Eccentric Journal: [Food Review] Sentosa

You can't always expect to have the best food dates all the time. I remember having a rather poor one two years ago with my friend involving store bought dumplings. I'm surprised they are still open for business. Maybe I should write something brutal to trash them. I wouldn't say I had the same experience this time at Sentosa, but it does remind me to be careful of what you pick on a menu.

Sentosa is a Malaysian cuisine restaurant and one of my friends was craving for some Malay. So the three of us ended up at Sentosa when the initial restaurant we intended to go to was full. Service was prompt and food came very quickly. Almost immediately. For that, I can give points. The three of us ordered a variety and I guess you can say a lot. We split a plate of Hainanese chicken, satay, and roti canai. My friends had a pineapple fried rice and a seafood noodle dish while I opted for beef rendang. I ordered a Malaysian Ice Tea to try.

I can't remember whether it was beef or pork satay that we ordered except that it was made using a sweet marinade and grilled over fire. The final plate was served with a sweet peanut sauce. My beef rendang is a spicy curried beef served with white rice and cucumbers. I was originally going to order a nasi lemak, but the sight of beef won me over. I really cannot handle spicy after all. The beef rendang had me going for sips of cold ice tea and white rice. It was a filling dish, but I couldn't handle the spice. Somehow I managed to eat it all in the end. The cold ice tea I ordered had a strong brew of black tea paired with sweetened milk which was the only way I could have doused the fire in my mouth.

My friend was protecting the roti canai. After all, she ordered it for herself, but we all got a bit in the end. Next time I'll get my own. Roti as you may know is that crispy Indian style flat bread. The roti canai was served with a curry sauce. To my disappointment, it was more runny than thick and looked greasy. Our roti was crispy though. It's one of the selling items of any Malaysian restaurant. Remember the Hainanese chicken I mentioned in the beginning? We ordered half a chicken and I had the memory of a really delicious chicken from ages ago. The one we had this time wasn't bad but it simply wasn't Hainanese chicken I was expecting. It just tasted like Chinese style poached chicken. Like where was the pandan flavor?

Points given for okay food, but as it turned out it was a total miss for my friend who ordered her pineapple rice. It's a huge scoop of friend rice with give or take three pineapple chunks plated on a hollowed out pineapple. Presentation it looks cool, but the taste according to her didn't go well as I watch her dump sauces over her rice. Unfortunately after we left the restaurant, she was the only one leaving with a stomach ache. I blame it on the pineapple. Because of her situation, I have to subtract points for Sentosa. I don't think I'll come back knowing that there are other Malay restaurants out there that can do better. Right now, I think I'll have to find a good place to make up for that stomach ache.