A fine weathered Friday morning. The Batik Influencer suggested to the Hatted Writer, that for lunch, more like brunch; we should go to this place called “Roast and Toast” or is it “Toast and Roast”? The Batik Influencer took a day off from office duties. She had been to this place a few days earlier and thought the food was good.

We started our journey down to Petaling Jaya (more commonly known as “PJ”) at 11.10am. We thought we’d get there early in anticipation of a possible lunch crowd. Malaysians love food. Good food means long cues.

We found the place fairly easily. Located in one corner of SS2, surrounded mainly by condominiums and apartments, with Tropicana Shopping Mall being sort of its backdrop, this one row of double storey shoplots was in what seems a perfect locale for the food business.

Parking was limited and could be a challenge during peak hours. We found a parking space without too much of a problem, though.

As soon as we got out of the Malaysian version of the “Rocky” vehicle, I thought we’d grab the opportunity of getting an outdoor pic of the Hatted Writer, capitalising the super bright soon-to-be mid-day sun; without feeling too much of its blazing flame-thrown rays, stinging us.

At the entrance of the shop, was what we came here for, the restaurant’s famed specialty of food: char Siu / siu yuk (1), ready to be served.

The Meehoon kerabu was the first dish to arrive. I thought that I was going to get some bits of mango with this RM5.00 (US$1.05) dish. The noodles were cold. No mango in it. Lots of bits of salted fish. It had some flavour of soured mango. Oh…and it came with some mint leaves, decorative presentation?

The siu yuk was siu siu nice. Not really extra-ordinary. However, the char siu more than compensated for the whole meal in taste and satisfaction.

We ordered an additional dish, “sui kow”, an additional dish. Sui kow is more commonly known as “wanton” in most Chinese restaurants. It was served as a soup dish (we ordered the soup version. Very nice.

For drinks, Jeannie ordered Iced coffee or “kopi ice”, and I; I ordered “cincau” (Grass Jelly drink). What? Not coffee for me? I thought I’d move away from the norm. However, the cincau came as a hot drink, definitely not to my liking. The waiter got my order wrong. However, the Batik Influencer, greatly admiring the Hatted Writer from leatherpotato.com, willingly exchanged her Kopi ice with me.

The kopi ice or iced coffee, I believe; had condensed milk in it. It was more than the usual sweet, and it did not have the usual after taste that most poor quality milks mixed with coffee, have. If the sweetness was toned down to half strength at least, it would have been ideal (pun not intended).

Lunch overall, was good. Would I recommend this restaurant? Yes, the food is much better than just “good”. Clean, service is pretty (there we go again with that word) fast. Price is a tad premium.

Oh ya, the name is Toast & Roast.

NOTES:
1. Char siu ( or char siew) is barbecued roast pork, whereas siu yuk (siew yoke) is roasted crispy pork belly. Spellings may differ slightly but mean the same thing.