THE IMPROMPTU GASTRONOMIC ADVENTURE WITH AN EX-STUDENT AT MARRYBROWN

I met Mr. Hamzah Hamdan at the district level Chess Competition in Taman Sri Tebrau. He is an ex-student of mine [of SMK Taman Universiti] and is a teacher himself. This should be the opportunity to sit down and talk a bit so we decided to get out for [a late] lunch. The venue was at Marrybrown Restaurant at Pelangi Leisure Mall, which was near to the competition venue.

It was only a short impromptu lunch date as Mr. Hamzah needed to get back to the competition venue to supervise and monitor his students. It was getting difficult to meet up and I am glad we managed to chat over lunch for once.

THERE IS ALWAYS A FIRST TIME AT AHMAD'S

Ahmad's Fried Chicken just started its business at Taman Pulai Mutiara. My gastronomic buddy, Mr. Redzuan, suggested we went there to try the food.

We were there at about 5:00 p.m. and the place was jam packed with diners and people taking away. It must be the excitement of trying the fried chicken at a new restaurant, or it was already pay day for government servants.

THE VERDICT: Mr. Redzuan reported the Beef Burger was the ordinary one. I had fried chicken and my spicy version was too curry-ful. You could already see it from the color of the chicken skin. The food was cheaper than other fast food restaurants I think, and you got the huge glasses for your drinks instead of the regular ones.

I met two ex-students of SMK Taman Universiti in the restaurant. One of them, Miss Rosieyati [forgive me if I got her name wrong] was there with her three children and was kind enough to pay for my meal. Today must be my lucky day.

Once Eid month has ended, I shall then continue with my regular gastronomic adventure.

THE STREAK OF GASTRONOMIC ADVENTURE HAPPENING IN PENANG

   12TH JANUARY 2026    ~ After crossing over from Kedah to Penang, I was ready for more gastronomic adventure went Puan Aishah Aboo Bakar fetched me at the ferry terminal. Even though she just got out of school, it was kind enough of her to straightaway see me and take me for lunch at Kompleks Medan Suri. We went for breakfast a few days earlier when I arrived in Penang in the morning [READ HERE].

It was a bit late for lunch after 3:30 p.m. and many stalls were already closed.

This was one stall seemed popular among the visitors. Puan Aishah had to queue for the food for quite some time.

We had Fried Kuew Tiaw and Pasembor, and Fried Chicken that arrived later at the dining table. That was, however, not the end of the gastronomic adventure in Penang this time.

Puan Aishah even prepared Macaroni Soup once we reached her home [in Sungai Tiram in Bayan Lepas where the airport is located] as I was waiting for my flight later in the evening.

I was even given some Curry Puffs to bring back home, and that concluded my gastronomic adventure in Penang this time.

Thanks to Puan Aishah and Mr. Arif for the hospitality every time I am in Penang. There is possibility for me to get back to the island again except the time is still unknown.

HAVING DINNER AT NASI SILA LAHAR KEPAR IN KEPALA BATAS FOR THE SECOND TIME

   24th OCTOBER 2025    ~ I was back in Kepala Batas to attend a wedding of a friend's daughter [READ HERE]. It was compulsory to report my presence to an old friend, Mr. Asrulnizam, who is residing there. We used to be roommates for a few years when we both attended briefing sessions for PMR English Language Exam.

The long journey from Johor Bahru to Kepala Batas, which took about 9 hours, [READ MY MISADVENTURE HERE] sure made extremely hungry. The dinner date had been set earlier before coming and Mr. Asrulnizam took me to this place called Nasi Sila Lahar Kepar - for the second time. It was about to rain when we arrived, and similar thing actually happened the first time I came here. It was like a deja vu.

[MY FIRST VISIT TO NASI SILA LAHAR KEPAR]

This restaurant offered white rice with a variety of Malay kampung dishes to choose from. Its specialty was the fried chicken which was served hot straight from the pan.

It was a short dine in session. However, God will, I am sure we will be meeting again some other time, especially when I get invitations to attend wedding receptions in Penang or perhaps, Kedah.

THE SECOND DINNER SESSION IN BANDUNG

   23RD FEBRUARY 2025    ~ The second dinner session in Bandung took place in one restaurant named Solaria located in a mall, King's Shopping Centre, in the city centre. We were the last diners to get into the restaurant and many items on the menu list were not available at that time.

We both settled for Nasi Goreng Kambing [Mutton Fried Rice].

Food was good and I had no issues at all after eating, unlike the first dinner which I had the night before [READ HERE], and I thanked God for that. Solaria is an Indonesian based food chain restaurants and there are many branches all around the country. That should wrap my gastronomic adventure in Bandung, Indonesia, this time.

[MY JAKARTA/BANDUNG TRIP 2025 MAIN PAGE]

MY KEPALA BATAS GASTRONOMIC ADVENTURE WITH AN OLD FRIEND

31ST MAY 2024 ~ One of the friends I contacted when I traveled up north would be an old friend, Mr. Asrulnizam. We got connected when we went to mark PMR English Examination Papers long time ago. At that time, we were much younger so we clicked easily as there were many older people around and the friendship lasts until today.

 Mr. Asrulnizam took me to this place called Nasi Sila Lahar Kepar, which was one long name for a restaurant. This eating place served the usual typical dinner Malay style, white rice with choices of dishes of vegetables and meat. The specialty of this restaurant would be its fried chicken that came out straight from the boiling hot oil in the hot pan.

When we arrived before 8:30 p.m. the place was quite empty. It was raining while we were on our way and then it got heavier while we were enjoying our meal.

Then the rain stopped and a bigger crowd started to fill in the dining area. This must be a popular eating spot in this area, I supposed.

I got to thank Mr. Asrulnizam one more time for taking me out for my gastronomic adventure that evening. He actually just arrived home that afternoon after a few days vacation in South Thailand with his family. Yet, he still persisted to bring me out for dinner.

And that was not yet the end of my gastronomic adventure in Kepala Batas with my old friend.

THE REUNION THAT TOOK PLACE OVER BUFFET DINNER

66th SEPTEMBER 2022  ~ This should be my third reunion gathering that took place in Kuching. This time it was with an ex-student of SMK Taman Universiti, Mr. Aster Smith. Aster was a Sarawakian and luckily he was on his semester break. He quickly responded to the check-in post I did on Facebook.

The restaurant chosen was Haartz Chicken is Sarawak Plaza. Our dinner this time was everything related to chicken, mostly.

The restaurant offered buffet dinner eat-in session. This was interesting as you could eat everything for RM30 per person. This should a heaven for chicken lovers as the were varieties of chicken meat that you could not eat anymore. Besides that, there were also other food available, as well as dessert and coffee.

It was a pleasure to meet an ex-student especially when I taught him English when he was in form 1 and 2. Apart from that, he was also an active member of Kadet Bomba and Angklung group of SMK Taman Universiti. I think the last time we met was before he left school to further his studies in UiTM Pasir Gudang.

We ate all we could and decided it would be a good time to walk to burn some calories and fat before going home.