Belanga, The Gardens

Contrary to popular belief, I hardly eat out, and hardly get to try new places. If eating alone with the other half, it makes more economic sense to eat in places where I have the discount card, which gives 50% discount. If with a group of friends, I usually go where the winds blow, and in this case, it blew up North to Kelantanese cuisine, which I absolutely LURVE, actually.

Despite its close proximity, I have yet to eat at any of the F&B outlets in the Gardens, so I was pretty thrilled when old classmates boys lunch was to be held there. Anyway, Belanga (it means clay cooking pot..... Lemongrass thought it meant silver, and she's closer to schooling age than I am) is a semi food court-ish set up (but it's not self service, thankfully) with a rather limited but adequate menu. In fact, I think I'd rather be at a place that serves a few good things, then have 1000 items of their menu, but are all utter junk.

Cardio surgeon was already waiting for us, and had ordered his nasi kerabu.

I know we're more used to seeing the plain colored one in Madam Kwan's, but he assures me, being of Kelantan stock, that this is the real thing. Probably colored yellow with tumeric. His ayam percik also PASsed the test.

I opted for my favourite Nasi dagang. Lovely long grain rice, almost glutinous (I think it's mixed), fluffy, yet sticky and tasty all at the same time, doused with a generous portion of chicken curry, and a chicken maryland slab which was tender and flavourful. The rice portion didn't seem enough, which ordinarily I would have probably asked for a top up, but decided to leave room, and wisely so, to try some other stuff.

Other class mate, Landscape Architect and Musician, had the same thing, but had Tongkol instead of Chicken. Tongkol is probably similar to Bonito Tuna.

That's quite a generous helping of tongkol, considering in the packeted ones up north, you only get a small chunk. Oh, hangon, then again, you're paying like 1/4.

Keropok Lekor.....if ever something resembled turd in photos, this would be a close contender for the crown. It was very tasty, but I prefer the ones catering to the masses, ie, deep fried till crispy on the outside. This one is uniformly soft, and apparently it's the correct way of doing it.

Quite ironic, that we should be lunching with a cardiac surgeon, and discussing the grim realities of how people are keeling over of heart attacks younger and younger, but at the same time, we ordered, as seconds, LAKSAM, the Kelantanese Laksa. Pure coconut milk, soaking a kind of rolled kueh teow, not unlike chee cheong fun, but thicker, with a generous garnishing of beansprouts and julienned cucumbers.

The sambal belacan complemented the dish the way Carla Bruni complements Nicolas Sarkozy, or the way black hair complements Nigella. Absolutely blissful, but certainly tipped the
in the fullness department. (tipped the SCALES, people, tipped the SCALES...in case ya didnt get it).

I am most thrilled to discover affordable and rather delicious Kelantanese fare in the vicinity, and also to discover that parking rates at the Gardens are the same as Mid Valley Megamall. Belanga is located in the basement of the Gardens- Megamall link....quite near the taiwanese place, and CIMB bank.