Aunty Gaik Lean's Restaurant

March 2014

It’s hard to ignore the extremely bright, blinking light bulbs that hem the restaurant’s signboard. They’re certainly effective in terms of catching one’s attention and rightly so since we’re glad to not miss it and the Nyonya food they offer.

Their menu has most of the familiar Nyonya fare such as assam prawns, inche kabin and jiew hu char. Despite the house specialty of nasi kerabu and kerabu bihun or glass noodles that are both rather good, we preferred to try the grilled brinjal slathered generously with tangy, sautéed pounded sambal at RM18 for a small serving.

The brinjal’s skin is perfectly crusty while the inside is mushy-soft while the grilled effect lent a smokey flavour to the dish. It’s one of the best we’ve had among the few Nyonya restaurants we’ve tried – that’s saying something since most of them do this dish very well.

A good pairing is their chicken fillet rendang at RM25 for a small serving. The consistency, colour and flavour of the rendang gravy is akin to that of kapitan curry but with just a touch more spices to make it different. There’s only a hint at spiciness and a delicate tang as well.


Chicken fillet rendang

Small food portions here are good for between two to three people and these are dishes that are seasoned accordingly to match with steamed white rice. Their menu also offers simple western food such as chicken chop and fish and chips.

Unlike most Nyonya restaurants, this one has stark, unadorned walls that give the restaurant a sterile ambience and space to bounce conversations. Which means, it can get pretty loud when the dining hall is full or even half full. The trick is to speak softly here and concentrate on the food ordered! Su Aziz