Raju Restaurant

Sunday morning in PJ is serene and quiet. Driving through the housing area, you could feel the homely atmosphere of the daily life of middle class inhabitants in Klang Valley.

Next to SMK La Salle, PJ is a restaurant called Raju Restaurant, hailed as one of the top 40 restaurants in Malaysia.

Unlike its serene surroundings, the restaurant was bustling with customers and waiters coming in and out of the shop and the expanded eating area next to it. The customers were mostly English speaking middle class Malaysian. There were quite a few Ang Mohs too.

The old car with the car plate number 3344 parked outside the shop next to a big scrolled tosei doll belongs to the owner, probably Mr Raju.

We sat down and not too long a waiter came with a metal tray with different types of chutney and put banana leaf on the table. Another waiter came and asked whether we want some fritters for a start and took our orders. I must said the service was swift.

We ordered tosei gee, tosei rawa and drinks. My favourite chutney has always been coconut chutney with green chili, the red chili chutney was really hot.

The deep fried sea food at the shop front looked fresh and appetizing. We ordered quite a bit.

The ikan senangin served hot was nice and sweet.

The prawn was okay too, except a little bit hard, just a little bit.

The squid was so so lah. A bit hard and below average.

After all the sea food, I ordered another tosei telur bawang (tosei with eggs and onion).

Yummy! And lastly a piece of wadeh!

The bill came up to RM70 plus. Luckily, I didnn't have to pay!

Expensive breakfast ah! Actually the meal became my Sunday brunch! Well, this is what the owner has to say about their food.

Well, I think the strong point of this restaurant really is their swift service and foods served hot always taste good.

This area of PJ seems to have a sizable Indian community as evident from the shops around the restaurant. After eating, we went to a CD shop 2 doors away, Ragaa's. We were attracted by the accordian music playing loud in the shop.

Wow! This BBC documentary on the sitar player Ravi Shankar is selling at RM199.

In the end, Azam bought the accordian music CD for RM65. It turned out to be French music titled Moulin Rouge.

Mei Heong Yuen Dessert

After finishing my class at 1pm on thursday, I was too late for the buffet lunch of the RoboCup Singapore Open 2009 closing ceremony. In fact, at around 11am, Guohua has already SMS me that the food is all gone. I decided to go to China Town to buy some roast meat. After parking my car in Temple Street, I walked pass an interesting dessert shop, Mei Heong Yuen Dessert.

I went in thinking of a light meal. I ordered a glutinous rice dumpling and a bowl of walnut paste..I love all those paste, whether it is sesame, peanut or almond. To my surprise, the shop sells Taiwanese style cotton shaved ice too. I ordered a bowl of mango shaved ice that comes with mango fruit as well. It is said that one of the best Taiwanese cotton shaved ice is red guava shaved ice but I could not find it on the menu. Guess I have to wait for my Taiwan trip.

Nando's

Peri-peri is the Swahili word used in Mozambique and Angola to describe the African bird's-eye chili, a close variety of cili padi. In Mozambican cuisine, peri-peri is often used in preparing sauces and marinades for roast and grilled dishes, especially chicken and various fish. Peri-peri is widely used in a vast number of dishes of Portuguese cuisine.

Nando's, the Portuguese-themed chicken restaurant, originated in South Africa from Portuguese who left Mozambique after the independence in 1975. The chain uses peri-peri in many of its dishes, and helped popularise them worldwide.

Bangi Kopitiam

Kopitiams are springing up all over Malaysia. Even my good old friend Kai FOng has opened one in Kluang. Of course, the most well known franchise is Old Town White Coffee, which can be spotted everywhere. Besides Old Town White Coffee,  there are plenty others with names like Kluang Station, Memory Lane, Uncle John, etc. These kopitiams are Malaysia's answer to Starbuck Coffee and Coffee Bean.

It was 8pm and I arrived in KL on Hari Raya Haji holiday after 4 hours drive. Athough I have not taken my dinner yet but I was not hungry. So,  I went to the Bangi Kopitiam in Taman Melawati with my buddy Azam. Most of the kopitiams have nostalgic decor of the 1950s and this one is no exception. The theme of this shop seems to be "The Lost Heritage - Muhibbah".

On the wall of the shop is a huge blown out photograph of the 1950s with various races enjoying a coffee break around a marble table.

To remind you of the good old days, there is even a "beca" at one corner of the shop!

But wait a minute, the "beca" seems to be from our neighbouring country, Indonesia.

The good thing about this shop is its bright and airy atmosphere. There are lots of fans hung in the tall ceiling turning at high speed which make the place cool and fresh.

Food wise, the menu is typical of what a kopitiam would offer.

Interesting, Kopi Batin and Kopi Perempuan. I guess Kopi Batin must be coffee with tongkat ali while Kopi Perempuan could be coffee with kacip Fatimah. Haha! Among the items are roti with curry chicken, roti wiht half boiled eggs, mee hailam, etc.

The food was good but taste as expected. The surprise was the keropok lekur. This is probably the best keropok lekur that I have eaten so far. Instead of the usual soft stick, what we had was keropok lekur that has been deep fried. The exterior of the keropok was crispy like cracker with a little bit of soft interior. I could hear the sound when I bite onto the keropok.

As for drink, barley with cincau was also an interesting combination. Not too sweet, but cooling.

The mango jelly bean that I ordered was so sweet that I had headache and woke from my sleep in the middle of the night. I have impaired glucose tolerance and I will have headache in my sleep if there is too much sugar intake after 10pm.

Overall, I would say this is a good place to hang out with friends in the evening as witnessed by the large crowd in the shop.