Crazy Kuala Lumpur

Park Royal Hotel

As London practically shuts down at Christmas time, and even more so this year, I am stuck at work not doing a lot, so I thought I would get my blog back up and running. I know I started the blog so I could chronicle what is happening while I was travelling and living overseas, but I may have become a tad (okay maybe a lot) lazy. I thought better late and never, and with hopefully quite a few more travels to come I should get my act together and start! Well I thought I would start from the beginning, piecing together what I can from memory and pictures.

It all started on July 4th, quite fitting that the date of my adventure was Independence Day. Alex and I flew out to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for a one night stopover. We arrived quite late so we dropped our bags off at the Park Royal Hotel so we could grab a quick bite to eat. I already knew what to expect in KL from my Malaysia/Thailand trip with Rosie last year so I already knew exactly what I wanted to do in our short time there. We ended up at Pavillion at my favourite food court got some food and had a mixed fruit sago for dessert. I had been craving this since the last time I was in KL and did not disappoint!


Mixed fruit sago dessert

Then we headed off to get some rest so we could be awake nice and early to get some shopping at the street market done before our flight. We jumped onto the Monorail outside our hotel and headed towards Jalan Petaling AKA Petaling St. It was hot and humid so our first stop was a fresh fruit stand. I bought a huge watermelon slice for around AUD50c! The fresh fruit in Asia is the best and so cheap! Alex went a bit crazy and ended up buying 2 watches and a lot of socks, the most random items ever.

We didn’t any room or weight in our luggage so unfortunately we couldn’t buy much more. Although I did have a great hour long foot massage in an air conditioned room, a welcome respite from the heat and humidity. Alex waited outside while I was getting my massage and he had the girls out the front trying to convince him to get a tattoo from them. Luckily they weren’t all too convincing as I think he may have regretted getting a dodgy tatt from a Malaysian massage place!


Jalan Petaling Market

After Jalan Petaling we had more time to kill until we needed to leave for the airport so we caught the Monorail back to our hotel and walked around. I desperately needed my eyebrows threaded so we walked around to find a beauty salon. Unfortunately all we could find were hairdressers and massage places; we walked up and down the street to no avail! We finally walked past a few guys who tried to get Alex to have a barber shop shave. We asked them if we knew of anywhere that did eyebrow threading and they said yes the guy upstairs does it. Two of the guys lead us inside down what looked like a rundown apartment building and into a rickety old lift.

Alex and I look at each uneasily, wondering where they were leading us. As we got out I was sure there would be no salon at the end of this journey but a door opened and there it was. After half an hour of eyebrow treatment by a Pakistani man who apparently did it at all the 5 star hotels in Dubai, I came out some-what decent eyebrows and AUD$5 lighter. I thought this would have to be the strangest beauty treatment of my life, but alas no, Egypt was still to come! But more on that later on. I needed a cool drink after my strange experience so we sat at a cafe had some mango juice and smoked peach sisha until we had to leave.


Sisha time!


Fresh mango juice




This is me failing at sisha, you can tell I'm definitely not a smoker. Though I did get better as the trip went on, we somehow gravitated towards sisha a lot!

Swiss Club – The Quest for Fondue

Fondue, once the star of the 70’s dinner party scene has become hard to find in today’s Melbourne restaurants. Why? I don’t know because who doesn’t love bread dipped in melted cheesy goodness?

Well after much Googling I finally found a place that served it. I roped my friends Rosie and Brad into checking out the Swiss Club of Victoria. It was a bit hard to find down Flinders Lane and up a few flights of stairs, but when we entered it was like we were transported into a large homely dining room. The Swiss Club was and still is a meeting place for the Swiss Community in Victoria. It is not only a restaurant but a social club which holds various functions for its members.

Rosie and I ordered the Fondue for 2 and Brad ordered a ‘Special’ which was Potato Rosti topped with strips of Chicken, crispy bacon pieces and avocado, dressed in a honey mustard sauce. The food arrived and looked amazing; the pot of fondue steaming and bubbling and the potato and chicken smelling divine.

The fondue consisted of two different types cheese melted into a pot and another bowl full of chunks of bread. Did I say it was Fondue for 2? Well I think it could have easily fed 3 or 4, it was far too much of a challenge for Rosie and I so we were trying to force some onto Brad so we could eat more of his dish.




Brad’s Potato Rosti and Chicken was the surprise hit of the night. The chicken was well cooked, the bacon was cooked to a crisp and the avocado and honey mustard sauce complimented the potato and chicken perfectly. And while the Fondue was great in the beginning we began to realise there can be too much of a good thing. Our verdict was Brad’s dish was the highlight and though it was a ‘Special’ the chef kindly told us if we wished to have it again we could just let him know.

Of course it doesn’t end there, anybody who knows Rosie and me, knows we must have dessert. While Brad looked on us with thinly veiled disgust at the thought of eating dessert after such a large meal, we couldn’t leave without having a Chocolate Fondue as well.... and some Apple Strudel with cream.

When our dessert arrived we were quite happy we decided to soldier on. The fresh seasonal fruit dipped into thick dark chocolate of the fondue was a nice balance of tastes and textures which resulted in a deliciously simple dessert. The crisp but moist pastry covering the apple strudel topped with fresh cream was also a delight. We definitely left the Swiss Club with a post meal afterglow.
















P.S. If you do make your way there, be sure to check out the opening times as they are open limited hours and closed on weekends

Swiss Club of Victoria
89 Flinders Lane
Melbourne VIC 3000
Tel 9650 1196