A house is not a home…

As far as I know, this is the third restaurant here that has the word in its name…

…or the second, at least as one of them uses the word “baba” instead. That was the first one to open and at least, they have the decency to declare in its name that it is a blend of nyonya and Thai. I have not been there but the reviews I have read or heard have not been very good.

I posted something on the second one not too long ago – the one that seems confused between the words “Islamic” and “halal“…while this one that I went to with my daughter last week is the third one…

Well, I don’t know why there is this sudden obsession with the name. Maybe it is because of the recent Chinese series that was really popular among some people. Anyway, I cannot for the dear life of me, figure out what’s so nyonya about it when we can get umai (raw fish) which is a local Melanau delicacy, cream of mushroom soup and chicken chop…and even the Foochow meat cooked in ang chau there.

We ordered the pineapple fried rice (RM19.00…and it was not even served in a pineapple) which everyone knows is originally Thai…

…and the sambal tempe (RM8.00)…

…and the telur acar (RM1.50)…

…as our side orders.

Truth be told, we quite enjoyed the fried rice along with its acar timun (cucumber pickle) and keropok (prawn crackers) though I would think they should be able to get much better quality ones of the latter locally. The lady attributed the steep price of the item to the presence of three udang galah (freshwater prawns)…but when it was served, I must say that I was not in the least impressed. They were SO small and though very delicious, they were so hard that the fork and spoon bent when I was trying to remove the shell. At those prices, they should at least invest in some decent cutlery!

Maybe the prawns were overcooked but I had the feeling that they were not freshly cooked as it seemed that they had been reheated…probably in a microwave which would usually render food into that kind of dehydrated, far from succulent state.

My daughter found the tempe too spicy but I thought it was quite good despite the fact that it was a bit hard for me – in my toothless state, so we did not finish that even though there was so very little in one serving. The egg was a disappointment. Period. I can get something similar AND cheaper but a whole lot better from my regular food stall at Bandong.

Having said all that, as you can see, cheap is the last word to describe what one can have at the place. I ordered kopi-o-peng as stated in the menu…but what I got eventually was a glass of very mild/weak iced Nescafe-o (RM5.00). My daughter ordered their fresh orange (RM7.00) and you can judge for yourself from the photo below…

…how diluted it was.

All in all, it was a disappointment. It wouldn’t be that bad had the food been really good and special…but for RM40.50 for two persons, I would much sooner go elsewhere and enjoy something far better in terms of quality and quantity.