It is a very rare for me to eat at the same restaurant twice in the same week. However, my last visit to Satay-Mu left me wanting to investigate further and their current 20% introductory discount combined to get me to break this long standing habit.

I walked in and was recognised as a returning customer, I got seated in what was now much busier restaurant than earlier in the week and ordered Nasi Lemak with Chicken Curry.

It took only a couple of minutes for my meal to arrive, which was a surprise as it was not a simple meal, consisting of rice cooked in coconut milk with the distinctive aroma of pandan leaves, chicken curry, acar, ikan billis, peanuts, a hard boiled egg and sambal. And it looked as tasted as good as it taste. I will admit the chicken curry was not the best I had every tasted, but it was decent. The malaysian acar pickle was exceptional, spicy with out being overpowering, the ikan billis and peanuts, other than being much to my surprise separate and cold, I am so use to them being served together, straight from the wok, still crunchy, tasty and a real change in texture. The sambal lacked any chilli bite, but was very tasty, the egg almost perfectly cooked and the rice. Well that what makes a Nasi Lemak, fragrant and sweet. A very good meal that I thoroughly enjoyed, and it looks like Satay-Mu will be a regular lunch spot for me.

I ordered as I was getting seated and two minutes later, a regular Chilli Chicken and rice was on my table. Chilli Chicken consisted of chicken, capsicum, baby sweetcorn, onion, hokkien noodles and dried chilli, stir fried in what I consider a generic stir fry sauce.

The service was fast, the food was well presented and fresh, there was a beautiful crunch to the capsicum. The hokkien noodles was used as a filler, but given the cost $8 and the size of the serving, it could be forgiven. But what I love about most South East Asian food I regularly consume is the strong flavours, there were none here today.

I am likely to return to Hoka Restaurant, because the food is fresh, good value and fast. Just not on days my taste buds need exercising.

]]> http://nickcowie.com/2012/return-to-hoka-restaurant/feed/ 0 http://nickcowie.com/2012/hoka-restaurant/ http://nickcowie.com/2012/hoka-restaurant/#comments Mon, 02 Jan 2012 04:34:00 +0000 Nick http://nickcowie.com/?p=580 I was wondering down William Street, one lunchtime wondering what to eat, when I spotted Hoka’s lunch time special list which included Singaporean Style Fish & Rice. Intrigued, as I never heard of Singaporean Style Fish before, I walked in as a hungry cyclist and ordered a large Singaporean Style Fish & Rice for $10.

I just found the Mee Siam bland, the textures where all there, it was visually appealing, the hard boiled egg was cooked perfectly, but the flavours did not excite my taste buds like they should of.

The table next to mine, ordered a couple of Rotis and they looked good, so I know what I will order when I am here again. I will eat at Ray’s Kitchen again, my first experience was not great, but is was not bad and it fulfilled my other lunch requirements, less than 30 minutes, cost $10.50 including a can of A&W Root Beet and I do like Roti.

Mela

Vegetable Biryani

Still recovering from a cold, I thought about trying to treat my taste buds to some subtle flavours for a few seconds, before deciding my taste buds need to taste real flavours and I made the trek up William Street to Mela.

Biggest surprise, was the change of the front of house staff, I suspect Mela may of changed hands, not much else has changed other the big screen TV is now turned off instead of tuned to 24 hour sports channel, However, most importantly, they have not changed chefs as the old chef specialities remained on the blackboard menu.

Service was never Mela’s strong point and nothing has changed, it took five minutes before they took my order and over ten minutes later, before my lunch arrived, though I did have a couple of other diners’ meals arrive on my table briefly.

Mela’s Vegetable Biryani is one of the best value meals on William Street, for $8.50 you get a vegetable soup, raita and a serving of vegetable biryani, which is spiced rice and vegetables cooked separately, then combined in layers.

The flavours are just incredible, head cold or not, my taste buds were bouncing around my mouth. Like drinking an Ardbeg single malt, the flavours are not subtle, they just hit you and you keep coming back for more. As you discover the different vegetables in the biryani, each with its’ own distinct flavour and textures, you start searching for more vegetables and more flavours.

It might of taken close to an hour for lunch, including travel time. However, I did eat very slowly, relishing the flavours, so I can’t complain.

Tak Chee House, William Street, Tuesday 3 October

Is my regular Tuesday lunchtime status update from me when I check in to the Tak Chee House on FourSquare.

So why do I choose Hainanese Chicken Rice from the Tak Chee House, every Tuesday. It is a little more complicated than the Tak Chee House is closed Mondays, or I usually ride to work on Tuesdays and go rock climbing in the evening so I need to replenish my stores of protein and carbohydrates. It has more to with flavour and addictive nature of a simple dish.

Hainanese Chicken Rice, consists of steamed chicken in this case served on a bed of bean shoots, a serving of rice cooked in chicken stock, chicken soup and chilli sauce.

Tak Chee House prepares their Hainanese Chicken Rice, Singaporean style, by dunking the steamed chicken in cold water, which is said to maximise the flavour of the chicken. They must be doing something right as I have eaten Hainanese Chicken Rice at a number of different restaurants, none can match Tak Chee House for flavour. I have friends who walk from the other side of the Perth CBD every week to get their fix of Hainanese Chicken Rice.

As well as the chicken rice I have eaten most of the other items on the menu over the past couple of years and have never been disappointed. Particular favourites are the Penang Char Kway Teow, Singapore Noodles and on weekends Assam Laksa.

Tak Chee House can get crowded, it you want a table without waiting I would recommend getting their prior to 12:30pm on a weekday. On weekends it is a lucky dip, but it is well worth. It is restaurant of choice for meeting out of town friends, because the food is consistently that good. It is also cheap and fast, $9.50 for Hainanese Chicken Rice with Green Tea and ordered, served and eaten in under 30 minutes.

Lunch on the go in Northbridge it is difficult to beat Tak Chee House.

Franki Nguyen recommended Tra Vinh to me last year and I made the long trek up William Street passed my current favourite Vietnamese Noodle House, Phong Vinh to Brisbane Streer to Tra Vinh.

I had made the trek twice before, once to be scared off by the queue outside and the second time with a couple of work colleagues and we where lucky to get the last table. This time it was busy, but there where a few tables available.

The menu was very similar to Phong Vinh I was almost tempted to order the Spicy Beef and Pork Vermicelli Soup, that I had the day before for a direction comparison. Instead I ordered the Tra Vinh Special Vermicelli Soup. I am really enjoying noodle soups at the moment and this one did not disappoint. Great robust flavour.

So what made it the Tra Vinh Special, well it contained pork, beef, chicken, duck, fishball, prawn, squid and liver. For somebody who has just started eating meat on a regular basis after 10 years of avoiding it. It was a little overpowering, particularly the liver. Still I finished the bowl and enjoyed it.

So what do you get for $10, a large bowl of noodle soup, packed with 8 different meats and complimentary chinese tea.

Will I be back again, yes, will I order the Tra Vinh Special Vermicelli Soup again, probably not it was a meatlover’s delight with just too many flavours for me. There are many more interesting items on the menu for me to try.