheap (the standard Indonesian brand is Bintang, which is
labeled with a big Communist-style red star).

Anyhow, I got garlic prawns, where were 5 12/15-counters,
four exceedingly fresh, one supermarket fresh, in garlic
oil, very very nice but more an Asian preparation than a
Spanish one. Bread is now free (last time I was there it
was MYR2, but the food was a lot cheaper), but instead I
drank the oil and its bits of garlic down plain.

Lilli had black pepper tenderloin, which was actually
shell sirloin (preferably anyway) in a very intense dark
sauce that was more Hong Kong-style than anything else. I
didn't tell her that part of the punch probably came from
oyster sauce. The meat was medium-rare (hard to get real
rare in Asia) and quite tasty.

We were pleased and filled up enough, and there went my
plans for getting real food at the stands on Jalan Alor
later on. All told, we spent $34 including an optional
10% tip (you don't tip except at fancy upscale western-
style restaurants). Invigorated, we hopped the monorail
for 7 stops (MYR2.10 each, which the natives howl about
the inequity of) - this let us off a half mile or so,
an easy walk, soon to be enclosed, from the twin hotels.

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