Friday - Out all day, Part 4

"What would you like to have for supper?" my sister Sui Fun asked, "Rubbish or Rice?". By Rubbish, she was referring to all my favorites like curry mee, hokkien mee, char kuay teow, loh bah, and all the delightful food I so craved. Well, since she puts it that way, it has to be rice.

Sui Fun offered many suggestions. We finally settled on the restaurant near IJM, some place near Batu Lanchang. Ever the good sister, she called up Loon to join us at the restaurant. "I had just had rice at 5" said Loon. "Never mind, come anyway, and make noise." said Sui Fun.

The roads were jammed with cars, it being Friday after work. Peter knows all the backways and lanes. He darted in and out of traffic, through small alleys and roads, and reached IJM in short order. We again called up Loon, who said he is on the way. "How can you be on the way, if you are answering your house phone?" asked Sui Fun.

Siew Loon and Lilian arrived shortly later. As soon as Sui Fun gave the word, the food started appearing in rapid succession. First came the chow fun. Fried hor fun noodles with egg gravy. This dish is good. It is very flavorful. The noodles (mixed with some rice sticks, which detracted from the ho fun, a minus, not a plus to the noodles) was good. The ingredients were tasty but not plentiful. This is an A+ dish.

Next came the "prawn" with Nestum. The faux prawn is probably langostino, not one of my favorites. Stir fried with Nestum (another of my non-favorites), it is a little dry and chewy.

The green vegetables fried with Balachan (shrimp preserve, a very salty, briny concoction of little shrimps) is very delicious. The balachan gravy is salty, as is natural for this condiment, but added to rice, it makes a very nice complement to the rice.

The clams cooked in a garlic sauce is a very nice delight. The clams, salty and oozing with its sweet juices, is slightly chewy and soft at the same time. It tastes salty and sweet and garlicky at the same time. You can pop on into your mouth, give it a slight chew, and wait for the juice to come out before you finish chewing it and swallowing it. This is another plus dish.

Last came the chili crabs. This should have been the high-light of the night. The plate contains about five small crabs, broke open by the chef into quarters, and the shells halved. The crabs are stir-fried in a tangy chili sauce. Unfortunately for me, the sauce is neither spicy or tangy for me. The crab is not very meaty and does not give me the enjoyment as would a soft-shelled crab. Not that I would advocate a soft shell version of this dish, but I just do not enjoy biting into the shells and not finding too much meat.

(p.s. The "pictures" in today's blog are actually movies. Click on the forward arrow below the pictures to see the movies. I had put the camera in the wrong mode by mistake.)