I was out with my missus that morning and we decided to grab a bite to eat before going home so that there would not be any need to cook something for lunch that day…and I went back to this place – the Sri Pelita Cafe in the vicinity of the Kampung Datu shops, right next to the Paramount Hotel (to the right).
If you remember from that last post, I had intended to go back there again to try their deep-fried tandoori chicken…
…and I was glad I did! I really love the taste but those baked ones are usually somewhat dry and may not be that great. These deep-fried ones that we had that morning had both the special taste and the meat was nice and tender. I certainly loved it…a lot!
The boss insisted that we tried his fish curry…
It was very nice but it was a different type of curry, probably Indian or mamak-style. Personally, when it comes to fish, I guess I am more used to the nyonya-style assam curry or our kampung-style masak kunyit but it was good for a change. I’m not a fan of ikan tongkol either but tenggiri or bawal hitam (black pomfret) is getting a bit too expensive these days.
Now, if you drop by a nasi kandar shop anywhere, they will pour all the different types of curry gravy onto your plain white rice. Usually I am not too comfortable with that as the gravy would flood the rice, making it somewhat messy. Here, the boss gave the mixed curry gravy to us in a bowl…
…and I certainly would prefer it that way! The gravy was very nice and went absolutely well with the rice.
He also let us try his sambal belacan (dried prawn paste)…
…and he kept warning us that many of his customers complained that it was way too hot. It was very good too – not hot enough for my missus but just right for me. We found out the type of belacan that he used and we would definitely be buying and using that too – previously, we would not settle for anything less than our own Bintulu belacan but at RM50-60 for a 1-kilo brick of the stuff, it is getting a bit too expensive and is becoming quite a luxury – not something that we can afford, really…considering that we do eat it and use it quite a lot!
Like I mentioned in my earlier post, I love his fried vegetables. They do not look like what we usually find at the Malay stalls – I always say that the Malays don’t know how to cook vegetables unless it is masak lemak or something like that. Their fried vegetables are usually quite a disappointment, I would say. We ordered his fried ladies’ fingers…
…and it was as good as it looked. Absolutely perfect!
We also got to try his tempeh…
…and it was well done. I have had some elsewhere that were over-fried till they were very hard and some has that stale oil smell, probably the result of using oil that had been used over and over again – I found nothing of the sort here, thankfully.
All in all, it was a delightful lunch and we ate to our heart’s content till all the bowls and plates were empty and clean…but THE BEST was yet to come! When I asked for the bill, the boss said that he would like to give me a treat for the good review I gave in my previous post. Oooooo…thank you so much, kind sir! This is the very first time anyone has treated me to one whole meal – at the other places, most would just round up the figure or give me a little discount on the bill while some may treat me to something special but not the whole meal.
Whatever it is, I always tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth…and when something is nice, I will say it is nice and when it is not, I will say it isn’t…and perhaps, offer some constructive suggestions as to how it may be improved and so far, I’ve liked everything here except for the egg fried using the metal ring that I had the first time I dropped by this shop. LOL!!! No worries, boss! I would be back soon enough…and I would want to try that white tom yam soup that you kept talking about. See you!!!
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 