Fong Lye on Jalan Imbi

Sometimes we can be so blind sighted by the familiar. My friends and I always go to Oversea Imbi but for once, I remembered that there were other alternatives, like Fong Lye. So on this rare occasion we found ourselves at Fong Lye for dinner. We had just watched Coming Soon at Pavilion. I am a horror movie buff but this is only horrific in the sense that it was utterly rubbish. Casper the friendly ghost is more scary then this ghastly Thai flick but I digress. Fong Lye has been around for a long time and is only a few doors away from Oversea. So you will forgive us that we always forget it as the shop frontage is all of one shop lot and in dark green where else Oversea takes up four (?) shop lots and it brightly lit in RED! I don't know why I feel I need to justify. I can go out of my comfort zone. Really. 

As usual, we ordered more than enough. Surely these are signs that we are turning into our parents. Gasp! The surprising winner for the evening was a dish we were trying for the first time. Crispy fried pork fillet that was served in delicate slices. It had a crisp shell while the meat was still tender and moist within. I love the hint of nam yue (fermented bean curd) and mandarin peel. Definitely moreish. I also liked the crispy rectangles of tofu and braised yam with pork. Ding's favourite was an aromatic braised chicken dish that was infused with basil, dried chilli and mandarin peel. Its one of those dishes that you either really like or you might find overwhelmingly perfumed. I think I was most disappointed by the congee itself which was worse than congee I make and thats saying a lot! Its just short of rice floating in water. Not good. The claypot aubergine was very forgettable. Infact, the most memorable thing apart from the pork was probably the titbits they gave us at the beginning. I really liked the spicy and tangy lotus root. Delicious! Of course for those of you who don't live/work around Imbi, you can always visit the outlets at Gardens Midvalley or Desa Sri Hartamas. The menu is a little different but you get the gist of it ie. Taiwanese porridge. 

Unfortunately my photos don't do the food justice. My current phone has an amazingly lousy camera. Its a Sony Ericsson Walkman series and while the sound is A-M-A-Z-I-N-G, the camera function is shockingly poor. I can't wait until the phone I want comes out.