Betty's Midwest Kitchen, Aman Suria, Petaling Jaya

According to the owners, Betty's Midwest Kitchen (A-G-40, Jalan PJU 1/43, Aman Suria Damansara, Petaling Jaya, tel : +60 3-7886 9357) serves American diner inspired food from their visits to Iowa. There's a pretty good selection on their menu and more things that we wanted to try than there was space to do so.

We were intrigued by their meatloaf. Each slice was tender, crumbly and pretty meaty tasting with bits of carrots and something tangy I couldn't identify. There was a beer based sauce on the side which was also tangy. Not bad tasting.

One can top up a few ringgit for each main ordered to get soup and a drink. Current soup was described as tomato with ham. It's actually more like minestrone.

They have house made lemonade which was okay-ish.

Pork chop with apple sauce was pretty good. Pork's tender and yet had a satisfying chew. The sweet and tangy apple sauce was loaded.

What registered as outstanding was the gravy on their mash. Creamy, milky and rich with a velvety texture to boot.

Village Park Restaurant, Damansara Utama, Petaling Jaya

Have heard plenty about Village Park (5 Jalan SS 21/37, Damansara Utama, 47400 Petaling Jaya, tel : +60 12-273 8438) and how their nasi lemak have inspired a small legion of....nasi lemak people. Since we weren't that far away, I wanted to scratch that itch and understand it for myself. Seeing that they're an institution and all. 

The rice was pretty good. I like it. Will not wait in line for more than say 10 minutes for it though. Without getting into a pseudo dissertation, what made them stand above many was their willingness to adequately salt their rice which was well infused with santan. Sufficient coconut milk infusion isn't so uncommon but I notice that many local renditions tend to do skimp on the salt

Sambal's onion-y and well flavoured with dried anchovy/ikan bilis. I like it. Their ayam berempah was an outstanding rendition which was heavy on the turmeric. Skin was crispy yet light. Meat was tender, moist and easily removed from the bone. Nicely done.

Got a cup of their "our special white coffee". Not bad tasting actually.