Nasi Kandar @ City Moon, Karama

yes, nasi kandar has finally arrived in dubai!

i’m married to a penang boy, who’s naturally, a nasi kandaq-freak. everytime we’re back to malaysia, penang is definitely in the must-visit list. imagine going the rest of the year without his fix? but not any more with city moon’s new offerings – nasi kandar dishes and lauk every friday!

jom!

 

 

 

city moon is situated in karama, very near the indonesian restaurant, betawi. (click here for my review on betawi) the premise is rather small, able to fit only 4-5 tables of 3 people each. however, it’s clean and presentable, while the staff are courteous and always ready to wait on you. oh, and they can speak reasonably good bahasa malaysia too! coolness!

rase la sekejap macam makan kat restoran mamak malaysia!

 

 

 

we’ve heard about this place having nasi kandar every friday, but that day was our first time. i expected a decent crowd, or at least a long line of hungry malaysians melepas rindu for their beloved nasi kandar after friday prayers, but the place was empty except one table of three. and only after we’ve taken our food came 3-4 more people.

oh well, good for us then!

 

 

a small counter at the end of the restaurant housed all the lauk; and they’re all delightfully familiar. there’s the must-have ayam goreng (fried chicken), the mandatory kari kepala ikan (fish head curry), there’s the unmistakable sight of ayam madu, kurma ayam, daging merah and acar timun; plus a host of other tantalizing curries.

all the usual dishes that accompanies a nice hot steamed white rice.

 

  

 

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i must say that the plate above was way too neat to be a plate of a penang nasi-kandaq freak boy! there seemed to be too little curry visible, and the edges of the plate was too clean! haha.

the lauk was delicious; ayam goreng was spiced well, and the meat was very tender – but by mr. khairul’s verdict, the steamed rice was poorly made. too hard. spoiled the whole experience.

the vegetable dish of lady’s finger was particularly tasty. i ageed. sedap, lembut, cukup rasa!

 

 

i opted for nasi tomato, because i simply LOVE nasi tomato! and when the server asked, “nasi putih? nasi tomato ade---“ i immediately jumped into the sentence, “..nasi tomato ade?! ok nasi tomato!” hihi. of course i partnered it with ayam madu (honey chicken) on the side – because i don’t like my rice to be too soggy with the amount of gravy that i don’t need – yes, my system!

when i ate a spoonful, i thought to myself – city moon must have a problem with their rice cooker! because my rice was a bit on the hard side too! it’s not THAT hard that it’s inedible, but i wish it could be softer and fluffier.

the ayam madu was delicious – sweet savoury, all in the right amount. the acar timun was not bad at all. though i wish the rice would be softer, i basically had a decent meal of a dish that i love. it’s all good!

 

 

all in all, the nasi tomato wasn’t up to my mark, but i would go again to try other lauk. maybe kurma or their nasi lemak the next time around?

by the way, i think it’s named ‘city moon’ because it originally wanted the name ‘si timun’ kot? hihi. lagi catchy kan?