Thursday, October 28, 2010

Checkers, Damansara Heights

The magic pill to permanent happiness remains to be found. Yes, true, we don't hold our breath to bask in the good stuff until we hit upon some state of everlasting nirvana. But damn, if only the fleeting elements that contribute to moments of joy - a thought making sense, a breathtaking scene, the juncture where love is reciprocated, the peak of passion, an agreeable disposition and god forbid, a newly acquired gadget - lasted a wee bit longer than all of two seconds and showed a bit more consistency.

The curtness of happiness applies to food too, unfortunately. But I dare concur that it is one variance that we are easiest to forgive and revisit again and again.

My first visit to Checkers some years ago, tucked in the depths of Damansara Heights, did not exactly rock the proverbial boat of mediocrity. Yet it haunted me for some weeks recently and I found myself back one evening, having just descended from the mid-week hump.

The Mexican Pork & Sausage, a special on the blackboard, carefully unravelled my historical apprehension. While smaller in portion than expected, the pork tenderloin was soft and almost sentimental while the spiced sausage, heavily accented by fennel seeds, drew many sighs of satisfaction.

The highly heralded Porky's Best did not quite steal the show. Pardon the mystery meat picture - I simply need to get a new, functional camera and return Fat Tulip his Canon which has served me so well. Ribs were tough, and at one stage, unleashed pungent, unwelcome taste of game.


The star of the evening belonged to the latecomer Galette. So thin, so light, yet it enveloped the evening with such pizzazz and gratifying potency. Who would've thought, the combination of mushrooms, bacon and stringy cheese trump promises of an antagonistic lover? Even when the mainstays of potential happiness fail, the afterthought reigns you in.


We were somewhat exasperated to share the tiny restaurant with one other couple, discussing escape routes from the country which has failed to meet its potential, leader after leader, and commitment after commitment. Happiness is sometimes a destination, but this evening, we were quite happy to hold on to our transient state of romantic bliss.


Checkers Restaurant
19, Lorong Setia Bistari 2
Damansara Heights
Tel: 03-2095 3304

11 comments:

Kenny Mah said...

Love is forgiving and bears revisiting. Maybe some restaurants too? :)

J said...

I always thought that galettes are some type of pancake! *blur*
(It looks like all kinds of yummy)

(If only there really was an easily available magil pill of permanent happiness... but then maybe we wouldn't appreciate it as much anymore?)

Sean said...

ya, there's no such thing as permanent happiness (sob!). and to chase it will only result in permanent unhappiness ... ergkh, i shouldn't try to philosophize. i sound like a fortune cookie :P

Rebecca Saw said...

DArn..ya talkin abt happiness now?
Man..I nvr been so dwn in the dumps.
ah well..glorious food helps.. sometimes..

Ciki said...

Porky's Best did not quite steal the show??!! say no more..! and that photo of the black mass did not really help either. was it burnt? poor u... :o(

minchow said...

LFB, restaurants much easier to forgive somehow! Always easier to say yes, let's give it another go, when it comes with a huge slab of pork! :-)

J, good point that! Happiness NEEDS to be fleeting, or else it gets lost in the midst of all the other blessings that we take for granted too!

Sean, oh better to orate like a fortune cookie than trying to sound like a hard-hitting everyday realist! We're all theatrical fools on the inside, the whole lot of us!

TNG, oh no... I'm terribly sorry to hear that :-( The post isn't really about happiness per se, but how short-lived and inconsistent it is, in whatever shape or form. A source of happiness today can just as easily become a source of ugliness and pain the next. It was a tough lesson for me recently. Do feel better soon, Becky!

Ciki, that was more bad photography on my part to be fair, and they didn't look THAT awful. But rest assured, I won't be in a hurry to order those again!

UnkaLeong said...

Pork is the panacea for all ills! Heheh. I still haven't been here yet lar. I got lost trying to look for it once :(

Julian Si said...

The propietor of Checkers is such a character :-) And his food is ... divine!

Mmmh ... I like the look of that Mexican platter!

ps - Did you check out the piggy humour in the picture frames behind the cashier? ;-)

Allan Yap & Nigel A. Skelchy said...

Hiya Min, I've always loved chekers and its still on my list of restos to take friends. Prices are not as reasonable as they once were but in this day and age of RM300++ dinners featuring all sorts of aged wagyu with ratings, I think it's still good and portions still reasonable.

This from a person who's been to Chekers since the early 1990s.

Mr Tan is quite a character and when we go there, we treat it like our own kitchen.

But where it counts, he's good.

Next time try the German Pork Trotters (he has some name for it) and if you can persuade him Prawns Ala Floyd, which, as the name suggests, is prawns doused liberally with pernod in a butter sauce.

Porky's best in my estimation, takes 2nd place to LOTR. Yup, Lord of The Ribs.

Love Chekers, and unless there's a HUGE change, not much will make me change my mind about that.

minchow said...

UnkaLeong, yes the path to pork is paved with bumps and potholes!

Julian Si, yes, I love the look of the place... the last time I was there, it looked completely different, prior to the uplift. Still retains that homey fee;, but cosier too somehow!

Nigel, there is little not to like about Checkers! I've heard from various sources about how a meal there can be "difficult" but I think something must be said about the convictions of challenging characters! Thanks for the tip - trotters, LOTR and prawns! I'll make sure to go with a bigger group too.

Apple Foodees said...

Everything looks burned. Is it?