Something changed…

I dropped by here again one morning and it looked like something had changed about the place. For one thing, I did not see a single Indian employee – I don’t know if they had gone back for Deepavali and had not reported back for work or they had left for good.

Other than that, there were a couple of stalls in front…

…that were not there before. I would have ordered the nasi lemak kukus ayam goreng berempah as it looked so good in the photograph…

Unfortunately, for reasons unknown, the stalls were not open at that point in time.

There was also another stall by the side in front selling among other snacks, packets of nasi lemak wrapped in brown paper. Initially, I thought it would be like those available all over the kueh stalls in the kampung but later I noticed that they were lined with banana leaf inside. I would have wanted to grab one to try but by the time I saw that, I already had something to eat. Another time perhaps.

I did ask one of the guys and he said that the place was still under the same owner, no change of hands…unlike what I had heard.

So what did I have that morning? A piece of their roti telur (RM2.00)…

…and a piece of their roti canai (RM1.20)…

The former was nice but I did not quite like the doughy taste in the latter.

Another place where something had changed would be the chicken rice shop here…

They had moved the counter which was at the back before to the front, formerly occupied by the bakery that had since moved here.

We had the drumstick chicken rice (RM4.50 X 3)…

…and I ordered two stewed eggs (RM1.00 each)…

…only as my girl could not eat that owing to the soy sauce used.

This meat platter of char siew and siew yoke…

…was the killer. I just asked for the two types of meat enough for three and that was what we got…for RM15.00 but I think that is more or less what one would have to fork out for a meat dish at a Chinese chu char (cook & fry) restaurant so I guess the price was all right.

Everything was great except that I thought the rice was not as nice as usual – it seemed to lack the usual fragrance and was a little bit dry. I do think they should pay more attention to their quality control but even though I thought it was not as nice that day, it was still nicer than most, if not all, of the chicken rice around town, specifically the rice, that is.

SRI PELITA PERMAI Islamic Cafe (2.2960502,111.8938157) is located along Lorong Ulu Oya 11, off Jalan Oya among the “newer shops” in the Permai area across the road from the Sibu General Hospital, where the outlets of Sugar Bun, Singapore Chicken Rice and 7 Eleven are situated and CHOPSTICKS CHICKEN & RICE (2.312434, 111.845917) is located in the Delta Mall, Jalan Pedada area of shops, facing the church along Lorong Taman Seduan 8, off Jalan Gambir.