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| Visual aids |
The problem, then, was deciding what to order. Lim was quick to help, giving us the history, the ingredients and the proper pronunciation of the dishes we were waffling on. Without hesitation he suggested the Roti Canai (pronounced RO-tee cha-NYE) a dish that is apparently receiving a lot of praise from diners. The soft, pliable flatbread came to the table freshly made and served with a bowl of mild curry dipping sauce. Oh, what a joy it is to eat something that has you dreaming about it later. Next time I will drink the dip and use the bread as an edible napkin. And no, I won’t share, although all the dishes we had that night were definitely large enough to share.
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| Roti Canai $6.95 |
The 3 Flavour Ribs followed the roti. You’re probably wondering what the three flavours are. I may have forgotten to ask, but if I had to guess I’d say “faith, hope and charity” or some other triad of loveliness.
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| 3 Flavour Ribs $9.95 |
Next up, Egg-Floss topped Shrimp. Here’s one of those “never before” dishes I was talking about. A platter of lightly battered plump prawns topped with curry leaves and this crazy eggy floss. This dish will probably become East’s signature dish based on its popularity, and rightly so; its fun and just plain fantastic.
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| Egg-Floss Shrimp $17.95 |
The shrimp were followed by Fried Crispy Sweet and Sour Pork belly. I don’t think there’s ever been a time I’ve said no to pork belly on a menu. This belly was different though, according to Lim who described it as being more like bacon, sliced thinner than your regular pork belly, deep-fried and covered in a slightly sweet tomato sauce. Different, but delectable.
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| Crispy Sweet & Sour Pork belly $13.95 |
Do not attempt to eat a full plate of this. As hard as it is to stop, just a few of those rich strips of belly will do ya’.
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| Nyonya Fried Chicken $13.95 |
Dessert. We toyed with sharing the Momo Cha-Cha, a mixture of syrup, sweet potatoes and black-eyed peas, but that sounded too much like Thanksgiving dinner and I just couldn’t embrace that in March. I’ll admit it, all of the desserts sounded very strange to my Canadian ears, but life is too short to say no to trying new foods. We ordered up the Black Glutinous Rice Pudding and the ABC Ice.
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| Black Rice Pudding $3.95 |
The eight ingredients in the ABC Ice range from sweet corn to grass jelly but what you need to know is that all the ingredients combined result in something that tastes like jelly bean ice cream, which isn’t such a bad thing at all.
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| ABC Ice $4.50 |
The space is casually chic, the service friendly and the food well prepared and refreshingly different making this experience an all round enjoyable one. I’ll definitely return…I’ll be heading west from the east end; those in the west need to head east to East, and if you’re coming from the north, head south to East, and from the south, head north. Or just enter 16049 – 97 into your GPS and let technology do its thing.
