I don't know why, but I've always had a fascination with tall buildings.  I'm in the right place for that since our hotel is connected to the 2nd and 3rd tallest buildings in the world.  We've spent most of the first two days in Kuala Lumpur exploring the ginormous mall that connects the two towers together.  It is perhaps the biggest and best mall I have ever seen, and coming off of nearly two months of traveling where malls do not exist it is quite refreshing. We’d almost forgotten what it’s like to pay at a cash register instead of arguing at a stall in a market over the price of a toothbrush.

Last night we had the best meal we have ever eaten. And since our tagline is “Eating and Drinking Our Way Around the World” I think that’s saying a lot. It was not just the best meal of our trip, but the best ever. Frangipani, a French nouveau concept, is located in an ultra hip area of KL (as we locals call Kuala Lumpur) and made a definite statement from the outside. Not overdone, but clearly defining itself. Which is the same thing that can be said for the two story open interior which boasts a tastefully done pool of still water in the center.

The meal started off with our waiter telling us about the two specials of the day, an asparagus dish and a sardine dish. We picked the asparagus. A moment later a panicked waiter comes out apologizing profusely that they just ran out of the asparagus. We say no problem and don’t give it another thought until Chris Bauer, the head chef, comes out to personally apologize and offer us the sardines on the house. Not huge fans of sardines we graciously accepted so as not to offend. Turns out the dish was one of the finest things I have ever tasted, with imported sardines rubbed with fresh sea salt and prosciutto.

I’m not going to bore with some overly wordy and pretentious description of the courses to follow, but let’s just say that each was brilliant. There was not one single ingredient or garnish that wasn’t the best I’ve ever had. As a Jew I’ve had my fair share of smoked salmon, but nothing has ever compared to the tea smoked salmon starter. When it was time for dessert Chris returned to our table (as he had a few other times throughout the evening to make sure everything was ok) to see what we wanted. To say everything on the menu looked tempting was an understatement, so we told him to pick something and surprise us. Next thing we know he’s marching out with half the wait staff to present us with the most beautiful sampler I have ever seen. Our very first 10/10 on the Wandering Walkers Restaurant Rating Scale (or WWRRS for short).