Sambal Udang - An all time favourite dish

NYONYA Restaurant in SS2 Petaling Jaya has served residents in the area for the past 29 years with its authentic Nyonya spread. It now enters its third generation of business under different management, but still maintains its reputation as one of the best Nyonya outlets in the area.

As with most similar outlets, the menu carries more or less the same type of dishes but it is the style of cooking that differentiates between good and excellent.

Among the dishes featured at the outlet that are worth trying are Kapitan Chicken, Sambal Udang, Kerabu, Assam Fish, Otak-otak, Sambal Petai, Baba Dumpling and Sayur Paku (an edible fern vegetable).

Garnished with lemongrass and cooked with coconut milk, the Kapitan Chicken is a good choice for those who crave for rendang or curry. The curry has a fragrant aroma but its taste is different from other curries, which are usually sweet.

Sambal Udang is another dish that goes down well with locals and foreigners alike, as it is hot attributed to the tangy mixture of chillies and onions.

Just like Sambal Ikan Bilis, this shrimp version will certainly be a perfect dish to go with all-time Malaysian favourite Nasi Lemak.

If you are a fish aficionado, the Assam Fish will please as the dish is loaded ladies' fingers as well as lemongrass, small onions, mint leaves, chillies and shrimp paste for flavour. The fish used will depend on what's available on the day.

The Otak-Otak is an odd-looking delicacy but its taste certainly belies the dull golden yellow coloured fish cake.

Although it is not similar to the typical Otak-otak one can get in the East Coast, it tastes just as good with the addition of coconut milk.

Baba Dumpling is deep-fried beancurd, stuffed with minced fish and shrimps. The crunchy delicacy does not taste too flavourful or too bland but it certainly has much more ''oomph'' with a dip of the homemade chilli sauce provided.

Prices for the a la carte menu range between RM2 and RM28.

Apart from the items from its a la carte menu, the restaurant also offers an auspicious Full Moon Gift Pack deal for families celebrating their newborn babies' ''full moon'' when the babies turn one month old.

Source: The Star, June 14th 2003