Kelantan and...Launceston

Kelantan Delights in Kingston

 Our first time at this Malaysian restaurant/takeaway at Kingston shopping centre did not disappoint. At first, I always wondered why it was always empty, but later found that it's bcoz most of its business were from takeaway customers. Apparently the locals don't think its ambience is eating in for but that's never bothered us! After all a true Malaysian would rather eat food freshly off the wok in a less than perfect "environment" rather than put it in a container to take home, where it would've cooled down/gone soggy/lost a bit of its crispness. the place is not horrible or anything...I found it quite nice, clean and pleasant. besides, the most important thing is the food! on to the food. above, the fried kueh teow [flat rice noodles] which, for $9.50 was a very generous serving [i couldn't eat it all and had to give it to hubby] the noodles were well wok-tossed, you can tell by its caramelization. generous bits of chicken and egg were scattered around it. this place is advertised as being "halal" so it's not completely authentic [no lap cheong or sea ham [cockles!] and instead of garlic chives, it had shredded lettuce and carrot on top! but it's the closest i've ever come to the real thing here in Hobart.

above, the Cantonese style noodles [kung fu chow] which is what hubby orders at every Malaysian place to test its chef's skills. It's basically wok fried flat rice noodles in an eggy sauce with meat and vegetables strewn about. He gave it the thumbs up as the noodles really were so well fried up, there were crispy bits of it where it caramelized properly, and that coated in the steaming fragrant egg sauce was just delightful. we'll definitely come here regularly I think! Again, chicken was used instead of the traditional pork, but that's to keep it "halal" I suppose! I noticed that the fried rice was a popular takeaway choice as well, so might try it the next time. The chef's wok skills appear  to be of a high standard. Although the restaurant's named "Kelantan" [which is a Malaysian state] I can't say I noticed any traditional Kelantanese dishes on the menu...like Nasi Kerabu, Nasi Berlauk, Nasi Tumpang, Laksam or Solok Lada, which would probably have been too "specialized" or "niche" anyway, so it's just a general Malaysian takeaway.

 If anyone's interested in what Kelantanese food is, have a look here. I haven't had most of that stuff myself, not having been there since i was...9!

This is our room at Adina Place motel in Launceston. It was quite nice except that they were doing renovations the whole time we were there so the noise from drilling/hammering/construction punctuated our stay.

 At morty's food court, we had these dishes from D'Sakura Japanese Teppan stall. below, the Japanese curry which isn't a real teppan dish, but just served on a teppan! [iron plate] i've always liked Japanese curry so I enjoyed it. the set comes with miso soup, chilled green tea and a carbohydrate [either rice or pasta]

 it had generous bits of tender beef [how do these takeaway places make their beef and chicken so..unnaturally tender?] potatoes, peas and carrot.

 Hubby had the beef teppanyaki something else with a dark sauce which he liked as well. It came with generous serves of veggies which is always good - gotta get your 5 and 2 a day you know!

I like this food court - it's open till 9.30pm! wish we had a similar thing in Hobart... where it's nearly impossible looking for food most nights...and on weekends without a booking your only hope of eating out is at macca's or KFC! but then you might get pelted with chips by badly behaved hoodie clad teenagers... [believe me - it's happened!]