The One-Timers

Since coming onto ShopeeFood's attractive discounts, I'd usually use them to try out new places (or new food) I've not eaten before.  Sometimes, you get lucky.....and sometimes you don't! >.<  Well, here are just some of what I'd call one-timers.....food that I tried once but wouldn't be caught dead having again.

#1 - Salt & Spice, Pandan Indah

Didn't even knew the existence of this brand in Pandan Indah, Salt & Spice, but found them on ShopeeFood with a listing of 50 outlets, so I thought if they have 50 outlets it can't be that bad, right?  But beware that their rating can be as low as 3.1 to a high of 4.8 at different outlets (which I only found out later), so order at your own peril!  I ordered the Green Curry Chicken Nasi Lemak @ RM22.90 to try just because I could get RM8 off for minimum spend of RM18.

The green curry did have tender chicken pieces but not quite on the same level of a proper green curry from (say) a Thai eatery.  The sambal was very spicy with very little bits of fried ikan bilis (anchovies) and onions in them but I still managed to tolerate the spiciness until I finished all of it and that's because there was too little green curry.

Well, the fried egg speaks for itself....rubbery ones that some places like to cook with a mould.  If you can't fry an egg a la minute, then it would be best to just serve hard-boiled eggs that no-one will complain about...lol.

Also, did you notice the non-existence of fried ikan bilis?  All I got was kacang (nuts) in my nasi lemak,  And even more interesting was that they served their nasi lemak with coleslaw (luckily it wasn't mayo-ed but vinegared) and threw in some chunks of canned pineapple.  What's with that?  Fusion nasi lemak with a western salad?  I can get way better nasi lemak and I don't have to pay more than RM20 for it.  Ok, I'm outta here. >_<

#2 - Homi Curry Puff, Aeon Taman Maluri

I didn't have breakfast one morning and before lunch time came round I was already feeling peckish, so I decided to get me some Homi Handcrafted Curry Puff....handcrafted (actually handmade-lah) but it makes it sound so superior...lol.

I got me one curry chicken puff and sardine puff @ RM3.90 each.  I've eaten it before a long time ago (bought it at a stall in a coffee shop) but can't remember what it tasted like.  I should have just left it alone coz what I can't remember means it must be pretty forgettable.  The curry chicken puff, all I could taste were the potatoes (there's probably some chicken in there but no hard-boiled eggs) and the mix of curry spices wasn't something I favoured.

The sardine puff, I couldn't pick up on the taste of sardine all that much because of all the potatoes and spices.  One thing I did pick up was how thick and dense the spiral pastry was.  It wasn't as flaky as I thought it would be and the dense texture was because parts of the thick pastry were uncooked (you can see it clearly in the pic).  I can easily get a delicious one with chicken...and hard-boiled eggs from the Pandan Perdana market, so no more Homi curry puff for me.

#3 - House of Pok, Sunway Velocity

House of Pok is a place that serves chap fan that's slightly more atas (premium)...and with a more atas pricing to boot-lah) in a comfortable setting (of a mall instead of a coffee shop).  You can choose a set meal with drink from RM17.50 (B+B), RM19.50 (A+B) or RM23.50 (A+A).  Basically, A gives you a choice of meats (choice of 23 meats) while B (also 23 choices) gives you a selection of tofu, eggs or vegetables.

So, I got myself the A+B Set Meal @ RM21 (inclusive of RM1.50 for packaging and got RM4 off) and chose pandan chicken bites and assam gravy ladies finger.  The pandan chicken was just edible, nothing memorable, but the assam ladies finger was very good though with some pork lard topping.  Loved the assam flavours but the portion was too small.

The two side dishes of the day were a few slices of crispy bean curd that were hard and not crispy with a pickle of cucumber, carrot & onions (there were just so little of it, you be the judge of the photo).

I thought the free drink of sugarcane & water chestnut was the highlight of the meal (other choices include goji jujube tea, hawthorn apple juice and fizzy drinks).  It was nicely sweet, most welcomed and thirst quenching.  You can reference it to acting when the extras outshine the main cast and that's not very complimentary.

Although the portion was enough for me (maybe a bit small for a guy) as the rice portion was generous (you can have it with porridge or yam rice at an additional cost of RM2), I'd rather have more liew than rice.  This is like a more expensive version of chap fan and though the flavours were still acceptable, you're bound to feel that it's pricey for only two dishes as the two side dishes given do not amount to much.  For a box of more premium chap fan, the taste has to be much better than that to match its price....sadly, it didn't.

#4 - No 1 Nasi Ambeng & Penyet Asli, Ampang

First of all, I don't know what nasi ambeng is but from some of the pictures and information online, I gather that it's a traditional rice dish (from Jawa, Indonesia) of steamed white rice with a choice of (but not limited to) meat or fish (it can be chicken or beef cooked rendang-style, curry or stewed in soy sauce or fried fish like ikan keli or kembong), sambal goreng jawa, serunding kelapa (I see it referenced as sambal kelapa urap too) and begedil.  Sounds like a good Malay chap fan (mixed rice) to me....so, why not.

When it arrived, I was very pleased to see that most of the items of the Nasi Ambeng Daging Masak Kicap @ RM12.50 were individually wrapped.  So, I was able to pour them out onto the rice packet for a nicer presentation.  First of all, you not only get steamed white rice but it's also accompanied by mee goreng.  So, if you can't decide if you want rice or mee, you can have both in this dish.

Let's start with the meat of my choice which was daging masak kicap (beef cooked/stewed in soy sauce). The beef (for me) was (unfortunately) a little bit all over the place, some were a little bit tender, some were a little bit chewy and some were a little bit sinewy.  It also tasted a bit too beefy for me...sorry but I need a little bit better quality of beef though for some of you this might be acceptable.  No problem, I can be a little bit country and you can be a little bit rock 'n' roll...lol.

The sambal goreng jawa turned out to be not a sambal but stir-fried vegetables of firm tofu, tempeh and long beans (I think there were some potatoes in there too), I can't really tell because they were cooked to death (aka overly soft and discoloured).  It looked like a poor attempt at replicating sambal goreng jawa I've seen (online) of onions, potatoes, fried beancurd sheets, firm tofu, tempe, soo hoon (glass noodles) and fresh chillies (red & green) cooked with a blended chilli paste.

Oh dear, with the two main cast failing to impress, I was left with only two supporting cast to safe the dish. Luckily, the mildly spicy serunding kelapa (coconut floss) was good.  I also found two pieces of small ikan masin (salted fish) hidden in the serunding that I really liked as they were lightly salty and totally crispy (and not fishy at all).  There was an additional sambal given, a freshly blended chilli paste, which I enjoyed thoroughly as it perked up the whole dish with its spicy, refreshing and lightly tangy taste.

Besides daging masak kicap, you can have your nasi ambeng with ayam masak merah or kicap, ayam goreng, sambal paru or ikan kembong goreng but the rest of the sides stay the same.  Although it was a fully loaded dish, the only thing I enjoyed were the serunding, ikan masin and fresh sambal.  I could make a meal out of just that and be happy but why would I.  Looks like this won't be the No. 1 Nasi Ambeng Asli in my books (so I guess I'll be giving their Nasi Penyet a miss).

#5 - 4Fingers, Pandan Jaya

Making the final cut for this post is one that'll come as a big surprise to you all.....4 Fingers! :O  No, not 4 Fingers usual menu of soy garlic or spicy chicken (that I love) but their Nasi Ayam Solo @ RM21.90 (their Ramadan special, I think) which consists of 1 pc drumstick, 3 pcs boneless chicken bites, Hainanese chicken rice, tomato slices, chicken soup, ginger chilli sauce and ice lemon tea.

The thought of having 4Fingers chicken rice sounded really good (+ the photo was really enticing)...a combo of 4Fingers crispy chicken (which is always lovely) with chicken rice.  When I opened the box, it did look the part....there was chicken (fried instead of roasted or poached lah), rice (flavoured with chicken stock, I hope) and even a ginger chilli sauce (that resembled those from chicken rice stalls).

The fried chicken (both the drumstick and boneless bites) had that super crunchy batter we'd come to expect from 4Fingers but, unfortunately, the chicken pieces were not tossed and coated in their signature sauce of soy garlic or spicy.  Instead, you'll notice drizzle marks over the chicken, presumably teriyaki...and because they were drizzled and not tossed completely in sauce (like how their usual chicken is done), the chicken ended up only super crispy but bland and devoid of flavour without the sauce coating it thoroughly (or maybe I just didn't like the teriyaki sauce on chicken).

The chicken rice (don't remember it having much chicken broth flavour) was overly mushy in texture and it was also doused in (quite a bit of) teriyaki which I found a rather weird combo (with chicken rice).  Not sure if they used the same teriyaki sauce but felt that this one wasn't as sticky-sweet.  Thankfully, there was that refreshing, lightly tangy but spicy chilli paste to lessen the disappointment, the only decent thing I thought that mimicked nasi ayam.  Sorry, 4Fingers, I still love your crispy soy garlic or spicy chicken but not this.

On a brighter and happier note, I was once given an extra piece of drumette (4 pcs of wings instead of 3) with their wings rice box combo I ordered via delivery.....lucky me, so thank you, 4Fingers...lol.

As I explore and try more new food for the first time on delivery platforms, I'm sure I'll encounter more of these one-timers in the future.....but don't try, won't know! >_<