... day out ...

EL came down to London from Manchester this weekend with her IMU friends, and I spent the day with them...


Yes, all med students :p


Met up at Portobello Market and stopped by the charms stall. There were new items, including a pair of handcuffs which can be opened and closed! *though only a small gap* Cute, but would be rather meaningless to get them :(

Lunch was at Nyonya near the market, which had service that directly showed kiasu-ness -_- not exactly the image one wants to project of Malaysia. Anyway, this is my first taste of a Malaysian restaurant in London. I know, how sad is that! Since I was here, people at work has commented that I should know quite a few good Malaysian restaurants, and I don't know any at all :( Besides, I seem to have no fate with them... *that's another story*

Haven't really been craving for my hometown food that much, but after having the nasi lemak at Nyonya, it made me seriously craving for more :p Somehow, it isn't really nasi lemak without the sambal and ikan bilis. But the santan rice was very nice and so it's technically still a nasi lemak... Someone else ordered the Penang char kuey teow, and it looked just awesome! So, that's the thing I'll definitely try the next time I go there *it's a bit far out for me :p*. Though for a nyonya restaurant, there wasn't really much nyonya fare on the menu... *yup, I'm a very tough critic - plus, they're a bit on the pricy side*

Being medical students, the conversation naturally turned to exchanges on their experiences so far (since some of them were studying at a hospital in south London while others were in Manchester), and surprisingly, I didn't have much trouble following it *somewhat understood what they're talking about, and I just assume the terms that I don't know are probably too gross for me to be really interested anyway over lunch ;)*. They were all very nice *though I must have made quite a sorry impression with my cold and cough >.<*, and am glad for EL that she has such a good bunch of friends around her :)

Next, headed to Oxford Street and Carnaby Street for some shopping-cum-walking. There was some kind of event in Oxford Street *since it's 1st Dec after all :)* and they closed off the road to become like a pedestrian area. Even so, the place was packed - took about a minute of patient pushing to actually step into Topshop... There was even a few street performers in Oxford Street, and new Christmas lights were just put up in Regent Street. Think they chose the right weekend to come down, what with all the Christmas-sy events and the bright sunshine earlier in the day ;) And though it was supposed to be them shopping, it was me who ended up buying something in the end -_- *a more feminine version of the menswear-like scarf which I've been eyeing for some time now - yup, a compromise*

...scarf...
*actually preferred the more boyish versions in blue or green colours, but what to do - am starting to regret not getting the red version instead :(*

Dinner was at Four Seasons in Bayswater *everybody seems to go there -_-*, where HL and M joined us. It was the largest group for dinner I've ever been a part of, with 12 people and 9 dishes (2 were roast duck, of course) on the round table. There wasn't even space to put the sauce dishes (the duck sauce was mixed together with the roast duck, instead of having a separate dip plate). The next table which was full of guei-los couldn't help looking at our huge spread as they left, playfully commenting to us that we should have ordered for them instead :)

And then, we walked to Waffle House for dessert *even though we were all full* which was just up the road. The decor was nice and service good - they kindly seated all 12 of us inside and didn't scowl when we ordered only about 4 waffles between us :p

Overall, it was a fun day out. I haven't gone out with such a large group in ages, not to mention meeting up with ex-CBNers :)


p/s: A couple of pics stolen from EL... :p

...Nyonya nasi lemak...

...them taking a pic of themselves from the reflection in my sunglasses...

*which was pretty cool ;) *