Buka Puasa & CSR programmes

By Laura Lee

The holy month of Ramadhan encourages charity, giving and sharing. It is thus not uncommon for companies or organisations to take advantage of this occasion to do their corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes.

The young and old, including the less fortunate and underprivileged lot, are often treated to a majlis buka puasa or breaking of fast meal. Under Tourism Selangor Ramadhan Buffet Promotion with various hoteliers, I had the opportunity to witness some of these CSR programmes.

At Eastin Hotel Kuala Lumpur and the Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) Selangor Chapter’s Majlis Buka Puasa, about 20 elderly folks from Rumah Jagaan dan Rawatan Orang Tua Al-Ikhlas and 30 children from ages four to 15 from Rumah Nur Sakinah in Subang, Selangor were invited o 29 May 2017.

The kids did a performance later in the evening after they had their meals. The hotel and the MAH team not only donated in cash but also groceries such as cooking oil, rice and other daily necessities to them.

While here I bumped into 10-year-old chef Danish Harraz with his parents whom I recently met at the Eat Travel Write Selangor International Culinary Adventure from 15-18 May 2017. Sharing the same table, we compared notes on what are some of the sumptuous spread not to be missed like this gearbox dish.

I still missed a number of them, especially those located near Swez Brasserie’s entrance, which I saw when we were departing. When I went back later for the freshly fried bawal fish in the later part of the night, what’s left are the fish heads.

This biryani lamb and the fresh bawal were highly recommended by my colleague

The restaurant’s theme this year for its buffet spread featured a number of dishes mainly from the northern states such as Kedah, Penang and Kelantan.

 

With the rising cost of living, I wouldn’t be surprised that a number of people would be tightening their belts and are more conscious about eating out to break out, especially at hotels and restaurants. You can still do that by taking advantage of some of the early bird offers.

For instance, Eastin Hotel KL priced their buffet lower at RM100 nett for adults and RM50 nett per child during the early part of Ramadhan, the last few days of the fasting month (22-23 June) and during its weekend specials on 10-11 and 17-18 June. Other times, it’s RM145 nett (adult) and RM72 (child). So, the strategy is to take advantage of these early bird and special offers.

We had selected Eastin Hotel from about a dozen hotels and restaurants that Tourism Selangor was working as we had attended its Ramadhan preview a few years ago and recalled how good its offerings were at the live action stations where various types of food are freshly prepared.

On the way out, I was attracted by the wayang kulit or shadow puppet stage, where I took some pictures with our young chef Danish Harraz Abd Hafiz. The traditional form story telling using shadow puppets are a popular form of entertainment with the states of Kedah and Kelantan, which I had the opportunity to witness on a number of occasions.