A Bowl of Calm at Aunty Lan's, Kota Damansara

Home renovation is tiring work. Scouring through brochures for endless options on fittings and other homely but not-entirely-necessary acquisitions, wandering through stores, listening to one sales spiel after another - bleeds you dry, no joke.

Of course, what utterly cripples you is writing the contractor cheques for progress payment. And hearing the frail plastic wail of the old credit card as the big ticket items get swiped. Why do things cost so much? Why do we need all these things?

Lest you think I'm less than ecstatic about how close I am to moving in, let me reassure you that it's all good, and I am very happy to have groped along this far, and very excited about the changes in store the next couple of months.

But while I deliberated the incremental damage to my measly estate and state of mind, I had to make a frenetic effort to go easy on the pocket and seek a moment of serenity, in an economical yet wholesome lunch.

Aunty Lan Diet Vege Noodles was a salubrious pick after yet another harried morning of deliberating options galore. Vegetables, anchovies, nuts - essentially ingredients of a Lui Cha -were served with choice of either noodles or vermicelli in a steaming bowl of murky, nourishing soup. Toto, who had been feeling somewhat feeble from eating junk lately, enjoyed this to the last drop.

I had some trouble deciding - the recommended soy sauce chicken noodles sounded good but I was all fowled out, having cleaned up two whole fried chicken legs the day before. Settled for the homemade mushroom pork ball noodles - cringed a bit that they got my order for the dry version wrong but the soupy bowl probably worked out better in hindsight with the hand-pinched noodles.

We picked the homemade bean curd as a side dish to share. This is difficult for me to rave about - I mean deep fried bean curd is deep fried bean curd is deep fried bean curd. It was easy enough to munch on but we could've done with a smaller order.

They have quite a selection of homemade desssert, from tong-suis to a staggering variety of cheesecakes. This cooling honeydew longan concoction too was super-fine for a hot day.

At just RM27 for a staggering meal for the two of us, I regained some sense of Sunday calm before the next wave of ka-chingsss descended.

Aunty Lan Homemade Noodles
Jalan PJU 5/10
PJU 5 Dataran Sunway
Kota Damansara

Post-Vacation at Bangkok Wasabe

Ever get the feeling while on holiday that it's not actually happening? That you're not actually away from your stinky work cubicle, that you're not actually having your first beer at 10AM, or having the day stretch before you to read on the beach and eat seven meals a day and do nothing else? All that disbelief and caution of getting too used to the idea messes with your head good and keeps you from fully living it.

And then before you know it, you're back at the grisly mob scene that is the low-cost carrier terminal, back at work, crushed by deadlines and people and all the horrible things that made you want to pack up and get away in the first place, bemoaning how you let yourself be disengaged during your time on the beach for even one second.

Koh Lipe, December 2010

Koh Lipe's a terribly easy getaway for city folks in Malaysia. Just a short flight to Langkawi, and from there a 1-hour speedboat ferry ride. The waters are still clear, the beaches are still relatively clean and snorkelling's still great, barring the current in certain hotspots.

The tiny island is heaving under over-development but for now, it's still a pretty chilled scene, back-to-basics style. Unfortunately, the food options too were fairly rudimentary.

So, upon return to good old KL, propelled by a case of major post-vacay blues, we hit up Bangkok Wasabe, a pocket-friendly alternative within the Kota Damansara commercial maze.

The restaurant interior is air-conditioned contemporary comfort, nothing like the mozzie-infested eating & drinking joints of Lipe. Dark wooden booths, check! I may consider installing one of these babies in my new digs.

The easy-win Som Tam (RM7) - hit all the right notes! Raw crab was missing though.

Also recommended by friendly server was the Tamarind River Prawns (RM25), off the menu. This turned out better than expected - prawns were chunky and flavourful and while I'm not exactly crazy about sweet sauces, this struck a sound balance with the ground peanuts and dried chillies.

The Tom Yam Seafood (RM15) was decent - more sour than spice, which works just fine with me. The Tom Yam available on Lipe didn't come close to this.

And to cap it all off, not quite dessert but the Pad Thai (RM8) was a tad sweeter than I'd like.

It's no Thai beach but the meal at Bangkok Wasabe was simplicty well-executed and took the bite out of the gruesome return to routine. And more importantly, it served the reminder that there is no time to overthink the holiday when on holiday. Every second of bliss counts!

Bangkok Wasabe
16-1 Jalan PJU 5/15
Dataran Sunway
Kota Damansara
Tel: 03-6156 7079

Permission to Fusion, Erawan Classic Thai & Fusion, Kota Damansara

The word "Fusion" used in food is a source of great personal agitation. Kinda like badly cut pants that chafe at the thighs. Or the Malaysian persistent fondness for replacing the article "the" with "D'" and springing a whole host of D'ed abominations, like D' Pub, D' Shop, D' Bakery, D'Place where you don't want to be if you had a shred of sense in you. Or the inclination to bad spelling, like replacing the letter "S" with "Z." Appropriating the language of another is a necessity for our young lingual heritage but come on, this level of abuse is practically Defilement - another D word of epic popularity among the jesters we call politicians.

I had read about Erawan from the pretty smashing, multi-authored food blog on the Malaysian Insider and its post here got me all hot and bothered, despite the threat of Fusion starting to sound like an excuse for aspiring gourmands to splice and dice cuisine artlessly, badly. Getting to Kota Damansara was however, another challenge for what is that geographical horror if not another cultural nightmare? I shall however, save that rant for another day, for there we were, regardless, ready to pounce and devour.

Seeing that there were all but two of us, Anan, the charming manager deftly explained that the portions were a little on the large side and recommended we went for the single-serve rice dishes or the tomyam noodles, which were also more economical options. The idea of a basil stir fry with rice and a fried egg just didn't cut it with us so we went with ala carte.

The Erawan Pomelo Salad arrived swiftly, well before we had taken in the cosy, warm interior of the restaurant. It came with a separate serving of sweet Mieng-Kam like sauce, to which we were told to mix in on our individual platters to our own taste.

I loved the handsome shelled prawns and the succulent chunks of pomelo dressed with toasted coconut and crushed peanut. Not crazy about fried shallots in general, but it somehow worked to this salad's advantage here. Gorgeous!

We had to contend with a lengthy wait for the mains to arrive, and understood later that Erawan's main chef Korn attends to each and every dish, hence the delay. I need to add here that a meal at Erawan isn't meant to be an in-and-out sort of dining experience; it absolutely needs to be savoured, sipped and praised.

When it finally did arrive, the Tomyam Seafood unseated us from our quiet lull. We were provided a choice of Clear or Thick soup, and spice levels of one (mild) to five (very spicy). Our pick of Thick, level Three set our bellies and worlds on fire. This was very hot and very good.

I had my heart set on the duck curry, but it was unavailable that day. The manager recommended the Green Curry Fish Paste in place. The fish paste, made on the premises with fresh ikan tenggiri (mackerel) are shaped like balls, with a salted egg yolk ensconced within. This was an interesting twist to an otherwise spectacular ode to a classic. Suppose that warrants a nod to "Fusion"?

Fragrant jasmine rice presented in dainty little bowls. Toto, we're not in Tai Pai Tong anymore!

To wash it all down, Lemongrass juice with ginger, dwarfed next to the Iced Lychee Tea.

The meal came up to RM93.50, very gratifying and well worth the journey into the frenzy that is Kota Damansara. For this and this alone, I could sideline my loathing of the rampant use of "Fusion" and just bask in the perfect marriage of spice and everything nice.

Erawan Classic Thai & Fusion
22-1 Jalan PJU 5/16 Dataran Sunway
Kota Damansara
47810 Petaling Jaya
Malaysia
Tel: 03-6141 2393

Reservations are highly recommended.