Since it is Deepavali, we decided to have something Indian for dinner. What better place to dine other then Taste of India restaurant located at Aman Suria, in Petaling Jaya. Formerly known as Maroon Cafe, Taste of India is the same shop, run by the same people except maybe a different management.

When asked the waiter what’s with the name change, he says that the boss wants to be consistent throughout all the other branches. Looking at the menu I notice it says “Taste of India – London, Kuala Lumpur, Kumba Konam India, Paris”. Wow, this is not your ordinary mamak.

The open air environment (with roof) is good for just chilling out. There is a projector mounted and a wall screen. Great for hanging out with buddies and watch a football game or two. Just like in Mamaks but with fancier food and service.

They offer vegetarian, non-vegetarian, local and western food. The waiters here really know the menu and could recommend dishes. They are quite friendly and offered a good service.

Unlike your average mamak stalls that gives you cheep silverware with spoons that are easily bend, Taste of India gives you good solid heavy silverware.

In order not to stress our brain in choosing what to order, we decided to go with the sets. Each set comes with a drink and an ice-cream desert.

We ordered the Chicken Briyani, Mutton Briyani and the Tandoori Set for myself.

The Briyani is rich with herbs and spices. The taste of all the herbs and spices is somewhat overwhelming. Served with curry and a small bowl of Raita, a yogurt like substance made up of fresh cucumber and onions, a lot of onions.

Both the briyani had chicken or mutton buried underneath the rice. Nicely decorated. The Mutton Briyani set cost RM11.90 while the Chicken Briyani set cost RM 10.90.

I ordered for myself the Tandoori set. You get one plain Naan bread and a piece of Tandoori chicken.

A Naan is a round flatbread made of white flour, it bears a resemblance to pita. A Tandoori chicken is a chicken marinated and seasoned with tandoori masala and few other herbs and spices.

Both the Naan and Tandoori chicken are usually cooked in a high temperature clay oven also known as ‘Tandoor’.

Overall the Tandoori Naan set is just average, nothing special. However I do like its green mint sauce. The Tandoori set cast RM12.90.

We also order some extra side dish, recommended by the waiter, a Mutton ‘whatchamacallit’. Ok so I forgot its name, but it was really good. It’s not curry, it’s mutton with some thick gravy of sorts. Next time, I’ll just order a plain Briyani with this Mutton ‘whatchamacallit’.

We had our desserts, each with one scoop of ice-cream.

Overall it’s a great dining experience, good food, great service and a good place to chill. The prices however could be a little bit pricy, but you got what you paid for.

Over at Dataran Sunway, Kota Damansara there is a plethora of Kopitiams. Every conner you turn there is a kopitiam shop.

Not just the kopitiams but it seems that the mamaks there are battling each other in who has the best blings for their outlets.

Today we tried dining at Pak Li Kopitiam. Nice place, clean and nice deco. Looks like an authentic kopitiam. I guess they are really proud to be featured on Jalan-Jalan Cari makan, because there is wall with pictures of Jalan-Jalan Cari makan reviewing the shop.

When I go to these kopitiam type of shops, I make it a point to try out their Roti Bakar. Just to compare them.

Pak Li Kopitiam’s Roti Bakar uses brown bread, similar to Old Town White Coffee. They also uses Pandan Kaya paste. It’s crisp, and taste just like all the other Kopitiam’s Roti Bakar.

Misoka ordered the Nasi Lemak. Nothing fancy here. It’s just like any other kopitiam’s nasi lemak, with chicken curry rendang. The taste, according to Misoka, is mediocre. We had had better ones.

I ordered the Lemon Chicken Rice. The meal is just as what its name suggest. You get yellow rice, your typical chicken rice’s rice and Lemon Chicken. Nothing fancy here except for the lemon sauce.

It actually taste quite good. I am used to the traditional chicken rice, so this is something new. I recommend you try this when you visit Pak Li’s Kopitiam.

Appart from Kota Damansara, there are several branches of Pak Li’s kopitiam else where. Two in Shah Alam, seksyen 7 and seksyen 18. And two in Klang, Bukit Tinggi and Bandar Baru.

Visit Pak Li Kopitiam official website for more information.

Homst, located at Persiaran Za’aba, Taman Tun Dr Ismail, categorize itself as a Chinese Muslim restaurant. It is very cosy and comfortable and the outlet is typically Chinese, Cantonese and Teo Chew with some homemade variety dishes.

A great family outlet, for large Chinese food style dinner. However during Ramadan the fasting month, we didn’t eat there but ordered takeaways instead.

Homst makes it easy for takeaways. You call the number, they’ll prepare it and by the time you reach there your food is already there. Well if they have some sort of a delivery service, that would be awesome.

Here is what our typical Homst takeaway looks like.

Five types of dishes with white rice.

Some tofu.

Sambal prawns.

Egg foo young.

Some vagie, Kailan.

And pandan chicken.

While Homst might not be the best Chinese food you will ever taste, it is not bad either. With the cosy environment, friendly and efficient service, makes Homst a great dining experience.