Friday, January 18, 2013

Wok It : New Fancy Place for Asian Food

eating in dubai is so kacang for malaysians. if you missed food from home, you’ve got ‘singapore deli’ or ‘noodle bowl’ that sells spore-msian food from nasi lemak to laksa. you can also get lauk-pauk from indo restaurants ‘sari nusa’, ‘betawi’ or ‘dapoer kita’.

add to that list is ‘wok it’ – a new asian-food place offering delicious dishes from indonesia, malaysia, singapore and thailand. there’s the familiar pandan chicken, char kuey teow, nasi goreng kampung and the most popular dish here – murtabak

for links on my reviews of the places i mentioned, click here : singapore deli, noodle bowl, sari nusa and betawi.

 

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‘wok it’ is very near burjuman mall in bur dubai. it’s directly opposite centerpoint. look out for that cute giant ‘bee’ statue, and you’ll see the entrance to ‘wok it’. you can park right in front of the restaurants, but parking can be tough on a busy day. wait on the side, and if you’re lucky, just swoop in when a car leave its space!

 

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with its stylish interior, wooden flooring, classy minimalist park bench-like seats and open kitchen – ‘wok it’ sets itself apart from other asian restaurants. personally i feel that this is the most fancy restaurant that i’ve been to, that offers malaysian dishes.

but hold it – this doesn’t necessarily makes ‘wok it’ better than the others – i still like betawi’s small, cosy place and singapore deli’s simple setting that is so lepak, as well as sari nusa with its batik table spread.

‘wok it’ is a pretty place, but at the same time, i immediately feel that we’re gonna be spending a lot more moolah here than any other asian place!

 

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there are two sections : one is with the park-bench seats. and you go a few steps up to a smaller area with soft white chairs. it’s really nice, comfy. simple but classy. and it’s a classy place that is still kids-friendly. i like it.

 

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a few of our malaysian and indonesian friends who have been here suggested we try the ‘murtabak’. murtabak is a delicious malaysian dish which is basically minced meat (chicken, or lamb) cooked with a lot of diced onions and egg, wrapped inside a thin parotha-like skin. and it’s grilled over hot pan.

there is also a choice of ‘sweet murtabak’ which i think looks more like our ‘apam balik’ but with cheese and chocolate inside.

 

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murtabak kambing or lamb murtabha

 

it’s no wonder why this is one of the most popular dishes in ‘wok it’. it’s delicious! granted that it’s got less inti that what we could get for cheaper in malaysia, and its got a crunchy exterior more similar to ‘samosa’ than our usual malaysian murtabak, but it’s still worth the dirham. it’s served piping hot so the outer skin is crispy crunchy.

for hardcore fans of murtabak, this might be a slight disappointment because the inti is agak sikit but personally I LIKE IT very much simply because i am not usually a fan of murtabak – i like my food to have balance and murtabak is just the sort off food that has very thin skin and A LOT of inti – faham tak? bila makan tu kadang-kadang rasa inti je berlambak. it just doesn’t go together for me!

tu sebab aku suka murtabak ‘wok it’ sebab inti dengan kulit dia seiring dan sejalan haha.

 

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we also tried this spicy beef szechuan something-something with bell peppers and mushroom. tasty but tasty yang biase-biase je, especially for the price we’re paying. if you like these kind of dishes, i suggest you’re better off going to lan zhou chinese restaurant near dragon mart. cheap, super delicious lauk! click here for my review.

if i have to say one nice thing about this dish, the beef is tender. senang gigit. well-cooked.

 

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for veggies, we opted for kangkong belacan. again, sedap but sedap biase. it’s fairly tasty but mr. khairul said singapore deli has the best kangkong belacan in town.

 

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i think i’ll try the char kuey teow next, just to see whether it’s similar with my favorite ipoh or penang char kuey teow. considering how *often* i get to eat authentic char kuey teow here in dubai, i doubt it will taste as good – but you never know until you try!

depan centerpoint kat burjuman mall tu tau. try lah!

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