Allow me…

After our dinner here that evening with all the local ethnic delights, my friend, Mary, extended her invitation to all of us to drop by her place the following night for her pansoh ayam (chicken cooked in bamboo)…

…and yes, she cooked it all herself, no holds barred (I asked her Thai chef, Jos!)! Impressive, eh? Instead of the usual “old mother hen”, she used those free range kampung (village) chicken and look at those unlaid eggs! I never had any of those before – everytime when my mum slaughtered her own and there was any inside, I think she ate it herself…and maybe, there was a reason for it. I tried one but no, it was nothing like a regular egg yolk, not at all. The texture was completely different – it was rubbery and no, it did not have any of the egg yolk taste that I like a lot. In fact, it did not get me all excited, I’m afraid and let’s just say that I wouldn’t mind if I never get to eat it again.

As for the chicken, it was very nice – the soup was absolutely great and went really well with the rice but there was fish…

…with the very very nice sambal (dip) by the side. I love fish – and if it is very fresh, I would prefer it to meat or other kinds of seafood anytime.

I loved the crispy fried garlic ikan bawal hitam (black pomfret)…

…that night which was just as nice as the barramundi that we would usually have here before and I sure enjoyed it to the max.

Everybody loved the awesome prawns…

– huge tiger prawns, so sweet, so succulent but Mary says this is only available upon special order and it will depend also on the availability of the prawns, this size!

I loved the beef the last time I was here, the one with the exquisite sauce with freshly-ground pepper…

– not the bottled ones that I do not enjoy at all and I would agree with my missus when she remarked that this time around, it was even better! Thumbs up, Jos! It was really good.

We also had the fried bitter gourd…

…with fermented beans and ikan bilis (dried anchovies) and also the krapow gai (chicken)…

…which is one of my favourite dishes here.

Thank you so so much, Mary, for that exclusive dinner treat…and I must say that I do enjoy any dinner at your place very much and I sure would want to go back again and again. Great place, great food, great people – just couldn’t ask for more!