I've mentioned in the presentation that I might be living my Japanese dream right now, but I still miss my Malaysian food. OH, friends and family too, yeeeaaa :P One thing that I would just not get bored of is Chicken Rice. Nasi Ayam. Ji fan. Gai fan.
*sob* I want to eat chicken rice! Can I get this delectable dish anywhere in Tokyo at all?!
Well here it is! A surprise promotional item in Jonathan's, a nearby family restaurant. I'm guessing it's the summer season special menu. Here's the translation of the text on the bottom-right (sorry if I'm wrong, coz my Kanji sux!):
"With its origins from South-East Asia, you can now enjoy this dish of Jasmine rice (Thailand's fragrant rice), that's boiled in chicken soup, together with poultry steamed in hot water.
The deciding factor of its taste is the sweet chili sauce that's spicy and sweet!
With the chicken as its center and a lot of soup included, it's one happy meal."
Now you know why directly-translated text is weird. All your base are belong to us.
And there you have it. Needless to say, it was a lousy waste of money. Four pieces of chicken. FOUR. Rice has no taste, steamed in chicken soup my ass. Strangely enough, the set comes with some sotong and (ugh) mango.
My desire is not yet fulfilled. Me wants more! MOAR!
Coincidentally Jasril, a Malaysian friend who just enrolled in our school 2 months ago, invited us out to makan together today. Where do 3 Malaysians go to makan in the center of Tokyo?
A Malaysian restaurant in Ikebukuro, of course! Introducing Malaychan, a restaurant opened by a Japanese lady with passion for anything Malaysian. A combo of two words: Malay and Belacan. Hahaha ain't that cute?
"Ha~i, I'm Malaychan!" -- "No, I'm Malaychan!" -- "No way, I am!" -- "No you suck"
Did you notice my new hairstyle btw? ;) My classmate (I call him Mat Blues) who works in a salon cut my hair for a cheap price, then I coloured my hair myself afterwards, no monies ^^;;
The interior is quite comfy, though it shouts "This is Malaysia!" with all the arabic wood carving, traditionally-designed lamps and rows of our favourite tinned items!
A map of Malaysia is a must. Really, Sabah and Sarawak together look like the Japan map.
Ah, Chikin Raisu, there you are! All three of us ordered the same thing lol.
Now that's more like it! Soft juicy piles of chicken meat, woohoo! And the rice wasn't half bad either. Chili sauce went well with the chicken too. Manzoku da! Super satisfied!
Jasril seemed happy about it too. Oh wait, he hasn't touched his food yet :P
The friendly owner talked to us until the store closed. Though she has only gone to Malaysia 3 times, she loves the place! Not only did she savour the best of Malaysian food, she even went to some orang asli village in Pahang and interacted with the locals!
Don't you just love culture exchange? Reminds me of why the three of us are in Japan in the first place. But malu lah, she knows more about Malaysia than we do ^^;; Even down to when the season of each fruit starts and ends.
I know most of the highways in KL, does that count? *hides in a corner*
Oh yea, she loves dried prawns, petai, belacan and manggis. Dzaid, bring back some for her yea!
She even proudly showed us the Halal certificate. Since there's no certified body here to halal-ize her store, she had to ask the help of her Malaysian friend to fill in the application forms. Then the committee flew all the way from Malaysia to Tokyo to inspect the store.
And this is how Malaychan became the first halal-certified restaurant in Japan. Power!
The legendary keris passed down by the Sultan of Food & Beverage. Dengan keris ini yang bagaikan anugerah dari baginda, patik lebih berkenan untuk menyantap di... ah, screw it.
She even had this child's drawing on her wall. According to the label, it was drawn by Loh Hi Yao of SJK (C) Kim Sen. How she got her hands on it, I have no idea.
There were old guidebooks lined up below the TV. The katakana on the blue cover reads "Islam"!
Some bonus pics! After the meal, we strolled around the area and stumbled upon a greenified Rikkyo University. Just look how prestigious it is!
Lush greens with old architecture. This is why I love this kind of university campus. All they had in APIIT were, uh, computer labs, elevators and Adrian (haha kidding!).
The location. The lovey-dovey mood. Ii na~ I am so filled with jealousy right now.
Whenever I think about universities, I think of Love Hina, Honey & Clover and Nodame.
At least I get to live a small part of a life I will never have. Gotta get my kids enrolled in a place like this! Eeeehhh, if I have kids, that is :P
3 comments:
Wow that lady's got passion! Puts even otakus to shame.
OMG!!!! Malaychan? O_O THIS IS A GREAT DISCOVERY!!!!
so nice can sit on the ground =_= it looks clean...
Hazmer, I totally enjoyed this post; was praying that to see something familiar and after scolling down to that bowl of Chicken Rice, I reacted like, "Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!". Hahaha congratulations on finding Malaysian food.
Perhaps if you come across Philippine food restaurants you could also let all of us know!
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