Nothing Like the Flavours of Home

Was having dinner at my favourite Cantonese restaurant, Hengshan Cafe (on Hengshan Lu) when I noticed that the diners on the next table were having something that looked suspiciously like kangkong. I was suddenly struck with this overpowering craving for kangkong belacan. Called the manager, and with fingers crossed enquired if they had it. Was crestfallen when he replied with a 'no'. I spent the next WEEK (i'm not kidding) thinking about kangkong belacan and Malaysian cuisine. JJ (bless his heart) searched, and FOUND, a Malaysian restaurant that claimed to serve authentic Malaysian food. So decided to give them a try. Spoke to some guy who WHOA! turned out to be Malaysian, and I was quite taken aback to realise how THRILLED I was to speak to a fellow Malaysian... from Melaka!! He couldn't speak Malay ironically enough... (lousy Malaysian!) but knew EXACTLY what I was craving for... When asked if he served kangkong belacan, he answered "No belacan how to eat!!" oh my god I could've kissed him! Then he asked if I wanted Nasi Lemak rice! Walau, I can't remember the last time I had Nasi Lemak man!! I was so 'into' the moment of being in the presence of Malaysian food that I wouldn't eat it any other way but with my fingers... Otherwise where got 'shiok'!! The kangkong was great, the rendang was OK, the spicy assam prawns was 'power', chicken curry even more 'power', the eggplant was damn nice, and the yong tou fu was so-so... was never a big fan anyway... Next I wanna try their Bak kut teh. Better not be like Singaporean bak kut teh... It's been YEARS since I've had proper Malaysian style bak kut teh with 'you tiao'. Looking forward!!