I heard that there is a new Korean restaurant in town and friends were sharing photographs of what they ate there on Facebook so when my girl was home for the weekend last week, I took her there for lunch at around noon on Saturday – I had read in some of the comments that for some reason, it was not open for dinner till the 19th.
When we got to the place, there were a lot of people standing outside, waiting for a table and there was no proper queuing system so I guess you could just grab any that was made available, the survival of the fittest. Tsk! Tsk! It has some kind of a coffee shop setting, nothing fancy, nothing impressive, no nice decor, nothing (I would say that I have seen some coffee shops around here that are a whole lot nicer) and when I looked around, I saw that more than half of those seated either had not ordered or they were still waiting to be served and none of them looked very happy. Of course we did not bother to wait and left the place right away.
I don’t know whether we will ever go back there again but for one thing, I did get to see the menu here and the things sure look rather expensive for a dowdy place like that and it made me wonder what prompted somebody to say that it was cheap, nice and cheap.
Anyway, that day, we made our way to this coffee shop just round the corner…
…where I thought the food was indeed really nice and cheap but I really could not work out how they charged us each time – here and also here.
As a matter of fact, my missus and I dropped by there the day before, Friday…and as it was our no-meat day, I had this…
– half a salted egg and two types of fish, the very nice stingray curry and the fried kembong…
…which was quite good too. Very often, at many places, they would use the cheap frozen-for-too-long ones that are neither sweet nor tasty, so very bland despite all that they use to marinate the fish.
I was wishing they had split the stalks of the paku (wild jungle fern)…
…into two though as it was quite a task for me to chew. Thankfully, it was nicely done and we had all the time in the world so I did manage somehow and licked the plate clean.
As always, my missus was more disciplined and she had the stingray curry as well plus 2 types of vegetables…and this time around, I did find out that our drinks cost RM3.00 only, one kopi-o-peng (iced black coffee) and one iced lemon…so deducting that from the overall total of RM14.00, the food cost us RM11.00. Gee!!! It was RM13.00 the last time, inclusive of drinks, and I picked 5 items altogether then, this time only 4. Perhaps fish is more expensive, I wouldn’t know.
As for our lunch the very next day. my missus tried their mee mamak (RM4.50)…
…which they said was all right though I did not see them getting all excited about it so I guess it was just that, all right.
I also ordered the rojak tambi (RM3.00)…
…from the stall at that shop even though we did not really intend to have that with our lunch. I noticed that the man could only use his left arm – his right arm was hanging limp by the side. I did not ask why but I just thought I would order something from him just to give him some extra business and help him out a bit. It was not as nice this time around though – the peanut sauce was not as thick, a little too watery but the cucur ( fritters) were slightly better, not as rubbery.
So what did we eat from the nasi campur stall? My girl had this…
…the lamb curry with the sambal brinjal and fried ladies’ fingers, 3 items only – one meat and two veggie while I had this…
…the beef curry with potatoes, the sambal egg and the lovely fried egg with all those golden frills…the sambal brinjal and the daun ubi masak lemak (tapioca leaves in coconut milk), 5 altogether and minus the drinks and my missus’ noodles, the total for our two plates of nasi campur came up to…RM11.00 – exactly the same as what we had the day before.
No, there is no way I can work out as to the how or the why – just eat!!! LOL!!!
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
I have never yet tried Korean food, but I hear it is quite good!
I can’t say I’m really a fan of Korean – I may like a few dishes but I can’t say there’s any that I can’t live without. Many people love kim chi, not me.
Queue – walk away! Queue with no system – RUN away!
Yes, I can live without it, will never subject myself to this kind of treatment especially when we are the ones bringing them our money! Should treat us with a lot more consideration and respect.
Looking at the nasi campur, they are memang murah la! For two plates with mutton, fish, beef… and all, costing RM11 is very reasonable. Over here one chap farn with these meat and fish can be more costly…. hmmmm…
It is! Very reasonable, quite cheap…especially for Malay food. There are not that many Malays here and the nasi campur at their stalls can be quite expensive usually but not here – so cheap…and that is why I keep coming back, just that I can’t figure out how they calculate to get those totals each time.
I think I’d prefer local Malaysian food to Korean. Good choice. Had Korean a little while ago, and wasn’t too impressed.
I’m not surprised. Frankly, I do not see the attraction – probably people have been watching too much of those Korean dramas and are in love with those K-pop stars so they are so into their food, not me.I’d go for our own Malay or Malaysian anytime.
Malay mixed rice. Very expensive. If you order fish, lagi mahal!!
But one cannot complain much if they serve good and tasty food. Haha. I used to patronise a Malay stall in a food court quite frequently during my working days. Nothing less than RM5 even just a veggie and a chicken piece.
Yes, I always thought theirs were very expensive…and they used to give so very little. People told me – stick to the one meat two veg, standard price and I would not be overcharged. Unfortunately I was never very disciplined – would ask for more than what I should take…and then had a heart attack when told the total. 😀
Here, it is self service – buffet style – can dump as much as you want onto your plate…and luckily, it is cheap!
I’m always the mess when it comes to Nasi Campur. Can’t really control myself to select the dishes. Semua maok ngap. hehehe
Me too!!! Everything I’ll want!!! Luckily, it is quite cheap at this particular place. Perhaps you should not go to places with a lot of selections for you to choose from like this one. Just go to the small ones with just half a dozen or so to pick – then you will not get carried away. Hehehehehehe!!!!
I prefer nasi campur to Korean food. Typical Chinese, eh? When come to nasi campur, usually very hard for one to decide what to take especially if all the dishes looks so appetising. Me too usually take 3 types only. For your plate of nasi campur, I would get the fried egg, sambal brinjal & curry, more than enough for me.
Same as my missus, will only take one meat and two vegetables. Me, very hard to control – when I see everything, I want all!!! 😀 😀 😀
Indeed, our local Malaysian cuisine is anytime nicer than Korean and a whole lot cheaper too. Can’t imagine people going to those trendy Korean restaurants, spending no less than RM100 at least for a meal for two or three and praising it to the skies. Snob appeal, I guess…got class…and also the influence of tv.
Your nasi campur is fully loaded 😀 I also wonder how they calculate the price of your meal. Could it be that they just made an estimate? There’s no way they can remember exactly what you took.
They never even stood by to see what we took – they just scooped the rice onto a plate to pass to us and walked away – we could help ourselves to anything we wanted. I think I had double servings at times…but what they do not know wouldn’t hurt them, I guess. Hehehehehe!!!!
I’m getting hungry after reading about all the different dishes you mentioned in this post! Especially the sambal brinjal 😀
Slurpssss!!! My girl’s favourite. You’re still in NZ? Not cheap there…if you can get that. Wild weather this weekend, hope you’re back home already.