Rondaevoo @ Ativo Plaza, Bandar Sri Damansara

Hello lovelies,

Second visit to Rondaevoo @ Ativo Plaza (only had a cup of coffee previously, which was alright. would've made me happier if there was coffee art).

So where exactly is Bandar Sri Damansara (BSD)? 

I'm sure most of you "PJ kia's" are wondering the exact same thing. 

Never heard of BSD? Don't worry. Just a couple of years ago, I was also living under a rock when a college friend of mine (to whom I now wed) told me that he lives in BSD.

Being the ignorant & arrogant PJ girl then, I widened my eyes and said, "BSD? Well, I've never heard of it. Whereabout is it?"

Needless to say, I had this immature mentality that PJ is Number #1/the-best/the-ULTIMATE/the-gold-mine and that anything located outside PJ area would be categorised as 'others', which meant that I can be totally ignorant and stupid about it. 

WRONG.

Well well, thankfully all of us grow up. heh.

Anyway, back to the question. WHERE EXACTLY IS BSD?

..Pass the LDP toll like how you normally would when you make your way to Desa Park City or Kepong area. At the present moment, LDP toll costs RM1.60 - please don't increase the price, it's already mad expensive as it is. 

After the toll, kindly keep left and MAKE THE NEXT TURNING TO YOUR LEFT. It will lead you  directly up a hill. The left turning is of utmost importance as BSD is simply located there..up the bukit. haha. 

Honeslty, I don't quite understand why BSD is called Bandar Sri Damansara. It would've been much more appropriate if it was named BUKIT Sri Damansara instead. There isn't even any 'city-like-builings' in that area. Does anyone else notice?! COME ON. Though, you would probably be amazed by the number of petrol stations in that circle of land. 

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Ativo Plaza is a relatively new development located at Bandar Sri Damansara. Definitely a notch higher than all the other areas in BSD, if you know what I mean. It's wide and spacious, nicely done. 

Now, the only other ingredient we need to brighten up this place is.. the crowd. 

Here we are at Rondaevoo on a beautiful, breezy Saturday evening. *takes a huge whiff of the surrounding air*… not much traces of carbon monoxide. It's all gooooood. Feeling uber positive as we arrived. The wind and weather have definitely lifted up my spirits! *twirls*

Ativo Plaza. Check the mini-fountain-thingie out. 

More of Rondaevoo. It does seem rather lovely, doesn't it? We've never had the pleasure of dining indoors the past two visits, so I'd rather not comment on its interior. Though, I have to make it a point to have a cup of coffee inside one day. 

Going through the photos, I just took notice that Rondaevoo's choice of colour is rather.. dark. Not that I mind at all. In fact, I felt right at home. HAHA. 

BY THE WAY, (and I'm totally happy sharing this with you!) see the picture above?? Don't look at that black shirt fellow(that's Collin btw), take a look at the number of tables available outdoors. 

Not many, but more than plenty to make me happy! 

WHY THE EXCITEMENT? 

ANSWER: NO SMOKING ALLOWED! ……...SOMEBODY GIVE ME A HIGH FIVE. *piak*

There are 2 small tables hidden behind the cafe (can't be seen in this picture) where smokers can "distress" and freely destroy their lungs discretely. I've sat at the smokers area (I don't smoke, my hubb & his friends do) and I have to say that EVEN the smokers' chairs aren't as comfortable as the ones available for non-smoking diners. Bias? I say JUSTICE, BEE-YOTCH! 

Rondaevoo promotes healthy dining, which is all sorts of good!

Mama Meat Loaf Wrap (RM10.80)

Pish posh, enough talking. Let's eat. 

Roasted potatoes, eh? Not crispy nor was it tasty, which can only mean one thing -It's healthy. HAHA

Frankly speaking, I kind of like the wedges. It might be a little on the plain side, but that's how potatoes taste like. 

All in all, Mama Meat Loaf Wrap was enjoyable. To my surprise, hubby enjoyed the wrap very much (although bits & pieces of capsicums were in it). He's not a fan of bell peppers. That's gotta mean something, right? He's hungry. or.. it's good. 

The fillings are chilled, the taste of mayo wasn't too overpowering. Nothing lip-smacking but overall, this dish was decent. Perfect for brunch or tea. A great snack. I find the price quite reasonable too. 

Carbonara (RM22.80)

Of course, a no-brainer to whom actually ordered this creamy dish. YOURS TRULY YO. 

This plate of Carbonara by Rondaevoo isn't your traditional Italian dish. 

Rondaevoo's version is served with wholewheat spaghetti and meatloaf as a substitute to bacon/ham. 

Wholewheat spaghetti? Well, I have never! At least, not until last Saturday. 

I liked the wholewheat pasta very much. Cooked to perfection, al dante. 

Meat loaf? It's different, not in a bad way. I have conflicted feelings now, which would I prefer? Bacon or Meat loaf? It would've been great if they added both. I assume that their meat loaf must surely be healthier.

Let us picture this scenario, as I was stuffing the carbonara into my system, I start to feel a tad sated. To my surprise, having the meatloaf each time I felt a little cloy kind of reboots my system automatically - the process comes to a cycle until the plate was completely wiped clean. 

It's different. I liked it. Then again, I'm a love struck teenager when it comes to carbonara's. All sorts. 

On a side note, I would have preferred my mushrooms to be a little more cooked. But hey, that's just me. 

Brown Rice Nasi Lemak (RM8.80)

Look at the size of the chicken! Now, look at its price! Worth it, much? Brown rice too!
Hubby opted for Rendang Chicken. In my opinion, I felt that the poultry was rather chewy/overcooked but Collin said that chicken rendang takes hours to cook, so it's completely natural for its texture to be tough to chew. What??!?! Unacceptable, haha.
Anyway, this authentic Malaysian dish was decent as well. Not bad at all *nods head*.

I felt genuinely pleased that the three dishes we ordered exceeded my expectations. To be fair, my expectations of Rondaevoo was quite low. HAHA. Why? There were easily more than 30 other dishes offered in their menu. Looking at the vast array of selections to choose from, I made a hasty conclusion that Rondaevoo's food will taste below average and that I will never want to revisit the cafe despite having a calm and tranquil vibe. Initially I thought that a small, independent cafe was unable to match up to its menu. Total discrimination. My bad. I am wrong, again.
Right now, I'd say Rondaevoo might just fall into the category of 'Jack of All Trades, Master of None'?

I quite like it here. It's a nice place to chill.

Have... you met Jaden? :) 

Cutie pie! *Squeals* He was so well-behaved when hubbs & I arrived. It was really windy, which I suppose made the baby happy cause Jaden seemed completely relaxed as if he was in the Bahamas soaking in the sun, enjoying a holiday. Doesn't he look so chill? HE USUALLY FUSSES AND WANTS TO BE CARRIED WHEN OUR FOOD ARRIVES (cause he's bored), SO I WAS REALLY REALLY HAPPY THAT I GOT TO EAT IN PEACE. Thank you, wind. 

He was fast asleep as soon as we finished our meal. We decided to bring him to a fountain nearby (approximately 5 meters from Rondaevoo haha) to snap a pic! Wonderful, wonderful. 

Happy Chinese New Year everyone.

Level 1, Ativo Plaza,

Lot A-1-6, Block A.,

No.1, Jalan PJU 9/1, Damansara Avenue,

Bandar Sri Damansara, PJU 9,

52200 Kuala Lumpur.

Rondaevoo's Facebook

Until next time,

Jx

UTC Sentul Immigration Office

Greetings! 

This post was stuck in my draft for quite some time now. I meant to post it a week ago but *insert lame excuse* I have no time in my hands at all. 

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Anyhoos, SCHOOL'S OUT a.k.a. school children are off enjoying their holidays until 2013 comes to an end. Urgh, pfft. *roll eyes*

You know what that means..

1) Shopping malls will not be an ideal spot for leisure & relaxation (no elaboration needed)

2) **No jam

3) I turn my head to the East, I see a screaming kid on my side, I turn my head to the West, a crying kid this time, so I turn my head to the North hoping that no kid will surprise me this round, that hope is dead and gone, their shrieks can't be muted at all. (inspired by T.I. & Justin Timberlake's Dead and Gone lyrics lol. Listen and rap it out)

4) Airplanes will be packed with annoying children

**Who am I kidding? At least, it was believed that there will not be any jam during the school holidays. It doesn't seem to make any difference now. School holidays or no holidays, there will always be jam.

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 Holiday --> Airplane rides --> Air tickets --> Passport 

As a working adult, my annual leaves are precious. Precious, precious gems. Therefore, taking a 'half-day leave' for passport renewal was simply unacceptable. We found one immigration office in Sentul that operates ERRDAY(Gen Y language) from 8.30 a.m. to 10.00 p.m. and that was exactly what we needed. 

So last Saturday (by last Saturday I meant 2 weeks ago kind of Saturday), we dropped baby J off to my in-laws at 11.30 a.m. and made our way to Sentul. 

Without Miss Waze, I honestly believe that we will never be able to find the immigration office.

At last, we arrived! Took us quite some time to locate a parking spot as the area was major packed with cars. 

*random*

Came across this mamak when we were going in circles for parking.

At one glance, I thought it was rather funny. hurhur. 

Btw, the immigration office is located on the first floor, which is the same floor as the food court.

Ta-da!

I've read blogs about UTC Sentul and it seems like everyone's experience at the immigration office are of flowers and rainbows. Seriously. Jealous ttm.

HONESTLY? No offence but, I thought the air smelled rather different in Sentul. *the immigration office is located above the morning market*

Still, that area felt somewhat dodgy and I was longing for a good cup of Starbucks or Maccas just to feel more urbanized. That's probably never going to happen. 

We went in to collect a ticket for passport renewal and….our ticket was #1324. We looked up to the screen and not so much to our astonishment, the running number was #1122.

That's more than 200 people in line before our turn!!!

Well, it's the weekend. What do you expect? Yeah, I thought it was going to be packed. We arrived at 12pm after all. However, I didn't expect so many KIDS to be there. *sings my #3) statement from above*

A gentle advice to parents with children: Please la please, tame your kids. Don't just sit there and let them carry on with all sorts of nonsense. 

FREAKING DIRTY LA THE CHILDREN I BEH TAHAN. CHINESE KIDS & MALAY KIDS. CRAWLING ON THE DIRTY FLOOR WTF. Spare the rod and spoil the child.. this is what you get.  Shame on you guys. If you can't control your children in public, HOW ARE YOUR KIDS GOING TO TRAVEL OVERSEAS WITH YOU?!?!? *SLAP SLAP SLAP*

ANNOYING BRATS.

Fuhhh! Where was I? 

Yeah, our ticket number. We decided to eat at the food court because anywhere in UTC Sentul's 1 kilometre radius consists of construction sites, kampung or dodgy eateries. SIGH. My precious Saturday. I'm beginning to reconsider my decision for half-day leave. 

The food court is divided into 2 sections. Halal and Non-Halal. Initially, we walked over to the Halal side of the food court to go-see what the stalls have to offer. I couldn't find anything I like and would've easily settled for a plate of maggi goreng but nop, N/A. There were mee soto and nasi ayam though. 

In the end, I ordered this from the Chinese side of the food court. 

It's not half bad. I thought it would taste worse HAHA. To think that everything in Sentul tastes bad, that was my mistake. lol. 

No. Just, no. 

This tasted bad. 

 Mr Tempe is located right beside the Immigration Office. 

Has anyone tasted this? LOLOL I thought this tempe shizz was keropok lekor!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Since they were selling a cup of tempe for RM1, I bought 2 cups *gluttony.

Obviously, it wasn't keropok lekor. It looked like thick cut fries and I smothered it with chilli sauce.
It tasted pretty bad. Later on, we found out that Tempe is actually beans. Okay, at least we're  pretty adventurous to try it out haha.


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By the way, we waited for more than 5 hours at Sentul Immigration Office. It was a nightmare, one that we couldn't get out of. We left at about 5-6pm cause we had other arrangements so we didn't manage to collect Collin's passport on that day itself.

He went back to Sentul the next morning (8.30am) and told me that the queue was ridiculously long to the point where the line reached the food court outside. It was crazy. In the end, he walked up to the counter and told the P.I.C that he wanted to collect his passport. Instead of queuing up, he managed to collect his documents within half an hour. PHEW.

In case you didn't bring any passport photos, services are provided for a round figure of RM10 at the ground floor.

I hope your experience in Sentul will not be as dreadful as mine was.

UTC Sentul Immigration Office

Level 1, Pusat Transformasi Bandar

Jalan 2/48A, Sentul Perdana

Bandar Baru Sentul

51000 Kuala Lumpur

JxHappy Holidays,