Nasi Paprik at Raub Rest House

Going to KB from KL is not a ‘fun’ drive as it takes forever to get there. I decided to make a pit stop at Raub and found the Rest House by chance. The place looked rather deserted and a pleasant waiter asked me if I wanted to order something to eat. I said yes and he gave me a simple one-pager menu from which I picked nasi paprik.

Nasi paprik is said to be of Thai origin. Hence it is super spicy. Made with morsels of chicken along with tomatoes, long beans, chillies , onions and some bird eye chillies this dish was definitely spicy (as it should be) and delicious.

Address :  Jalan Dato Abdullah

Tel : +609 355 9899

Upin & Ipin, Giant USJ

The entire restaurant is designed based on the truly Malaysian born cartoon series Upin dan Ipin,a pair of orphaned twins who live with their grandma. The television sets place in strategic locations within the restaurant play the Upin & Ipin series all day long. The outlet has also allocated a fair amount of space for the retail of merchandise ranging from toys to tumblers, food containers as well as T-shirts.

We ordered fresh orange  (RM5.90) and a bottled lychee and a bottled blackcurrant juice (RM3 each). I love the tangy refreshing orange juice and was glad to see that the bottled drinks are actually printed with the characters of the twins.

Nasi cencaru sumbat (RM9.90) – with its exquisite flavour, this dish was a combo of sweet and savoury which really tingled my taste bud.

Nasi goreng atok (RM8.90) – I would say the beautiful presentation resembles that of nasi goreng kampung- fried rice with an egg on top, decorated with sliced cucumber and tomatoes along with some fish crackers.

Spaghetti carbonara (RM12.90)-deliciously creamy!

Ayam goreng Upin & Ipin (RM3.80 ) – the fried chicken here is crunchy on the outside yet tasty and moist inside. Love it!

Although the outlet has the Mastercard sign, we were told that they only accept cash.

Serai, Life Centre

Serai is helmed by a reknowned chef who has cooked for quite a number of celebrities. With such an excellent CV, the two of us walked into Serai expecting a lot.

When we arrived at Serai, we were immediately ushered to our pre-reserved table….when we enquired, we were told that Serai has a few outlets in the Klang Valley and the famous chef we were dying to meet was not based in this outlet, but was in Empire Subang.

This is known as Serai Platter (RM25) – with some awesome sambal to accompany squid and an entire chicken leg plus some acar , I cant say that this was expensive.

Nasi Ambang (RM20) –although I’ve never fancied nasi ambang, I found this platter a delight. The anchovies were crunchy and the salted fish just right. The broccoli and cauliflower was delicious…all in all, a good combination!

Serai ice tea

Address : Lot G-06 Life Centre

No 20 Jalan Sultan Ismail

Kuala Lumpur

Tel : +603 2181 6717

Mastercard & Visa accepted

Restoran 7 Padi Emas

Grocery shopping is often tiring and the best way to end such an ‘outing’ would be none other than to do what most people say is Malaysians favourite past time – makan (eat)!

I found this place called Restoran 7 Padi Emas in NSK. It was about noon and there were still packets of pre-packed nasi lemak available. I tried one – they charge RM2 per packet, although the price on the nasi lemak packaging clearly says RM1.60. Anyway, the nasi lemak was alright. The sambal was packed in a tiny plastic bag – I guess this is a good way to sell nasi lemak as you get to decide how spicy you would like your nasi lemak to be. I, of course, emptied the entire plastic bag of sambal onto the rice.

On to my ‘main’ dish as the nasi lemak was only the appetiser – rice with some okra and a piece of chicken thigh. Sadly, the chicken wasn’t cooked and I had to ask the waiter to bring it back to the kitchen. For the record, my original intention was to order ala carte food from their menu, but was told that the cook/chef had not reported for work for the day yet. Sigh!

These sausages were acceptable and so was my drink.

Address :  Basement 2 Pusat Perdagangan Kuchai

No 2 Jalan 1/127

Off Jalan Kuchai Lama

58200 Kuala Lumpur

Tel : +6012 6706315 (Siti) /+6 016 610 3052 (Kamal)

Mamam De Café, KL

Mamam De Café is situated on Jalan Yap Ah Shak which is just a stone’s throw away from the Dang Wangi LRT station. I made my way there this afternoon as the sun was blazing hot and I needed a break from all the walking I’ve done before heading back on the LRT.

I walked into Mamam without knowing what they served as the name doesn’t give a clue! Oh! Lots of ready cooked food arranged in a pretty row with fire to keep them warm.

“Buffet!”, I exclaimed.

“No, we don’t serve buffet. This is nasi campur”, said the lady in charge.

“Oh, it really looked like buffet to me. So..err…how much is the nasi campur?”, I enquired.

“Depends on what you take”, came the reply.

“Fair enough”, I said.

I then got myself a table and decided on the ala-carte. I ordered Nasi Kukus Mamam which looked like this:-

Steamed rice with a piece of chicken (whole leg) and a bowl of spicy gravy. This costs RM6.50. I like the rice as it was fragrant. The chicken was tender but would have been better if they had put less salt.

I also took some ulam – raw vegetables i.e four angled bean, tomatoes and lettuce along with some paku cooked in chilli. The paku lacked belacan but I finished it nonetheless. All these vege for RM3 – not bad lah!

Watermelon juice (RM3) – found this too sugary –would have loved it had the sugar level been reduced –by a lot!

Address : No 5 Jalan Yap Ah Shak

50300 Kuala Lumpur

Tel : +6012 2660172 (Intan Liana)

Makan Trip to Kuantan - Nasi Dagang Tanjung Api

Our food hunt this time around brings us to the intersection of Jalan Tanjung Api and Taman Gelora in Kuantan. It looks just like this:-

I'd like to call this place the nasi dagang stall  as it has no name. This place is very popular amongst the people of Kuantan. I am there early. It’s only 7+ in the morning and there are already so many people in the queue.  This place is famous for its nasi dagang and I was told that if you don’t want to miss out on the good nasi dagang, be there as early as you can.
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 The stall keeper brings out a huge basin of nasi dagang to the cheer of the hungry crowd (including me!)  The guy in the front of the queue orders 9 packets of nasi dagang and the stall owner religiously packs them for him. A few minutes has passed by before it was the next person’s turn. 15 packets of nasi dagang was his order……. After some time it was my turn…I asked for ‘1 nasi lemak & 1 nasi dagang’ .

Here’s what the nasi dagang looked like. Please note that there is a difference between the Pahang version and the Kelantanese ones. The ones you find in Kelantan would have speckles of brown rice.

I would not say that the portion was generous as it costs RM2.50 a packet. The fish was really nice. I believe it was ikan tongkol. The gravy was not too hot and was indeed just perfect for me. I have to say that the glutinous rice was well cooked. It had the right amount of santan (coconut milk) and was very aromatic. You eat the rice with a splash of the fish curry.  Now I know why everyone in the queue that morning had ordered nasi dagang.

The nasi lemak - I think it’s suffice to say that I’ve tasted better ones!

This place also sells ‘roti manis’. I’ll try that some other time as today my tummy is already filled.