Halia Restaurant in Sime Darby Convention Centre (SDCC) is one of my favourite places to break fast during Ramadan month. The food has always been good here as they serve mostly authentic local dishes just like in the 'kampungs'. I had a reason to be back here due to preparations for my brother's upcoming wedding. After a discussion with SDCC, we decided to give the Ramadan Buffet a try because they were offering 50% discount for the first and second day of Ramadan.
The Ramadan Buffet area was not just in the Halia Restaurant. It was spread out to the hall outside of the restaurant, inside another banquet hall as well as into the outdoor area.
Inside Halia Restaurant.
The inside of the restaurant still looked the same with each tables having a little privacy of their own. The food that were served in the buffet line consist of appetizers, salads, and Malay cuisine. White rice, chicken rendang, fish, sambal prawns, and mixed vegetables were part of the selection. This together with authentic Thai and Kelantan dish such as the solok lada, ulam sayur made my tummy growl even louder.
I almost missed this 'bubur' section which had 4 types of 'bubur' desserts such as 'bubur kacang' and such.
Selection of 'sambal' or condiments for the vegetables and 'ulam'.
This is what is called 'solok lada' which is a popular dish from Kelantan.
The
walk continues outside.
I
continued my inspection walk to the hall outside of the restaurant where a
selection of ‘bubur’ was stationed. A
few steps further was a long table filled with local ‘kuih muih´ and all the colourful desserts you could ever imagine
with a four tiered dessert just beside it. At the end of this spread was the
start of the stall stations with the ‘ice
cream goreng’ (fried ice cream) being the lead. Dollops of ice cream were
covered in dough before it was fried. An ‘ABC’ or ‘Air Batu Campur’ station (shaved ice cream) with its’ colourful was
just beside it.
The
best part of this area would be the neatly arranged ‘gulai kawah’ with huge hot woks filled with ‘gulai ayam’, curry fish, ‘gulai
kambing’. I was salivating at this moment. There was also a chicken rice stall and 'assam laksa', a symbol of delicacies from Ipoh and Penang.
I had a little trouble getting the dessert from the top most tier. Help me maybe?
A row of local 'gulai kawah' awaits hungry customers.
The chef preparing the fried ice cream station for the guests.
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Ingredients for the perfect laksa. Put a spoon of everything into the bowl and eat!
And there was more, inside the banquet hall.
While we were walking around outside the hall, Chef Zam who was manning one of the stalls said hello to us and brought us around into the banquet hall where more stalls were stationed. I think there were more than 100 types of food altogether for this Ramadan buffet session and for what we paid for, it was worth it.
I'm just wondering how could we possibly fit everything in our tummies?
More stalls. More tables equals to more food.
Sticky rice and steamed chicken! This is the first time I've heard of such menu. It tastes wonderful by the way.
The popular lala station served hot to guests.
A little bit of Vietnamese flavour from this authentic spring roll.
I almost forgot.
What would a Ramadan buffet be like without the biggest lamb, carved and served? As I stepped outside, the first sight that greeted me was the lamb followed by a row of fishes, squids and even crabs. Every single thing was just really good and perfect.
The Ramadan buffet also comes with a lucky draw where you can with an Umrah Package.
Luckily we came in early for this.
This is the most important station amongs all of them.
The lamb meat is placed on top of the rice so that the juicy bits will drop and mix together with the rice.
The fruits station was placed outside too.
A selection of sauces for the fis dishes.
The ultimate champion of 'roti jala'!
A big shout-out to the Convention Centre for arranging a wonderful spread of local cuisine coming from the camper van. :P I would do it again next year. Meanwhile, lets all enjoy the spirit of togetherness and forgive one another as sincere as possible.
Sime Darby Convention CentreWhere: 1A, Jalan Bukit Kiara, 6000 Kuala Lumpur.
Call to Make Reservations in Halia: +603 2089 3688
Duration : From 21st July - 18 August 2012 (you still have to break fast here!)
Price: RM78++ per person, daily, dinner only.
Other tips:
-There is a lucky draw where the Grand Prize is an Umrah Package and a complimentary 2D/1N stay at their Roof Garden Suite.
- Live ghazal performance
- Complimentary door gifts
- Ramadan Bazaar with take away food is available from 3:30pm onwards.