The Motherland: KL 🇲🇾

I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to come to Sitka. I want to now make it a point to come here every time I’m back in town. I especially loved the charred cabbage with seaweed butter & ikura and half didn’t want to share. Also loved the lamb ragu (RM32) and smoked unagi in seaweed crackers (RM21). I can’t wait to go back and try the rest of the menu.

These are good. These are very good. Made fresh, Fat Spoon takes super ripe cempedak and wrap it in spring roll skin and fry it to a perfect crisp. 🤤 It goes very nicely with the vanilla ice cream that it's served with - but I could quite happily eat it on its own.

👍🏼 Gimme moar!

The stack of 4 pancakes had good texture and were decently fluffy - but they were pretty small. Though not very Snickersy (aside from the chunks of Snickers on the plate), we still finished it because we greedy like that.

We also tried the PtripleB French Toast (RM19.90) - which was a stack of French toast layered with beef bacon, surrounded by banana slices and drizzled over with melted peanut butter. Sound strange? IT WORKS. Don't have a photo obviously because... it was gone before I could whip my phone out. Oops!

Try as they may, businesses operating out of shops can't replicate the authenticity of both taste and experience of a road side cendol truck.

Ali Cendol is not without a loyal following. It has parked here (with its partner in roadside crime, Rojak Mustaffa) next to the Seksyen 17 Market for as long as any local can remember. The cendol was very good, the cendol itself had great texture, had a good balance of coconut milk and gula melaka, and it was not too sweet.

Small RM2.00; Large RM2.50; + pulut (glutinous rice) for RM0.50

If I had to nitpick, I'd say I found it ever so slightly watery. Another comment by my friend was: "Who the heck puts cincau in cendol? Don't try to be pretentious." 😂

It's difficult when all cendols are compared to the one in SS15 Subang Jaya. But hey, if I'm in the Seksyen 17 area - I'd still come back. 👍🏼

What makes the Chee Cheong Fun at O&S special? Not only is it cheap, it is so good because of the delightfully pungent hae ko (prawn paste) sauce that they add to the sweet sauce. 🤤 This is similar to the CCF that you get in Penang.

Their curry version of CCF is also good. I'm just biased to the prawny sweet sauce one.

👍🏼👍🏼

A weekend back in my home city is never complete without a visit to O&S. This coffee shop has to be the best one (to my knowledge) in the Klang Valley. Honestly, there isn't a bad food stall in this place. Everything is awesome (cue the Lego song) - except the coffee. Don't drink the coffee.

The beef noodles from the Albert Thum Beef Noodle stall is my favourite. What makes it particularly delicious is the broth. There's an herbal quality that compliments the beefiness so well. So, naturally the beef noodle soup (I have it with horfun noodles) is my go to. Having said that, they also have a dry noodle available that I opted for this round. The noodles are tossed in various soy sauces and topped with minced beef. It is served with a bowl of Chinese radish and various cuts of beef in that same beefy broth.

👍🏼👍🏼

Tip: Be sure to go early (especially on weekends) to avoid the masses. But if you find yourself there when it's super busy, you might want to stand uncomfortably close to a table that looks like it is finishing soon and creepily watch them eat so that they vacate the table more quickly. Hehe.

Like a bar snack that you just can't stop popping into your mouth - these crunchy glistening buttery mantis prawns were a little too easy to eat and were all gone in minutes. The curry leaves make all the difference to give a spice-y shock to the tastebuds.

👍🏼

A concoction of (mainly) tofu + fish, prawns and sotong bathes in a curry gravy. This curry is not your typical Chinese curry - it has has that something something we discovered to be from lots of hebi. 🍤 Also, a layer of steamed egg lines the bottom of the dish ahhh. 🤤

I can't recommend this enough. I want moarrr.

👍🏼👍🏼

My go to nasi lemak. If I have people in town visiting, I bring them here because... you can't possibly not love Village Park. The queue might be slightly intimidating but it moves swiftly - as the place is a well oiled machine. Standing way in the back queue, you will smell the wafting aroma of fried chicken way before you see tray after tray of ayam goreng rempah emerging from the kitchen to the chicken man's station. 🤤 The rice is properly steamed, but not inundated with coconut milk too early in the process - ensuring the utmost fragrance without compromising fluffiness. The sambal is a little sweet and is not too spicy (good for those who can't handle the heat).

Tip 1: Extra sambal is RM0.80 but totally worth it. Do it.
Tip 2: If you stand very close to the chicken man, you can try asking him for extra extra crispy spiced chicken bits on top of your nasi lemak.

👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

Made with love by home baker Sekitar Pelangi, this carrot cake was the perfect pairing with my afternoon coffee. While a popular order is the pandan gula melaka cake, the carrot cake was a personal recommendation by taukeh Izmir. Carroty, cinnamonny and super moist. 🤤

👍🏼

Redemption is my new favourite coffee focused cafe in KL. I've known the barista for many years and describe him as a major coffee snob - so, the expectations are sky high. 2 perfectly pulled shots made this delightful flat white. If it wasn't so late in the day I would have definitely had another.

Redemption also serves great filter coffee.

If you're lucky, they also occasionally serve coffee of beans from around the world (like Monmouth and Blukettle) when their loyal supporters return from travels.

👍🏼👍🏼

A late night favourite when back in my city. The long rows of tables that line the back alley in Sea Park speaks for itself. Operating out of a single storage unit, Bumbung (literally meaning 'roof') takes over the zinc-roofed side of a coffee shop that closes at night.

The spices of the ayam goreng rempah are super fragrant (though not as crispy as I'd like it to be) and very delicious. The rice is decently fluffy but with not quite enough coconut milk to make it super fragrant. Sambal has decent kick and loads of onions. The whole thing is topped with a telur mata kerbau (direct tr: egg-eye-bull) 🤤🍳

I've been frequenting this place for as long as I can remember and it still baffles me that this only costs RM5. Madness.

Tip: Ask for extra sambal.

👍🏼👍🏼