Sunday, March 13, 2011

Warung Santai, Tesco Ampang

Warung Santai is by no where close to any luxury restaurants but it is a place I frequent a lot for dinners. Of course, that was when I was still under my one month training. Now that i'm officially working, I can't remember when was the last time I actually had my dinner during a weekday.

Warung Santai serve normal Malay food. The kind of "masakan panas" stalls food that you can find anywhere in Klang Valley. The taste of the food tho' is a notch higher and since it's inside Tesco, it's air conditioned.



One of the dish that I order every single visit is their Tom Yam campur. I'm very particular about how Tom Yam should taste and if I sense it's straight from the bottled paste you get in hypermarkets, I won't eat anymore. The one here taste nothing like that and I like how the level of spicyness and sourness tally.



Call us weird, but telur dadar is one of the things we order in every visit. It's not that the omelets are different from any other place, it's just that these are the "normal food" to go with rice. I don't take them tho' cause omelets prepared any other place other than the back of my kitchen are usually drenched in oil. Not trying to be bimbo but just imagining the oil going through my esophagus always makes me giddy. Lol.



On days where we finish work slightly earlier - by that I meant 8pm, we usually go for "full monte" dinner. That's when we order dishes we don't normally order like the udang masak petai. It's surprisingly good and I'm extremely fussy when it comes to seafood. Their prawns are not fresh water prawns and that's a huge plus! The petai is also prepared well that it does not give that unpleasant after taste.



If you're into food from the family of Nemo, their Ikan Masak Pedas is worth trying too. There's a variety of fishes to choose from but remembering the names of fishes is something i'm still working on. hahaha. Heck, I can't even remember the name of the fish we chose. lol. The only complaint on the fish is that it is over fried, otherwise it's really not bad.



The only dish I don't recommend ordering is the Kerabu Mangga. But that's only because I didn't like the way it is prepared. I like kerabu to be prepared the Thai way, and the one they have here is the local way of preparing it. I find it a little tasteless and I don't like the fried anchovies. :P



Of course, never forget about your obligation to vegetables. lol. I usually go for Kai Lan Ikan Masin. It's well, errr, edible? Sorry, going on and on about vegetables is not my forte. Lol.



Moving on to the beverages. I usually go for teh o kosong but on days where I feel like going out the norm, I would go for their ais kacang. Not trying to be bias, but I personally prefer ais kacang prepared by Chinese. However the one they have here is worth trying and for less than RM 4, it's worth every penny.



They also have this special in-house drink that is served in an interesting sight. I cant remember the exact name for this drink but it's pictured in the menu so you would know which to order if you do dine there. It's a concoction of sprite, lime and cherry jellies Very refreshing.



Or if you really want the whole Malay food affair, pair your meals with air bandung. Not something I would drink everyday but hey, having something sweet once in a while won't hurt right? :)

Oh yeah, I'm pretty "well-known" there among the staffs as the first time I was there, I asked for so much chili and when the waitress asked me if it's spicy, i told her "not at all." The chefs were surprised how a Chinese like me could take spicy food so well that he personally walk out of the kitchen and ever since then I seem to be getting better service. So don't be jealous if you see me getting better treatment when you're there. :D

2 comments:

SandraC said...

WAH!! u order the very same things me and buan do when we go eat Thai food-malay in SgPinang/tanjungBungah!
great tasters think alike!
oooo would love to try that drink! looks so thirst quenching!

Melanie said...

Sandra : hahahah yeah man, great tasters like us think alike! woots woots. im craving for tomyam since yonkssss T.T