ABC Food Corner, Havelock Road

A relatively new Indian Muslim food place (743 Havelock Road) has opened up just beside Pullman Bakery.

That's curried egg. It was okay.

Curried mutton was also okay.

We grabbed a Maggi prata, the lighter counterpart to the Maggi murtabak. Little reason not to pick a comfort carbo bomb of MSG ladened fried instant noodles wrapped with prata. It was textually pleasing but the flavours that were in the noodles were pretty much lost after the curry.

This Milo prata wasn't bad, just not as memorable as the Milo butter one at The Roti Prata House. For some reasons, the flavouring of food here felt a little muted. I wonder about the curry that they included for this.

Some breads at ABC Food Corner

Back at ABC Food Corner. The quality of their food can be inconsistent. Sometimes it's bad that I didn't even think it was worth the effort of a posting a picture and writing a couple of thoughts. Ordered naan from them for the first time today. Mutton keema naan.

Spread on the inside with curried minced mutton. Spicy and pretty salty but I thought it worked with the naan which was kinda bready. Gotta try these somewhere else to get a better sensing of how they normally are.

Got a plate of their mutton kothu prata again. The order taker was shifty and wasn't interested in getting what we request correctly so we ended up with chopped mutton instead of the minced variety we had gotten the last time. It's not bad tasting though. In spite of enjoying it, what bothered me was how greasy it was.

More food from ABC Food Corner

Let's admit it, these guys aren't good at everything they have on menu. This chicken hariyali briyani was one of them. For something that was flavoured with coriander, mint and yoghurt, it was just salty and smoky. The latter not in a way I might have enjoyed because it was burnt and if you could believe it, had parts that were almost leathery. A far cry from their chicken tikka briyani I had previously.

The mutton kothu prata was on the other hand pretty good though. The prata was chopped up into small bits and I liked that they didn't over do the onions. We specifically request for mutton keema so that we wouldn't get mutton chunks from their mutton masala but I think we ended up with the minced mutton they used for their murtabak anyway. They weren't very generous with them but it was enough that one could tell and ultimately, we kinda liked it.

Ordered their banana salt lassi out of curiosity. Not very salty or even yoghurt-y for a lassi. Flavour was a little thin. Won't be getting this again.

The ABC of pratas

While coin prata is nothing new, I don't remember if I've ever had them. Yeap, that would be those little round fried pastries up there. This was an order with mutton masala and fish curry (top left) from ABC Food Corner. I thought they did the coin prata well. Crisp on the outside with a chewy tenderness beneath.

I wondered about the curries with their Milo prata previously. Today, we've graduated into having them with dalcha and even the tamarind based fish curry. Wasn't weird at all. One just has to free the mind.

A takeaway chicken tikka briyani from ABC Food Corner

I've bought this a couple of times from ABC Food Corner so far and for both occasions, we've gotten pretty big portions for the $8.50 they charged. Portions enough to feed two even with flavourful briyani rice which paired well with either the crunchy cucumber/pineapples or the tamarind infused fish curry (I asked for it). Not forgetting those salty smoky chunks of chicken tikka which was the point in the first place.

Roti banjir special from ABC Food Corner

If you Google 'roti banjir', the top search results would lead you to a particular spot in Kuala Lumpur where they're known for them. It's a ruffled up prata/canai drenched in curry/dal topped with a couple of soft boiled egg. Triple A street food porn. I haven't had that. But I came across roti banjir being offered at ABC Food Corner and decided to see if it was similar. It's not as good looking and they messed up the egg.  Didn't look like the picture on the menu. But it didn't taste bad soaked in the dalcha. Also, it's a clever way to charge people more for what essentially made two egg pratas by simply serving it in another form.

Banana prata with fish curry from ABC Food Corner

The pratas must have been squished either during packing or on the way back so the bananas oozed out and smeared their natural fruity sweetness over the prata. Also loved the warmth from the mild heat in the belly from the fish curry. From ABC Food Corner. 

ABC Multi Cuisine Restaurant, Havelock Road

ABC Multi Cuisine Restaurant (715 Havelock Road) opened up at the unit left behind by Kheng Nam Lee Teochew Porridge. I wonder if they're related to the old ABC Food Corner at the other end of this row or any of the other ABC named mamaks around the island before they shuttered.

Tried a couple of stuff like bee hoon goreng putih chicken hariyali tikka and a nasi goreng putih chicken tikka. Food's decent tasting if not exceptional. Also a little oily. Currently, I think better of Umar Ali Cafe nearby compared to these guys but we'll see.

More food from Umar Ali Cafe

Another compilation of eats from Umar Ali Cafe.

There's ghee prata on menu. They obliged with my request to add banana after a baffled look from the guy taking the order. Not bad tasting. Wished there was a bit more of that ghee flavour but I couldn't complain.

Loaded up on some Indian rojak. Definitely not the standards that one can find at Tekka Food Centre. 

A couple of weeks later......

Came over for some appam which are available only in the morning. These appams were surprisingly light.

The one with banana was delicious. Largely because of the type of banana they were using which softened from the heat into something tangy sweet nicely, just like goreng pisang.

The other appam was had ghee drizzled over. With some sprinkles of sugar, it was deliciously sweet and buttery.

Sausage and egg prata uses the same fried cheap hot dog as their Indian rojak as I suspected. The sausage was sliced and scattered over the prata with the egg before hopping on the griddle. Came with a mutton-y dalcha and fish curry. I asked them for a dollop of coconut chutney. Never noticed that the dalcha has daikon before.

Some time later......

Roti banjir special. A couple of prata kosong in doused in a mixture of dalcha and fish curry and topped with a couple of sunny side ups. Nice! Better tasting rendition than the one previously from the defunct ABC Food Corner.

There and back again......

Here's their kuey teow combo. Combo in mamak refers to the addition of cheese fries and red sauce mutton on top of the goreng-ed carb of choice. This one was a decent tasting combo plate. Those crinkle cut fries were not over-fried and dried out. Too bad about the dry hard mutton.

We wanted to do better than their usual menu nasi goreng so we got a nasi goreng ikan bilis with keema. The fried rice was light - fluffy even with loose grains and no excessive oil. With the keema, there was an infusion of flavour from mutton. Nice.

Cheese prata has that square of cheese right in the middle. The edges without are a showcase of their kosong which in my opinion is old school bready and nice. Otherwise surpassed by the double cheese version from Prata Saga Sambal Berlada.

Double egg prata is more satisfying than the single egg ones.

Umar Ali Cafe, Havelock Road

Umar Ali Cafe (719 Havelock Road) has taken over the spot vacated by Boon Keng New Taste. Which is just as well since the closures of the chain of ABC mamaks have also inadvertently disappeared ABC Food Corner leaving this stretch of Havelock Road bereft of decent prata outpost(s) that operate into the night. 

Competently done banana egg cheese prata. Not gonna be tagging more adjectives to this and I'm deeming the shop good for returns based on this one. We're gonna have to see how the others fare from here.

Love their teh halia cino. Nice prickly heat from the ginger in the hot tea.

A few days later......

Shatteringly crispy roti tissue. Glad that there was a light hand with the sugar glaze

That's their strawberry cheese prata. If you didn't already know, it's "strawberry jam" and not actual strawberries in it. Said "strawberry jam" is a mostly syrup concoction with likely artificial strawberry flavouring that some might not even classify as jam. But all's good once you've made peace with the ingredient. That cheese - I was expecting the plastic wrapped sliced variety but instead it was something crusty and cheesy on the exterior which was equally nice. 

What surprised me here was that the person who plated this actually thought that whomever ordered it actually needed more sugar. 😵

This susu halia was not on the menu but we figured they'd be able to whip up one since they already have the ingredients. They did. It's sweet and spicy from the ginger just like the teh cino hala. Or was that teh halia cino.

Another few days later......

Off menu request which they obliged. Bee hoon goreng putih + keema + egg. It ended up being a whopping $8.50 but it sure was delicious. They were pretty generous with the ground mutton. I'm gonna just hope that they maintain this standards consistently while my fingers are crossed.

Note to self: Don't get the sweet lassi again. It's diluted and ice blended. It's my first ice blended lassi and this didn't taste good.

Yet another few days later......

Ghee thosai. Thin, light crisp, nice and buttery. Delicious with the bit of saltiness from the dal and coconut chutney. The orange chutney's spicy.

Prata tiga telur banjir (three egg flood) breakfast

Got this recently from ABC Food Corner. Three egg pratas banjir styled. Banjir if you didn't know means 'flood' in Malay. In this context, it was flooded with a curry of choice (I picked chicken) before they packed it for take away allowing the curry to be absorbed into the prata. Not a picture of healthy eating but what the heck, it's an uncommon treat for me.