Dream Home to Makan Mandi

mr. khairul's parents are back in kampung, waiting for us to return this friday. in the meantime abah is in kl so we took the chance to check out our 'abandoned' house.

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if it weren't for mr khairul's posting to dubai, we would've stayed at this green, friendly, gorgeous neighbourhood. lies at a new breeding area for beautiful spanking brand new housing estates in the heart of selangor - our dream house. coming true.

we had plans for this place. big plans. plans which include choosing colors for khaleef and kahfi's rooms, grill pattern, an 'L' shaped leather couch and my dream-kitchen cabinet - a yellow one!

now it's in abah's care, looking after and making sure it's not misused by construction workers or other uninvited guests... yesterday we went to check out the place with abah and umi.

khaleef doing his own inspection of the front gate and drain

the classic red bricks-look was what captured my attention from the very beginning. i just had to have this house!

i love the exterior, the interior is wide - the awesome layout made it look spacious and the neighbourhood is fantastic with wide pedestrian walkway and view of the green hills. tak sabar nak duduk sini!

abah and umi with the very well-behaved kahfi

i showed khaleef his room, or rather, the place he'll be grounded in if ever i caught him smoking! he's already very excited, going up and down the stairs, while kahfi looked on, in awe! dia pun nak tengok bilik dia jugak!


when we last came, none of the shop lots are taken - but now it's enough to see that there is a mamak restaurant, a mini-market, and a 24-hour clinic - among others! important bare-essentials! i was so glad, getting more and more convinced that we made a smart decision to have our 'nest' here.

hope to see a kfc at a corner shop lot on our next visit!

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makan mandi. kat kuala lumpur. betul! tak percaya?

abah really wanted to take us to this mandi restaurant in kl, al-rawsya in jalan damai, ampang.
personally it's quite difficult to maneuvre your way there if you're not familiar with the area. for us, my bro-in-law din headed the way - passing bungalow-turned-themed-restaurants, a couple more brightly-colorfully-lit mid-eastern restaurants until we came to a pretty big stone signage - 'al-rawsya restaurant'.


abah and umi, my sister syima and her hubby din along with her 3 year old kid sufya, us and my youngest sis azi. all of us, eager to devour grilled chicken and lamb with this 'mandi' rice made in malaysia.

in a glance, the place is definitely huge. it has a wide outdoor area for those who prefer to munch mandi in the bright of the sun or breeze of the night. upon entering you'll also see a room marked 'family area' which we didn't go too - but from outside i can see sections with curtains which i assume is a sitting-down makan area.

you can see the white walls and the wide outdoor makan area at the bottom picture

instead, abah went straight inside, further to the back where an indoor eating area awaits, with makeshift white walls complete with roman pillars, fancy ceiling lamps, and fake cave-like walls. signs in arabic can be seen all over the place.

our table with the marble top adds to the tackiness of the whole interior, but i didn't really care - i was in high anticipation of trying out their mandi rice!


mr. khairul took charge of the menu and order je sukati dia! we ordered plates of chicken and lamb mandi, humus with nan bread, and the arabic salad - which is essentially cut up cucumber, salad and tomato. i like!

notice the sushi-looking treat at the top of the collage? that's complimentary. i really have no idea what it is. abah kata macam masam-masam. only the men tried it! din tried to trick azi into trying them. yech.


the verdict? sedap! but it's NOT mandi!

they did well with the chicken and lamb as they taste quite similar like the ones i love in dubai (although mr. khairul begs to differ!). however, the rice, though delicious to me, tasted more like a yummy nasi ayam, rather than nasi mandi.

in fact, the chilli that was served together tasted like the ones for nasi ayam. the chilli in dubai should have minced chilli and tomatoes, blended in a spicy-sweet condiment!

i like the salad. in dubai, the long cucumber is simply cut into four long sticks. so i prefer al-rawsya's mix cube-cut salad.

if you wanna know what mandi rice tastes like, al-rawsya might offer you the ambiance and the chicken - but i'm sorry to say - not the rice! tapi rasa nasi ayam yang sedap, so you can still go and have a try coz the chicken is yummy!