Ali Baba's Kebab

There is a middle east restaurant opposite Great Eastern Mall in Ampang. At first, we thought it is a Lebanese restaurant. The restaurant is built on a traditional Malay style kampong house. There is ample parking space in front of the restaurant. On arrival, we found that it is an Iranian restaurant and there were not many patrons inside. We hesitated and in the end decided to give it a try.

Information were written in Farsi. Based on my little knowledge of Jawi, Ali Baba should be written as الي بابا in Arabic script. The 'A' in Farsi seem to be different.

At the entrance, there is a bed for you to enjoy your shisha.

Unlike Arabs, Iranians are believed to have a European origin. A long standing, and still unchallenged, belief of historians is that the people of Europe, Iran, and some people in India, with the exception of Hungarians and the Finns, have their ancestry in common. Based on historical evidence and supports from archaeology, historians propose the existence of a pre-historic tribal confederation, called "Indo-Europeans". Most of Iranians certainly look very European. The original religion of Persian was Zoroastrianism, Islam was imposed on them by the invading Arabs.

The funny thing is Ali Baba is not an Iranian character, but an Arab one. Ali Baba and the forty thieves were based in Bagdad, not Persepolis. The word kabab (کباب) is ultimately from Persian and originally meant fried not grilled meat. Another intersting thing is that this Ali Baba's Kebab Restaurant is built using bamboo not wood.

Do you smoke shisha? I tried it once. It comes with all sort of fruity taste like strawberry, orange, etc. I don't really like it. But, I guess the smoke after filtering through a pot of water should have less tar.

Kebab actually refers to grilled meat in a skew like those shown in the picture below. Those huge chunk of kebab hanging vertically and shaved into small slices that you commonly see in Europe is called doner kebab or rotating kebab which has a Turkish origin.

A plate of rice with mixed kebab costs RM37. Don't you think it is very steep?

The appetizer was a plate of raw onion rings served with chicken curry. It tastes not too bad you know. Actually, onion is a natural blood thinner. If you have very thick blood, you should eat more onion.

Salad Shirazi. Too sour for me.

Oliviyeh, which is essentially egg mayonnaise.

Lebanese bread. Haha! At least, it has got the name Lebanese.

The slender and long grain Basmati tasted wonderful with butter. Only Japanese think their koshihikari is the best rice in the world. It is certainly the most expensive. The kebab here is not too bad. I have eaten kebab in other Iranian restaurants that tasted horribly salty.

We were shocked when they served us two pots of tea. We were told that one pot is tea, the other pot is hot water. The next thing was to guess which pot is tea and which pot is water.

Middle East people typically drink tea in a small glass like this.

Tea was served with dates. We took as our desserts. It was sweet and soft like chewing gum. I ate one only.

The total bill came up to RM90+. It is indeed an Ali Baba Restaurant.

Pizza at Alexis

L:iza was in KL over the weekend. On sunday, we went out to test drive a Mercedes convertible, makan and some shopping. In Great Eastern Mall, Ampang, we went to Alexis and discovered that the pizza is really very good.

A bottle of St Pellegrino to share.

Sauteed button mushroom and garlic bread. Very nice too.

Liza and the pizza. One of the best pizza I have eaten.

I always order Vietnamese beef noodle when I go to Alexis.

Kafe Rocket United, Malaysian Unlimited

After eating desserts in SS2, we walked pass a shop that looks like an English football club. At first, I thought it was a pub. But on closer look, it turned out to be a cafe and the interesting thing was it is opened by one the major opposition party in Malaysia, Democratic Action Party. Curiosity brought the two of us into the cafe. Anyway, both of us need a cup of coffee after all those desserts.

We all know the Singapore connection of the Democratic Action Party. After some bad blood joining Malaysia for a brief period, Singapore was kicked out of the federation. Lee Kuan Yew's People's Action Party has to be disbanded in Malaysia. The remnant of PAP in Malaysia then formed a new party called Democratic Action Party, the lighting was replaced by a rocket. At one point of time, DAP was the largest opposition party in Malaysia, winning most seats in urban area. However, with the demographic changes in Malaysia, PAS has overtaken DAP a stronger opposition force but the DAP is still a major opposition force to be reckoned with in Malaysian politics. In the previous election, it has taken the helm of two states with substantial Chinese population. The menu of the cafe describes this history.

The political history of Malaya and then Malaysia began with UMNO, which is the party that won independence for the country from British. Its close allies are Malaysian Chinese Association and Malaysian Indian Congress which negotiated for independence with British together with UMNO. After the formation of Malaysia, UMNO was not willing to abandon its ally MCA for Singapore's People's Action Party as the leader for Chinese community. Lee Kuan Yew saw UMNO as a party of Malay aristocract and MCA as a party of Chinese towkey (rich Chinese businessmen). He saw People's Action Party as the potential representation of the common people in Malaysia. At first, both sides had agreed to leave each other's territory alone. The bad blood started when they started to accuse each others of fielding candidates in elections on their own turf and direct confrontation became open with Lee Kuan Yew championing for a Malaysian Malaysia and the alliance emphasizing constitutional sanctity. The confrontation culminated with the expulsion of Singapore from Malaysia.

The menu of Cafe Rocket United are mainly local dishes like nasi lemak, curry puff, mee siam, fried bee hoon, etc. However, it offers an interesting collection of Malaysian coffee and tea. There were not many customers at the time we were there. When asked about its business, the waiter said the cafe is doing quite okay.

(click above image to enlarge)

In the shop front, there is a poster urging the public to register themselves as voters to exercise their voting obligations. At the back of the counter, there is a array of coffee utensils for sale.

Of course, there are also quite a few books and party magazines for sale.

In addition, there are some party memorabilia on sale.

On the side wall, there is a big poster showing Pakatan Rakyat leaders Lim Guan Eng and Anwar Ibrahim. PAS leaders however were not on the poster.

We ordered two different brew of Malaysian coffee. The coffee was served in a device commonly called French press, but also known as press pot, coffee press, coffee plunger or сafetière à piston. The brew was thick. Sugar and condensed milk were also provided.

With 2 press pot of coffee, the total bill came up to RM8.00. Value for money I guess. I am just wondering whether there are similar shops opened by UMNO or MCA.