Chic, comfortable and convenient

T-bazaar, a stylish bar and restaurant located on the ground floor of Traders Hotel, is changing the staid face of this conventional business hotel and its busy commercial neighborhood.

"It's the first cafe with a food bazaar concept to open in a high-end hotel in the capital's Central Business District (CBD)," says Nora Li, assistant communications manager of the hotel.

It is open from 10 am to 10 pm, can hold more than 200 people and, according to Li, is always full at lunchtime, when takeaways are also available.

The caf's contemporary design is aimed at creating a fun and relaxed ambience.

Inspired by the concept of a bazaar, or outdoor shopping area, T-bazaar is no stiff high-end restaurant. It's chic, comfortable and convenient.

There are five open kitchen areas right behind the counters, each offering a different style of food.

Guests can find a variety of dishes from fresh salad to signature dishes from the south, such as Hainan chicken rice, which, for many, is a must try dish at T-bazaar.

The chicken is first cooked in boiling water, and flavored with garlic and ginger. It is then put into ice-cold water and hung up. This helps the skin separate from the meat, says Yang Guoliang, a senior chef, who has been with the hotel for more than 20 years. The rice is then sauted in garlic, ginger and chicken lard, before it is boiled in the chicken broth. It is then served with the chicken.

Another highly recommended dish at T-bazaar is Bak Kut Teh, or pork rib tea soup, a soup widely available in Malaysia and Singapore.

The name literally means "meat bone tea", and, at its simplest, consists of meaty pork ribs simmered in a complex broth of herbs and spices, such as star aniseed, cinnamon, cloves, danggui (a kind of root used in traditional Chinese medicine), fennel seeds and garlic, for hours, which give the soup its characteristic flavor.