There's this mamak restaurant around my area. On its signboard, it reads "Restaurant Ali Baba 24 jam". The thing is, I've never seen it opens for business. If it's really "24 jam", they should be opened whenever I pass by, right? If for some reason the mamak restaurant is no longer in business, why doesn't the owner of the unit remove the signboard so that other interested party may rent it for some other business? I even suspected some illegal business was going on behind the closed door of the shop, lol.
Side story: My parents used to rent out one of their houses to some people who turned out to be pirate DVDs maker. That said house is only next to the house we live in. One night, a group of police came knocking at next door and arrested them, together with all the machines and everything. We were shocked because we had no idea about their business at all before the arrest. And it was only.next.door. Imagine that.
So back to the mysterious mamak restaurant. Today as I was on my way to another chinese coffee shop, I passed by the mamak restaurant and it was opened for business! It had tables and chairs and the typical mamak restaurant look. I decided to give it a try.
There was a huge menu board on the wall. Some dishes were new to me. I tried to order Roti Salad, to which the waiter replied they didn't have the dish.
Side story 2: There's another famous mamak restaurant in my area named Hassan. I love their Tosai Pisang to bits and until now, Tosai Pisang is only available in Hassan - no other mamak restaurant has even heard about this dish.
My second attempt was Naan Pisang, for they didn't have Tosai Pisang on the board. I guessed it's not too difficult to compare their Naan Pisang to Hassan's Tosai Pisang and next time I can choose which mamak restaurant to go to for my mamak cravings. Surprise, surprise, the waiter said Naan Pisang was also not available.
With frustration I asked if they didn't have such a dish, why did they put it on their menu board. The waiter quickly suggested that he could "try" making my Naan Pisang. I was like, hooold on! 'What did you mean "try"?' Oh nevermind, so what is the dish you're familiar with? Nann Kaya? Can you make me Naan Kaya? Ok? Good! And teh ais kurang manis. Betul-betul kurang manis, ok?
As expected, the first teh ais served was too sweet. I asked them to redo it. I'd rather them to hate me than me drinking teh ais that is too sweet.
Side story 3: There was once I joined my colleagues at a malay restaurant. I told the waiter that their teh ais was too sweet. Then they brought me the original teh ais diluted with water. Kurang manis doesn't mean tambah air ok!
The mamak waiter then brought me a new glass of drink. The taste of the tea was not covered by the sweetness of condensed milk and even it tasted a bit bitter - just the way I like it. I was happy. The waiter then told me his experience taught him that if it's a chinese customer, usually he'd ask the cook to prepare the drink with less sweetness than usual, even if the customer didn't make such request.
Whatever everyone thinks about the offence of stereotyping and racism and whatnot, in this case it doesn't matter as long as they got it right about me. Yes, I like it kurang manis. And I'd make them redo my drink if I'm not satisfied with it. So don't be surprise that sometimes I'd rather order plain water just to skip the hassle of repeating "kurang manis" for the bazillion times and make them redo my drinks.
Then came my Naan Kaya. From far I saw him applying kaya onto the freshly baked naan. I was thinking: Are you for real? Just apply a layer of kaya on the naan and call it naan kaya? So not impresive! I was expecting the kaya to be in the naan, just like cheese naan does.
But I was glad I was totally wrong. I mean, half wrong. Yes, their naan kaya was just plain naan and a layer of kaya on top. But the whole dish turned out to look really grand! The naan was almost like glowing with their tan, sexy kaya layer on it. I was impressed and I couldn't believe that I was. Simple dish, but great experience.
Half way through my meal, the waiter drop by my table to ask me how my food was. Talk about good dining experience and service! When I was waitressing in a restaurant with highly demanding customers, managers said it's a policy for us to ask every customers at our tables about their food and take note of their comments. I told them it was very good. I even told him to remember the recipe of the teh ais kurang manis - my version. I told them the next time I come, they must use the same recipe for me.
Because I'm sure I'll go there again soon. :)
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