Eating out

Last night it took us almost an hour to reach the Fatty Crab restaurant in Petaling Jaya and we were driving in from Bangsar. It should only have taken at most 20 minutes but it didn't because of the terrible traffic jam.

I have never experienced such peak hour traffic at 6:30 pm and it really opened my eyes to the terrible stress that commuters go through daily just to return home after a long day at work. Never again will I venture out at this hour.

The dinner of crabs, fried chicken wings and fried rice appears to be the standard dishes as every table had the same, the only difference being the size of the portions. I found the price of crabs to be very expensive at RM28.00 for 600 grams. In Kota Kinabalu, we only pay RM18.00 for 1kg of crabs.

However, we ordered 3 crabs cooked in sweet & sour style, a plate of fried rice and 3 chicken wings since there were just three of us dining.

The chicken wings were tasty, although a bit on the small side, rather pepperish, seasoned in soy sauce. The chicken was tender on the inside so it was good.

The crabs were on the small side too. Maybe we are used to the larger ones in Kota Kinabalu. The flesh was not as firm as those we usually have in KK but it was also tasty, especially when dipped in the sweet and sour gravy which wasn't at all spicy, more on the sweet side. The fried rice was good, with the chopped up crunchy long beans giving it an unusual flavour. We were supposed to mop up the gravy with bread but we opted to give that a miss as the rice was already filling.

I wanted to reserve some room for after-dinner bites which turned out to be roasted chestnuts and boiled groundnuts. The groundnuts were large and soft, boiled with some tumeric. These we purchased from a roadside vendor. At home there was also a tray of durians, D24, waiting on the table but we gave it a miss as we were already stuffed.

What a night out! Eating is my favourite thing when in Kuala Lumpur as there is an astounding variety of choices whether it be in restaurants or coffee shops with a number of hawker stalls. The latter is my preferred choice as the food is good and cheap and I can always have more variety at one sitting.The local black coffee is good too, especially when you ask for "kopi oh kau-kau" which means black coffee, double strength. Tastes better.

Well, only today and tomorrow morning left to indulge as we leave for KK tomorrow afternoon. Back to reality by tomorrow evening! Ah, but the delicious and cheaper crabs beckon over there! Cooked in salted egg and curry leaves, it really is superb.