The Solace of the Slaves at Sin Kee, Brickfields

Some weekday evenings, I step out of the office and blend right into the parade of the battered and soiled, having clocked another day of being a functioning, serving member of society. On these nights, I can turn only to food that takes me back to age 7, when being functional was considered a precocious trait, not a prerequisite.

Sin Kee, an establishment as old as Conformity itself, reaches out to derelict, empty souls pining for our weekends, our secret projects and predilections. Fat Tulip and I arrive on Tuesday evening to a near full house of hungry folks with that haunting vacant stare, made even more unrelenting by the stark fluorescent lighting.

The Mun Fan (Stewed Pork Rice) comforts as the worn bowl is lifted, unveiling rice laced with the goodness of pork, Chinese sausages, egg and lettuce. On any other night, I would have turned my nose at this because this isn't a spectacular dish by any means, but it's a brand of soothing therapy to the bitter working class like no other.

I can't remember the last time the Sweet & Sour Pork made an appearance on my plate but I order it instinctively, assailed by the memory of the same dish being lovingly prepared by Mom for us three pesky, picky kids. While this revives us somewhat, we struggle to finish the huge portion of battered meat.

The Chicken Chop is a delight, boneless tenderness doused in brown gravy and baked beans and home fried potatoes. The weekend doesn't feel THAT far away now, we think.

We finish with a perfunctory vegetable dish, Long Beans & Brinjal in Sambal. This is too oily and too robust for our liking for by this time, we have too many different flavours on the table confusing our humble palates.

Fat Tulip pays his respects as we depart to seek solace in our fitful sleep. It won't be the last time that we will need Sin Kee's nourishing, almost parental embrace.

The Return of the Bride, Vishal's Brickfields

Vishal in Brickfields had been unknown to foolishly ignorant me until one recent sunny Sunday morning, on the occasion of the return of our lovely (and soon to be blushing bride) Li Ann, back from her working holiday stint in the UK, tightly escorted by strapping groom-to-be Benji.

Li Ann and the disgustingly fit Benji, fresh from walking the Terry Fox run, jumped into my car and provided directions down the narrow streets to Jalan Scott, where Vishal's occupied the unassuming lot opposite the temple.

The immediate word that came to mind when we entered was "mess hall", in its most charming interpretation. Most of the dining seats in the house were lined up on one side of the long tables to minimise traffic obstruction. Not the best for a five-way conversation so we were lucky to secure one of the few regular 4-seater tables.

As soon as the rice and vegetables were heaped onto our individual leaves, I knew this was no regular BLR joint, what with the gorgeous shades of greens and reds. Like Christmas almost! Li Ann explained that Benji favoured Vishal's for its heady curries. I watched transfixed as the staff splashed fish curry & dhal on mine, all the while muttering "banjir, banjir."

Benji knew his curries all right. The curries here were not as viscous as Kavitha's but it was certainly no less commanding. We were stunned into silence for a few minutes while we paid respect to the blazing spread in front of us before we resumed firing questions about her Continental adventures.

The Poppadum and stuffed chillies took some time to arrive. I am a staunch devotee of the freeform style poppadum rather over the square cracker variety but it's a trivial flaw so will let it pass. Still crazy crunchy even when mixed in with all that soggy rice.

Riz also got the curious-looking minced sharkmeat & egg dish, nicely flavoured with spices and curry leaves. I had long-standing misgivings about sharkmeat but this was a nice, albeit dry repeal.

We finished with Rassam, sour and substantial, not the watered down variety to which I had been wrongfully inducted. I shall forever repent for pooh-poohing this digestive after BLR, for this prevented me from a melancholic, would've-been highly regrettable nap that same afternoon.

Welcome Back Li Ann, and may this be the start of another wonderful adventure right here at home!

Medan Selera Ah Goh, Brickfields

I'd been deadly curious for a while about the row of solid-looking eating establishments located opposite the Brickfields police station along Jalan Tun Sambanthan. They looked like they didn't need to shout much or invest in any form of interior decorating to get the patrons coming in. So what was it that they kept coming back for, I wondered?

We ambled one night into one of the outlets open one fine weekday evening, Medan Selera Ah Goh. I read on various news clippings posted on the wall and learnt that the restaurant's been in business at that same spot since 1943. It's been serving up a reliable menu of Chinese dishes to repeat patrons spanning a couple of generations.

No frills - save for the tablecloth surprise!

We were all but two empty stomachs, so we kept our orders brief - a plate of baby kai lan in oyster sauce, the house special assam fried fish and the much touted otak otak.

The orders took some time coming but when the fish was set in front of us, we knew we were in for a jolly good time! The fresh siakap or sea bass was fried to golden, crisp perfection, covered with an assam vegetable curry, sour and spicy. Seriously satisfying.

The vegetables were fine, but I didn't think it was worth a picture up here. Baby kailan is baby kailan is baby kailan, know what I mean?

The final dish took some time to materialise in front of us, heightening further our anticipation. And when it did, we were somewhat disappointed. There was nothing wrong with the otak-otak, mind you, it simply wasn't in the same league of the champion assam fish. The texture was a bit blah, and the flavours were just about perfunctory, even with the all-purpose enhancer wedge of lime.

The bill for two came up to RM66.60 - not exactly the cheapest meal to be had in the neighbourhood but that was some fish! I was won over end of the day and look forward to returning. Their oyster omelette looked unmissable!