Sunday, April 27, 2008
Sri Ayutthaya
Famished, we decided upon Thai food for dinner. And to Sri Ayutthaya in USJ we headed to.
Arriving at the restaurant just shy of 7:00pm on a Sunday evening meant that parking was a breeze.
At the entrance, we were greeted by a lady dolled up in a white-off-the-shoulder-type of traditional Thai costume. Upon our entry into the restaurant, an echo of sawadeeka and sawadeekap ensued.
The entire restaurant was bathed in yellow light, lending a very cosy and welcoming ambience to the interior. Wooden beams with intricate carvings, lamps dotted in sequence, soft yellow drapes, dark wooden furniture, white linen napkins, white satin-ish table runner. Music playing softly in the background sounded like this.
It didn't take us very long to decide, and despite the variety listed in the menu, we did it rather amicably I must say.
Anticipating a spicy ride, I ordered plain water, while he opted for watermelon juice.
For starters, the mango kerabu's sour and spicy tang definitely did arouse our palates.
Topped with crunchy fried onions, the kerabu was rather spicy. It was peppered through and through with chopped cili padi, as though it grew on the head of the chef who prepared this. I had to sort the chilli from the mango for every bite that I took. Troublesome.
The boyfriend found it nice enough, but would have preferred a whole lot more chopped groundnuts.
We ordered steamed rice with tomyam seafood soup, pandan chicken and a compulsory green of kangkung belacan.
Some minutes passed, and a waitress came to inform us that they ran out of pandan chicken.
At 7:00pm on a weekend? Hmmm.
We then ordered fried chicken with chilli paste instead.
If I wanted tomyam squid soup I would have ordered tomyam squid soup. But I wanted a mix, therefore the seafood option, thinking it would have me a variety. There was 1 prawn, 2 pieces of bite-size fish, and maybe 5 pieces of bite-size squid in it. Then again, for RM9.90 and probably to serve one, I didn't expect much.
In terms of taste, a thumbs up. The soup was quite 'concentrated', an aromatic and rich flavour of zest and spice.
I wonder who came up with this dish first- the Thais or us, Malaysians?
The kangkung belacan we had was definitely tasty! Belacan hardly ever goes down wrong with Malaysians. The kangkung was plump and juicy. The only gripe we both had was that it could have done with a lot much less oil.
Despite being a substitute to the originally intended pandan chicken, the fried chicken in chilli paste did not disappoint. The taste was very familiar - a spicier version of our local kacang sauce we have with satay.
The sweet of the sauce was a welcoming addition to the already high spice factor derived from the other dishes. Again, despite it being very flavourful, it could have done with lesser oil.
To top everything off, we had a mango and glutinous rice dessert each.
The glutinous rice was smooth and creamy, like a baby's bum. The sweet factor was just right. Three thick slices of mango accompanied the rice, and we chomped our way through it. Delight!
Overall rating for Sri Ayutthaya (USJ) - 6.5 on Essentric's Food-o-Meter.
For a total bill of RM88.80 for two, it is a decent and rather authentic Thai outlet. But don't go out of your way for it, only when dying for a change.
Posted by Doreen at 8:39 pm
