Walk right in…

The Payung Mahkota Cafe here…

…held an open house recently and I had the privilege to be invited.

The Chinese New Year decorations are up…

…and I love how they use those rattan “trays” and “recycled” flowers from friends (old flowers from their homes that would otherwise have been thrown away) for that purpose…

They are really so creative and innovative when it comes to these things like the floral arrangement decor…

…that has become synonymous with this place or their original outlet along Lanang Road.

It was a buffet dinner and for drinks, we had a choice of roselle or the very nice pineapple and ginger soda…

This was new – their Cambodian-style beef rendang…

…which was pretty good, I would say.

I’ve had their Payung chicken before…

– cooked with yogurt but it was the first time my missus and Melissa were having it and they loved it very much. The thick gravy went very well with the rice.

There was my favourite Payung rojak, of course…

…and also their pomelo salad…

…and this green salad as well…

There was also their tomato noodles but I did not feel like having that but I did help myself to their lovely banana cake…

…and sandwiches…

There was quite a crowd that night…

…and I was not fast enough to take photographs of some of the dishes before somebody had helped himself or herself to it like the asam chicken, for instance…

…that I just had not too long ago and quite liked it.

The Myanmar-style pumpkin…

…was absolutely out of this world! It was really very very nice but the boss said that he made the mistake of covering it after he had cooked it and it went all soft and mushy – it would have been a whole lot nicer, otherwise. Still, all of us thought it was great and kept going back for more.

The paku (wild jungle fern), masak lemak (cooked with coconut milk)…

…was very nice too. Unfortunately, this and also the pumpkin are not on the regular menu of the cafe – be it at this outlet or the other but the boss said that he would be able to cook that if one were to call the cafe a day or so earlier and put in a special request for these. If anyone is interested, the contact number is 016-890 6061.

It seemed they had forgotten to serve the very popular mushroom roll and somebody had to rush to go and get it but by then, we were already very full…and anyway, we had had that many times before. So we left before that made it to the buffet table that night.

Thank you so much to the management and staff of Payung for the invitation – we certainly had a delightful dinner feasting on all that was on the scrumptious spread and rest assured you will be seeing me again…and again…again. I certainly will be back for more.

P.S.:
Come Chinese New Year’s Eve, Saturday, 9th February, 2013, should anyone be feeling lazy or not that keen to go through all that hassle to cook, he or she can drop by here for the special buffet dinner:
Chinese New Year’s Eve Buffet!
5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Adult RM58.00 per person, children (below 13 years old) RM48.00 per person.
For booking, please contact 016 890 6061 or 016 893 7614.