Home   |  Issues  |  The Daily Star Home | Volume 3, Issue 52, Tuesday August 15, 2006

 

 

Restaurant Review

PM: Past Midnight
The growing trend of nightlife in Dhaka

You know how they say that you aren't quite stylish unless you have been to a certain place? Well PM Lounge is definitely that place for Dhaka at the moment. And for a change, something is actually all that.

Cleverly located in the middle of Kemal Ataturk Avenue, PM can and does cater to a wide variety of people. From the late nighters to the hip and happenings who just want to catch good food in a slightly different surrounding, PM is certainly the place to visit.

The ambience is great! We would say the suede leather walls and lampshades initially. But once you get beyond that you get to appreciate the creative minds at work here. The two people responsible for PM are Ziad Khan, chairman and Sumana Karim, managing director, who put in generous time and effort and they did a great job of it as well. Once you are inside PM, you get the feeling that you have transcended into a New York lounge.

If you love optical illusions, look out for their wall hangings. There are a few creative posters, which will definitely riddle your mind. Also some wild pictures and photographs of a Joshua tree and Hitler, shouting out loud words like 'rare' and 'exclusive'.

PM amazes guests with the different types of sitting arrangements. Starting from cushioned sofas and a crafted log beside the window for a group up to arrangements for a single person, they creatively sorted that out. They also have a private room for cosier get-togethers.

But lets not get lost in the décor and arrangements, PM has plenty more to offer.

The food for example, all the synonyms of the word 'scrumptious' actually do justice to the PM menu and the men responsible for this? The highly trained and hand picked chefs obviously. It's a great place to eat, honestly. One might get lost in its other charms but the Japanese and Italian cuisine make this place worth a visit just as a restaurant, which is what they primarily are, as the owner stresses.

And if you have a craving for proper steak please do visit this place. Yours truly did and was left fully satisfied. Well garnished, imaginatively decorated and the use of exceptional sauce, the steaks look a platter of 'foodilicious' entertainment for your taste buds.

For example, Ala Siciliana the fish steak meal. Heavy on decor, it liberates flavoursome Azzuri aroma. A win-win situation for the mafia menu over others.

The desserts arranged by TC's Best show a wide variety of items, some of them highly exotic. Do try out most of the crepes, as they will certainly provide for a good aftertaste to a filling dinner.

Finally, if food or creativity is not what you are after you can still puff on a shisha as they also have a shisha lounge.

PM's strengths are also its weaknesses. The location is great and no expense was spared in decoration. Therefore the items on sale are mostly expensive and they cater to a slightly upscale market. That should not dissuade anyone from trying it out though.

Classy as it is, PM is a must visit for every one out there. And while you are at it, chill at the hot bar or puff at the cigar bar. And for once take a look around and try and figure out the abstractness in the art. And if you can figure it out, then kudos to you!

By Quazi Zulquarnain Islam

Shop talk

Keeping your BP in check
There was a time when only families with elders needed to own blood pressure measuring machines. However, as life gets more hectic by the day, younger people have also started to keep tabs on their blood pressure, so it may be a good idea to keep one handy around the house. Earlier, cumbersome designs have long been replaced by various compact, digital ones that hardly take up any space. Most of these require no special expertise on the part of the user. Proton is one of the leading brands but there are various other trusted names that are also available, their prices ranging between Tk-1900-4200. They are available at Almas Super Shop and any and all pharmacies around town.

Checking your blood sugar level- just One Touch away!
Whether or not you are diabetic, this is one other gadget that should be a part of every household nowadays. More and more people are now also becoming aware of this common disease and check themselves from time to time regardless of whether they actually have a history of it. These also come in various simple, compact and easy to use designs and are available between Tk-2000-3800 in Almas Super Shop and most pharmacies like Lazz Pharma. One touch is a recommended brand and requires refills like all the other brands which cost about Tk-1200 per pack of 50 and are also available at the same places that sell the machines.

Screw drivers- answers to your worst gadget nightmares
To unscrew your VCR to clean the inside or open up your laptop to put in more hardware or plain old drive a nail into something, screw drivers are something you simply can't live without. And now they are available in all different sizes, colours and prices almost everywhere you go. The most happening of these selections are the screw driver sets that usually come with one handle and a number of adjustable screw driver heads including the star or flat heads. These come in various sizes, some made locally and some abroad, and cost between Tk-100 700. The best place to buy these is Fix It, near the Gulshan Agora.

Mop away your worries
It may be time we stopped using the traditional mops to kneel down and clean our floors by hand. Why bother, when there are now many easier ways to get the job done- myriad types of mops with tall handle bars offer the comfort of getting floors to look spic and span effortlessly and save tonnes of time and back aches!

Fix it has a wide variety to choose from but most of these are available in every other hardware store for the same prices. One variety has a cloth attached and a mechanism that allows you to squeeze it dry after wetting it without getting your hands wet or dirty. This type costs Tk-335. Other types cost between Tk-110- 400 and are just as useful.

By Diya

On the cover

Old is gold, and we're sitting on a mine. This week, we pay tribute to some dazzling deshi music on our centre story
Photo: Munem Wasif

Essentials

Education in traffic
manners

As Bangladeshis, we are not unacquainted with traffic jams. Quite the contrary actually- traffic jams and life in Dhaka seems to be almost synonymous. What is there to do then? We simply sit back and blame the Government for messing up every aspect of our lives. But little do we realize (or maybe we do) that we ourselves are to be blamed for much of our "experiences" with the traffic…

You would notice that many buildings (and often even the commercial ones!) do not offer a separate place for parking cars. As such, people wind up parking on the adjacent street or road, which consequently obstructs the smooth flow of traffic. This is a pain in the rush hours, when vehicles keep coming in and departing often taking up the width of the whole street. There are rickshaws which try to squeeze in through the smallest of gaps, people literally attempting to leap over the cars, and other cars going against the flow. Lack of parking space also encourages parallel parking, even where space is limited. This way, it often takes hours to get through to the mainstream traffic. Places like Motijheel and Paltan suffer from this scene every day.

There is a word to be said about the buses, too. We all know about buses that abruptly stop in the middle of the road to board passengers. Moreover, most bus stands in Dhaka permit buses to be parked along the streets. The Tejgoan stand surprisingly has a large expanse of space specifically for parking, which is good news. What is not so good, however, is that despite this, the problems persist as the number of buses using that stand generally exceeds the allotted space.

Our responsibilities lie in following traffic regulations. True, it is difficult to be the "good guy" on the roads when the others are bizarre in their habits. But even if some proportion of the population converts, a lot of existing problems would be solved.

We also need to surrender the desire to always be the first to get through. If everyone wants to go first, everyone loses out because of the muddle they get into.

Drivers need to be cautious about the lanes they are using. Switching lanes without prior notice not only hinders traffic but can also initiate motor accidents.

Nevertheless, initiatives are being taken especially by shopping malls to offer parking facilities. On the other hand, lately problems have arisen regarding the regulation of internal traffic. There should be check posts and guards to usher cars in and facilitate their exits.

Let us keep our hopes afloat. Maybe someday, we can wake up in the morning undaunted by the thought of traffic.

By Shahmuddin Ahmed Siddiky
 
 
 

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