At Kelantan Delights, customers get their fill of Kelantanese cuisine served with a touch of fun and culture, writes SAGER AHMAD.

Kelantan Delights is more than just a restaurant. It is also a place for mini conferences and events like fashion shows, poetry reading, book launch, wayang kulit (shadow puppet) shows, song and dance performances and more.

But to enjoy all that, you must take the first step - to find the restaurant. For first timers, this may prove difficult. It is in the shark-shaped Sooka Sentral near the Kuala Lumpur Sentral Station. It´s across the road from the Express Rail Link departure station.

But the advantage is that you need not worry about traffic jams as you can get there via ERL, LRT and KTM-Komuter, depending on where you´re coming from.

Mix Of Delights
At Kelantan Delights, you can choose to sit on the wooden floor with enough space for 35 people or on the balcony with tables that can seat up to 155 people. Then, there´s a private meeting room for 20.

Its executive chairman, Juhaidi Yean Abdullah, a journalist turned restaurateur, said Kelantan Delights is a family restaurant serving a mix of popular local dishes like nasi goreng and rojak as well as Chinese and Thai dishes but its forte is Kelantanese cuisine with specialties like nasi kerabu, nasi dagang and laksam.

Tom Yam In Coconut
Its star dish has to be the delightfully hot tom yam. What´s so special is that the fiery, sour soup is served in a fresh young coconut. After finishing the soup, you can scrape the sweet and juicy coconut flesh to eat. Two large prawns peeping out are an indication of what to expect when you dig in.

Other specialties include sup buntut (oxtail soup) served in a small wok and lompat tikam, a dessert made of green and red coloured dough in gula melaka syrup. It´s served in a sampan like plate.

Shake The Tea
Try the teh tarik (literally, pulled tea as all the ingredients - tea, milk and water are mixed and then `pulled´ using two aluminium cups) or masala tea (tea laced with spices). These are said to help balance all the rich and sweet food earlier.

For something really unique, ask for teh goyang (goyang means shake) which is remarkably a work of art. The tea comes in three layers – milk at the bottom, tea in the middle and the froth at the top.

Take a minute to admire the layers and then "shake" or stir it up, which is part of the fun of teh goyang.

Food & Fun
For cocktail functions, the restaurant can open up all its spaces to accommodate 400 customers. Special activities such as fruit and vegetable carving demonstrations can also be held.

"The demonstrations give customers, usually foreign tourists, a value-added experience and an insight into the local culture. Our restaurant has many pluses to it but we keep the prices affordable," said Juhaidi.

Kelantan Delights used to be in Suria KLCC but relocated to its present site a year ago.

Contact and Opening Hours
Open daily from 10am to 10pm, the restaurant is located at 1-5, Level 1, Sooka Sentral, Jalan Stesen Sentral, 50470 Kuala Lumpur. Tel 03-2785 1945/012-317 5568. Website: www.kelantandelights.com

[Source: New Straits Times]

By Sager Ahmad, , 11 Nov 2008