KAMPUNGBOYCITYGAL A MALAYSIAN FOOD & TRAVEL BLOG

Nasi Lemak Antarabangsa, an established name in Kampung Baru since 1973. The brand name is so strong that they have ventured into franchising now, with 12 branches available in Klang Valley and Malacca.

Despite having a bad prior experience that we have decided not to blog about it, we will always give a restaurant a second chance unless it’s a horrible transgression. So we said yes to the invitation from Nazli that represents NLA and we met at the Kota Damansara outlet. The outlet offers a clean, air conditioned and comfortable atmosphere to enjoy your lunch or dinner.

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Small Note: Our write-up on Nong & Jimmy was featured in The Star Sunday Metro

With more stories about credit crisis, mortgage meltdown and job losses, it appears we are heading towards recession, and it may not get better anytime soon. I figured I’d jump on the recession bandwagon by introducing some recession proof food that is light on the wallet but feels heavy on the stomach.

Vicchuda in Damansara Utama is a great place for some Thai food. The restaurant has done pretty well because it is simply the best – cheap, easy and quick. The owner himself originates from the southern part of Thailand too. Though Vicchuda is essentially a restaurant with Thai influnces, the menu roams freely with some Malaysian fares such as ayam paprika daging masak merah and curries too.

From top left: ayam paprik, menu, tom yum campur, kerabu perut, kailan with salted fish, cucumber with sambal belacan.

Served scalding hot, the tom yum campur is very spicy and sour, with a lot of fresh spices and herbs like lemon grass, ginger root, red shallots, lime coriander leaves, chili and kaffir lime leaves. The bits of cili padi floating on top of the clear soup may look too intimidating, do not fear as real tom yum should draw your sweat and tears. Unlike tom yum soup at other places, Vicchuda’s version has got omphhhh. It was spicy enough to make our scalp sweat but keep wanting for more.

Kerabu Perut. The tripes were thin, slighty crunchy and firm in texture. With dashes of fish sauce, lemon juice and sugar, the sauce is sweet, sour, salty and spicy. Very addictive stuff.

Apart from their specialties such as bawal masam manis udang petai, kerabu sotong, the usual fare like kangkung belacan, ayam papril, fried rice, and nasi pataya are pretty good too. We would highly recommend both kerabu perut and tomyam soup. At only RM4 to RM6 per portion (small), it is best to go for a greater variety of dishes. With 4 dishes, 2 rice and iced water, the total bill came at RM 23. Now this is what we meant by recession food…

Vicchuda Tom Yam Restaurant
24 Jalan SS21/35,
Damansara Utama
03 7722 3481

Opens from 11am to 12 midnight

(same row as Champion Duck and MayBank)

Goodies Bag for Guests

Fried Popiah

Nasi Minyak

Kari Ayam

Ayam Masak Merah

Acar Sayur

Dragon Fruit & Coffee Agar-Agar

Cuties in Beach Wear

Happy Birthday to KampungBoy’s Dad!

Longetivity Noodles

Whole Roasted Chicken

Sweet Sour Garoupa Fish

Sweet Sour Pork Ribs

Sweet Sour Crabs

Two Way Kai Lan

Iron Man Wannabes

“It’s good to come home every now and then, as time goes in a different pace here”, says KampungBoy. I couldn’t agree more. The relaxed pace of life in Terengganu is apparent in the quaint town but one will be easily impressed with its gastronomic delight that exudes an enviable charm.

We have been eating like there’s no tomorrow, mainly because of the two birthday celebrations of KampungBoy’s dad and nephew in merely three days. For his dad’s birthday, we had a lunch gathering ala kenduri style.

The caterers have adequately done a very good job; the food was served piping hot and everything is relatively fresh. An essential for kenduri/wedding function, nasi minyak, or better known as Festive Rice is a perfect accompaniment to the spicy dishes, and it fares quite well as a standalone meal. Cooked with butter, ginger, coconut milk, ginger and various spices; it is highly flavorful and aromatic.

To start with, nibble on some crunchy acar sayur (pickled vegetables) drenched in sweet and sour vinegar sauce. Continue feasting on ayam masak merah (spicy tomato sauce), its distinctively spicy sweet and sour flavour has lured us over again and again. Prepared using free range chicken and various spices, gulai ayam is another variant from the usual curry chicken. Coconut milk makes it creamy with a hint of sweetness and the use of spices takes it to another level of taste. Beef rendang was pretty popular as well, judging from the little leftover for our breakfast the next day.

The dinner was held at Uncle Ng’s Restaurant, one of the better Chinese restaurants in Kuala Terengganu. The food is mediocre, can’t complain much because our taste buds were spoiled by all sort of good Chinese food around Ipoh and KL. However, the roasted chicken deserves a mention here. It’s crackly crispy skin is absolutely delicious; where KampungBoy insist it’s the best part of the bird while I love the tender and juicy part of the meat.

Stay tune for Part II, the ending of our short escapade back home (to some of yours relieve! :p)

Uncle Ng Restaurant
50E, Jalan Tok Lam
20100 Kuala Terengganu
Terengganu.
Tel: 09-6312863

Keropok Sengit!

My homeland, Terengganu comprises of seven districts: Setiu, Kemaman, Dungun, Marang, Hulu Terengganu and Kuala Terengganu. 90% of the population on this state are Malays and the reminder share among the Chinese, Indians and aborigines. It is not surprise to see a heavy Malay influence on Terengganu’s delicacies.

Keropok sengit, please. Sengit = Satu Ringgit whereby Terengganuan pronounce it as such. These are some of the unfamiliar local pronunciation that is peculiar to the West Coast people. Other than the infamous Kak Yah keropok lekor, this is a place which serves mouth watering keropok – Mak Long Keropok.

Mak Long, has been running the business with the help of her family members at the same spot for more than two decades.

The place seems dodgy, with the old heavy gage galvanized zinc rooftop and wooden beams. It is always the case where you can get nice food at such hidden gem.

Though rapid development and modernization slowly adapts to the way of life, Mak Long still adapts the traditional way of cooking before the advent of electricity– wood. Why would she take in so much of trouble? According to Mak Long, gas cooked food can not match the flavor imparted on the food from a real wood fire. Wood fire can maintain a low enough temperature for proper slow cooking.

Soft drink in glass bottle is so old school !

It costs you RM0.60 for the smaller portion and RM1.00 and large portion, a value for money isn’t it? My all time favourite would be “Campur”, a mixture of mi and rice vermicelli with shredded cucumber served as a side dish. The taste is just divine; in fact it is beyond description.

Keropok Goreng is a snack made from fish ground with sago and salt before it is steam and later deep fried. It is best to be eaten with the chili dip. It is crispy on the outside but soft, warm and aromatic inside, sort of like a baguette. Guess what, it costs only RM 0.10 per piece, so RM10.00 can serves up to 100 pieces of keropoks and surprisingly my friend managed to finish it all by self. It is a great place to have a little chat and chew on the fresh Keropok Lekor.

I took the effort to compose a map that shows the direction towards Mak Long’s Keropok, a traditional Malaysian snack food composed of fish and flour.

Other delicacies around Kuala Terengganu:

Hainanese Chicken Rice

http://kampungboycitygal.blogspot.com/2006/07/terengganu-specialties-kak-yah-keropok.html

http://kampungboycitygal.blogspot.com/2007/03/roti-paun-and-hup-bee-keropok-kampung.html

Steam Keropok Lekor

Love,
KampungBoy

It can be eaten either when it is steamed or deep fried, both give different taste. The long chewy ones are called keropok lekor while the thin crispy are called keping, means slice. Both the keropok is usually eaten with chili dip.

Kak Yah’s stall is so famous that they came out with come commercialize packeted specialties from Terengganu, such as ready to eat keropok, salted fish and dry sate fish.

Pictures are stricly prohibited beyond the processing area. They used to process and pack the keropoks at a small corner of the store front. Now that they have gain their fame and expanded so much, they shall keep the procedures and processes to themselves. Keropok can almost resembles terengganu now, let it be fried lekor or steamed lekor, white coloured lekor or gray coloured lekor.

Satar is another fish snack in Terengganu Malay cuisine. It is mixture of pounded fish, shallots and ginger wrapped in banana leaf, pierce of few by 1 single bamboo stick then barbecue over low fire. Boolicous from masak-masak has a great review on it.