The Arch

It was odd to come across, on a Straits Chinese menu, roti john and potato cutlets, let alone a fairly unusual wine selection and Luther Vandross on the soundtrack. But we stopped worrying about the incongruities when the enormous fish head curry arrived, its fleshy and snow-white flesh bathed in a warm ochre sauce. The babi pontay shone with thick bricks of fatty pork braised in mild soy; the salad of star-shaped kacang botol beans with lime and sambal became an instant favourite, as did the coconutty curry of sweet potato leaves. The greatest compliment: the molten jet-black bobor cha-cha was just like grandma’s.