Grilled Stingray with Hanim

The weekend before, when Hanim took me out for Dancing Fish, we spent a good portion of the time talking about food. She mentioned that I must try stingray before I left.

Sticking to her word, Hanim picked my up from work during lunch to eat at Sri Puteri (literally/loosely translated to Princess’s Glow - Sri is glow, and Puteri is Princess). The restaurant is up the hill in Taman Tun Dr Ismail, a suburb that straddles both the cities of Petaling Jaya and Kuala Lumpur. The space was less posh than Dancing Fish, but more fancy. I was pleased to find that it was buffet-style, so I didn’t have to wait any longer.

We had:

• Ikan Bakar Pari (ikan=fish, bakar=burn, pari is stingray) Excellent!
• Siput sedut masak lemak kuning (spiral clams cooked in tumeric coconut milk, Malaysian escargot) Good eating!
• Ikan keli goreng berlada (Panfried catfish fried with chilli)
• Pucuk Ubi masak lemak (Young tapioca leaves cooked in coconut milk)—basically greens Good stuff.
  
• Soto Ayam Jawa (Javanese Chicken Broth) Yum.
  
• Kerabu mangga (Mango Malay Salad) Mmm Mmm.
  
• Kerabu Perut (Cow intestine Salad) Can you believe I ate that? I don’t even eat beef!
• Ayam masak merah (Chicken slow cooked in tomato and sweet chilli) Great!
  
• Raw pineapples, raw young papaya (which tasted like green apples) - these are accompaniments to any Malay meal
• Tempe goreng (panfried fermented soy beans marinated in salt and tumeric) I wasn’t a fan.
• Salt fish (deep-fried and incredibly salty, the size of goldfish. You eat it whole.) I wanted to spit it into my napkin so bad!
  

For dessert, I had:

• Serawa Durian dengan pulut (Durian sweet stew with steamed sticky rice) I could have eaten an entire dinner plate of this.
  
• Popia udang kering (deep fried spring roll filled with pounded dried shrimp and spices) - this is a savory sweet
• Sago Gula Melaka (Sago accompanied with palm sugar and thickened coconut cream) I couldn’t stop myself from eating it.
  

For drinks, I had:

• Sirap Limau (Rose syrup water with lemon), and
• Sirap Bandung (Rose syrup, with evaporated milk and ice cream soda)
• Coffee

Based on what I had seen other people do, I knew that it was okay for me to take two hours for lunch, rather than the allotted one. If I misread the norms and it was inappropriate, I’m sure that my status as a intern/tourist would have been a sufficient excuse. I stared at my computer, and just wanted to lay down and take a nap.