Cafe 9, Section 17, Petaling Jaya

Yes, I know. I knoooow. I'm suppose to be back from hiatus but I went missing again. My bad. Was caught up with some pertinent and urgent matters. Also, really tough to get back into action after a looooong break. Sorry for the tardiness and THANK YOU for missing me :)

While I wait to recall from my failing memory bank on my 4 trips , see return from hiatus let's start with what I had yesterday which is still fresh on my mind. Honestly, I still have the lingering taste of this dish.

This, by far was my best dish yesterday. 7 condiments consisting of (from top left) bird's eye chili, shallots with ginger, some crunchy stuff I forgot to taste further or check what it was, diced lime, roasted desiccated coconut & roasted groundnuts. Mixed all the condiments together with the sweetened fish sauce and betel leave or daun kaduk in our local language (Bahasa Malaysia) as shared by my friend who really dabbles in cooking. 

The taste? An explosion of flavours from spicy to bitter to sweet to sour to salty and even umami or the 5th taste. I loved it!

Pssstttt...noticed how 'obedient' my buddies were? Waiting patiently for me to snap a picture before they can eat. Aaahhh...these two pals are priceless. That goes for all my other friends who knows I blog about food. 

Listen. I am no food critic nor food journalist, just a pillion rider who has a knack for good food and enjoys writing about my food trails. So, please do not take my word for it. Go check the food out for yourselves. I know that some bloggers have been taken to court for causing their eateries to loose business following the bloggers' comments. Personally, I always take everything with a pinch of salt. So, please Cafe 9, do not take me to court for penning my personal opinion which cannot influence any of my readers as they have a mind of their own.

My second favourite dish was the stirred fried glass noodle.

Comes with huge serving of vegetables & meat. Tomato, carrot, broccoli, cauliflower, bombay onions, red chili, spring onions, minced meat, sliced meat, celery and prawns! The dish was flavourful and tasty. Recommended by the waiter. Good recommendation. Thanks!

The tomyum seafood came third on my list :

Ohhhh, don't be fooled by the clear soup. It is really sour & spicy. It gives you the "Muay Thai" 'kick'. Cafe 9 was lavish in their seafood. See for yourself...more below the surface. Strangely, when the soup is cooler, it tastes salty instead of the sour & spicy 'kick'. Hmmmm.....

Next on the menu was the minced meat with basil leaf.

This tastes good but too sweet for my palates. Am pleased with the huge servings of minced meat but disappointed with the lack of basil leaf. We had more of the french beans instead. A little lesser of the gravy would be ideal as the dish was swimming in gravy.

Followed by the fish cake:

The cake was springy and tasty but a little bit more of fish meat would make it more delectable. The chili complemented the fish cake but was again too sweet for my taste.

The four-angled bean was cooked just right. Crunchy and tasty. However, it was doused with an over zealous amount of gravy.

The papaya salad was a minor disappointment. Serving was huge with generous servings of peanuts and sauce. However, the sauce lack the tantalising sensation. A little too tame, very unlike the original Thai salads.

I just had to have Tub tim krob or red ruby for my desert. Definition by wikipedia ~~

1. Tub tim krob is one of the most famous Thai desserts, which is made of cubes of water chestnuts in syrup coated with red food coloring. This dessert is also known as “rubies” because of its appearance. Wikipedia

   
   

   

   
   

   I've had many bowls of red rubies in as many restaurants that I've frequented. This is by far the first I have eaten that has no jackfruit. The red ruby would have tasted better had the cafe put in larger pieces of water chestnuts instead of the red jelly-like thingy. I was disappointed with the dessert and did not finish the dish.

   
   

   Lastly, the cake. Incidentally, the cafe only had 3 different slices of cakes. My buddy chose this :

   

   
   

   Let's just say it wasn't worth the RM11 per piece.

   
   

   Please do not ask me how much because it was a treat. The meal was about RM43 after deducting her Groupon vouchers. So, your guess is as good as mine.

   
   

   By the way, we had two servings of the same good tea. Came recommended as well. The cafe leaves a pot of flask for you to refill.

   
   

   In all fairness, the food was flavourful but just too strong in each. I wouldn't mind going back for my favourite dish and the great cup of tea. 

   
   

   Cafe 9 opened just 9 months ago. Do go and patronise it and taste it for yourself. Nothing ventured nothing gain, as the saying goes.

   
   

   Details : (pork free)

   Cafe 9 "a taste of Thai"

   27 Jalan 17/45

   Seksyen 17

   Petaling Jaya

   
   

   Tel : 03 - 7932 2899

   Closed on Tuesday. Opens 10am-10pm.

   
   

   Hopefully, this will spur me on to pen the other long outstanding blogs.

   
   

   Until we meet again...stay happy and eat well.