Cheap and cheerful: Visit Pantai Dalam's Nasi Berlauk Kuali Gelegok for breakfast or lunch

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 28 — Occasionally I like to go off track from my usual haunts, like exploring the Pantai Dalam area. I've probably not even scratched the surface of all the eats there so it's been slow progress.

Nasi Berlauk Kuali Gelegok is the latest discovery. Also known as Nasi Mok Noh, this eatery was opened in February 2019. The routine is simple, just join the queue of customers waiting to select their food choices.

In the morning, you can get pulut pagi or glutinous rice with freshly grated coconut. The crowd favourite is either nasi dagang or nasi berlauk, iconic must eats from the East Coast.

The beauty of their nasi dagang lies in those slightly chewy brown flecked glutinous rice grains. The grains are rich with the fragrance of coconut milk, ginger and fenugreek seeds. It's so delicious that you can even relish the grains on its own.

If you're not into glutinous rice, go for the nasi berlauk that offers fluffy, soft white rice eaten with your choice of gulai.

Find the eatery at the side of the road towards the Gasing area from Pantai Dalam.

Behind the counter, they will pack your food choices with rice or glutinous rice.

The best pairing for the nasi dagang is the gulai ikan aya (or ikan tongkol). The fish is firmer but the gravy is a rich concoction with sweet undertones balanced with a savoury taste. If you find it a tad sweet, whack a large dollop of sambal belacan on it to fire up the taste buds. You can also have a refreshing acar on the side.

If you want a deeper, more flavourful taste, go for their gulai daging kerutuk or the simpler daging goreng kunyit. There's also gulai ayam or the slightly sweet tasting ayam masak merah. You can also enjoy golden ayam berempah goreng or fried fish. You will find the gulai to be rather rich tasting so just a little is needed to flavour the rice.

The meals are served on brown paper, like this 'nasi berlauk' with 'ayam masak merah.

If you want chicken with your meal, opt for this 'gulai ayam' or 'ayam goreng berempah'.

For something with a deeper taste, go for the 'gulai daging' with rice.

From the counter, you can select the 'gulai ikan aya' from huge enamel bowls (left), If you want a simple 'daging goreng kunyit', this will go well with fluffy white rice (right).

Prices are incredibly wallet friendly. The nasi berlauk with fish is RM5, while the choice of other dishes with your rice is RM6. For the nasi dagang, it's RM6 with the fish. If you select the beef or chicken, it's RM7.

You will see many flocking here to dine at the place or take away different brown parcels with their choice of gulai. Sometimes, you see people packing huge bags of brown parcels for lunch.

Across the eatery, discover this stall selling 'akok'(left). The custard-like 'akok' is lovely for a tea time snack with a hot cup of tea or coffee (right).

If you have a sweet tooth like me, right across the eatery is a small stall selling akok. These puffy kuih have a rich, custard texture that makes it perfect with a cup of hot coffee. This stall uses pandan to flavour their akok. You can get five pieces for RM3.50.

For those who live around Shah Alam, they have opened a branch at Section 15.

Nasi Berlauk Kuali Gelegok, 551, Jalan Pantai Dalam, Kampung Pantai Dalam, Kuala Lumpur. Open: 6.30am to 12pm. Closed on Monday. Tel:+6019-5578287. Facebook: @Nasi-Berlauk-Kuali-Gelegok-Pantai-Dalam/100051575005055/