Rasa Sayang

Further evidence that Chinatown is upping its game comes from this tidy little newcomer – a clean-cut, Ikea-style café. The menu, organised into ‘nibbles’, ‘Straits culinary favourites’ & ‘the heat zone’, offers more than Malaysian & Singaporean standards (the likes of satay, rendang & roti canai). It also runs to such exotica as stir-fried sambal cluster beans (petai), compressed ‘lontong’ rice cakes in curry, pan-fried carrot cake, & cheon fun rice noodle rolls in curry. The spiral-bound, laminated menu (complete with garish food pics) may not look much cop, but it’s an admirably brief, well-composed list of dishes, all temptingly described. Teh tarik, pearl tea & puddings of rice cakes with palm sugar & pandan pancakes all have the requisite over-the-top sweetness. Just add ‘Careless Whisper’ on the piped soundtrack for a double rush of sugar.