Kyspeaks.com

Choosing a property for long term living is a bit of a tricky art. It is always a balance between affordability, location, quality of property, as well as it’s surrounding and the area of development.

For those who are more in tune with nature and treasure a more tranquil living style, Klang Valley might not necessarily be the best choices, especially when factoring in the current situation of property prices.

Which brings us to Ivory Villa at Perdana College Heights by Seri Pajam Development, a pretty new development area located about 40+ kilometers away from KL city center.

Ivory Villa at Seri Pajam Development, Negeri Sembilan

A couple weeks ago, I visited the Semi-Detached units at Ivory Villa to get a sense of what living in one would be like.

First of all, the location.

While locating in Negeri Sembilan, access to Perdana College Height is actually pretty good. It is right next to the Kajang-Seremban Highway and less than 8km away from North South Highway.

Getting to KLCC via Kajang-Seremban/Silk highway takes about 45 minutes, and perhaps an hour or so during rush hours. Albeit a longer journey, it beats getting stuck in the traffic heading to KL from somewhere like Puchong where a one way trip can sometimes take up to two hours (I have a friend who spends 3-4 hours on daily commute from Puchong Permai to KL.

ground floor of Ivory Villa unit

Then there’s space and affordability. There is simply nowhere within an hour’s access to KL city centre where you can find a new Semi-Detached house with this size and quality as you would at Ivory Villa. The land area starts at 6,562 sq. ft, with built up of 3,371 sq. ft.

There’s very good size private garden (I’d build a big koi pond!) and a separate car porch that can comfortably park three cars under the roof, with probably another two cars on the driveway.

second floor of Ivory Villa unit

The interior of the unit is a statement of luxury. The living and dining area is huge, with enough space for a wet kitchen and bar/dry kitchen, two bedrooms, and study area. I also particularly like the high ceiling all throughout the unit.

Upstairs has another family hall, a huge master bedroom with super high ceiling, and further 3 more bedrooms. Every single bedroom in the house come with attached bathrooms too, and there are two balconies on the first floor.

semi-D unit, Ivory Villa, Seri Pajam Development

If you’re in the market for a property, take a look at Ivory Villa or some of the other developments by Seri Pajam Development. Take a visit to the showroom and check it out.

More information can be found at seripajam.com.my, and if you have questions, visit their facebook page at www.facebook.com/SeriPajam

Everyone who knows anything about Satay (or sate) knows that Kajang serves them best, just like Klang has the best bak kut teh. However, Kajang is not exactly located at the heart of Klang Valley, and fuel prices being at this level, it make sense to find closer alternatives. Luckily, some of the famous Kajang satay houses have expanded their operations to friendlier locations, and one of the most prominent and successful satay restaurants, Haji Samuri, can be found at Damansara Uptown, among other places (see the wiki link for more locations).

satay in peanut sauce with sambal

Unlike the traditional satay places that are often associated with shacks and less than hygienic dining condition with plenty of flies and weather unfriendly location, Sate Haji Samuri is a mid standard restaurant with clean and comfortable interior. A place worthy of bringing your in-laws, perhaps.

For dinner, instead of the more common chicken, beef, and mutton satays, I also ordered a couple sticks of the rarer rabbit and deer meat variety. There are also tripe, liver, and fish satay, but my stomach is only so big. We also ordered a couple ketupats to go along with the meat.

9 different sateys to choose from

It did take a while before the food came, mostly because the meat is BBQed on demand, especially for the less popular rabbit and deer varieties. However, it was definitely worth the short wait, the satays came steaming hot and tasted very good. I like the fact that they give you unlimited very thick peanut sauce and have the sambal (chili paste) separate so you can cater for your own level of spiciness. The ketupat complimented the satay’s meaty and spicy peanut sauce with a more blunt taste very well, and there’s the standard fresh shallots and cucumber to complete the dish. It was very delicious.

After sampling 5 different types of meat, my favorite is still chicken and beef. The rabbit meat tends to be a little dry due to the lack of fats (see rabbit starvation for more info). Mutton and deer meat were just average, in my opinion.

ketupat is usually the side dish that goes well with satey

The price per stick ranges from RM 0.60 (chicken, beef) to RM 1.60 (rabbit), and RM 0.80 for one ketupat. Pretty reasonably priced, considering the generous portion of meat on each stick.

Another equally good satay place can be found at Ampang, but only offering chicken and beef satays. If you’re into some non-halal pork satay, try Kedai Satay Xiang Ji at Melaka.

Sate Haji Samuri is just a couple kilometers from 1-utama

Address:
No. 79, Jalan 21/37,
Damansara Uptown,
Petaling Jaya
GPS: 3.132996, 101.622720
Tel: 03-7710 5318