Thursday, July 10, 2008

Birthday lunch with Tun Dr. Mahathir


This afternoon, I was invited for a sumptuous fine-dining Kelantanese Malay lunch. It was held at Kelantan Delight, Sooka, Kl Sentral and it was in honour of former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad's 83rd birthday, today.

Right: Tun Dr. Mahathir admiring the KL Sentral lane and its surrounding from the Kelantan Delight verandah

Left: A cream fruit cake was presented to him

As usual, Tun Dr. Mahathir had everyone's awed, but very pleasant response when he arrived. Even though this is a private social function. He was very light and joked with the guests, as her toured the 4300 sq. ft. restaurant. Juhaidee Ean, the owner (who is also my friend), took him to the verandah where he enjoyed the sky line of KL Sentral business district. Personally, I can't imagine ten years ago this was the KTM train yard.

I could not imagine the food that was served to us. It is fit for a Malay Sultan. It started with keropok lekor and kaduk with condiments. It was indeed a new experience for me, eating raw bettle nut look alike leaf with peanuts, fresh onions, dried shrimps (I conveniently skipped the chilly) and with a thick peanut-petis sauce.

Right: The kaduk leaves and keropok lekor

Then it was this awesome tomyam soup, served in young coconuts. Apparently, according to Juhaidee (who sat at our table), the coconut is roasted till the juice reached a boiling point. Then the flesh is skimmed out and with the juice, cooked in a tomyam broth, with sweet fresh prawns and the usual condiments like mushrooms, shallots, thyme, lime, ginger and other herbs and spices. Then the boiling hot broth is poured back into the shell and served. The full flavour of the young coconut is preserved, when served.

Of course, Tun Dr. Mahathir is required to say something. Especially after so many, spoke in his honour. He joked about not remembering his brithday this morning and how Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah always reminded him of his birthday, because conveniently, she celebrates hers two days later. Both of them looked in a lot of delight, at the party.

Standing from left: Dato' Ahmad A Talib, Ahirudin Attan, Dato' Kadir Jasin's wife, Nuraina A. Samad and yours truly

It would not be a birthday party, without photo shots. So, even small time bloggers like me, had the opportunity to capture the moment.

*Updated 600pm

Tun Dr. Mahathir and Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah were blessed by Allah s.w.t. with a 17th grand daughter @ 4.33pm







2 comments:

wan hussin said...

bertuahnya tuan selalu mendampingi keluarga Tun...

Anonymous said...

ya
kalu org tak jemput pun dia terpa pergi.
kononnya tanpa dia tun tak leh hidup.
raksasa jahat.