I first knew about The E@rly Bird was from Aina, daughter of a family friend. She handed to me the pamphlet of this restaurant and recommended for me to try it out. I discovered that they have another branch at Fahaheel, which is like so very near to my house so I've been bugging my husband about going there ever since. Since the road system in Q8 is not really systematic, the streets wasn't well marked with poor road signage, we made some "research" first and the outcome was quite worrying since most of the reviews I read said that the location is secluded and 3 out of 5 reviews said they got lost up until hours. I was actually at ease even after reading those reviews as I always mentioned before, I am married to live size walking GPS and also by the fact we are pretty familiar with Fahaheel area coz we are actually living in the district.

Well well well, think again...

We made 3 attempts, of course on different days to find this shop, to no avail. At some point we kept making circling in the area more than 5 times. I even called their shop so that they can guide us but my call goes to answering machine. So many wild guesses were made like maybe the shop was close for renovation or maybe they even closed for good or maybe they shifted. Eventually, after 3 failed attempts, out of frustration I decided that I was not fated to eat there and just gave it up ha ha ha... Macam ke haper, tak jumpa restoren pun nak frust menonggeng -______-.

I do not dare to mentioned about Early Bird anymore after that because 3 times lost track record + scorching hot summer + grumpy & hungry husband = still no Early Bird! is indeed not a good equation.

Anyway, a few days back, my husband went out with his friend, Syukri and somehow they ended in the area so my husband unintentionally brought up the topic of our failure attempts in locating the restaurant. Guess what, Syukri happened to stay in the building next to it and more than happy to show him the restaurant whereabout. Gosh, it was like right there in front of our eyes all this time but we just didn't see it because we were looking at the wrong street.

So yeah, it's all happy ending between us and The Early Bird and we all lived happily ever after :)..

Ha ha ha I'm so funny like that!

Well, we went there this morning and I must say that our effort was paid and it worth every quarrels hee hee hee...

Live up to it's name, The Early Bird, they opened from 5 am in the morning till 15:00 pm. Super impressive!

We arrived around 8:30 am and was greeted by a very cheerful , friendly and chirpy Philipino server and man I felt good already. The restaurant in particular was very tiny. Only 4 tables available and when we were there, only one table is un-occupied. The concept was minimalist with simple decorations and basic furnitures but still deliver the cozy sense of feeling. You know like the feeling of having breakfast at your own kitchen, except my kitchen was everything but cozy ha ha ha..

~What you see is what you get. This is pretty much the interior of the restaurant. Tiny isn't it? There's another 4 seater table next to us, occupied by 2 Kuwaiti ladies so I dun't dare including them in this picture ~

Menu wise, hmmm the menu book consist of 2 pages since they served only home made American breakfast. Nothing fancy yet you'd still spoiled with choices. They even putting some consideration into their menu for customers who like to have their day starts healthily, where they came out with Health Start. Every item in Health Start omit the usage of egg yolk in it so yeah, unless you're looking for pasta or Nasi Lemak, there'd be something for everyone.

Price wise, not cheap but not that expensive either. Not cheap considering you're eating breakfast with a price of lunch but then again, if you're putting paratha from Indian shop as comparison, then you're clearly setting your foot in wrong shop in the first place. Not expensive because the portion is BIG, the set came with varieties and it's definitely filling up till lunch time so it's like killing 2 birds with one stone since you might ended up skipping your lunch.

I opted for Assemble Your Own Omelet and chosed spinach, jalapenos, cheese and onion to go with my omelet. As a side dish, I picked Hash Brown and brown toast.  Owhhh soooo English... hahahah

~ Mine! The Hashbrown is to die for. Seriously hands down the best hash brown I've ever tasted ~

~ Creamy and crispy hash brown plus fluffy and cheesy omelet, I can't help but smiling wide and grinning while eating I looked so silly. No one should be THAT happy over breakfast. I think I am the happiest looking customer that day LOL ~

~ My husband's. He ordered Denver Omelet with bacon strips and hash brown. Tiru lah tuuu ! kah kah kah.. He never have liking for potato based food but exception goes to this hash brown as he agreed that it was nice too ~

~ Banana Bread. It tasted and looked just like our kek pisang ~

When I ordered mine, the waiter went like.. WOWWWWWWW. I couldn't register at that time what was the significant of his reaction upon my order and even though I was puzzled I just couldn't be bothered. I was too busy being happy and studying their menu. Then my order came and I gobbled everything up while chit chatting with my "date". 

After we're done, as usual, the waiter came to clear our table and he has this impressed look on his face and looking very excited while he uttered this :

" Wowwwww ( againnnn!! duhhh ), Madam, I didn't expect that you can finish your portion, AT ALL! That's easily 3 eggs and a whole potato! "

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha......

Well I am supposed to be crying instead of laughing ain't I ?

So it turned out that his 1st WOW was because he was amazed of how BIG my order was, for a lady. And I imagined, he secretly have this thought in his mind.... Let see how many leftover she have then you greedy woman! Heheh clearly I added the last part yer for dramatic effects. Hurmmm actually I added the whole part ha ha. Thay friendly guy might not be thinking of anything.

Too bad, he certainly didn't know I am no ordinary lady hahahha.. I may look slim, lean and long but I can really eat. In fact, I ate more than my husband most of the time. 

I was taken aback by his impulsive comment and kinda stunned because I didn't see it coming although I knew he meant well. I must have really surprised him hahahah... It's not like he insulted me or anything and I am not angry at him at all. I can see where he's coming from because it has been kinda local culture that people here do often ordered many things at eating place or diner but ended up eating just quarter of it and the rest will go to waste. I don't make generalization but speaking based on my personal experiences. Honestly, the 2 ladies next to our table was doubled my size and yet they ate only worth a few spoonful and left.

I wanted to respond to his comment by saying that the food is THAT good but since I wasn't really prepared for sudden ambush on big appetite of mine, I just exchanging smile and said Reallyyyyy? and laugh like fool. Hahahah yeah yeah lame, I know. Actually, what I had in mind is 3 eggs? Seriously? Nahhh this is nothing. I usually ate 3 whole chickens for breakfast! 

Hehehe no lahhh.. Just kidding. This time is real one. I honestly,would answer him this : This is nothing! I had jin tanah in me. That's why!

You may wonder what was my husband respond in this. Well, this is what he said to me afterward..

" Bikin malu lah mummy. Lenkali 1st time makan kedai orang, pura pura la malu, segan, buat buat tak abes. Dah selalu datang nanti baru lah makan beriya! "

Tak percaya? 

Percayalahhhhhhhhhhh.....

As salam..

Been away from this space for quite a while. Am still around and doing fine Alhamdullilah. It just that, nothing inspired me to write lately hence I decided to give this blog and myself a break. 

Summer has finally arrived, though not fully and I must say, the temperature is still endurable compared to my previous summer experience. As for now, we're experiencing pretty bad sandstorm and by far it's been  lasted for 2 days and were forecasted to be around until this Saturday. It's orangy out there and I can't even see buildings opposite mine so yeah, it's dusty and sandy inside out. 

Summer came and carries all the common diseases with it, as usual. Flu, fever, sore throat, running nose, coughing, measles, chicken pox.. just to name a few. And we were not spared. 

My husband and I has been down with sore throat for couple of days already. I used to have a veryyyyyy frequent tonsillitis during my younger days,  like 2 months once so by nature, I should be familiar with the symptom and should be able to bear the pain. However, I learned that you can never be prepared for thing like this and it is exceptionally excruciatingly painful each time :(. My girls on another hand, developing some kind of severed rashes after having fever for a day or two. The paed was unable to determined what was it and said it was between German Measles or prickly heat rashes or some kind of allergy. Anyhow, the rashes went after doses of antibiotics, zillion coat of calamine lotion and never ending mummy scratch my back please episodes.

:: Unfamiliar faces yet familiar symptom. This is how they look when the rashes at it's worst. Swollen eyes, bloated face, pity my babies. They don't look like themselves don't they? ::

Alis told me one day, Mummy.. please make soup. Chicken soup or any soup because kakak read in iPad, sick people eat soup to get well. 

Hmmmmm unnecessarily true because I am also sick but I still eat sambal ikan bilis and sambal belacan most of the time, despite my throat feeling as if I just swallow the whole durian.. That's how intimate I am with food, spicy food to be exact. I had such a strong will when it came to food ha ha ha. Unfortunately, when you had two sick childs and one sick husband with you, the world is no more revolved around you and your big appetite anymore. They came first.. I don't usually give in when it comes to spicy food under normal circumstances, but when they're sick, yes.. they comes first. Plus, my throat is begging me for mercy ... and soft  food.

Therefore, I made chicken porridge.. 

:: My portion. Sambal is a MUST! ::

:: Erin's request. Boley tahan selera masa sakit. Sebijik mak dia! ::

:: I don't know what to name this dish. I just put everything I felt like to. Let see, I put fresh portobello mushroom, sauteed carrots, handsomely amount of garlic, onion, thinly slices of ginger, a dash of pepper, fresh red chillies, spoonful oyster sauce, spoonful Worcestershire sauce and a spoonful light soy sauce. Ha ha ha the recipe is basically grab whatever nearest you and off they went inside the pan. Nonetheless, it is tasty I tell you. But come to think of it, you can never really go wrong with all those ingredients can't you??. Add kicap kipas udang and it'd become ayam masak kicap, add chili paste, it'd become ayam masak pedas, change ayam to udang it'll become udang masak kicap..  so nope, I don't feel like I just invented something new because anyone could came up with this, like seriously ::

:: Salty fish. You MUST eat porridge with salty fish because salty fish complement the usually bland taste of porridge, and also helped to overcome your "tak sedap tekak". Ala you should know lah how everything taste tawar and bland and how KFC tasted like selipar jepun when you had store throat ::

:: Spring Onion and "kincai" as side dishes. Kincai is daun sup here and I am not sure it's arabic or what. ::

:: Sambal Ikan Bilis, penambah penambah rasa :) ::

As always, I would close my post today with pictures of my girls taken recently before going to their weekly K.A.F.A class.

" When I see your face, there's not a thing that I would change.
'Cause you're amazing just the way you are.
And when you smile,  the whole world stops
and stares for a while.
'Cause, girl, you're amazing just the way you are. "

:: Auwwwwww jelingan manja ::

:: Cheeky and chirpy Cik Erin kita ::

:: May they will be protected from evil intention and fitna in dunya and akhirah. Amin ::