Hearty breakfast meal

From The Star

Storey Otak-Otak in Johor Baru serves up splendid otak-otak and delicious nasi lemak to boot.

IF you are craving for otak-otak that is delicious and different from its Kempas or Gelang Patah counterparts, then check out Storey Otak-Otak.

Located in Jalan Storey, near the Johor Baru (South) Traffic headquarters and behind the abandoned Pacific Mall shopping complex, the shop is famous for its nasi lemak and otak-otak.

Unlike other otak-otak, which is reddish and has the sweet taste, Storey’s otak-otak is rich with the meat of ikan tenggiri, coupled with a spicy and savoury taste.

Easy does it: Shop owner Chung Wei Sun (second from left) grilling the otak-otak with another family member.

Grilled to perfection, the smell of the otak-otak, wrapped in coconut leaf, is enticing, luring customers to the shop. Eating it with nasi lemak completes the recipe for a good and hearty breakfast.

Shop owner Chung Wei Sun, 36, says the shop has been around for over 20 years and boasts of a huge number of patrons.

“We start business at about 6am and the shop closes only in the evening.

“However, the otak-otak and nasi lemak would be sold out by 10am,” he says, adding that Singaporeans were also frequent customers.

Chung says they make about 2,000 sticks of otak-otak daily and they would be snapped up quite fast.

When asked about the secret of the otak-otak, Chung only mentions that they used imported chillies to add to the fish meat.

Even though it is a Chinese shop, Chung says the nasi lemak and otak-otak are halal and they have a great number of Muslim customers.

For food lovers and curious eaters, here is one important tip: come to the shop early, preferably at about 7am, as the shop is less crowded then.

My Kitchen, Sunway, PJ

From The Sun

THOSE from Melaka will appreciate this Hainanese and Melaka restaurant opened by the

enterprising Candy Wong whose late grandfather started the Heng Hong Tin Kee Restaurant at

Jalan Tengkera, Melaka, serving Hainanese specialties. The Melaka restaurant is now managed by her father. Now in its third year of operations, My Kitchen, run by this plucky, hands-on lass, who calls herself a business development consultant, is busy preparing a new menu for November

2007. Candy, 32, who uses online marketing to promote her outlet, is assisted by seven staff.

Specialties

· Hainanese mutton soup with over 20 varieties of herbs used to dispel the mutton smell and enhance the taste. Served with a sauce containing chili, ginger and garlic and a small bowl of coriander leaves, it is available in three portions or sizes

· Hainanese stewed meat using five spices, black fungus and cuttlefish strips

· Hainanese chicken rice balls set using village chicken

· Hainanese lotus leaf chicken

· Hainanese ketchup chicken or pork chop

· Melaka chincalok omelette

Address: 26-1 Jalan PJU1/3B, Sunway Mas Commercial Centre, 47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor

Tel/Fax: 03 7880 8726

Mobile: 012 395 7191

Email: candy@candyfoodgallery.com

Website: www.candyfoodgallery.com

Business hours: 11am to 3pm, 6pm to 10pm (Monday to Saturday/Public Holidays); 10am to 3pm, 6pm to 10pm (Sunday)

Payment: Cash

Type of food: Hainanese and Melaka specialties

Category: Non-halal

Budget: $ (Value meals from RM5.90, inclusive of drink, soup and dessert)

Baby chair: Yes

Air-conditioning: Yes

Parking: Difficult, especially during lunch time on weekdays

Noise level: 3 (moderate)

Lala Chong Seafood Restaurant, Terminal 3 Subang, Selangor

From the sun

MR YIM, the owner of Lala Chong Seafood Restaurant, prefers to use the nickname given by his customers -- Mr Lala. He started cooking in 1985, when he was only 13, at Yee Kee Restaurant, Old Klang Road (near the Guinness brewery). In 1999, he opened his own seafood restaurant called La La Pond in an oil palm estate surrounded by many ponds in Subang. It was moved to Terminal 3, Subang Airport in 2001 and renamed Lala Chong Seafood Restaurant.

Specialties

· Siong thong lala (fresh lala cooked in a soup with garlic and cili padi)

· Crabs fried with salted egg

· Butter prawns fried with black beans

· Tau foo kang with sea cucumber (a thick soup with tau foo and sea cucumber cooked in the style of shark's fin soup)

· Special salted grilled tilapia (snow mountain grilled fish)

· Steamed kampung chicken with ginger and garlic sauce

· Special Lala Chong claypot chicken with garlic and ginger (Taiwan-style)

Address: Lot PT 6824, Terminal 3, Abdul Aziz Shah Airport, 47200 Subang, Selangor

Tel: 03 7859 1906

Business hours: 12 noon to 3pm (lunch) and 5pm to 11pm (dinner); open for dinner only on Sundays

Close: Open every day (dinner only on Sunday)

Payment: Cash and credit cards (Visa, Mastercard and Amex)

Type of food: Chinese seafood

Category: Pork-free

Budget: $$ (RM10 to RM20 per person)

Baby chair: Yes

Business friendly: Yes

Parking: Ample

Noise level: 3 (moderate)

Related links: (1) Lala Chong outlet at Ara Damansara (2) Clams (3) Tilapia

Related places on rasarasa.net: (1) Tau foo kang at Happy Village (2) Salted grilled tilapia at Wou Sou Sang