Flying Chillies @ Gardens Mid Valley City

Went for an early lunch yesterday with Alwi & Yang at Gardens MidValley City. As we were there rather early, Alwi who drove his chick-magnet red Audi TT, managed to find a parking spot right next to the entrance...yes, the dream Malaysian parking spot.

Went to Borders first, where I bought two books. Then we went to the Thai restaurant Yang was just raving about, the Flying Chillies Restaurant. Pleasant looking place with modern decor. The white facade of the restaurant had the name of the restaurant in bold red letters. We then decided to take a table outside the restaurant.

Since, Alwi & Yang had been there before, they made most of the choices. We had these...

Mixed Tomyam
White Rice
Mango kerabu with catfish
Thai chili paste chicken
Asparagus with shrimp paste
Phad Thai - Thai fried koayteow thingy with bean sprouts & dried chili.

The mixed tomyam was delicious and spicy - with generous amounts of mushroom, fish, prawns and other ingredients. It was really an excellent starter. There's an option for the healthier clear tomyam (sans coconut milk) but we decided on the cholesterol-laden version. Anyway, should any of us get our arteries blocked and suddenly get an acute myocardial infarction (heart attack), Alwi the consultant cardiothoracic surgeon from IJN would be around to rescue us.

The mango kerabu was nice and had this net-like fried crispy catfish served with it. The combination of the sweet, sour, spicy, salty and the crunchy catfish thing nicely overwhelmed our taste buds.

The chicken with chili paste was served with pieces of cut kacang panjang and was really awesome. The spicy chili paste had this hint of citrus in it (lime?) and went very well with the white rice.

The asparagus with shrimp paste was my choice and I did not regret it one bit. Thick, fat & fresh asparagus, cut into short lengths with shrimp paste/chili gravy coating it. Really, really good. I'm sure I was the one who ate most of this dish. Even when I ran out of rice, I would put more of this dish on my plate and eat it ratah style. It was extremely sedapalicious.

The Phad Thai was nice and really spicy. Imagine thin koayteow strips fried and served with prawns, ground dried chili and fresh bean sprouts with a squeeze of lime on top. Simply awesome.

Alwi, Yang & I ate and chatted. I washed everything down with some iced water while Alwi & Yang washed down theirs with diet Coke.

Since we were terribly full, we decided not to have desert - although Yang said the mango-glutinous rice dessert was good there.

Fantastic food. I would definitely be back for more in the near future.

Ciao! Happy Thaipusam for those celebrating.

Amir Fuad.