A Redeeming Con

A friend called me up the other day to go for dinner. Me, being my usual self, suggested Sri Neela’s banana leaf rice. My friend was not as keen, and said she knew of this place which serves very good sweet and sour pork. Now, what better temptation for me than to tell me of a good place for sweet and sour pork? Ok, will try it out if it is as good as she said. She guaranteed that it is better than the one she brought me to previously. I asked her, “Sure or not! Guarantee good sweet and sour pork?” and she replied “Yes!”.

So there we went after work. I was ok to drive to Sri Petaling, but she said she would drive instead. Ok! Better still, but the real reason she volunteered to drive was that she wasn’t 100% sure how to get there, roughly roughly only. Knowing me well enough that giving me wrong directions would turn my mood sour “a bit”, especially being indecisive as to directions, she played it safe and drove instead. The thing is, she didn’t remember the name of the shop, just roughly what it looked like and around which vicinity only although having been there twice before. Luckily she drove though, with her directions, we nearly went into a one way street. Would have freaked me out if I had been driving if such instructions were given.

After a few guesses, she finally found the place, but hesitated somewhat before going into the makan outlet as a moment of doubt crossed her mind. Then, she felt convinced that this was the right place as she sort of recognized the layout of the outlet, and later saw the lady boss who provided very good service when she was last here.

There we sat, and after we were handed the menus, the first thing I tried looking for was the sweet and sour pork. Hmmm, how come all chicken, fish, veggie, etc? How come no oink-oink section? When we then asked if they had sweet and sour pork, the lady told us that they don’t serve pork at this outlet! WHAT THE FISH!…. KENA CON BIG TIME!!!

I then asked my friend whether she had the sweet and sour pork the last time she was here, and she said not. She had the sweet and sour fish (which she said was very nice), and assumed they had pork. Alas, what can I say? Kena tipu. Was conned big time to forgo my banana leaf rice! SAD! :(

Never mind. Go for the sweet and sour chicken instead (medium size!), as well as another two dishes (small size). I was telling my friend that for sweet and sour chicken, the best I have tried was at Sri Melaka in Amcorp Mall. The dish there, although on the drier side, was still crispy and delicious.

First came the Chinese tea which we ordered to go with our meal, and when the tea cups were set on the table, I was pleasantly surprised that they were not the usual bland looking cups, but these had nice pictures on the cups. Not bad, not bad… (oh, not sure why the colour of the picture was a bit yellowish – could have been the lighting in the outlet) and when the tea pot was provided, was again surprised to see that there was a strainer for the tea pot. Now this I don’t usually see. Most outlets just put the tea leaves into the pot and pour hot water, and typically never use a strainer. Hmm.. things looking better already. Suitably impressed.

The tofu dish came first, and was considered a house specialty. Quite tasty, and my opinion of the place went up another notch. The next dish was a veggie dish. Was told the name in Chinese, but forgotten already. A simple dish, fried with garlic, but it tasted quite good.

And the moment of reckoning came. The sweet and sour chicken was served. First impression was that it looked ok, then tried the taste. Not bad…, better than I had expected, although not the best I have tried. For a chicken sweet and sour dish, I considered it slightly above average in my books. Would have preferred oink oink, but at least the sweet and sour taste was alright. Ok’lah, my friend sort of finally redeemed herself by conning me…. and yes, well worth the sacrifice of the banana leaf rice! :P

All in all, food quality passed in my opinion, and suggested to my friend that we should bring the other gang members to makan here also sometime. Although no sweet and sour pork, the other food tasted good. Must try the “honey chicken” dish the lady recommended next time we come here. After that, was slightly concerned on potential thirstiness with perhaps too much MSG loaded into the dishes, but surprisingly, it was ok with no “side effects”.

And as a reminder to my friend as to where the outlet is located, so that we don’t get lost next time (not that we got lost this time round, but I wasn’t certain whether it was due to lady luck or my friend’s super memory retention skill!), it is opposite “The Store” and next to KFC.

At the end of the day, I still need to say a big thank you to my friend for an enjoyable evening. :)