PETALING JAYA, April 5 — You can't go wrong with local fare. In our eyes (and stomach), it's pure comfort food.

With many cafes banking on our love for local food, the stakes have gone up. You pay more since it's an air-conditioned environment, table service and larger portions. The expectations are also higher.

But the search for good ones among a sea of average though is the difficult part.

I was introduced to Jo'Tesha Northern Colours by a friend who seems to be eating his way through these places. Here, they serve a combination of Northern eats and Western favourites like chicken chop and pasta. You can also get Nyonya kuih and homemade organic ice cream here.

What stood out were their Penang Assam Laksa and Penang White Curry Mee. My criteria was simple: are these good enough to forgo a trip to Penang? Yes.

Their Curry Chicken was also good. You get a rich taste with lots of coconut milk and those must-eat potatoes. Eat with nasi kunyit or opt for this with nasi lemak served with Nyonya achar and sambal.

Let's have a closer look at the Penang Assam Laksa. This version uses flaked fish — a mix of sizes — hence it gives you a combination of textures. From a business standpoint, you get to see the fish so you know it's present.

While the toppings like pineapple and cucumber are chunkier than what I prefer and it's missing fresh mint leaves, I appreciated how the appetising broth was perfumed with the distinct aroma of torch ginger flower.

Mix in the spoonful of prawn paste in the broth. On its own, the fermented paste is pungent but when mixed into the broth, it mellows out the tanginess to make it an incredibly pleasurable bowl.

It's that type where you can happily drink every drop of the broth until you see the bottom of the bowl. With a price tag of RM14.90, I would say it's worth it since I get my tangy happiness in the comfort of an air-conditioned cafe.

With the Penang White Curry Mee, this ticked all the boxes for the taste of the broth. You get the thin white broth made from coconut water and coconut milk that is given colour with a mix of that important fragrant chilli paste.

Like magic, the pale white transforms to orange as you stir in that paste made with dried shrimps and chillies.

In terms of toppings, this is where the purists may split hairs over this version. As they're pork free, there's no pig's blood cubes. There's also no cockles but I reckon if they did add it, they would end up using the tiny frozen molluscs which don't even add any flavour to the curry.

What's also interesting is they have swapped brown cuttlefish for fresh sotong which gives it less of a crunch. There's still prawns, long beans and beancurd puffs.

Pricewise at RM14.90, it's decent even though the toppings aren't too many but it's more about the broth with the noodles.

I got distracted with their Nasi Lemak with Belacan Fried Chicken (RM14.90) as that seems to be the crowd favourite during lunch time. While I enjoyed the crunchy Nyonya achar and flavourful sambal, I wasn't a fan of the fried chicken.

It was a tad over fried hence the meat wasn't juicy and one really couldn't taste any presence of belacan. The rice felt more like plain rice too as there was just a light coconut milk taste.

Instead, you may be better off ordering the Nasi Lemak with Nyonya Curry Chicken. The curry is much better with its creamy richness, tender fall off the bone meat and fluffy potatoes.

For my order, I decided to try the Nasi Kunyit version which was good as the yellow tinged glutinous rice was soft and delicious, pairing well with the fragrant curry.

Previous reviews raved about the Yam Cake but that seems to have gone into a hiatus. Instead, I had the Signature Kedah Otak-Otak for RM6.50, which was good with smooth paste mixed with daun kaduk and boneless fish.

With these places, the space plays an important in the whole dining experience too. As the eatery is located at a rather secluded spot in Ara Damansara, parking is easier at the side of the road.

It's also garnered many devotees hence lunch time sees it packed to the rafters. If you can, visit earlier in the day to avoid the crowd. I notice by 11.30am, people start trickling in and booking tables for large groups already.

Pets are also welcome here so bring your furkid with you. The owner Jo, is said to be an avid pet rescuer too and "Tesha" is the name of one of her rescues.

Jo'Tesha Northern Colours, 61, Jalan 1A/42A, Ara Damansara, Petaling Jaya. Open: 8am to 6pm. Closed on Monday. Tel: 016-4539434. Facebook: @JoTesha-Northern-Colours-槟沙/100070695033203/

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