PETALING JAYA, May 25 -- "The chicken mandi is not ready yet, sir. You want shawarma?"

I nod, pay, and take the only seat at the lone plastic table. It's not hot, exactly, but the air on the lower ground floor of Perdana Shopping Centre is stale and still, the kind that clings to your skin. I start to wonder if this is another tip gone wrong.

It's 11 a.m. I'm sitting in front of Charisma Arab and Pastry, which has already been open for an hour.

The chicken mandi, the only thing my friend told me to come here for, won't be ready for another hour.

Behind me, a man I take to be of African descent is talking to two South Asian men who've set up tables advertising their tailoring services.

He wants a suit made for a wedding coming up soon...