SAMBAL CHILLI,
3rd Floor, Atria Shopping Gallery,
Jalan SS 22/23, Damansara Jaya,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
Tel: 03-7731 9869
Business hours: 10am to 10pm.
IF YOU grew up in the 1980s watching the famous RTM animations, it might strike a chord when you walk into the Sambal Chilli restaurant in Atria Shopping Gallery.
It did for me when I saw the Hikayat Sang Kancil and Monyet-inspired chalk illustrations on the walls of this restaurant.
Sambal Chilli restaurant director Yong Mei Ling said she felt the scene, which showed the monkey plucking and eating the chillies despite being warned by the mouse deer, made for a cheeky decor.
An array of Nyonya-inspired local dishes at Sambal Chilli.
Fortunately, customers at Sambal Chilli will not share the same fate as the monkey, which was left traumatised after eating the chillies.
Instead, they can look forward to a satisfying dining experience.
This Nyonya fusion Chinese restaurant has a casual kopitam-like environment with large mirrors hung on the walls.
Dining here with family or friends would not be a problem as the dishes are tailored for such a crowd.
The bestseller here is the Prawn Sambal Petai, which packs a punch of the sambal taste accompanied with the mild sweetness from the prawn.
The Prawn Sambal Petai packs a punch of the sambal taste accompanied with the mild sweetness from the prawn.
The sambal is well-cooked and the flavour is rich.
Yong said the Nonya-style of cooking heavily relied on ingredients made into paste.
“When you cook using ingredients that are mixed into paste form, the flavour is richer.
“The dishes taste better compared to those cooked using the strained juice from certain ingredients,” said Yong.
She added that the food served at the restaurant were not pre-cooked but prepared upon order. The reason was to ensure the freshness of the taste and make for a memorable dining experience.
“Once we had a customer who simply wanted to taste the gravy of our Chicken Kapitan Curry but did not want to wait for it to be prepared.
“We said that was only possible if the chef cooks upon order and that we do not have pre-cooked gravy,” she said.
Asam Pedas Prawn Claypot is a must-try if you fancy asam pedas.
Another bestseller at the restaurant is the authentic Asam Pedas Prawn Claypot.
This Nyonya dish is a must-try if you fancy asam pedas.
You will not be let down if you enjoy thick gravy as most curry dishes here are like that.
The Green Curry Chicken, Chicken Kapitan Curry and even the Curry Vegetable dishes are cooked and served in generous portions.
The restaurant is pork-free and in the midst of acquiring halal status.
Chinese dishes commonly prepared using pork such as the Salted Fish Chicken Claypot is replaced with chicken at Sambal Chilli.
Flying Fish, which is commonly served at Chinese restaurants, can also be ordered here.
The Flying Fish dish is deep-fried and served with sweet sambal sauce.
The deep-fried siakap is covered with a sweet sambal glaze.
For dessert, complete your dining experience with the fried banana fritters.
“I would say our banana fritters are special as it has a fluffy crisp.
“The batter is freshly prepared for each order and it gives a nice crunch to the pisang goreng,” said Yong, who loves desserts.
The crispy fritters are served with ice cream so try it if you are on your “cheat day”.
For dishes such as the chicken lobak, three different types of chilli dips are provided – traditional sambal cili, sambal olek, which is cili padi dipped in soy sauce, and Thai Chilli, which is also made from scratch.
This is the writer’s personal observations and not an endorsement by StarMetro.
