Thai Nyonya

Restoran Thai Nyonya is a neighbourhood restaurant in a remote corner of Ara Damansara, PJ. Even we, having lived in the area for so many years, were not aware of its existence until we saw a flyer at a local mini market. The place is not so easy to find, especially if you are not familiar with Ara Damansara. 

The full address of the place is L27, Block L Taipan Damansara 2, Jalan PJU 1A/1, Ara Damansara, PJ. The place was so isolated and quiet that I wondered why anyone would want set up a restaurant here. Inside, we were the only other customers.

We were there mainly because we did not have the foggiest idea where to eat one weekend evening. My wife remembered the flyer and thus this blog posting.

As the name goes, this place is supposedly Thai and nyonya. But I did not see a lot of nyonya dishes in the menu. It was mainly Thai.

Our first dish was this chicken feet kerabu. It arrived in a boat. It was quite a big serving, with a generous amount of springy chicken feet. The flavour wasn't too strong. It was really quite a delicious dish. A good start...

Next was the deep fried kangkong (scientific name Ipomoea Aquatica). In some countries they call it morning glory - not unjustifiably so as they do bear a purplish flower quite like the morning glory we know. Anyway, it was a huge serving. Almost a hill of kangkong deep fried in a batter. It was quite a pleasant dish even though the taste was rather neutral.

The Thai fish cake was most ordinary. It wasn't bad - just that it was not great. It was served with some slaw.

The soft shell crab was terrible - an epitome of how it should not be cooked. It was deep fried in a batter. And it was dry as bone - inside and out. They totally seared the succulence of the crab, so much so the flavour was gone and the texture was like cardboard. What a waste of good crab.

The bad crab dish was compensated with a most pleasant green curry. It was delicious. In it were the usual ingredients - chicken, long bean, egg plant, small green pea-like thingy we find in Thai curries (what do you call those?), fresh basil, etc. The curry itself was quite watery - not too lemak. We drank it like a soup. The flavour was very good.

The final dish was this "dancing fish". It was a deep fried siakap (barramundi), in a sweet sourish sauce with plenty of raw garlic, onion and peanuts. The fish was very nicely fried so the extent that the head, fins and tail were crisply edible. The flavour was typically Thai. It was a good fish.

The dinner ended like this. A testimony of a good meal.

The restaurant is worthy of a return. The next time I go back, I will specifically look for nyonya dishes. And if they are noteworthy, I may do another write-up of the place.