Not just The Lankan, but The Lankan at Seventeen

The usual question popped up…as usual, “What to eat?”; Jeannie asked as we were making our way back home to Subang Jaya, after dropping Laura (our daughter); off to work in Kay Al (also known as “K.L.” (1) to the local folk around here. At the point of her question, we had just turned in towards P.J. from Jalan (road) Damansara.

Jeannie, also known as the “Batik Influencer” because of her passion for batik, especially Malaysian batik; suggested we have breakfast nearby from where we were; perhaps in Section 17. She also suggested we try some place new. She already had an inkling as to where she wanted to go: “The Lankan At Seventeen”.

It took us about 10 minutes to get there from where we were at the point of deciding on our breakfast choices. It would have been slightly quicker. However, getting across Section 16 to Section 17 took several minutes because of the long waiting for the traffic lights at the inter-section to change in our favour to green.

The first thing we liked when we got there was the ease of getting a parking space. The area, though there were several restaurants in the two rows of shops, was quiet. I think it would be very different at lunch time, when all the restaurants will be at over-capacity with guests / customers.

Then, as we got to the entrance, the pleasant, colourful mural of an elephant within its habitat, was on the left wall. The decor was simple, yet inviting. Jeannie and I chose to sit alfresco (outside) to enjoy the natural coolness of the day.

A young, pleasant-looking, soft spoken host / waitress came to take out order. Jeannie has been to this restaurant with her office colleagues on several occasions before, so she was quite familiar with its menu.

Coming to The Lankan at Seventeen was a first for me. The food and drink menus were on each table. It had some interesting, unusual descriptions like “Short Eats”, “Kottu” and “Kolayyal Rice Packets” listed on it. Jeannie ordered a thosai (2) and a black tea drink to go with it.

I am not too adventurous when it comes to food. And, I was not too keen on having too heavy a meal. I ordered a plain appam (3), which in itself, was sweet. However, I was adventurous when it came to the coffees. I asked the host / waitress whose name is Nethmini, to describe the various coffees to me.

I got the spelling of her name correct because I asked her to write it in my journal notebook. She wrote her full name, making sure that she punctuated her “i”s with little circles on top of them instead of putting tittles. (4)

I decided to go for the Sukku Malli Coffee Black. This was an unusual coffee, laced with a spice – cardamom. As the coffee was placed on the table, I could get a slight whiff of the cardamom. I took a tiny sip of it to familiarize my taste buds with it.. The cardamom had a sweetish, slightly bitter taste. In Malaysia, when you say the food is spicy or something in the food is spicy, it is believed that the food is spicy hot, besides it being temperature hot. However, spicy and / or the spices related to it, are not just peppers or chili. They include cloves, cinnamon, cassia, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, star anise, clove, turmeric and other less know types.

You have to acquire the taste of this coffee, especially when it is “kosong”, black with no sugar. I added a couple of teaspoons of brown sugar to it, to differentiate it’s taste of with and without sugar. I think for the average coffee beverage drinker, a bit of sugar will make a favourable difference.

Jeannie said her black tea was nice. I took her word for it. I am not a “tea” person.😁

Jeannie’s thosai order looked so cheery with a “smiley face”, as the presentation was simple yet very nice. It was interesting to note that the thosai was about the size of the plate. It was very presentable. And it tasted good. Dipped in the dhal and coconut chutney, it tasted even better.

My appam came in a perfect crater-like shaped item. Again, the circumference of the plate fitted the circumference edge of the appam. Or was the appam made to fit the size of the plate? It was about the regular size of a usual appam (this, coming from an appam- eating expert? Yeah, right😏). Coconut milk which is commonly served in a small separate cup with appam; was not served. Jeannie and I thought that Nethmini (see, I am already used to the spelling of her name, with the regular tittles instead of those cute circles she wrote on top of her “i”s) forgot to serve it. Jeannie asked me to ask here for it. I said that I will try the appam first, without the coconut milk. “See how, first” (Malaysian way of saying “try first”).

It was a good think that I tried the appam first. On its own, it tasted sooo good. No need coconut milk! (Malaysian way of saying in conversations “not necssary”). The outer crust was firm and crispy, like a biscuit. The centre, was soft and sweet (not too sweet). A full meal on its own. Loved it.

Another unusual thing I noticed was that saucer that came with Jeannie’s tea order, had three holes at the edge of it. I am not sure about you, but it is unusual to me. Maybe, hot water is filled in these holes to keep the tea hot / warm for a longer time?

It was what what we would call a perfect breakfast. The setting set us in that mood. The weather was good, the food was good. a great way to chill, recollect your thoughts if you like, do some reading, especially with real books which gives you the benefit of flipping through pages (preparing you to get a copy of my book when it is on sale at book stores. [hint😉]), have meetings or get some work done where quietness is preferred.

The Lankan At Seventeen is definitely a place you should check out.

NOTES:
1. K.L. is the popular version of Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia.
2. Thosai is a South Indian savoury, thin pancake made from a batter of various fermented pulses and rice flour, which is then cooked on a flat griddle. The dish is usually eaten at breakfast with accompaniments such as sambar (an Indian vegetable stew), curry and chutney. http://www.nlb.gov.sg
3. Appam (also known as palappam) is a thin, bowl-shaped pancake from southern India, made from a fermented batter of rice flour and grated coconut or coconut milk. dictionary.com
Appams are served with vegetable stew, kadala curry (chickpea curry), potato stew, vegetable korma, coconut chutney or coconut milk sweetened with jaggery. Dassana’s Veg Recipes.
4. A tittle is the small distinguishing mark you see over a lowercase i and a lowercase j – an interesting name because it looks like a combination of tiny and little. It refers to a small point or stroke in writing and printing.
5. Petaling Jaya (fondly known as “P.J.”) is a city in the state of Selangor, Malaysia. P.J. is divided into sections. Sections 16 and 17 are parts of P.J..