Lorong Seratus Tahun Curry Mee & Bangkok Lane Mee Goreng in Penang

The 2 places mentioned here share something in common - they're both named after the road in which they're located because there's no actual shop name! After bowls and bowls of curry noodles at Lorong Seratus Tahun, SS2, I have finally made it to the original Lorong Seratus Tahun in Penang!

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Award-wining Roti Canai at Sri Melur Jaya ~ SS19

This post was first posted at  Sri Melur Jaya ~ SS19 on Deliciouslogy | Wordpress.

Sri Melur Jaya was discovered by chance as we used to have our Comic Fiesta meetings at our President's home in SS19. It was a quick and easy meal before we whisked ourselves over to our meeting place.

It slowly became our favorite roti canai place that we would travel all the way to Subang for our roti canai fix. Unfortunately, no place can compare to the fluffiness and crispiness of Sri Melur's roti canai.

This time around we ordered a roti canai, a roti Planta and a roti bom. The roti canai was awesome as usual, no thick layers of floor, crispy and fluffy all round. The roti Planta was quite good, buttery and cooked well. The roti bom was a slight disappointment as I expected crispy layers of a cute round roti. It looked like any other roti and wasn't as crispy and buttery.

As though all that was not enough, a roti tisu was added to the 3 rotis. We have never had their roti tisu before but because our dear Singaporean friend, Gwen has never had roti tisu, we decided to order it.

It came in all it's caramalized, buttery, gigantic cone structure glory spanning across 3 roti canai plates. It was thin and light, almost like eating butter and sugar crisps.

It was gone at the speed of light though. 5 minutes I believe?

We were not surprised when Restoran Sri Melur Jaya was voted the best roti canai joint in the Klang Valley in The Star People’s Food Awards. Obviously, we stand by the vote.

Reviews at friedchillies, The Star and kuali.com.

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Devi's Corner Banana Leaf Rice ~ Bangsar

This post was first posted at  Devi's Corner Banana Leaf Rice ~ Bangsar on Deliciouslogy | Wordpress.

Our decision to try Devi's Corner's banana leaf rice was due to Isadora Chai's recommendation on the Best Thing I Ever Ate - Malaysia on Food Network.

Banana Leaf Rice in Devi's Corner?? It intrigued and got us thinking for a bit - we've never had banana leaf rice at Devi's Corner. Our favorites there are the tandoori, roti and for me, their mi goreng. So banana leaf rice in Devi's Corner being the best thing she has ever had in Malaysia had us tapping our chins for a bit.

So off we went to satisfy our curiosity!

Banana leaf rice at Devi's Corner is semi-exclusively served upstairs (I very rarely see it served downstairs) and compared to the section downstairs, it's quieter and more pleasant upstairs.

The side dishes presented to us were very promising. Spiced potatoes, stir fried spinach and an incredible mango chutney blew our socks off and set the bar really high. I also liked their deep fried bittergourd - thinly sliced, crispy and crunchy unlike a lot of places.

My sauce choices as per usual was a mixture of dhall and chicken curry and Devi's was good. The dhall was thick and the curry was tasty.

We ordered 3 sides - 2 of our staples: mutton masala and chicken varuval as well as the star of the show - crab curry.

When the crab curry arrived, we were surprised to learn that we were not getting any hammers or nutcrackers like the way that many Chinese restaurants served crab. We learned why shortly after. The curry was tasty and fragrant. It tasted every bit like crab so we were quite impressed by the how much the crab was infused into the sauce. However, we found the reason why the hammers and nutcrackers were not needed - the crab was so soft and mushy! The meat was mushy border-lining 'crab that was not fresh' but there was no brine-y smell like crab that has been left out to rot. We reckoned that the crab has been cooked for a long time to infuse the taste into the curry but it rendered the crab meat almost inedible.

Not to mention, I created a mess of myself trying to pry open the crab (even though it was so soft, it was still difficult) and the mark of the crab explosion is still evident on certain parts of my bag.

The chicken varuval tasted strange - it tasted nothing like other varuval that we've tried so it was hard to accept. It was dry as well. Did not enjoy this.

The mutton masala was tough and had a strong hint of garlic. Didn't like it as well.

Deciding whether I liked Devi's banana leaf rice was difficult. On one hand, I loved the basics that they presented to me (I will never forget that incredible mango chutney) but the side dishes were not as good as my default banana leaf rice places. The crab curry had a very good sauce but the crab meat itself was a major disappointment - was I expected not to eat the crab itself? That would be a big waste, wouldn't it? Or maybe I didn't pick all their best side dishes and would have been better off with a fried chicken or fried fish instead?

Either way, I will have a hard time convincing LC to go back for another taste as there are so many other banana leaf rice places that are consistently good.

Other reviews can be found at Bangsar Babe, CC Food Travel, masak-masak and Goody Foodies.

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Deliciouslogy's Favorite Banana Leaf Rice at Sri Nirwana Maju ~ Bangsar

This post was first posted at  Sri Nirwana Maju Banana Leaf Rice ~ Bangsar on Deliciouslogy | Wordpress.

Nirwana Maju is our default banana leaf rice shop being so accessible and the nearest to both of us.

Of course it does help that they serve one of the best banana leaf rice that we know.

Nirwana Maju's vegetable sides vary from day to day but the fried bittergourd is a staple. The staff here are occasionally cheeky and try to pile up more rice and vegetables on your 'plate' even though you tell them to stop.

I like the mixture of dhall and chicken curry and Nirwana Maju's go very well together. Their sides are quite good and mild in flavor to compliment the meaty sides and seafood that are full of flavor. Unfortunately, I find their bittergourd a bit soggy and it's cut rather thick therefore they don't crisp up enough.

I do however love their mutton varuval - we order this every time we're here. This time around, we tried the sotong goreng and it was good! The squid was not overcooked and rubbery and the batter was crisp.

We also ordered a piece of fried chicken which looked like it was double fried, once before and after chopping it into pieces but the chicken was still moist and tender. I'm impressed!

LC and I tried another banana leaf rice place down the road from Nirwana Maju based on the recommendation of the 'Best Thing I Ever Ate- Malaysia' segment on Food Network. The post will be up next week so stay tuned to see if we agree with Isadora Chai! :)

More reviews for Sri Nirwana Maju on Foodspotting and Venusbuzz

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Selera Restaurant ~ Little India, Singapore

This post was first posted at  Selera Restaurant ~ Little India on Deliciouslogy | Wordpress.

During our last trip to Singapore, we stayed in a decent hotel in the quieter part of Little India near the old cinema. Soluxe Inn was located right about Selera Restaurant and at first glance, the teh ais and kopi ais seemed to be the right color and consistency. Trust us Malaysians to not be functional without our staple drinks - Jaslyn was actually the first to comment that the teh ais looks like the right color.

Despite our adversity towards local Singaporean food, this could probably be the best that we've had in Singapore.

The teh ais is indeed the correct consistency and color - it came close to a good Malaysian teh ais too. On a separate visit, we had their kopi ais and it was good too - kaw and not too sweet.

LC had a Fried Rice with Salted Fish and shockingly it had wok hei and was quite tasty.

I had a Claypot Meehoon - should have chosen thicker noodles but overall, there was lots of prawns, squid and fish cake and it was pretty tasty too.

The most buzzing area in this kopitiam is the Selera Famous Chicken Curry Puff stall which sells fried food items like chicken and potato curry puffs, lobak, popiah, pisang goreng,  cempedak goreng and prawn fritters. They range between $1 - $2 per item which is rather pricey but the few items we tried were pretty good (close your eyes and make sure you don't convert to MYR)

The fried radish cake didn't have completely disintegrated radish but instead had julienne slices of radish and carrot. It was quite tasty with the chilli sauce and was large enough to grip in my hand.

The cucur udang had a large prawn attached to it. The lady at the stall was continuously frying this so it was probably their best seller alongside the curry puffs. The batter was crispy and the prawn was fresh.

The popiah didn't fair as well. The popiah skin was crispy but the filling a little soggy for my liking.

On a separate occasion, LC had their chicken rice which was quite okay. The rice was rather fragrant and had chicken stock in it while the chicken was tender

Despite being famous for their curry puffs, I never tried them in the end.

The second time around, I went for a pisang goreng and cempedak goreng. The banana caramalized nicely on the inside and was fried to perfection. The cempedak was sweet and fragrant.

If you're in the area and craving for food closer to home, this place would be your best bet. The kopitiam is visible from the Little India MRT,

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Food in Singapore

This post was first posted at Food in Singapore on Deliciouslogy | Wordpress.

After my many trips to Singapore, I thought I have successfully convinced myself that Singapore's hawker/street food will never compare to Malaysia's. However, being the optimistic people we are, we still decide to 'try' their hawker food time and time again.

I really wonder when we'll stop 'trying'.

The boyfriend, LC and I were in Singapore for Phantom of the Opera (Oh my gosh it was so so so so so so sooooo good! <3) and during the trip, we stayed in Little India. Yes, full of food except during the fasting month.

We were there during the fasting month. Oh gosh.

We decided to eat brunch that day at a restaurant right next to our hotel (81 Dickson).

There was a prawn noodle store that was opened 24 hours. Hey, if it's 24 hours, business must be really good and therefore the food should be really good too, right? Well, that logic didn't apply this time.

I was shocked to see clear broth and the meehoon that I ordered was the thick kind that really doesn't go well with soup. What were they thinking?! Needless to say, it wasn't good. I wouldn't say it's bad. But, it is just not the prawn noodles I know!

LC decided to go with 'chap fan'. Smart choice.

Unconvinced, we decided to try some chicken rice balls, also served at the same restaurant. Our first reaction was 'what on earth is that black soup?!' It turned out to be some herbal soup with 'taufu pok'. Very weird tasting. The 'chicken' turned out to be a mixture of thinly sliced pork and chicken. Where's my usual chunky chicken, dammit?! The meat was tasteless and even with the sauce, the taste wasn't salvageable. The rice was edible.

Maybe after this round of hawker food, we would really learn our lesson.

On a happier note, we found Gong Cha at bugis+. Hello, familiar taste!

Dinner that night was at sukiya with Malaysian and Singaporean friends. Food was good of course. It's the same sukiya that we know of in Malaysia but sukiya in Singapore serves pork!

This was the star of the night! Chicken meatballs stuffed with cheese. So sinful!

Later on that night, we had a mamak session at a place claiming to have the 'best prata in Singapore', The Roti Prata House. Reviews of the place are available at Businesstimes.com.sg. 

The place was full to the brim when we arrived and we had to station ourselves to wait at 3 different tables before we had a seat 15 minutes later. At that time, we were thinking 'wow this place must be really good'. The waiting time was also a good 15 minutes before we got our food. Heck, even ordering was difficult since there were so many customers and there was easily a ratio of 1 waiter to 10 customers.

Since they claim to have the best prata in Singapore, what do you do? Of course, order a prata! On top of that, we had a roti bom kaya, teh ais and teh o ais limau. Very normal. Nothing extraordinary that we won't order back in KL.

Oh what a big mistake we made.

In the photo above, the darker piece is the roti bom kaya. The roti prata is in the background. Our Malaysian roti prata is fluffy, smacked a few times to give it air and crisp.

This roti prata has the texture of heated frozen wholemeal chapatti that we get in KL. I'm sorry, for the first time, I have to say 'best prata, my a**'. Please come to Malaysia to learn our version or go to India to learn the original. It was just so bad.

The roti bom kaya fared better but it wasn't all that great either. The roti was hard and thick.

Hoping to save the place some face, I decided to order a roti durian. The minute the plate reached the table, I smelled it even though I was preoccupied with a game. The roti durian was the saving grace. It was better than everything else and actually had real durian puree in it. The roti texture however was still a bit tough like the rest.

On top of that, their tea had been steeped for too long that all the drinks with tea failed with flying colours that night. The only drink that passed the taste test was limau ais that our fellow Malaysian drank.

Talking about fellow Malaysian, this very same person was the one who brought us here and recommended the roti bom kaya and roti durian. Later on he went 'Why you order roti prata la??'. We countered 'It's the best prata in Singapore, what were we supposed to order??' Adoi.

For lunch the following day, we walked to Bugis once again. The night before, we had a chat about a new Durian Mcflurry that they were serving so Mcdonalds was already in our minds as lunch for the next day.

Spicy Chicken McDeluxe is our staple in KL and we realised that the spiciness has been toned down to suit the local tastebuds in Singapore. The fries were good though, thankfully. The Durian Mcflurry was a milky coloured durian flavoured syrup (we asked for no rice puffs) and vanilla ice cream. It turned to be no big deal but it was okay tasting.

My favorite sweet and spicy chilli sauce is not available here and is replaced with some garlicky, sandy textured chilli sauce. The tomato ketchup had the same sandy texture so the boyfriend decided to double back to the counters to accept the honey mustard sauce that the cashier offered us earlier. It was acceptable but sigh, nothing beats our chilli sauce back in KL.

After all the failures of local hawker food, we gave up on the local food the night after Phantom at Marina Bay Sands and headed to a Thai stall located slightly opposite of our hotel. The tables and seats were in a side alley with air-conditioner condensers above our heads. It turned out to be the best 'hawker food' we had in Singapore. The tom yam fried rice was a little wet but tasty. The basil with chicken was good too. We had a crabmeat with egg as well (an expensive SGD15) which is not visually appealing (hence the lack of a photo) but tasted good.

I suppose it was lesson learned. No more local hawker food in Singapore. Not even those in air-conditioned food courts in shopping malls. There is no way they can beat the Malaysians when it comes to hawker food.

The following day, we were scheduled to leave for KL and we had food with a Malaysian in Singapore once again. Thank you Theresa for bringing us to a curry place in Novena that restored our faith in Singapore food. It was really good. Chunky chicken, thick curry laced with milk and spices.

I don't remember the place anymore but it's a popular place with marble tables and wooden chairs facing the First Coach pick up area in Novena. There would be a queue for seats during lunch time that will only clear after 2pm.

It was a wonderful trip. It was great to meet up with friends that I've not seen for a long while.

It wasn't a good food trip though. Perhaps after this, we would finally be convinced that the hawker food in Singapore is a 'gone case' situation.

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