LIMA BLAS Food Review!

top & bag : vintage / bottoms & shoes : cotton on 

Trying to bring out the "Batik"ness from the outfits I have for this ultra retro / blast to the past / AMAZING place.
You don't see me wearing something like this much do you? It's so comfy because the fabric is super thin, soft and flowy!
Super airy too and I was walking around town (i mean KLCC & Pavilion) totally cold and looking like a tourist!
I was going for a more "holiday look" because the place I went is somewhere located in the city
BUT when you step in it you won't feel like you're in the city, you'll probably feel like you're in Malacca!!
If you guys never been to Malacca before and wanna see how it looks like just check out my 2days1night in Malacca post!

I dug out my vintage top that I recently purchased for only RM10! and my "batik" shorts, (that's what I like to call them)

that I also recently purchased, haha. I added two bright neon flowers on the side for a more holiday look,

and basically it WAS exactly like a holiday for me that day because I'm entering into this harmonious space

filled with nostalgic ambience and decors that brings us back into the past.
I wish I could twirl and dance and twirl and dance and spin myself back into the vintage days...

LIMA BLAS is the place I'm talking about, I'm telling you guys don't ever judge a book by it's cover,

I'm a person who's easily attracted by bright lights / anything colorful / neon / contrast colors ,

so it would be easy for me to missed out this place because of it's dusty pale exterior.

even if I walked passed it everyday I would be blind and just walk straight pass it.

It's located in Changkat and if you guys are familiar with Pisco Bar, yeah it's just 2/3 door beside it.

It's quite a difficult place to spot because a lot of hot spots in Changkat are located in the corners.

When you enter you'll be greeted by this huge number 15. Lima Blas means 15 in Malay, 

and I was wondering the whole time, why "15???" why lima blas, is there a specific reason to it?

I read some reviews about that place and most of them said they didn't know why too,

until I went back to Lima Blas' facebook page and saw their address which is in 15, Jalan Mesui,

I was like.... "OH......" lol so that's why it's called lima blas....

#feelingsmartlikesherlockhomesnow. LOL

Imma take you for a walk inside, I was walking and snapping at the same time so you can experience everything I see :)

entrance

on my left

on my right

the counter on my left

above the counter – the menu (which will be my goal to try everything on it soon!)

the floor

I noticed that the person who decorated this beautiful interior loves using old antique windows as their wall display / parting.

What a way to recycle old windows. Such a creative talented mind! Being in this space truly gives you inspiration :)

the calendar, the fan, the furnitures, everything is just so nostalgic! Even the waiters wears a sarong. (malay traditional house attire)

just take a look! 

I actually really love this dusty pink combination with the pale blue frames. and that yellow light!
honestly well thought combination of colors! This is near the back which is the kitchen is.

I met the Chef, uncle John, there and he has such a good vibe and a beautiful mind.
I sat down and had a small chat with him and we talked about Malacca since I was born there and he's originally from Malacca,
We talked about Nyonya food and which places specialized what type of food, it was so inspiring talking to this humble chef.
And then my food came and it was gonna get cold..... lol

oh ya, meet the bff who has a kind soul : yuu jiaz all the way from Ipoh!

Our happy faces when our food is here,
PS: thank you yuu jia who didn't dare to touch the food and  for waiting for me patiently as I snap away lol... 
OKAY so here's what we've ordered!

there's just so many things to order from the menu that sounds interesting.

The reason why I emphasize on "sounds interesting" because they do! like "gerang", "cincaluk", "terung", etc...

A lot of them were unfamiliar to me cause I never always go to a Nyonya shop, 

I had to call the waiter to explain every single one of them for me, and thank you for his kind soul he gladly did.

and it took me a fairly long time to narrow my choices down to 3 because it was only just us 2 girls eating.

Credits again for the waiters incredible skills of being patient and kind, God bless that men's soul..lol

In the end this is what we've got! :D 

Barley... one of my favorite local drinks... 

I like it when they serve barley with the barley beans in it, there's quite a lot of shops who disappointingly don't. :/

le bff ordered Longan. So yumssss :)

mmm.. our food! lemme take you through it one by one! :D

When it saw the word "Chao Chve" on the menu I immediately thought about the word "chao cai" (炒菜) in Mandarin, 

which also means stir-fried mixed veggies. and surprisingly when I asked the waiter, It is! 

I'm tellling you I love this dish soooo much, it reminds me of my late grandmother's cooking! 

She raised me up ever since I was a kid and she would cook dinner every single day except for the weekends cause that's when we go out to eat.

She stop cooking when she fell down since last year and when she got really ill, she just passed away just this year...

So this dish was really sentimental for me, as my grandmother was also a bit of mixed Baba-nyonya. 

This dish was so similliar to her style of cooking, the natural sweetness from the veggies, 

mixed with some glitter of salt, stir fried with medium heat so it gives a crunch whenever you bite it.

There's also "tang hun" (glass noodle) in there which is absolutely my favorite, I wish I knew how to cook this :(

so Yummy I'm just slurping my way through it.

Gerang Asam Pari (sweet & sour stingray).

I didn't know what the term "Gerang" was and I wanted to know so I google translate it cause my Malay sucks,

and guess what I found when I Google translated the word "Gerang Asam" in Malay 

"Entrance of the Acid"

That freaked me out a bit, haha, we're entering the Acid Stingray peopleeeee! huhuuhuhu.

Okay, I should stop making a fool outta myself and start being professional.

haha, just wanted to share something for laughs with you guys :)

This was the dish that was SOLD OUT the first time I came here,

my friend introduced me this dish so I had to reserve the dish and book it beforehand (haha so kiasu),

I'm sorry but this is one Nyonya dish that you shouldn't miss out on! 

The softness of the stingray mixed with the cultural Baba Nyonya Asam sauce is just mindblowing,

Asam means sour in Malay btw :) 

At first glance I thought I saw "Ayam Ponteng", which means "Chicken truanting", haha!

I'm still not quite sure what "Pongteh" means, some of the sites in google says it's just a Nyonya name, 

and some of them says basically, "Ayam Pongteh" means "Chicken stew with fermented soya bean". 

Made with chicken, potato, dry spices and flavored with taucheo which is the fermented soy bean sauce, and gula melaka (palm sugar).

This dish is so fragrant and I thought the sauce was really special cause I've never tasted something like that in my life before, LOL

The bff really likes this dish, But if I were to pick either the Gerang Asam Pari or this Ayam Pongteh, I'll pick the stingray :) 

juicy soft stingray meat with the asam sauce is just delightful! 

look how much she's enjoying that Ayam Pongteh *keep adding sauce* hhahah

*slurps!* told ya I love glass noodles.

 le bff - le best photographer being ambitious taking a shoot of me eating from inside the shop.

textures

Enjoying the flickering sunlight from above

We've already finish the food a gazillion seconds ago but we (I mainly) still didn't wanna leave this place..

Something about this place just makes me feel at home. 

I realised home is not where you're from, but it's the space that you're in and how you make up of that space. 

Home can be anywhere you want to call it to be, and it's funny how I feel at home and safe in that tiny little restaurant.

with cooling concrete seats, antique tables and chairs, and bricks of walls hidden with stories underneath them,

I truly feel that this place brings out positive vibes... Staying in there and after getting out of there make me so relaxed and happy.

such a beautiful space.





AND YOU THOUGHT WE WERE DONE WITH FOOD??
nonono... us girls have 2 stomachs, One for normal food and the other one for DESSERTS!!

I asked the waiter to recommend me which dessert was the best out of the 4/5 choices, and he picked CENDOL for me!

btw, for those of you who don't know what's cendol made out of they're basic ingredients are coconut milk, gula melaka (sugar), creamed corn, red beans. and that long green jelly...

Have you ever wondered how the green jelly from the cendol is made???!
I did some research and found out this link HERE which is quite interesting,
it talks about "Cendol making 101" haha. basically the green jelly is made of rice flour, corn flour and pandan!!
No wonder it tastes a bit like pandan :) YUMSS!! just talking about this just makes me wanna grab some cendol now!

Here's my first take on Lima Blas' cendol. Let's see how good it is....

omg... so fine... the ice is blended so fine and the sweetness from the cendol just dances around in your mouth.
The moment that icy cooling lil freckles of ice hits your warm tongue it's magic....
It melts in a sec and you'll understand what mouth-gasm is. hahaha.
Honestly not lying, I LOVE THIS CENDOL I WISH I CAN DA BAO IT HOME....

So we chilled and talked a while and it was time to say goodbye to this awesome place,
Just me being silly in the pictures, just please totally ignore this.. HAHA!

I really do hope you guys pay this place a visit,
they've gotten their names up in TVs, magazines, and in countless famous hangout websites in kl.