May's Laksa House, North Sydney & afternoon snack from Zoe Cafe, North Sydney (26th June 2012)
"Gee, is it 12pm already??" I thought to myself. Where has the time gone this past few weeks? Work has been insanely busy and there have been days that I've skipped the lunchtime gym workout because I couldn't afford to be away from my desk for too long. Today was one of those days so I headed over to May's Laksa House on the upper level food court of Berry Square for a quick meal.
I had just missed the incoming lunch crowd so it was only a short queue to the counter. I decided to try out their Nasi Lemak (cost $9.50) this time - they have done quite well in their Char Kuey Tiaw and Hainanese Chicken Rice; I would expect the Nasi Lemak to be pretty good too. Dance and 90s music blast from the shop's speakers as usual - I sometimes wondered if the young staff would take a pause serving customers and break into dance. Wouldn't that be funny?
The dining area was quite packed with lunchtime customers enjoying their Malaysian dishes. I found myself a table not too far away from the counter and waited for my number to be called out. "86! Nasi Lemak!" shouted the young lass. Oh, that's me! I collected my tray of food and headed back to my table. Wow, I wasn't expecting the dish to be this huge - in Malaysia, the dish is probably about half or a third of the size. Nasi lemak is considered a national dish in Malaysia and comes served with coconut rice, ikan bilis (anchovies), toasted salted peanuts, half a hard-boiled egg, rendang (meat in dry curry), cucumber slices or acar (pickled vegetables), and sambal (chilli-based condiment). The version that May's Laksa House serves is slightly different - it had the coconut rice with dried shallots sprinkled on the top, ikan bilis, peanuts, hard-boiled egg and cucumber, and was served with beef rendang (though I found this to be quite watery and more like curry) and also a slice of fresh tomato. Sadly, no sambal came with my dish and there weren't other chilli-based condiments from their self-serve condiments table that were suitable. Highly disappointing as the sambal is a core ingredient in this well-known Malaysian dish. More interestingly, the Nasi Lemak comes with a complimentary clear soup which usually goes with the Hainanese Chicken Rice - how peculiar...
I would say that the Nasi Lemak was okay but not their best. Though the beef rendang was cooked till tender that the meat literally breaks apart with a soft prod of the fork, it didn't taste quite right (too much ginger??) and was too big a meal - I felt rather greased out just part-way through my lunch. Hmm, I wondered if there are any Malaysian restaurants in Sydney selling nasi lemak that serves the dish with sambal sotong (cuttlefish in chilli) - a favourite of mine and I much prefer it to the rendang.
With the cold winter weather looming and feeling overly stressed out from work and wedding planning, I've been craving naughty foods, more specifically banana bread. I've the odd craving for savoury items but rarely crave sweet stuff - I must be super stressed!
Personally, I've not been to many of the cafes around the North Sydney area but do have one in mind for yummy banana bread - Zoe Cafe on Miller St. I stumbled into this cafe one early morning before work and had their toasted banana bread with butter. A thick warm piece of the bread lightly toasted on both sides and saturated with melted butter - so bad (sugar and fat loaded) but absolutely delicious. Just the type of comfort food my body is craving! Cost me $6.50 for a takeaway regular flat white and toasted banana bread which I'm going to indulge at my desk. Photo of my afternoon snack:
I had just missed the incoming lunch crowd so it was only a short queue to the counter. I decided to try out their Nasi Lemak (cost $9.50) this time - they have done quite well in their Char Kuey Tiaw and Hainanese Chicken Rice; I would expect the Nasi Lemak to be pretty good too. Dance and 90s music blast from the shop's speakers as usual - I sometimes wondered if the young staff would take a pause serving customers and break into dance. Wouldn't that be funny?
The dining area was quite packed with lunchtime customers enjoying their Malaysian dishes. I found myself a table not too far away from the counter and waited for my number to be called out. "86! Nasi Lemak!" shouted the young lass. Oh, that's me! I collected my tray of food and headed back to my table. Wow, I wasn't expecting the dish to be this huge - in Malaysia, the dish is probably about half or a third of the size. Nasi lemak is considered a national dish in Malaysia and comes served with coconut rice, ikan bilis (anchovies), toasted salted peanuts, half a hard-boiled egg, rendang (meat in dry curry), cucumber slices or acar (pickled vegetables), and sambal (chilli-based condiment). The version that May's Laksa House serves is slightly different - it had the coconut rice with dried shallots sprinkled on the top, ikan bilis, peanuts, hard-boiled egg and cucumber, and was served with beef rendang (though I found this to be quite watery and more like curry) and also a slice of fresh tomato. Sadly, no sambal came with my dish and there weren't other chilli-based condiments from their self-serve condiments table that were suitable. Highly disappointing as the sambal is a core ingredient in this well-known Malaysian dish. More interestingly, the Nasi Lemak comes with a complimentary clear soup which usually goes with the Hainanese Chicken Rice - how peculiar...
I would say that the Nasi Lemak was okay but not their best. Though the beef rendang was cooked till tender that the meat literally breaks apart with a soft prod of the fork, it didn't taste quite right (too much ginger??) and was too big a meal - I felt rather greased out just part-way through my lunch. Hmm, I wondered if there are any Malaysian restaurants in Sydney selling nasi lemak that serves the dish with sambal sotong (cuttlefish in chilli) - a favourite of mine and I much prefer it to the rendang.
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| Nasi Lemak ($9.50) |
With the cold winter weather looming and feeling overly stressed out from work and wedding planning, I've been craving naughty foods, more specifically banana bread. I've the odd craving for savoury items but rarely crave sweet stuff - I must be super stressed!
Personally, I've not been to many of the cafes around the North Sydney area but do have one in mind for yummy banana bread - Zoe Cafe on Miller St. I stumbled into this cafe one early morning before work and had their toasted banana bread with butter. A thick warm piece of the bread lightly toasted on both sides and saturated with melted butter - so bad (sugar and fat loaded) but absolutely delicious. Just the type of comfort food my body is craving! Cost me $6.50 for a takeaway regular flat white and toasted banana bread which I'm going to indulge at my desk. Photo of my afternoon snack:
 |
| Takeaway flat white and toasted banana bread with butter ($6.50) |
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