Nasi Lemak @ Brilliant Nasi Lemak House, Kota Damansara

It was a holiday and we were planning to head to IKEA for some furnishing ideas.  But before that, we circled into Kota Damansara (near Sunway Giza) to search for somewhere decent for lunch.  And then, it caught my attention - Brilliant Nasi Lemak House.  Since it has been a while I had a good nasi lemak meal, I suggested to try this place.

This is one non-halal place with the usual nasi lemak but with a Chinese feel to it.  As with any good nasi lemak, every component of the dish plays an important role for it to meet the mark and in my humble opinion, I think Brilliant Nasi Lemak House made it.

The sambal was nicely prepared with a balanced flavour of sweet and spicy.  The sambal alone did a good job to flavour the nasi lemak.  In terms of the level of hotness, it was just slightly above average.  The rice, unfortunately, was lacking some santan  aroma but it was still a decent serving of rice - not too soggy or dry.  A plus point is the huge portion of the rice.

For me, I ordered the Nasi Lemak with Deep Fried Chicken (RM 8.20) since I was in the mood for some fried stuff (despite the hot weather).  The fried chicken drumstick was very juicy and yet, the skin on the outside was crispy and seasoned nicely.  The flavour is not too intense such that it blends well with the sambal.  I loved it.  I only wished they had given me more of the sambal.

KS ordered the Nasi Lemak with Rendang Pork (RM 8.20) as he felt it is pretty rare to find pork to go along with nasi lemak.  Instead of the traditional beef rendang, this was made up of tender pork pieces.  The flavours of the rendang was a bit mild, i.e. the spices are not as intense as the usual rendang and has a closer resemblance to pork curry instead.  Still, the meat was beautifully cooked with the right level of moisture.

As the weather was pretty hot, we ordered the Red Bean & Cendol Dessert (RM 4.80) to cool.  I love the mashed red beans as they were sweet and did much to flavour the ice.  However, aside from the cendol jellies, the ice barely tasted like cendol dessert.

They have a variety of nasi lemak dishes with the Brilliant's Nasi Lemak (Deep Fried Chicken Drumstick, Sambal Prawns & Sambal Stuffed Squid) and Dessert Set (RM 17.80) being one of their main highlights.  But we were not up to it since it looked a bit too heavy for lunch.  Maybe next time.  If you are not up for nasi lemak, the menu also offers other dishes such as wan tan mee, noodles, chicken rice and various snacks and desserts.

As we were leaving to take a picture of the shop, there was a sign placed right outside the shop with a tagline "The Best Nasi Lemak in Kota Damansara awaits you here!"  Not sure if it is really the best in town, but it was definitely good enough for me to come back another time.

Brilliant Nasi Lemak House

25, Jalan PJU 5/10
Dataran Sunway
47810 Kota Damansara
Tel:  03-6150 6998

Hainanese Lunch @ Gastro Cafe, Subang Jaya

Right after attending my cousin's wedding ceremony at The Saujana Hotel, we set off for a late lunch at Gastro Cafe @ SS15 Subang Jaya.  I always wanted to try this Hainanese place out since it was opened, but I just never had the chance to set foot there.

Me being a huge fan of nasi lemak, I had to order the Nasi Lemak with Halua Chicken (RM 7.80), served with sambal, ikan bilis, egg and stir-fried long beans.  The halua chicken or sweet chicken was a bit over-cooked and hence, a little bit hard, but it was seasoned pretty good.  Eaten together with the sweet and spicy sambal, it was just right.  Plus, they were very generous with my favourite ikan bilis!  The portion is a quite big and worth the price paid.

For KS, he ordered the Gastro Chicken Chop (RM 11.50) served with original Hainanese sauce and a piece of white bread to sweep up the sauce.  The chicken chop was quite succulent but unfortunately, was just soaked in too much sauce, making the crispy outer layer going soggy.  The sauce was a bit bland, and so, didn't make the dish stand out very much.  As compared to the nasi lemak, the portion is a bit smaller but still good enough.

To end, we ordered the cendol as desserts.  The portion was amazingly large and they have put enough gula melaka to sweeten the ice.  The filling were pretty standard - cendol jelly and red beans.  Overall, an enjoyable cooling dessert to end.

Generally, Gastro Cafe is quite a decent place for a quick simple meal at an affordable price.  The service was quite good and quite accommodating to our specific requests to remove peanuts from our servings.

Gastro Cafe

No 4 & 6, Jalan SS15/4B

47500 Subang Jaya

Brother's Nasi Lemak @ Jalan Tengah, Kuala Lumpur

If you're working around the Jalan Raja Chulan area, you'll most likely know about this famous nasi lemak stall.  Known as the Brothers' Nasi Lemak, you can find this stall right behind the ING buidling @ Jalan Tengah, in between Jalan Raja Chulan and Jalan Sultan Ismail.

There may be many stalls selling nasi lemak along the road but there is one that stands out - two long queues with each being served simultaneously.  The brothers are very quick, so you don't need to wait long for your turn.

There are a lot of things I find this nasi lemak very nice and worth drooling for:

1. The rice is not only fragrant but cooked perfectly with enough seasonings.  The thing about cooking rice with coconut milk is that sometimes, it will make the rice too wet.  But here at Brothers', the rice is just nice and fluffy.
2. The sambal is not very spicy, with a hint of sweetness and fragrance of onions.
3. The one thing I love the most is their huge, crispy deep-fried ikan bilis.  No nasi lemak will be complete without these darling fishes.

My colleague termed it as the legendary nasi lemak.  In my opinion, I think it is one of the best and cheap nasi lemak breakfast you will find in Kuala Lumpur.  A biasa nasi lemak only costs RM 1.50 and they always let me tambah the ikan bilis at no extra cost.

Jalan Tengah
Between ING Building & MAS Building
GPS:  3.151491,101.708823