We had an afternoon packed with activities and our schedule was very tight.  3.00pm:  Wake up from afternoon siesta.  4.00pm: Get flowers.  4.30pm:  Laundry.  5.00pm: Check venue for party next weekend.  6.30pm: Visit mum and dad.  8.30pm: Dinner with family.

At 4.30pm, as we were driving towards our next destination, the husband spotted a new restaurant at Lorong Kurau, Bangsar.

“Let’s drive past it,” he suggested.

“Okay.”  It would only take an additional minute.

“It’s a Thai restaurant,” he said. “Do you feel like stopping for a quick snack?”

My eyes lit up.  Thankfully, my husband and I are like two peas in a pod (except that I’m not bald and he is) and we’re both adventurous in our food explorations.

It would be a quick one, we decided. 

The menu consisted of typical quick meals like tom yum, chicken rice and salads with an average price of RM5.00 per regular serving.

We decided to share a Thai chicken rice.   The chicken rice came with a portion of steamed chicken and rice sprinkled with fried garlic.  The rice was good enough to be eaten on its own as it was cooked with chicken stock.  An assortment of sauces were available to go with the various dishes – traditional garlic chilli sauce, green chilli sauce, ginger paste, bean paste with chilli and crushed peanuts, and fish sauce.  Even the accompanying soup was delicious.  We found out later that the flavour came from the generous use of parsley.

The papaya kerabu came with fried garlic, minced dried shrimps and sliced shallots in a tangy dressing of lime juice.

I love the paku pakis (fern) kerabu, a refreshing salad made with shallots and a blended prawn paste.  A simple dressing of lime juice and sugar was all that was needed to make this a very delicious meal on its own.

So much for a quick snack.  He loved the meal so much that he requested for extra rice.

We couldn’t leave the restaurant without sampling a dessert, so we got ourselves a mango pulut (glutinous rice).  Thick santan sauce was poured liberally over the sticky sweet rice and the juicy ripe mango went wonderfully with the rice.  I didn’t photograph the custard pulut, which was essentially glutinous rice served with kaya custard.  The kaya reminded me of the homemade type which I grew up on, eggy and creamy without the kerosene-like taste which I sometimes get when I buy commercially made kaya.

What I like about this place is that I can get a quick and decent meal without breaking the bank.  The location is in the older suburbs of Bangsar near NST, so parking, even though limited, is not impossible to find.  Food Foundry’s second location is along the same stretch of shophouses, but frankly, I’d go to Food Foundry only for the mille crepe cake.  But that’s another post altogether…

We left the restaurant an hour later followed by a very apologetic phonecall to mum for the delay – “Busy…yeah…very busy running around….you know how it is on weekends…..yes, yes, we’ll be there soon…!!”  I hope mum is not reading this or I’ll be sent to my room with no American Idol for a month.

Baan Aa-Haan Thai
No. 15, Lorong Kurau
Bangsar, 59100 KL.

Tel: 03-2282 0991

Open daily except Mondays. 11.30am to 8.30pm.