50 cents serunding from Aneka Ulam

Just realised that I got exactly the same thing as the last time. Anyways, I noticed a tub of serunding and asked for some. They charged me 50 cents for that little pile. First time paying for serunding. Don't recall if they charged for it the first time I ate here. These shredded spiced coconut have been part of condiments (for the stalls that make them) as far as I know. Food's still delicious but I'm not paying for the serunding the next time.

More assam stingray from Dalila's Kitchen

More nasi padang from Dalila's Kitchen. Assam stingray and sayur lodeh. I've had these a couple more times and the size of the ray appears to be luck of the draw. Today's portion was sized like a meaty chicken thigh instead of the previous one I had which looked like it was a 2X2 setup of Chicken McNuggets.

Dalila's Kitchen, Ubi

Malay food stall located at the same coffeeshop (Wong Poh Kopitiam, 3004 Ubi Ave 3) as 威胜碳烤烧腊 and Wan Li Xiang Chicken Rice. Got myself some spinach, sambal goreng and assam stingray. Stingray was chunky and not bad tasting. 👍🏼

Restoran Md. Salleh, Taman Pelangi, Johor Bahru

Breakfast at Restoran Md. Salleh (22 Jalan Pingai, Taman Pelangi, 80400 Johor Bahru).

Found their tea a tad too sweet for my liking. The flavour was also reminiscent of roobois tea.

Roti telur goyang - a kosong with a telur goyang with their dal kuah. In English, a plain roti canai with a wobbly half boiled egg and their lentil gravy. Gravy's a little thinner and less punchy than what I was expecting.

I was wondering if their roti sardine was similar to the sardine prata from Prata Saga Sambal Berlada. It wasn't. There's onions in it so it turned out to be more akin to the sardine murtabak. Sardine's finely minced and spread out so while it wasn't bad, Prata Saga Sambal Berlada's sardine prata beats this. I mean like hands down.

Lontong gravy was on the thin side, lacks the richness and viscosity as the ones I normally prefer back home. But I guess that's how they roll here.

Tried a kosong and telur. As roti canai/prata went, they were competent enough. Hard pressed to find something about it that is memorable though.

Original Penang Kayu Nasi Kandar, NU Sentral, Kuala Lumpur

We noticed Original Penang Kayu Nasi Kandar previously at Mid Valley. Seeing them again at Nu Sentral kinda piqued our interest again so here (Unit LG. 30 & 31, NU Sentral Mall, 201 Jalan Tun Sambanthan, Brickfields, 50470 Kuala Lumpur) we were.

This was fried fish role, chicken korma and cabbage poriyal and telur dadar with their nasi minyak at 33.90RM. While I have been told that nasi kandar tends to be pricey, this was much more than I expected to pay. Other than the thin-nish gravy from the korma, food's generally not bad tasting. I need to either choose the dishes or location more wisely the next time. 

$7 and meatless at Aneka Ulam

I mentioned nasi padang being a better choice for the gravies from Aneka Ulam previously. This was one with sayur lodeh, sambal goreng and quail eggs. Savoury richness from the former, sweet and spicy from the latter two and more heat from the dollop of sambal belancan. With these portions, it was also an invitation for a post lunch coma.

Lontong Sedap, Margaret Drive Hawker Centre

I've previously had the lontong from Lontong Sedap (#01-25 Margaret Drive Hawker Centre, 38A Margaret Drive) back in their old premise at Tanglin Halt Food Centre. Got a nasi lemak for breakfast today. Did I detect a faint lemongrass flavour in the rice? Anyways, pretty decent plate with standard quality ingredients. Rice was moist and savoury with some coconut richness. Sambal's sweet but not annoyingly so with heat and infused with ikan bilis flavour.

More eating at Hajah Maimunah @ Jalan Pisang

Was looking forward to this lunch back at the flagship of Hajah Maimunah. Will just be pointing out a few of the notables.

Rice with rawon gravy and serunding. Gravy was a lot less intense than I imagined for something that has buah keluak as part of the ingredients but the serunding compensated with its spicy sweetness. One thing that's definitely not lacking from the food here is flavour.

The stingray here was not as good eating as the one we had at their branch at Clementi. It's not bad by any stretch. Meat's stiffer than what I had expected.

Paru belado was outstanding. Believe it or not, the first thought that came to mind was tenderloin.

Pacuk paku masak lemak - fiddlehead ferns in a coconut rich spicy gravy.

The gravy for their tahu telur seemed different...unless I remembered wrongly. I was anticipating something like kecap manis but this was more like rojak sauce with the belanchan in it. Love it though. Tofu was crispy on the outside and wobbly tender on the inside.

Our first pengat pisang....a sweet coconut soup with sweet potatoes and bananas that were on the verge on disintegrating in it. The tanginess from the bananas had seeped into the soup. Damn this was good.

I'm not sure if these were kueh salat or if there's another name for them. The one with the white bottom layer is made with sago and coconut and the other was pulut hitam. Nice.

Lynns Food & Beverage, Jalan Tan Hiok Nee, Johor Bahru

We noticed the chicken rice from Lynns Food & Beverage (31 Jalan Tan Hiok Nee, Bandar Johor Bahru, 80000 Johor Bahru, tel : +60 12-708 3048) the last time we were in the vicinity and told ourselves we'd come back and check them out. You may wonder what made us pay attention to chicken rice from such a nondescript looking location. Well, they were served in folded paper boats.

We got distracted also by some of the kueh kueh and had an order of their kuih dadar. These rolls had a nice pandan aroma. The coconut stuffings were kinda dry rather than "juicy" and soaked in gula melaka like we had imagined.

Chicken rice was competently done and the portion was pretty generous. Rice was sufficiently greasy and flavoured adequately. There was a good portion of poached chicken, some pickles to cut through the grease and a lime-y chilli. I don't mind coming back just for this.

Milo gao wasn't as gao as we imagined but it's pretty nice.

Indonesian Cuisine, Tanjong Pagar Food Centre

Noticed this stall (#02-06 Tanjong Pagar Food Centre, 6 Tanjong Pagar Plaza) because a couple of reasons. It's one of the worst names to Google for if you're looking for the stall and nasi lemak's not Indonesian. Decided to try their nasi lemak anyway. 😬 The rice's flavoured with lemongrass which reminded me of the Malaysian ones. Fried chicken's decent. Sambal's not annoyingly sweet as well. That nice looking fried fish was unfortunately dry and a little hard. Not expecting the same standards as Coconut Club but this could have been a lot better.

Saayang Sayang Indonesian Nasi Padang, Kopitiam @ Changi Airport Terminal 3

Nasi padang at the food court (B2-03 Terminal 3 Singapore Changi Airport, 65 Airport Boulevard) in T3. Got me some sayur lodeh, sambal goreng and paru belado. Paru was chunky and meaty while the gravy from the sayur lodeh had the pre-requisite lemak-ness. Kicked ass with the sambal. I enjoyed this.

Hjh Maimunah Mini, Boleh Boleh! @ Clementi Mall

Another branch of Hjh Maimunah Mini we came across at Clementi Mall (Boleh Boleh! food court, #04-20 to 22 Clementi Mall, 3155 Commonwealth Avenue West). Food's pretty good though I'm not sure if they have same spread as the one at City Square Mall or the flagship at Jalan Pisang.

Not that it's bad but I thought the paru belado didn't seem to taste like I recall. Tried a few items which we haven't before like the ikan pari (stingray) which was thick cut and satisfying. There was also sotong hitam that was both spicy and rich. I thought they did pretty decent fried chicken too. Pretty glad they're more accessible these days.

Hameediyah Multi Concept Dining, Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur

So we found ourselves at Hameediyah Multi Concept Dining (138 Jalan Bukit Bintang, Bukit Bintang, 55100 Kuala Lumpur, tel : +60 3-2382 0344) while searching for nasi kandar. If anyone was wondering, it's similar to Chinese economy rice/cai png or Indonesian nasi padang where one pairs dishes of choice with rice. The origins of this particular style of rice and dishes is apparently Penang and the cooking stems from a couple of cultures. Notably Indian and Malay.

Most of the dishes we picked were savoury, spicy with a bit of heat and richness from gravies. The latter was specifically from the delicious lamb korma which featured tender bone in meat.

Notables for me included the telur ikan (fried fish roe), telur sotong (fried squid roe) and those batted bitter gourd which I've never taken notice of before. Food was great.

Mango lassi's not bad here.

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.