Better than Home Improvement at Chip 'N' Dale, TTDI

After years (yes, years!) of anticipation, the move into new home is finally done! But if I had envisioned for one second that the move meant the end of the chapter where I'm planning, deliberating, calculating and fighting pretty much every spare minute from work, I got set straight pretty much as soon as we moved everything in and started unpacking.

OK, so the work is never really going to be done, as are the squabbles over the most trivial things (like the function-assignment of different types of kitchen towels) and quick-and-nasty meals from the neighbourhood dai chow. Upon prompting from recent blog post at Eat Drink KL, we made it a point to drag ourselves away from home one evening to do what we did best, better than home improvement, at least - beer and pork!

Chip 'N' Dale is one of the new joints that's cropped up along Lorong Rahim Kajai 14, infamous suburban stomping ground for the thirsty.

Good ol' Tiger hits the spot, at RM35 per jug all night long. I (almost) forgive him for putting a hole in our newly-painted wall accidentally. There's Kilkenny and Guinness on tap too at decent guzzle-friendly prices. If beer's not your poison, there are plenty of other options from a clearly well-stocked bar.

Took cue from Sean's post and thought why not the Drunken Pork Chop? The sauce was definitely saved the dish from being too commonplace a pork offering - they certainly weren't sparing in the use of alcohol here!


We both liked the Pork Escalope better though, which while crumbed and pan-fried, still came light and moist on its own. Barely minded the meagre serving of the mushroom sauce accompaniment. If only we agreed about things at home as easily as we did with this dish.

The food took about 40 minutes to come, even though there were barely two or three tables occupied. Must be pretty laid-back in the kitchen, would need to step on the pedal more if they were serious about the dining crowd.

Not sure about how the look the place is trying for but I'm not crazy about it - for one dining on those rickety bar tables just isn't ideal, and the seats lining against the wall are way too narrow to be comfortable.

Would come back for the food menu and the drink prices the next time we need a break from home improvement. Hopefully they'll have more decent, derrière-forgiving seats then!

Chip 'N' Dale
Lorong Rahim Kajai 14 (towards the end of the row away from the junction)
TTDI

Pints and more at Tom Dick & Harry's, TTDI

Tom Dick & Harry's has done well for itself, despite having chosen to open its doors on a competitive stretch in TTDI.

We like to come here time and again because it's a comfortable place to get your pints, the service is fast and friendly even when the heat is on. They really ought to do something about the recurring power outage though.

We didn't start trying the food menu until recent visits, when it was apparent that more and more tables were dinner as well as drinking ones.

The recommended Chicken Chop - a huge slab of deboned chicken fillet breaded and served with brown sauce. It's mystifying how many places get this wrong even though it's a difficult dish to stuff up. Fortunately, TDH's is one of the better ones tried and tested. Very good with cider.

Less stellar was the Pork Ribs Curry, which was served with poppadums and toasted bread. Perhaps this dish just isn't meant to read off a pub menu, but it just didn't do much for us beyond being a token curry dish in a Malaysian joint. The pork ribs were extremely tender admittedly but the stew was too watery and lackadaisical to warrant recommendation.

These cold ones we come back for frequently. Nuff said.


They also have what looks to be a fabulous weekend breakfast menu. Can't wait to hit it next!


Tom, Dick & Harry's
Lorong Rahim Kajai 14
Taman Tun Dr Ismail
60000 KL
Tel: 03-7710 2122

Two thumbs (and a sliced index finger!) up at Jaipur Curry House, TTDI

I was jolted out of my blogging inertia by two encounters this week. The first was dinner earlier in the week with two of the most industrious and charming bloggers I know, Kenny and Ciki, who put lazy recluses like me to shame with their consistent blitz of mesmerizing and engaging posts.

The second involved some degree of pain. See, last night, I had attempted to cook while under the influence (I have a ridiculous habit of fancying myself as some sort of Ramsay understudy after a bottle or thereabouts). While slicing this bitch of an onion, I unceremoniously let slip on the knife and came close to lopping off an index finger. Somewhat traumatized by the amount of bleeding and the herbal oil needed to make it stop, I decided to overcompensate today by eating, which led to the second inspiring encounter of the week - the banana leaf rice meal at Jaipur Curry House.

The deep fried fish arrived looking rather synthetically red but once we forked into its tender white flesh, we knew we were in good hands. Fresh and sprightly.

Chicken curry stew was a huge fat tick as well - packed with spice and pizzazz!

If I absolutely had to pick on something, it'd be the fried bitter gourd. I think there's a fine art to making this delightful complement to BLR a hit - while the crunch factor is essential, more so is the actual vegetable underneath the batter and if too heavy-handed on the latter, you basically end up with unidentified crunchy bulk, as was the case here. Still think the best fried bitter gourd resides at Sri Nirwana.

The BLR spread at Jaipur is good, really good. The curries and dhall effortlessly soaked the mountain of fluffy white rice dished out. The sides were generous and scrumptious. Even the rarely seen sweet potato chips made an appearance.

Spotted the chicken curry puff on the storefront and I can never resist such a solid looking package. The curry filling in this was probably several notches spicier than the standard Malay curry puffs, which tend to veer towards sweeter notes. There's a quarter of an egg within thinner pastry. At RM1 a pop, these have definitely inched its way into my curry puff hall of fame!

While I will not care to repeat the injury that preceeded the visit here (note to self: if I must absolutely cook after intoxication, at least make sure all the slicing and dicing's done before I begin drinking), I am certain Jaipur Curry House will be one place I will undoubtedly return to again and again. Service was genuinely affable too.

Jaipur Curry House

32 Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad Satu

Taman Tun Dr Ismail

60000 KL
Tel: 03-77282955

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.

The Merriest Raya Ever!

Raya break this year (plus the couple of weeks prior) was a bit of an epiphany. True, I went on an excessive binge of all things good and groovy. But I was also re-acquainted to the great Abe Lincoln saying "Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." For the longest time, I was passively positive at best, quite moodily content to recalibrate my expectations to quotidian apathy.

But for one reason or another, this interval offered me a dramatic shift in conscious and subconscious conversations and became quite simply, the merriest Raya for me ever!

The evening of Raya Open House at Nahri's was one such occasion. His grandmother had fixed us such a generous, heartwarming meal that I was sorry the grand dame didn't stick around for us to thank her properly.

Fried spiced chicken. We set about trying to figure out the flavours and I tasted turmeric, five spice and charred soy enveloping tender chicken thigh.

The composition of the Prawn Puffs - prawn doused in unsweetened custard cream nestled in choux pastry - was near perfection. Why we hadn't thought of that for the endless finger food parties will forever torment me.

Dry beef rendang provoked obligatory comparison to the wetter version. My no-beef policy remained so I had to rely on others' reactions. Some felt it was too dry but others thought it a welcome, flavour-packed change.

The Sayur Lodeh was easy on the spice, lavish on the root.

Glorious carbs - cubes of Ketupat...

... and Lemang that Nahri had purchased in the Pantai area before stopping off to meet us at Sid's, from an entrepreneurial fella impatient to get to the Black Eyed Peas concert.

Sashi brought forth his Kajang residency prowess - two different types of equally good satay. This one came from a place called Restoran Malaysia, which roughed it out with the other version from unnamed stall, for best satay ever!

Other unnamed place presented the win sauce for the day though. Creamy, mild yet passionately peanutty.

The gorgeous, festive meal set the stage for more misbehaviour for the rest of the evening as we proceeded to celebrate a couple of September birthdays.

Drinks followed drinks, followed by an unprecedented, zealous night of dancing until my feet gave way. I woke up the next morning, quite exhausted, a wee bit remorseful but ultimately smitten by this extraordinary profusion of good faith and indulgence. More, more and more!

Happy Q4 Everyone!!