PETALING JAYA, June 16 — I had been looking for a worthy successor to my favourite nasi Padang restaurant, Puti Bungsu Batam at Jalan Yap Kwan Seng, which closed during the pandemic.
Hence I was happy to discover this hidden place in Petaling Jaya. It's a favourite for those who want their fix of nasi Padang without having to pay a lot. They are open from 9am and the crowd picks up from 11am onwards for lunch.
People queue up at the counter while the wait staff dish out plates of rice. You can opt for hidang style where you select a variety of the individual portioned dishes to share with your dining companions.
Or if you're a solo diner, just ask for nasi campur style which is a plate of rice with a selection of vegetables such as pickled cucumber, fresh cucumber and bean sprouts.
The rice is drizzled with gulai and you select from their vast assortment of dishes, what you want to eat for that day and you will be charged accordingly.
You have chicken, beef, fish, crabs or sotong to select from. The chicken was RM6.50.
I opted for my favourites: rendang daging and bergedil. Both were great choices. The beef was fork tender and dreamy with that rich gravy.
For the bergedil, it made a nice bite with the fluffy mashed potatoes encased in a crispy golden deep fried layer. I paid RM8.50 for this selection with my plate of rice.
It's hard to choose what to try but I managed to whittle down my choices to favourites like tempe, terung balado and dendeng.
The tempe (RM4) cooked with red chillies and tiny deep fried ikan bilis was good as each cube of the fermented soybeans had a creamy bite.
It's rare to get that texture as most places serve the crunchier type of deep fried tempe.
If you love spicy food, there's a selection of balado dishes where they mix in the spicy red chillies sambal. I was tempted to get the ikan keli but decided on the terung balado.
It was a good choice as the brinjal was soft and delicious with a slight burn from the spicy sambal. It's RM1 per piece for the brinjal.
If that is not enough chillies for you, there are plates of the red chillies sambal too. I much prefer the milder flavours of the green chillies sambal.
It's worth waiting for the dendeng that is only ready from 11.30am onwards. Here they serve it plain but I enjoyed the textures as it has a crispy edge while the beef is tender.
It's definitely one of the better tasting dendeng I have tried in town. We also tried the rendang hati (RM5) which was good with a rich tasting sauce.
There's so many dishes I want to try. Maybe the fish as the masak lemak version seemed to be popular.
You can also order fish head served with balado which we saw one family share hidang style. Apparently they also serve crabs cooked masak lemak style which is popular.
Their drinks are also good. Order their lime juice (RM2) as it's not watered down like that at other places and has a refreshing tangy taste. It's the perfect cool drink after the spicy chillies.
Restoran Mega Ceria, No. 9, Jalan MJ9, Taman Medan Maju Jaya, Off Jalan Klang Lama, Petaling Jaya. Open: 9am to 5pm. Closed on Friday. Tel:+6017-6410727/+6012-9716756, +6011-25671586.
