Jeet India Restaurant

31 Oct 2008

Jeet India Restaurant offers authentic Indian food. It brings me back to the good memories of mamak stall. Here, the food is of mamak food, but the price is of restaurant price. The daal curry we used to have free-flow of refill is charged at $3 per small bowl. How small is small? Look at the 3rd photo below and spot the small bowl.

Tandoori Chicken ($11) + Garlic Naan ($3) + Daal Curry ($3).

Chicken Curry ($10)

Upon the first bite of the tandoori chicken, I thought of Betty, my roommate in Pantai Hill Park during UM days. Both of us used to drive out for supper at mamak stall in the wee hours. On the final year, upon the completion of contruction of Kerinchi Link, we used to take advantage of the free highway to go to Desa Sri Hartamas for supper. Our favourite stall is Safis, the one behind Soul Out pub. Though we went to Steven's Corner in OUG for a couple of times, we didn't like the place there. Of course, we love the Malay stalls in Pantai Dalam. Now, dunno whether the stalls are still there, coz the squaters were supposed to make way for development.

Upon the second gulp of the daal curry, the history of mamak days unfolded in my mind. It began in 3rd college, UM. Almost every nite, Betty would knock on my door, room 312, to ask me out for supper downstairs. Betty was my floor-mate then. I guess, the love of eating binds us together. Sometimes, I turned her down by saying that I've brushed my teeth and hence, don't wanna go for supper. She'd say: "Is the toothpaste so expensive that you can't brush your teeth again after supper?" Hah...hah... Until this day, nobody has ever given me such a creative response whenever I refused to eat anymore just because I've brushed my teeth.

The mamak downstairs of 3rd college struck me. Those days, used to have either roti telur, nasi goreng pattaya or nasi goreng Amerika and ABC. Now, I'm in Amerika without nasi goreng Amerika. Even if there's fried rice in KU (UD's Kennedy Union = UM's Perdanasiswa), the nasi goreng is terribly tasteless, somemore the rice taste like nasi yang belum masak. My mom would say, the ang-moh dunno how to cook rice. Ever since she had the experience of eating the uncooked rice in New Zealand, she always tell people that ang-moh dunno how to cook rice. Now, I agree 101% with her.

Then, thought of ABC at the 6th college. Thinking of ABC, teringat pula ABC at TTDI. When I stayed in Desa Kiara Condo and worked at the IBM tower (now, it's the VADS tower), I always patronize the Malay stall at the Pasar TTDI at nite. The ABC costs RM 2. Tapi, always tak da ABC. Really cannot understand how do the Malays bikin business. 8 out of 10 times tak da ABC. Geramnya.

One more ABC stalls came to mind. It's in BM, my hometown. During F6 days, after badminton session at the 德教会, will go down to the ABC stalls with U6M girls. From RM 1.50 eat until RM 1.70, then, until RM 1.80. Now, dunno how much liao loh. Got to ask my brother. What makes me admire my brother the most is, he still plays badminton with his old friends every Friday. Many many many years ago, when he was in secondary school and I was in primary school, he'd buy me char-ho-fun when he returned home from his badminton session. His badminton sessions resumes as he's rooted in BM with own family. My F6 badminton days will not come again, but will only replay, replay and replay in my memory.

The Jeet India Restaurant really brings me back to the memory lane. I think I'm not qualified to be a Chinese. That's why I always emphasize that I'm a Malaysian, rather than a Chinese. I never say I'm a Chinese but a Malaysian Chinese. Malaysia Food Boleh!