Restoran Al'-Ali @ Jalan Bee Eng 1

Your Friendly Neighborhood Mamak

  Valentines Day. For couples a day where they are obliged to do romantic activities almost fairy tale like. For lonely singles it is a time to do whatever they want without having to worry about pleasing your significant other. One thing always plagues the mind of both sides, where do you bring yourself or your significant other to eat ? If you're the kind of couple that would be willing to save a bit of money or the kind of person that just wants to check lunch of their checklist then say no more.

  Mamak Je ! This particular mamak that I am about to pitch to you locates in a quiet part of Tayton View. Restoran Al'-Ali is a place for the young and old of different races or couples too to converge and eat under the same banner. College students can enjoy a good meal with it's low prices. I pulled my chair and sat with my fellow lads who are itching to have a good plate of Maggi Goreng/ Fried Instant Noodle. Good old Macha came straight away and started the ordering process. He looked us straight in the eyes while both hands at his waist and said in a very clear tone "Minum ?". As each of us feed him the info he combed his Wolverine like hair and proceeded to the next question the makan.

"Maggi Goreng, pedas, single, sayur dan telur mata."
*Macha nods his head*

  

  Foreigners can be baffled sometimes at the Macha because they don't use a pen and paper, they memorize everything. Each and every single different order he repeats to himself constantly as he starts his journey to report to the chef. Yes there are some who use a pen and paper but those in my opinion are the trainees who have yet to reach the skill ceiling of the Macha and Abang. A macha's nod is as reassuring as a doctor reassuring his patient. 

Maggi Goreng best lah !

 The plate arrived and we dug in. The melting thick yolk came running down on my maggi like a maple syrup on pancakes. The taste of spicy sambal fills my mouth with every slurp of noodle I took. The zestness from the lime gives a bit of competition to the sambal and evolves it into a sting like taste. The lime is like the cucumber and raw cabbage, they enforce the spicy taste from crossing over and dominating the whole plate. Each chew, something crispy pops out. The white onion has that tinge of sweetness and crunchy texture. The mustard leaves (sawi) are added together with cabbages to give you a reassurances that you're eating healthy. Tofu is also added to give a cold texture for the hot nature of taste the noodles already have.

  The thing about maggi goreng is it's so simple but so hard to perfect, it is like painting and in painting a great artist can bring meaning and life into their paintings just like how a great chef brings meaning and the taste of life to this plate. One bite and instantly I was reminiscing my secondary school days. The days where you come over after school and chill until late afternoon with nothing but nonsensical conversations.

  Restoran Al'-Ali has this laid back atmosphere that you can just sit there with your friends and family with a drink in hand and just talk and talk about anything. It lives up to the mamak identity which is to relax, eat and have fun. It's open surroundings offers vapers and smokers alike to exercise their right to vape and smoke. Sitting there just releases a bit of stress, the ceiling fans fanning as hard as they can, the TV showcasing the sport channel and the constant gibberish you can hear from your buddies just makes you grateful to have them as company.  Portion size is small due to the state of our country's economy and the price for one plate/ single is RM3.50. The adding of an egg/telur mata makes it RM4.00.

Makan Meter: 8/10
Restoran Al'-Ali
Jalan Bee Eng 1,
Cheras, Wilayah Persekutuan