#Oriental

A SIMPLE MAKAN  AT THE ORIENTAL

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

Pt. 2 continuing from C.R.M.: Cendol, Rojak & Muruku… http://leatherpotato.com/2024/02/20/c-r-m-cendol-rojak-muruku/

From Mydin, we headed to Sunway Pyramid Shopping Mall which was about 15 minutes away. Though it is quite close, the traffic is usually heavy at any time of the day.

We had a couple of activities and errands to do there. Of course, dinner time crept up sneakingly fast that we had to figure out what to eat. Decisions, decisions. We both wanted comfortable, yet something fast. Not fast food as we have been having that quite often. So, we both agreed fairly easily, on going to Oriental Kopi restaurant.

One of the reasons that we, the Batik Influencer, and I; both like Oriental Cafe is that it is brightly lit.

We got a table pretty quickly as there wasn’t much of the usual queue. The restaurant was full with patrons. Just as much as people leaving after their meal; there were new customers waiting to be seated.

One of the reasons we both like Oriental Kopi, at least the outlet, here in Sunway Pyramid, is that it is brightly lit. Another reason is that it is clean. The tables are cleared immediately after customers have finished with their meal, cleaned with what looks like a disinfectant detergent and is ready for new diners within minutes.

Black Glutinous rice, more popularly known as “pulut hitam”. The white liquid is “santan” or coconut milk. This dessert came with two pieces of starchy balls with sweet green pea fillings as a standard dish.

Food ordering time. We went through the big, glossy menu. Jeannie got one of the menu checklists and pencil to write the numbers that was listed against each of the food, drink and dessert items listed in the menu. She wrote the corresponding numbers of the food and drinks that we decided on, in the menu checklist.

Jeannie’s dinner.

Jeannie ordered a rice dish that seemed to have everything in it. I went for the “Pulut Hitam” (Black glutinous rice) and two sets of kaya & butter on toast – simple food. We waved to one of the “Order Takers” to come take our orders, which was a small piece of paper with our orders placed on it.

Within minutes, though I would like to say, “near instantly” buy not quite; my pulut hitam arrived. It looked good. I was hungry and was willing to start with this first. However, this is a sweet dish. It is usually best to have it after the savory dish.

Jeannie’s order was the next to arrive. It looked interesting enough. It was a sort of fried rice, cooked in soy sauce, with various vegetables including chili padi. Chili padi (1) is a vegetable, no? Two large prawns were included in this meal. Large sliced, dark green skin cucumbers was placed all around the fringes of this dish. It was more than just part of this meal decoration; it tasted really good as wel.

To top it (literally) all, there was a sort of semi-boiled egg, with its soft yolk still in tact, bobbily sitting, on top of the rice. The presentation of this dish deserved top marks for decor. The food tasted just as good as it looked, according to Jeannie.

My order: 2 sets of toast with kaya and butter. The pulut hitam was my drink and dessert.

Mine was a simple dish: 2 sets of toast with kaya and butter. The toast was browned just right for me. It came with a generous spread of kaya. The kaya was nice, not too sweet. Jeannie, Laura and I do get worried about the sweetness of foods served in many places. We are careful and are conscious about very sweet food. Folks, there were nice, thick slices of butter that came in this toast. Not the ultra-thin and microscopic slices that we read about in social media where people complain that there is not enough butter served in a butter dish. So, ya; this toast with kaya and butter was good. I would recommend you try it for yourselves if you visit Oriental Cafe.

The Pulut Hitam that came with the santan pre-added in, was generally nice. I would have preferred if it was served with the santan not added in, but come together with it. I would have preferred that I had the choice of adding the santan in, which would have meant that I would have added just a dash or sprinkle of santan to give the pulut hitam some flavour; without over-powering the pulut hitam itself.

The Batik Influencer and the Hatted Writer.

We left shortly after we finished our dinner to get done the main reason we came to Sunway Pyramid for in the first place.

NOTES:
1. “Chili Padi” is used to describe someone who is small but feisty. Chili padi is tiny chili that is extremely spicy. It puts fear even for most locals when a food dish includes this “vegetable” as one of its main ingredients. Most of the time, it is the culprit for all the spicy dishes in our Asian Cuisine.

Where Shall We Eat?

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

Time for that activity again. It’s Saturday evening. How fast time flies before we are at the activity again. Yes, you know the one I am talking about. We talk about it almost all of the time.

Some of us have set times for this activity, some have set a number as to how many times we can get into this activity, and there are some, who are it all day long.

You know this activity – “Eating”. Sounds like a chore? I think not. Malaysians are eating experts, though they are coy with the “expert” title. They will prefer “developing expert status” as Malaysia is a developing nation.

Malaysia is blessed with a wide spectrum of food, that it is almost impossible to say that we have tried them all.

So, yes; it is Saturday evening and we were on our way to dinner. We got in the car, and started to drive. The usual questions (mainly two) popped up, “What do you want to eat?” and “Where she will eat?”

We were heading to Sunway Pyramid, the “happening Shopping centre” or at least that is what we would like to believe. That about narrowed down the number of restaurants that we could choose from.

Laura, who was going to meet us for dinner, suggested “Bananabros”. I said, “Why not Oriental?” No, not the Oriental Express or The Oriental; Oriental the restaurant. One of the main reasons I like that place is it is brightly lit. Jeannie and Laura agreed, so Oriental it was.

We had to laboriously physically climb a stack of large books from the LL2 lower ground floor to get to the restaurant on the Ground Floor at the blue wing.

When we got there, we had to queue in a fairly long “S”-shaped line for a table. This place is so popular. It is full house most of the time. We did not really have to wait too long as most of the people in front of us were families or in groups.

Laura joined us just as we were about to get a table. We made our orders.

AN EVENING AT THE ORIENTAL

/ Alan Atkinson / Leave a comment

The kopitiam, that is.

It took a long over 2 hour drive to go from our house to pick Jeannie and Laura up from their respective workplaces.

Laura wanted to go to the gym. She was looking forward to a good work out. She had a choice of the gym at Sunway Pyramid Shopping Centre or the one at Empire Gallery Shopping Centre (1).

She opted for Sunway Pyramid as she felt that I would have more stores to visit while we waited for her. However, I was not going to visit the stores there, as I had done so just yesterday.

The traffic in PJ (4) was moving at a breathtaking snail speed. Laura said that if I wanted to drive straight home, it was OK with her. However, she looks forward to working out as often as possible. So, I wanted to get her to the gym.

I drove as fast as possible, within the speed limits to get there. Since it was past 7pm, the “through pass road” from Kelana Jaya (4) across the triple-decker bridge was open.

We managed to get to Sunway Pyramid shortly after that.

While we waited for her, we thought we’d have our dinner. Jeannie and I settled for “Oriental Kopi” restaurant. Laura is at the gym and we are here.

We are at Oriental’s Sunway Pyramid outlet. As you can see from the pictures, this restaurant is brightly lit, very vibrant with lots and lots of customers. We did not have to wait in queue to get in as we would usually have to. However, the restaurant was full. As people left, new customers streamed in. This restaurant is very, very popular.

Jeannie wanted something soupy since it rained heavily earlier in the evening and the weather was generally cold. I thought it to be more gloomy than cold.

Jeannie did not order order anything soupy. In fact, they did not have anything soupy on the menu. She ordered Nanyang Curry Chicken Rice and their traditional coffee.

Jeannie’s meal: Nanyang Curry Chicken Rice and their traditional coffee. The egg on top of the rice is sort of a bull’s eye – soft and bouncy, until it is broken, where the yolk spills out.

My iced coffee with cincau. Quite a nice combination.
Getting some work done, while waiting for my order to arrive.

I went for something light – “Double Butter Kaya Toast”. Jeannie pointed out one of my favorite desserts – Pulut Hitam or “Tang Yuan in Black Glutinuous Rice” on the menu. For my drink, I ordered the “Oriental Kopi Cincau Ice”.

Our dinner.

The service at this restaurant is good. We were served our meal orders quite fast. I had to caution Jeannie when she was going through the menu, to order something that would be served quickly. She usually wants to try something new which quite often is not fast moving on the menu. That means she has to wait for longer than the time meals are usually served, as the kitchen has to specially prepare it.

My pulut hitam with the Tang Yuan (gummy balls?) with green pea paste [I think] fillings.
The Tang Yuan in Black Glutinuous Rice”. The white stuff floating on top is santan or coconut milk to add to the flavor. Yum!

We soon finished our meal. Laura was still at the gym. The Pulut Hitam or “Tang Yuan in Black Glutinuous Rice” dessert in my opinion, was not top notch today, as it is usually. The taste of the pulut hitam was somewhat lost by the overpowering taste of the Tang Yuan.

If you want an unusual, yet nice iced drink I would recommend the “Oriental Kopi Cincau Ice”. I give it a score of 8.0 /10.0. Jeannie said that her coffee was too “kau” (2) for her. I thought her coffee tasted very nice. I drank the whole balance of it.

Both Jeannie and I, decided to get some work done at the restaurant while waiting for Laura. The restaurant was very noisy. But it was a noisy sort of a chorus of people talking, all at the same volume level and in tune with everyone else. It was something like a loud murmur. We did not have to talk on top of our voices to be heard.

With my Insta360 Go 3. I started on this essay while sipping my iced coffee with cincau or as it is known as “Oriental Kopi Cincau Ice”.

Laura was done with her workout at the gym a short while later. Jeannie asked the waitress to tapau (3) the balance of her meal that she did not finish, to take home.

The Oriental is…well…oriental, if you are looking for a simple, oriental, style of meal. The ambience also sets you into the oriental mood. You will probably like it.

NOTES:
1. Sunway Pyramid and Empire Gallery are shopping centres both located in Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.
2. “Kau” simply means THICK, as in very strong coffee. it is actually a Hokkien/Teochew ( Chinese) dialect.
3. “Tapau” is Malay for takeaway or pack back.
4. PJ or Petaling Jaya and Kelana Jaya are both cities in the state of Selangor, Malaysia.