Burning for the Burn at Santai, TTDI

Deepavali AM: Fresh off another gregarious Friday evening at Sid's, a few of us set off on the utterly unreaslistic hunt for banana leaf rice, neglectful of the fact that the Festival of Light is in fact, a significant day for our Hindu brothers and sisters that warrants a real holiday.

Seeing that I was going to be in TTDI for a couple of property viewings (yes, yes, STILL STILL viewing), the girls decided to hotfoot over to the area for lunch. With BLR fail inevitable, Eevon suggested Santai for tomyam.

We decided on splitting a few dishes among the four of us. The portions had arrived looking somewhat on the small side, but transpired to be just nice once we tucked in. The Sambal Kangkung featured some tasty, plump and fresh shrimps but I would have liked it a little spicier. The right level of BURN is an absolute necessary element for hangover sustenance.

The meal centrepiece arrived shortly after. We ordered the Tomyam Campur and they weren't kidding about the Campur bit - seafood, chicken, beef slices?! I don't believe I've ever seen beef used in tomyam. This was a lovely sweet broth, but once again, not enough BURN for me.

If Petai is on the menu, I cannot possibly ignore it. We chose Sambal petai with prawns and again, it arrived generously a prosperous serving of juicy prawns. Crazy burn factor still missing though.

Ayam Goreng Kunyit was a bit of a miss for me. The chicken slices were a wee bit too dry and I thought the punch from turmeric, surely one of the most interesting spice to be paired with chicken, fell short.

We also ordered these very stoic-looking squid fritters, with batter making up about 80% of the dish. Good when in the mood for that munching on greasy carbs.

Once the empty plates were cleared, post-script of last night's conversation ensued for another couple of good lazy hours. The other three ordered the Ais kacang (although they were told that Santai was out of gula melaka that morning). I was told it was delightful, the gula melaka barely missed.

I had intended to stick to my usual no-dessert position but I was drawn to the tubs of Creme Caramel sitting in the fridge and snagged myself one, about an hour after lunch. I think it would have been better if it had been turned upside down but not complaining, no siree!

This version of creme caramel held its own, considering I ate it straight out of the tub with a plastic spoon. Loved the look of congealed caramel at the bottom of the tub. Ahh, the golden elixir of joy! Not even the fact my hangover burn quota didn't get filled could contain my delight!

Santai is very affordable and very dependable Malay dining. It is no substitute for the BLR burn on hangover mornings but it guarantees a good, solid meal.

Located at Persiaran Zaaba, next to .99 Steak & Chops in Taman Tun Dr. Ismail, it frequently enjoys high traffic of families, yuppies and demi-celebs hiding behind oversized sunnies and acne-ridden teenagers whiling away afternoons over cans of Coke and ais limau.