MALAYSIAN DELIGHT
On 10 March 2007 Dim and I went to this Chinese-Malaysian restaurant for lunch.
It was not because we fancied to go out to eat, but our landlord requested our absense so that he could fix something. It was during the Lenten fasting period and we could not eat meat or fish; it wasn't easy to find something we could eat.
We entered here after consulting the menu on the window, but the menu we were given inside was different from the one on the window, and the price has been increased. Very easy-going approach.
When a woman (who looked like the owner or one of the owners) approached us to get the order, we tried to ask her about the dishes, but as she said she did not know well English, we gave up and ordered two of the king prawn dishes.
Besides, I had this soya milk (which was not too sweet and nice), Dim had coca-cola, and two bowls of white rice.
The menu consists mainly in Chinese food (40% of the Malaysian population is Chinese, so the Malaysian food includes Chinse food), with some Malay dishes. The restaurant is run by Chinese looking people, probably a family, so we should expect to have Chinese Malaysian food, and not Malay cuisine.
The décor was clean, bright and warm; I quite liked it.
First arrived was the King Prawn Assam, and the bowls of rice. After we placed the order, a young waitress (who probably was the daughter of the lady) returned to our table and asked if we wanted the shell on or off. We asked the shell off, so these prawns were stripped off. We found out later that we were to be charged extra £1 for the shell-off prawns. So the prices of the king pranw dishes you will see on their menu are for the shell on pranws.
Apart from that, this dish was really delicious. Pranws were fresh, and spicy, sweet and hot sauce was interesting.
After a while we were given this Nyonya Style Chiken. Chicken? We ordered king pranws only, so we returned this to the kitchen.
When we ordered, we pointed two items very close on the menu. I don't understand how she could take the order wrong.
The Nyonya Style King Pranws arrived when we have almost finished Assam. Deep fried king prawns in batter, with shredded vegetable and fruit (probably mango) with sauce.
It looked beautiful and we had a great expectation, but we got very disappointed. It was far too sweet, not because of some sweet ingredients, but just because of sugar. The first thing I tasted in the mouth was SUGAR. It was completely wrong.
By the way, nyonya means the mixed blood women between Chinese and Malay (man is baba), so nyonya cuisine means the cooking has both Chinese and Malay elements in it. I have been to Malaysia several times, but never had a chance to go to try authentic nyonya food. So, I would not know if the dish we ate really nyonya style.
The bill was around £19, which I think is higher than the standard of the area. But if you order normal meat dish, you would have paid less. I want to try again.
And for more recent visit, click here.
** Post Scriptum **
I noticed that the premises were enlarged between the end of 2007 and the beginning of 2008. It used to occupy only the left part in the photo, and now it has been extended into the right part (I don't remember what was there before). It seems that they are attracting more customers with more tables to offer. Good luck to them! (12 Jan. 2008)For a more recent review of Malaysian Delight, click here.
