Back at Oriental Spice again and some more exploration of their menu… During my last visit to the place I noticed something in their menu that peaked my interest… It was the Chicken Satay… For those who might not be aware, Chicken Satay is to Malay cuisine what Pad Thai is to Thai cuisine i.e. both can be considered as ambassadors to their respective cuisines as they are the most popular and most widely recognised as of their respective cuisines… But unfortunately the waiter informed me that their grill is out of order and so its not available for the day… So, after a few weeks, I am back at Oriental Spice and this time finally got to try it… Along with the same I ordered for what they call their Huinan Soup and also their Thai Spicy Fried Rice and it being said to be spicy, went for the slightly sweet option of Kung Pao Chicken along with it…
To be frank, I have never had Satay before and only heard and seen how its supposed to be thanks to people like Anthony Bourdain and Mark Weins thru YouTube… Hence this is the first time I had it… The version I was given here turned out to be having a flavour profile consisting of mostly peanuts and saffron and it was served with a peanut based dipping sauce as well… However, the sad part is that I found the chicken to be incredibly dry on the inside, tough and chewy which kind of ruined the whole thing for me…
Like I said before, this is my first Satay and so I am not sure if the cooking of the chicken is supposed to be like that… Hopefully soon I’ll try it again and confirm if it was an accident… The dipping sauce was very delicious… I saved some of it and had it with the rice that followed… 🙂
Before the satay however, as I usually, do when going into any restaurant that serves Chinese, I go for one of their soups… Unlike before, this time I decided to try a new soup that I haven’t had before called the Huinan Soup… Its essentially a soup made up of chicken, celery and some button mushrooms in a chicken based broth with a bit of Oyster sauce infused into it… Flavour-wise it kind of reminded me of the Manchow soup but not as spicy as that but still packed with flavours of chicken, garlic and oyster sauce… Definitely worth having again when I go there next time…
Finally the main course of the day included whats mentioned in the menu as Thai Spicy Fried Rice and Kung Pao Chicken… I have said enough about Kung Pao Chicken in my previous post having it… I ordered it with the rice to balance out the spiciness and it turned out to be a great idea… The rice was indeed very spicy, much more than I could handle… Its taste felt like a variation of the schezwan fried rice we get in many restaurants here, but its packed with peppers and ginger and chilly flakes… I went for teh chicken version of the fried rice and it was made with a generous ratio of chicken to vegetables (onions, celery, mushrooms, ginger, garlic, and all the chillies – I guess they have added hot chilly sauce in it as well)… So, if you are someone who loves extremely spicy stuff, then this is the ultimate fried rice for you… Do check it out 🙂
To summarise, yet another awesome meal from Oriental Spice… The too much quantity issue still remains and I ended up taking around 80% of the rice and the curry as parcel for me and my dad to have as lunch on the next day 🙂
