Kelantan Delights @ Sooka Sentral
We had our very first Tastebuddies gathering by Nuffnang over the weekend at Kelantan Delights in Sooka Sentral. It is not that easy to get a decent Kelantanese cuisine in KL/PJ area. So, I was excited when I found out that our first get together would be in a Kelantanese restaurant.
While waiting for everyone to arrive and the dishes to be served, we were offered with some chilled lemongrass drinks to quench our thirst.
It was a perfect beverage to sip on in a hot sunny Sunday afternoon - slightly sweetened with the aroma of lemongrass to make you feel refreshing. We were all busy snapping and chatting away while waiting for our FOOD!!!! LOL!!!
I was super excited to try the food after going through the menu:
Before our appetizer was served, we had a brief but insightful introduction of history behind the Kelantanese cuisine by the staff of Kelantan Delights - who were all very friendly.
To kickstart our appetite, we were served with 2 different appetizers:
1. Sirih Daun Kaduk
Daun sirih is called "Betel" in English. The leaf was wrapped with fried popiah skin to give it a crunchy texture. Inside the leaf was filled with ginger, cili padi, roasted coconut, roasted peanuts, dried shrimp and the restaurant special sauce. The ginger and cili padi wasn't too spicy, but just nice to spiced-up your appetite for next course. I was loving this dish that I had 2 of them!! *guilty*
2. Tomyam Kelapa Muda
Tomyam has always been my top favorite, and I love them to be spicy! Our tomyam was served in shot glasses with prawn and coconut meat on a stick and garnished with coriander. Usually, they will serve it in coconut shell. The shotglass worked for me. The soup was flavorful, but for my personal tastebud I would loved it to be a little bit more spicier.
I couldn't wait to try out my main course, after having delicious appetizers.
For the main course, we have 4 choices, and they were being served in 2 rounds:
1. Nasi Kerabu Ayam Percik
Nasi Kerabu means rice salad and there's a variety of nasi kerabu in Kelantan. The rice we had was blue in color, which was a coloring from Blue Bell flower. It was served with ayam percik and ulam by the side with salted egg and fish crackers. A ayam percik is "wood-fire broiled chicken dressed with sweet coconut gravy" and ulam is a local term for raw vegetables. The gravy was aromatic and you can taste the coconut in it; the chicken breast I had was succulent and goes very well with the gravy on top of it. I couldn't stop myself from eating it, although the portion was a little too big for me.
2. Nasi Dagang Gulai Ikan
Nasi Dagang literally means trading rice, and it usually comes with its different components which can be combined to suit the diner's taste. The dish was served with gulai ikan tongkol (mackerel tuna), acar timun (pickled cucumber) and egg. Unfortunately, I did not try this dish, so I couldn't comment much on it. However, it smelled really really good when the waiters brought it to our table.
3. Nasi Tumpang
This was my 2nd time having nasi tumpang, and I totally love their version. There will be different layering of food inside the rice. The first layer was filled shredded egg; the second was filled with chicken floss and prawn sambal; and at the bottom of the rice was gulai ikan tongkol. Traditionally, the farmers in Kelantan will just take the rice out to the field and have it as their breakfast, lunch and dinner. In Kelantan Delights, they've added in a piece of fried chicken by the side. It was fun eating this dish. Every layer of the rice brings different flavors, as and when you dig into the rice. We were informed that due to the long hours of making a nasi tumpang (3 hours), the restaurant could only make less than 20 of these in a day. So people, go early and snatch if before others do! LOL!!
3. Laksam
This was also my 2nd time having laksam. The gravy was made of fish puree and santan (coconut milk), which was absolutely flavorful. The raw vegetables added texture into the dish while the sambal belacan give the dish a little spiciness.
After tasting their main course, I was stuffed with food and I could feel my sleepiness hitting me like a tidal wave. LOL! But, I'm still looking forward for the desserts, as they have some very unique names - Lompat Tikam and Ketupat Sotong
Lompat Tikam - rice cake (pandan), pulut merah (red glutinous rice) with santan (coconut milk) and gula melaka (palm sugar). The rice cake was soft and kinda tasteless by itself, but was perfect to go with the coconut milk and palm sugar. The pulut merah was another of my favorite of that afternoon. It has a little chewy texture and goes very well with the sweetness of the palm sugar.
Ketupat Sotong - This was a dish that kept us guessing the whole afternoon - how does it look like? how does it taste? As the name suggested, it's a squid stuffed with rice. Personally, it has a very special and unique taste, and I'd say a little bit "challenging" for my palate. It tasted totally like squid but instead of savory, it was sweet.
All in all, I'd say this was a pleasant experience in the restaurant. In fact, I'm actually contemplating of visiting the restaurant again!
Address:
1-5, Level 1, Sooka Sentral,
Jalan Stesen Sentral,
50470 Kuala Lumpur 50470,
Malaysia
** The landmark of the building - Starbucks! If you see Starbucks then you are at the correct location.
Telephone Number:
+60 3-2785 1945
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