When Rezeki Come A Rolling

Sometimes fate throws you a curve ball and you find hidden gems when you are not looking. Below are two instances when this happened to me.

Case 1.

I was feeling a little peckish this morning so decided to go for an early lunch. Since I was too lazy to walk far, I decided that I will eat at the fourth floor food court at Suria KLCC. Since it was still early, this gave me the opportunity to shop around for what to eat. As you may know, I am a fan of prawn noodles and the prawn noodles at the stall that I had blogged about previously was something in my wish list. But lo and behold, I noticed that the stall beside this stall also had prawn noodles although they did not call it as such but the photo on the board told me it was so. The thing was they offered three versions of the noodles, with no topping, chicken topping and finally prawn topping for the seafood version. The last version cost the most, and I noticed the price had recently increased by a ringgit to nine ringgit eighty cents now.

But let's take a look at the noodles shall we. What you get at that price is two medium sized prawns, plenty of sliced soaked cuttlefish or sotong rendam, bits of squids and fish slice topping a mix of egg noodle and rice vermicelli or meehon soaked in Chinese style prawn noodle gravy. Very good value for this dish that cost only one third more than its competitors in the same food court that has much less contents. The best thing was they had the best prawn mee sambal amongst all the stalls, very authentic. About the prawns which is the premier ingredient for this dish, although it is not as fresh as from a seaside joint, it still retains its sweetness. Thus to sum it up that although I had despaired of ever having a chance of partaking of halal Chinese style prawn noodle locally, I am grateful of having this opportunity of savouring this stall's prawn noodle in such a place so close to my workplace. The funny thing was that I had passed by The Kopitiam so many times but since I thought they would only offer general kopitiam items like roti bakar or half boiled eggs, I usually gave them a pass when I go to the food court but surely I will not make the same mistake now.

Case 2

It is coincidental that when I blogged about the prawn noodles in KLCC previously, I also mentioned about the Indonesian rissoles that I found being sold by a stall there, although this is being sold at a premium price befitting its location. Although it was my wife who discovered this stall, I still consider it as a discovery as it is actually a cendol selling mobile van that has padded its menu with nasi lemak and Malay kuehs in addition to the standard rojak fare. Quite a rare find but rarer still to find an Indonesian delicacy like the rissoles being sold amongst the local fare, and looking at the big container it comes in it seems that this is a popular menu item. The stall is located at the Bandar Tun Hussein Onn Commercial Centre in Kajang, in front of the McDonald's drive through restaurant there, an area where that is fast becoming a foodie heaven.

Being sold at three pieces for a ringgit albeit at a smaller size than a normal rissole, this is a very reasonable price for a stomach-filling item as I ate 6 pieces as lunch and my stomach was quite satiated. The first time my wife bought this, the filling was very peppery and quite upset my palate as my mind could not accept such a peppery ragout as a filling. Nonetheless this time the ragout has reverted to the original taste, hopefully due to the customer feedback received. Even though the size is smaller than a regular rissole, the filling is not as stingy so it is still a substantial bite. The nicest thing about it is the pastry, as it is quite chewy and tasty without being oily that adds to the pleasure when you bite into it. Now I know where to find this Indonesia delicacy without breaking the bank.