daily gripe

homely lil place called AZhang

right. so when we first stepped up to AZhang earlier this rainy evening, we were looking for a not-so-expensive place to settle ourselves down and have a nice dinner. we drifted along joo chiat road until we found parking in the public and decided to try this place called AZhang. we had read reviews about the place being intimidating and not-so-friendly.

so we walked in and asked to take a look at the menu. sparse was the word that came to mind. kebabs, curry, pilaf??!! and the prices weren't exactly that inviting either, if you get the drift. even the air-con was like 'woah...!' cold. but we looked out at the rain and decided that wandering around in our first long rain-fall period of the year wasn't the best option.

so we sat down and ordered. we had lamb, beef kebabs, beef curry with pilaf and lamb ribloins. the order took close to 30 mins to arrive. and when the portions arrived, it really didn't look filling, to be honest. the time spent waiting had better be good, i rationalised.

then we took the first mouthfulls of our individual courses. public opinion swayed then. well swayed is perhaps the wrong word. it tilted on the axis.

the lamb and beef was done just right. the curried beef melted in the mouth. and the lamb ribloins were large enough to pass off as a cutlet. the spices in the curry wasn't too hot and the pilaf was a good company to the beef. the lamb was medium done, you could still see the red and two skewers of it would be just nice. not too heavy.

the chef later came out of the kitchen to say hello and he re-introuduced the food - in words this time round. The kebabs came from the middle east and the curry from madras; the beef in the curry was from the shin so there was virtually no fat. it melts because they simmer it in pure spice. the lamb and beef were done medium as good meat shouldn't be fully cooked. the juices should marinate the taste. the chef said he didn't believe in bread. he also said that during the christmas period, customers ordered $250 turkeys to be delivered to his home. that he hosted social evenings for his mailing list to come try out different cusines. also that he entertained requests for food once you became a regular.

well the food really tasted good. didn't find $250 turkeys too far a stretch to believe in. we also signed up to be on the mailing list. not too often that you find a gem of a restaurant. true prices seem rather steep; it was like $88 for the four of us but then the Eastside is starting to unveil more and more good finds. hope that i wouldn't be the one to move out of this area.

in case you are interested, it is located along joo chiat road, opposite 'my mum's place' and nearer to the hotel 81 then the canton wok.

posted by inspirethereal @ 11:29 PM