Nasi Lemak Tanjung Puteri, Hartamas

I have a passion for good Malay food and discovering tiny "warongs" at obscure places is a small past time of mine. This particular place definitely beats the typical genre of a warong though - you get 1950's and 1960's Malay music playing at the background, black and white pictures of Malay iconic singers like P Ramlee and Salomah, twinkling lights all over the place and a beautifully set table of treats laid out buffet style.

We often visit here hence these pictures were taken at different times. This place is famous for their Nasi Lemak which you serve yourself from the table. Pick whatever you want to eat whether it's their rendang ayam (chicken rendang in Malay), sambal sotong (calamari sambal) or just plain with a hard boiled egg and lots of peanuts and deep fried ikan bilis (anchovies). Here the sambal is slightly spicier and has hints of ginger in it.

Besides Nasi Lemak, you can also select food from the buffet style table. As the owners are from Johor, you get most of the Johor specialities here like the Murtabak Johor (RM4) which is cooked on a hot plate right in front of the stall. Unlike the usual murtabaks, the Johor variety has lots of layers filled with minced meat.

I reckon their Laksa Johor (RM5) is not too bad. It's not the best I have tasted but versus what I have eaten around the city, it's pretty good. The gravy is nice and thick with shredded fish and the add the sambal with a touch of calamansi lime juice for extra kick!

We usually order fry ups like this Mee Goreng P Ramlee (RM5) named after the great singer. There's also fried rice named after Saloma, mee hailam, kuey teow soup and etc. All these are fried in the small kitchen at the back.

They also serve a Johor specialty you don't usually see in town - Botok Botok(RM5). The ikan tenggiri cutlet is usually pan fried on the outside to give it a slight flavour and smeared with sambal made from shallots, ginger and ground spices. It's then placed in a banana leaf parcel and covered with various herbs that is usually eaten as salads (ulam). For this version, they used young sweet potato shoots (pucuk ubi kayu), salam leaf (daun salam) and wild pepper leaf (daun kaduk). It's up to you to add as many different varieties of herbs you like. The banana leaf parcel is then steamed until the fish is cooked. Open the parcel and dig into the fish which is to be eaten together with the leaves. It's very healthy and delicious.

Nasi Lemak Tanjung Puteri
173A, Jalan Sri Hartamas 2, Sri Hartamas
Kuala Lumpur - (Open from 5.30 pm to 11.00 pm and closed on Sundays)