Celebrate the East Coast at Kelana Jaya's Azlin's Kitchen, where rice dishes like 'nasi kerabu' and 'nasi dagang' are the stars

PETALING JAYA, June 16 — Rice is gloriously celebrated at Azlin's Kitchen. In all its varied hues.

There's the blue grains from nasi kerabu, the yellow ones signaling nasi minyak or just the plain white mix of rice and glutinous rice from nasi dagang.

What I also like about Azlin's Kitchen is there are no borders between Kelantan and Terengganu here. You have nasi kerabu Kelantan standing side by side with Terengganu nasi dagang.

Finding this place may be a little puzzling at first though. Waze brings me to the back of the restaurant because there's no road at the front entrance.

For my second visit, I got smarter and knew how to enter from the front, where I would be greeted by a neon bright yellow sign.

The layout is atypical of any Malay restaurant with a spread of dishes laid out for you to go ooh and aah over.

Nasi Dagang Gulai Ikan Tongkol is satisfying with its not too sweet 'gulai' and the fragrant rice.

For those who miss the simple flavours of Terengganu, this Nasi Minyak Gulai Daging will hit the spot with the ghee rice paired with the chunks of tender beef and creamy 'gulai'.

There's so many choices that your brain may overload to process what the stomach wants. Stick to the classics first, then move on to the other eats on your repeat visits.

My top choice is the Nasi Kerabu Ayam Bakar Percik (RM10). It's basically a big plate of happiness.

You have the blue tinged rice. There's a salad of fresh herbs. Fish floss, of course. And the requisite fish crackers. Some like to mix it up with salted egg too. Or the fermented budu sauce.

'Laksam' didn't hit that sweet spot though since the coconut milk and rice sauce wasn't rich enough.

Eat it on its own for just the rice. But what's the fun in that? Add a protein to make it more satisfying. There's the classic ikan celup tepung or fried battered fish or just ayam goreng. You also have daging goreng, if you prefer beef.

What I like is the ayam bakar percik since the percik sauce is sweet and tasty which complements the rice well. You can omit the sauce, if you prefer.

Next would be the Nasi Dagang Gulai Ikan Tongkol (RM8). There's of course, other gulai to select, whether it's chicken or beef, but I always prefer the chunky tuna fish.

Be patient at the counter as they juggle packing people's orders and fulfilling delivery orders.

They will give you a large piece of the tuna fish with your rice. Just spoon how much gulai you want from a big pot to drench the fish and rice.

What I like about the gulai here is how it's not too sweet yet still rich and satisfying with the steamed rice fragrant with coconut milk.

They also offer Terengganu style Nasi Minyak Gulai Daging (RM8). Unlike those served at weddings, this uses jasmine rice cooked with ghee and tinged yellow. Drench it with the creamy gulai daging with chunks of tender meat, for a satisfying meal.

There's various dishes like fried fish to eat with your 'nasi campur' (left). Get your hands dirty with 'ikan cencaru sumbat' (right).

Ayam Bakar is great with 'nasi kerabu' or drenched in a rich 'percik' sauce (left). Go traditional for your 'nasi kerabu' with the battered fried fish (right).

For the nasi dagang and nasi minyak, a side of acar timun is also given to balance out the richness of the rice.

Even though I was full from my nasi dagang, I greedily added the Laksam (RM6) to try. Unfortunately, the coconut milk broth with fish wasn't rich enough to pair with the steamed rice rolls, herbs and sambal.

I made a mental note of other things I wanted to try like the nasi kak wok with the tiny pieces of deep fried turmeric flavoured ayam cincang. There's also just nasi campur with various dishes like ikan cencaru sumbat, fried fish or tempe.

The place also has a night time menu. You get the usual Thai fare with stir fried dishes and of course, the tomyam.

At night, they serve 'ikan bakar' like this one with tilapia fish.

There's also ikan bakar with a choice of various fishes from ikan keli, ikan pari and ikan kembung. I tried the ikan talapia one night and it was rather mediocre.

They grill the fish and slather it with the sambal that was quite mild and nothing exciting in terms of flavour.

You can also get the famous Sany Char Kway Teow here too. Originating from Penang, this version of the fried flat rice noodles is served with gravy. Unfortunately I wasn't able to try it as it was not available the night I visited.

Most patrons here usually pack home their food. At the counter, patience is needed since they are busy fulfilling orders from customers as well as delivery orders from Grab and Food Panda that are constantly pinging away from the machine.

You can Waze to Azlin's Kitchen but once you turn into Jalan SS6/8, take the first left turn at Jalan SS6/12 and park around there. The restaurant is on the left side where the row of shophouses is but accessible only on foot as its frontage faces a square.

Hidden in a square around Kelana Jaya, you cannot miss the bright signboard for Azlin's Kitchen.

Azlin's Kitchen

24, Jalan SS6/8, SS6, Kelana Jaya, Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Open:7.30am to 12pm (for the rice dishes), 4.30pm to 11.30pm (Thai food, ikan bakar and Sany Char Kway Teow).

Closed on Monday. Tel: 019-9339308

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