Hooked @ The Curve

Was at The Curve last Friday night as we wanted to catch a movie at Cineleisure. We decided to do dinner at The Curve since we only had about an hour to spare. Walking around, the choice wasn't easy, especially when we didn't really have anything in mind. The Street area was filled with people, dining alfresco at the restaurants there and those shopping at the flea market. I had thought the flea market only opened on Saturdays and Sundays.

Finding the area a bit too crowded and the need for food to be delivered faster (less crowd, free kitchen!), we decided to have a look at the first floor. The restaurants here were definitely a lot emptier. Some only had a table or two filled with Vivo having the most people eating there. I had eaten at Vivo before but found the food mediocre. Most restaurants up here were having set promotions to attract customers. We decided to eat at Hooked as they had a good deal with set meals promotion available for dinner and lunch too.

Both Euro and I ordered the Aglio Olio Pasta set while KA had the Hooked Express (which is basically Fish & Chips). Without my camera, I borrowed KA's Sony Ericsson K750i phone to snap some pics.
KA said the Fish & Chips were nice and Euro and I found the pasta tasty. Our set meal came with a drink (a choice of soft drinks or Ice Lemon Tea), soup (Mushroom soup which was yummy), main course and a generous scoop of ice-cream for dessert. We found the meal truly value-for-money as it was not only reasonably priced (my set was RM11.95++), it also tasted good. With only 3 tables filled, including ours, we can only guessed that what Hooked lack was marketing as the food itself was good.

Sometimes good food and places becomes "extinct" when people aren't willing to step into a quiet restaurant to try or view certain places as not trendy enough. Some simply don't know there is such a place. It's sad especially when the food is good. However, we'll be going to Hooked again and wish Hooked well.

Don't let love interfere with your appetite. It never does with mine. - Anthony Trollope

Malacca - Part 2

After wandering around Malacca on the 1st day there, mom and I woke up earlier on the 2nd day and I attempted to look for wantan noodles for brunch at Heeren Street. I did manage to get into the area but due to the roads which are mostly one way, it took me a few attempts to get to the right road. When I found Kedai Makanan & Minuman Wantan Mee, it felt like I had struck gold (well, almost...ha ha ha...).
I read that they prepare a different version, one that is added with some chilli paste. Mom ordered the normal one and I ordered the chilli version. The wantan mee noodles were nice and firm - not overcooked. The chilli paste gave it a distinctive flavour making it different from the ones back in PJ/KL (though there is a spicy wantan mee in Section 17, PJ but it's different). The auntie even handed me a plastic bottle of the chilli paste to add more onto the noodles.
The normal version tasted good too and was very flavourful indeed. The BBQ Pork was sliced thinly and I like it as I don't like chunky meat pieces. The wantan was okay and normal. So, it gets the thumbs up from me! This place opens early in the morning till about 2.30 pm and is closed on Wednesday for those thinking of patronising this place.

After our meal, we walked around Jonker Street. A lot of the houses have been converted to retail shops, maintaining the old facade. Mom had moved to Malacca and stayed in Tengkera when she was 19 years old and went to Kuala Lumpur 3 years later. She commented that she couldn't really recognise the place anymore.
While walking around here, I saw the most decorated trishaw in my entire life. Seems a lot of the trishaws here are decked in this way to attract customers who are mostly tourists. The plastic flowers don't do it for me, I told mom that it looked more suitable for my funeral procession. LOL....
Anyway, my bro had told me that one should get a quote properly from his past experience while in Malacca. He was fleeced by a trishaw peddler who had earlier told him that he would charge RM50 to bring him around to a few places. He told my bro to take his time to look around. Turned out that he was charging RM50 per hour, not a flat rate!!!! It came up to about RM200 plus, but my bro eventually paid him RM100! Well, I'm sure there are some honest trishaw peddlers out there. My bro was just unfortunate to have met one that was not.

I then decided to bring my mom to A Famosa as the trip would not be complete if I didn't take her to at least one famous Malacca landmark. The place was pretty busy as it was school holidays.
Oh, I saw more "colourful" trishaws and told myself that the plastic flower business must be doing well in Malacca. Ha ha ha....

To be continued ...

Nasi Lemak, SS2 - Makcik Yan & Pakcik Wahab

While I was waiting in UMMC recently for my monthly eye check up, I sat next to a makcik and we both started chatting. Turns out that she, Makcik Yan, sells nasi lemak in my area, SS2 and she has been doing it for the past 30 years! She and her husband, Pakcik Wahab drops by the stall over the weekends which is usually operated daily by their 3 boys. She told me that her stall has quite a lot of customers and the best time to drop by was about 9am (opens from 7am till 10 plus am, close on Sundays). I was surprised as I didn't know of the stall and promised to try out her nasi lemak.

Arriving there on a Saturday, I was greeted with a long queue at her stall. It's located at the lane between BHP petrol station and the police station, at the end of the row of stalls (there are several nasi lemak stalls there. If in doubt, just look for the one with the long queue! Ha ha ha...)
This is not your restaurant type of eatery but one with zinc roof, cement rendered floor with plastic tables and chairs. Eating here reminded me of my childhood days when I used to follow mom and my dear ol' dad and eat at the old Bukit Bintang market which has made way for KL Plaza/Lot 10 donkey years ago. To further remind me of that, there is also a drink stall here operated by a Chinese auntie and an elderly man (he's around 80 years old, I think). He will take and deliver drink orders in his slow but orderly manner. Not that many drink stalls such as this type are operated by Chinese nowadays. Maybe they have been around for 30 years too. So, yeah, I felt like a kid again!
Makcik Yan was not around but Pakcik Wahab and his boys were expecting me to my surprise. Wonder what Makcik Yan told them! Well, the rice is scooped from the wooden container (a plus point for me - Makcik Yan had earlier told me that it costs about RM300) and the customers tell the boys what they would like from the array of deep tray dishes.
Well, apart from the fried chicken, almost everything else was spicy! I asked for sambal petai ("smelly" green beans with chilli) and sotong (cuttlefish). Lyn, who went with me, had beef rendang. Even if one is eating there, the food is served on the brown paper. Makcik Yan had told me that she had once tried changing to plates after starting out that way earlier. However, customers complained that it wasn't as nice and chicken pieces flew out easily from the small plate. Ha ha ha....So, they will hand you the rice in a cone shaped brown wrapper with a fork and spoon "planted" into it!
I tried to unwrap it gently to take a nice photo but messed up the presentation when I failed! Ha ha ha...But nevertheless, it tasted good.
I must say I do like the nasi lemak here. The sambal and rice is nice (not soft, but separate grains) and the beef rendang was tender (thanks Lyn for letting me steal some beef!). The sotong was good and easy to bite (not the rubbery type if you know what I mean). Our two packs came to RM8.80; didn't get a breakdown. Well, I now know where to look for good nasi lemak in PJ (I eat at Tang Lin's when I'm in KL). As a matter of fact, I had already gone back to eat again with my other friends.

My friends and I call nasi lemak "fatty rice" but that has never stopped me from eating it! - wmw