Kampung Attap Fish Head Curry @ Gerai Zabrullah

This is perhaps one of the most talked about Fish Head curry in town. For one, it is located right smack in the middle of town, but not exactly a very visible or a well known place. Kg Attap is not exactly a place most "out of towners" would like to go wandering about, because there really isn't much to see there except for this Gerai Zabrullah.

It must have been until quite recently that this Gerai Zabrullah, was a little stall, that operated under one of those huge trees, in one of the corners of Kg Attap. They have since moved to a new Corner Shop right next to their original location. People are still wondering if this shop is from the same proprietor or this is another case of a COPYKAT restaurant... ITS the same one....
We ordered quite a few dishes since they were seven of us. I really dislike these restaurants because of their long rectangular tables, synonymous to most non-Chinese eateries. It you eat in a group of more than 5 persons, you have to order 2 servings. Like lets say you got 6 flers eating with you, you go for 3 and 3.

Anyway back to our Kari "Kepala Ikan Merah", I mean it wasn't bad. The fish head was huge and yet the meat / skin is not tough. Bau hanyir pun tak ada. It must be due to the generous amount of spices, and curry powder they use to cook this curry. Now unlike chicken or smaller fish, these huge ones can't be overcook, otherwise it gets too tough. Their curry I categorize them under sour and spicy, and not too HOT. Its nice, plus the fish is neither smelly nor tough.
I didn't know this ayam goreng is called the ayam goreng madu, as I read from Joe's blog. But looking at the amount of ayam they were gorenging all the time, its a good sign that, thats a hot item there, so ordered only. To say the least, the chicken came smoking and vaporing. It was crispy, aromatic, juicy and moist. Most importantly, it was thoroughly cooked. No bloody stains on their bones...
This Cili Bawang is a must have. Its a mixture of green chillies, onions, sweet soya sauce and lime. A superb combination to have when eating fried / roasted stuff.


When it comes to recommendations, this Squid Curry dish, is no exception. Of course, you don't have to makan hidang like this, because you can always go for a single serving of dishes like in Mixed Rice stalls.

This place serves up some seriously good food. The pricing can be quite expensive when you go for a Fish Head. But I think a serving of fish head comes at a minimum of Rm25 for two persons. The rest can be quite reasonable.


Joe's Cravings
Masak-Masak
KY Eatz There also


Gerai Zabrullah
Jalan Kampung Attap, Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 012 329 8515
012 9040 100
012 220 2041

Buffet Dinner @ Restoran Seri Melayu, Jalan Conlay

Last November, on Thanksgiving Week just before the Thanksgiving weekend, our American principal dropped by to say hello to us. Along with that, we would usually introduce to him our clients and end users, hoping that he would go back and write a good report about our operations.

It also means we will bring in around KL to savor our local culinary delights. When he asked to eat local food, he really meant local. Day one - we went for Restoran Leong Ya Indah for chinese food, yong tao foo and Paper Wrapped Chicken. So that was for lunch, and for dinner we took him to Satay Kajang Hj Samuri @ Kajang. Although we understand that he wanted to go to Nirvana Maju (his favourite restaurant), we explained to him that the standard has gone down these days. Day Two, I ended up in Sg Wang with him souvenir hunting for his Thanksgiving party, when he returns home. Dinner was at Seri Melayu, and it was to be my first visit there. I have not attended cultural shows in Malaysia before in my life, although I have fallen asleep in many other cultural shows, in other countries..wakakakaka... my own country's show wa tak pernah pigi oh... kekekeke


Anyway, I didn't know what to expect, from this restaurant. When I heard that Seri Melayu has the same owner as Seri Angkasa ( KL Tower) I was beginning to get worried, bad reputation ma, expensive and lousy food all. So when we walked in, we were greeted with a buffet spread meant for kings. Picture gallery here. Round 1, I had from left to right, roast lamb with mint sauce, chinese styled ginger chicken in dark soya sauce, seafood curry (mamak style I think), fish curry, and briyani.

These samples really got my hopes up, all the ingredients were fresh, and the recipes were authentic and everything was well cooked.

Round 2 (L-R), beef rendang, Nasi Kerabu (with rice), Chicken Curry and Chinese Styled Prawn in Hoi sin Sauce and leek. Everything turned out quite good, except for my Nasi Kerabu. I put too much budu, and it became too salty for me. The prawns were fresh, and surprisingly delicious.


For the third round, I got myself a bowl of Laksa Johor. Its fun to go for this type of buffets, because , you can learn to make those laksas yourself. Its a DIY type stall, where you cook the noodles in hot soup. and pour in the laksa gravy onto your noodles. Also at the side are all the extra condiments meant for a laksa bowl.

Their satay was nice, definitely made from tip top ingredients. The peanut sauce was a little bit on the sweet side, but I must say, thats how a satay sauce should taste like.

I helped myself to a big bowl of ulam and salads, before I settled with Keledek Kukus with pengat sauce. Pengat is normally done by Baba's and Nyonya on special occasions. It is reduced coconut milk, with gula melaka and durian paste. I took two pieces of keledek for myself and a full plate of keledek and pengat for my American friend. He just loves durians.

Come to about 8.30pm the cultural show starts with the liveband providing diners with some traditional music.

After that they have various dances, which I saw for the first time.

This so called Chinese Fan Dance performed by Malay girls. Tell you the truth, I saw this fan dance in Korea too. So I am not sure if that was Korean or chinese.

Then you have Classical Indian dance.


And more hip swaying by some chicks.

The quality of the cultural performance, reminded me why I never attend these shows. Tourists might just go home and forget about it, but as a local, I can only ponder if these people can be good dancers and be more authentic. Later I found out, my American friend has already been to Saloma four times previously, and experienced the same type of cultural dances 4 times before. Luckily we took him somewhere else. Different place but same food and dance.

He never complains about food, so his only answer was, "...it was really good, I enjoyed it !" I thought the food was good, the spread was enormous, it had really authentic Malay Kampung food(minus the house flies when we eat at stalls), authentic chinese, and authentic Indian food. They always have a roast lamb or two at their western corner, plus, for dessert, you can always go for fresh fruits (local), stuff like Leng Chi Kang, Ice Kacang, and the usual disappointing Wall's Ice Cream.

Restoran Seri Melayu
1 Jalan Conlay
03 2145 1833
Wikimapia

January 2008 - Buffet Lunch 35++, Dinner 70++
But I am sure we paid a little bit more, in Nov last year.

Check out their website for the latest promotions and info.

Banana Leaf Meal @ Restoran Raju, PJ

Raju's Curry House, that Indian Restaurant just off of Jalan Gasing, is indeed an icon for me. Because for me, they are one of the first banana leaf meals that was introduced to me, that I truly. As I recalled, my first time ever eating a banana leaf meal was at New Lay Sin restaurant @ Brickfields, when our school magazine outings during highschool brought us to Brickfields, thus New Lay Sin. Fast forward a few years later, we were introduced to Raju.

We arrived in the afternoon at about 1.30pm and found the lunch crowd still around. Although a lot of them has already gone back, the crowd was still quite substantial.

One of the things why I like to eat here is because, they offer a pick and choose station of your favorite meats and fish. All pre marinated and placed in a tray as shown in the picture above. What came as a surprise to me is, that they now post one fler to pick the stuff up for you, just in case you don't want your hands to smell like fish. hehehe. I guess he stands there to swap flies too.

After you pick em, just pass it to the fler here, and he will deep fry them for you. Your stuff will then come steaming hot with vapour flying out of your fish or meat. My plus point about this is that, at least they cook it fresh for you, I "think" its cleaner.

Many reasons why I like to come here. The restaurant is situated under a huge asam tree. Its cooling and it adds leaves to your meal (as you eat, gerenti you, sure one small leaf will drop onto your banana leaf). Secondly all their staff are neatly dressed, and ever ready to pose for your camera. Can you see the uniform they are wearing ? Neat isn't it ? Even their moustache is the same....wakakakaka....

That day I had a general vegetarian set with two pieces of Deep Fried Ikan Balos. My favorite fish, because its so deeply fried, you can even eat their bones. Again, my rice has to be drenched with a mix of sambar, chicken and fish curry.


Not sure who started this dim sum style of carrying extra dishes to the customer's table. This to me is new, although I heard that Kanna Curry House also practice the same thing. In the picture above, they were trying to sell those big prawns to us. As usual, I'd decline, must be very expensive wan. Last time, they'd just leave them in a stall and if you wanted them you take a saucer and pick up the extra dishes you want.


Rasam in most restaurants are given free compliments from the eatery, but at Raju's they have begun the practice of charging you 50sen for a small glass of rasam. I was surprised, but nevertheless had to pay for them.
This is the first time in my life, I see this being sold. Non Alcoholic Beer. WTF ? I think those drinks must be a can of training beer to make it easier for young kids to later graduate into real beer(like training bras). Wakakakaka..... Anyone tried those before, meant those beers?

To summise, they do serve really nice authentic indian food. Although they have increased their pricing recently, their food is still quite good. No complains on the food, but why charge for rasam , why sell non alcoholic beer (jees, that freaking lame man), and the dim sum style serving really just don't make sense.

Raju Restaurant
Jalan Chantek 5/13 (off Jalan Gasing),
Petaling Jaya


Also read:

Eating Asia
BSG
Simple Life
Masak-mAsak