KUALA LUMPUR, May 28 -- Of the many things I love about living in this country, our definition of a "work lunch" is one of them.

I take tremendous pleasure in knowing that a cold sandwich or stale pastry, gnawed on lifelessly in front of the computer, doesn't have to be and often isn't the norm for most office workers in Malaysia.

Instead, we have a wealth of places catering to the working man, hungry for a bite and a bargain.

In the Klang Valley, most are naturally concentrated in the city centre, within walking distance of the major financial institutions.

The most common scene at lunch hour is this: groups of corporate ghouls sit around a table in their starched white shirts, collars loosened, colour returning to their pallid faces...