Ikan Bakar Ratus

Ahh lunch time in KL.  If you are trapped in the rat race in KL during lunch hour and would like to treat yourself or a prospective business associate, why not bowl him/her over at this very unique place slighty out of Kuala Lumpur area, but definitely satisfying.  There are not many places in Kuala Lumpur where you can find ikan bakar for lunch.  Many would be at a proper Malay restaurant but even that, its not hot and tantalizing enough.  Many people know about the ikan bakar (grilled fish) place at Jalan Bellamy which is behind Istana Negara.  Many many reviews have been made regarding that place, and to those of you working around the KLCC area, would definitely know about that other ikan bakar place off Jalan Stonor, across the used-to-be Bon Ton Restaurant.  For your information, the ikan bakar place at Jalan Stonor is no more there.  It has been closed for sometime now and I don't know where they are now.  Those of you who have info, please let me know okay?

The Restaurant
Now this other place that I am reviewing is in Jalan Ulu Kelang.  Its a medan selera (food court like) area infront of Sapura.  It opens only on weekdays at noon till evening.  This place is called, Warisan Rasa Kuala.  Warisan Rasa Kuala has been there for ages.  Only those working around that area or stay within that housing area would know where it is.  One glance and you won't find it.  Its an outdoor medan selera type place and only a few stalls are open during the day for lunch.  Seating is abundant and there is a parking area for you..but its kinda limited.  One thing that you will instantly notice about this place is that, its very smokey and I guess you should know why.  The restaurant has a very nice feel to it because the owner has made some nice touches to his seating area.  Its like a small garden.  You may want to sit near a blowing fan though and slightly away from the grill as during the day, it can get a tad hot, especially after you've tucked in a good share of grilled fish and chicken with its kuah asam.  Another thing you would also notice about this restaurant is that, unlike other restaurants which you have to order plain water, this restaurant leaves a container of plain water on the table with some plastic cups to go with it. So that means, plain water all around - self service and not only that, the container that holds the plain water is made from crafted clay called 'Labu Sayong' (water calabash). Don't know what clay means?  Its that earth and mud that you mold with a bit of water to make those pots of plants, but this Labu Sayong has a different making process so that it holds the water nice and cool.  It is also said to be able to 'cure' certain illnesses if you drink the water from Labu Sayong.  One thing that I know, is that the water kept in there is refreshing and cool.  It could just be my imagination, trying to deceive myself into telling, yeah, it does actually work but then hey...you try it for yourself ok?

The Food
Speciality food here is non other than their ikan bakar.  They have a lot of varieties from Cincaru, Kembong, Pari (rayfish) and Keli (catfish).  The fishes are grilled as early as 11.30am to cater for the hordes of people that would come during lunch hour.  You can specify which fish you want, if you don't already see it already done.  The ikan bakar goes with 2 types of kuah asam (dipping sauce).  One is the normal kuah asam and the other with kicap (soy sauce) whereby both has cut chilli padi and also onions in it.  The ikan bakar is self service.  Take a plate, pick the fish thats already been grilled and if not, place your order and wait for it to be grilled and take a small saucer for your kuah asam or 2 saucers if you want to have both varieties of the kuah asam OR just do like I do, pour the kuah asam all over the hot grilled fish...MM..MMM...yummy.  The fishes are grilled to perfection and they use charcoal instead of those normal gas fired with a large flat pan ontop.  So this ikan bakar is the Real McCoy of ikan bakars.  The slightly burnt charcoaled skin and the tender, juicy soft insides of the fish, dipped with kuah asam and hot rice on a hot sunny afternoon...bliss bliss but that is not all....

Apart from their tasty mouth watering, saliva drooling ikan bakar, they also belt out other dishes buffet style.  There is a whole load of other cooked dishes from kari, to gulai, to soups of meat, chicken or fish and other cooked vegetables in so many styles.  The section on gulai kuning itself is just unbelievable, what more the rest of the other dishes. They have gulai kuning nenas, labu masak lemak bercili, ayam masak kicap just to name a few.  All the dishes cooked is authentic kampung style dishes so you get the real kampung cooked food taste.  So if you don't take grilled stuff (scared of carcinogens in the charcoal by products), you can opt for their cooked dishes.  It is way much more than any other restaurant can produce in that area. 

To top the food section off, they have a hearty section of ulam (uncooked wild vegetables).  This is the first time I have seen so many varieties of ulam other than a hotel's restaurant buffet during the month of Ramadhan.  They have ulam raja, ulam pegaga, kacang botol, petai, kerdas and jantung pisang to name a few.  What goes with these ulams?  Thats right...they also have a container of sambal belacan, tempoyak and budu to go along with the ulam.  So picture this.  You are hungry...its noon.  You have just finished a long morning meeting in the office from 8.30am till 12.00.  You skipped breakfast because you were late for the meeting.  You get out of the office, go to Restoran Warisan Kuala and grab yourself a plate of hot rice and you make your way to the ikan bakar section and you get a whiff of the delicious aroma wafting through the air in bundles of smoke.  You take an empty plate, grab the thong and pick up the ikan keli and pari that has already been grilled.  You then set the thong down, take the ladle of the kuah asam and give it a good pour over your hot ikan bakar.  Then you make yourway to the ulam section.  Pick up a few ulam raja leaves and a few sticks of kacang botol.  Pour a little sambal belacan on the side of your plate and prolly a dash of tempoyak.  You sit down, uncover a plastic cup and open the top of the Labu Sayong and pour the cool refreshing plain water.  Say your Doa and dig in, knowing that your boss is away for the whole afternoon after lunch.  BLISS!!  Dontcha wish you wanna go there now?  There is a saying in Malay that when you eat and the food is so good, you won't even notice your mother-in-law passing by (mak mertua lalu pun tak nampak).  Hot plain rice, charcoal grilled ikan bakar succulently done, oozing with its juices and kuah asam to dip with and crunchy fresh ulam raja and sambal belacan is already orgasmic for me.  The only thing to top it off is, if that place is by a cool flowing river, stream or brook and you get to take the day of, cooling yourself in the cool water after lunch..rest at a small hut and after that later in the evening have hot coffee with pisang goreng (banana fritters) with sambal kicap cili (soy sauce with cut chilli padi)..DOUBLE BLISS!!  Thank God its still in the outskirts of KL and I have to go back to work after that...hehe. 

Onced you've done eating the owner will come and calculate your bill.  This place is not that pricey.   If you take dishes such as 2 grilled items like ikan bakar and ayam bakar (yes, they also have grilled chicken), rice, ulam and prolly 1 other dish with ice lemon tea, it would cost you maximum RM15 but let me tell you, its worth paying for it.  Don't be suprised when the owner tells you the bill comes out to 1500 as he calculates it in the hundreds.  Yup, for every RM1 he calls it 100.  So when he tells you your total bill is 2,500, don't faint alright.  Its this uniqueness in the owner calculating the bill that regulars in the area as far as people from Jalan Semarak (UTM and Celcom) know that restaurant as Restoran Ikan Bakar Ratus (hundred grill fish restaurant - loosely translated).  The owner is friendly and as he calculates your bill, most times he will sit with you and have a chat with you too and your friends.  He even prepared a jar filled with sweets for you to take after your lunch to freshen up your breath and its free!  As you walk out (if you face the restaurant and walk towards your right side) you will come across another stall selling authentic Kelantanese desserts and one of them which caught our fancy was Akok Panas (Hot Akok).  This pancake like dessert is sweet, much like the kueh bakar but a lot flatter.  Take it in small bites as its sweet.  You can call it Malaysia's crepe suzzette without any sauce to go with it.  Other dessert that this stall sells is kueh bakar and some other authentic Kelantanese desserts except for Jala Mas. 

Man, that is what I'd call - Power Lunch.  Bring a business associate who just loves kampung food and I guarantee you'd land that deal. 

The Location
This place is located on Jalan Ulu Kelang which runs parallel to MRR2 from Ampang Jaya (near Suzi corner) towards Zoo Negara (National Zoo).  There are 2 routes to that place.

1. Easiest route.  Take the MRR2 from Ampang Point and head towards Taman Melawati or Zoo Negara.  As you travel on the MRR2 just a few kilometres from Ampang Point, keep to the left.  When you see Sapura and Pernec on your left (across the monsoon drain), there will be a turning to the left just a few hundred metres from there.  This left turn would be under the flyover with a roundabout and traffic light.  Take the left turn and go across the monsoon drain bridge (used to be a real river many many years back y'know), and after crossing the bridge, you will get to a roundabout.  Turn left.  Go straight and pass Pernec and a few hundred metres from Pernec is Sapura.  Slow down and look right.  You will see a Medan Selera there with some parking space under the trees.  Park there and walk into the medan selera.  The restaurant is not visible from the main road so you have to walk into the medan selera.  At one glance, you'd think non of the shops actually operate during the day because it looks like everything is closed.
2. You can approach Jalan Ulu Kelang from a variety of entry points, but you need to get at least to either end of the Jalan Ulu Kelang.  One side you can approach is from Jalan Ampang.  From KLCC head towards Ampang Park or Menara Citibank.  You will come across a big traffic light cross junction.  Go straight and you will pass Land Rover showroom on your right.  Head straight some more and there will be Volvo showroom and Proton Edar showroom along the way and a traffic light to your right but you just keep going straight until you hit the traffic light that can turn LEFT at Great Eastern Mall which is to Jalan Jelatek.  Turn left at the that light and proceed straight until you come across another traffic light that turns to your right which is to Jalan Ulu Kelang  Go straight until you see Sapura on your right.  The medan selera will be on your left hand side.

Its one of those places that you have to go if you love food.  Hope you had a pleasant read.

Comments

[Saiful]

Maha - want to know about HAM? Come to Ali Baba (behind IBM) on Friday nights. So many good stuff to write about the ikan bakar ratuslah..

[Maharedza]

Dude, since you like running long stuff, heh, write a lil (or better still, a LOT) bout Ham radio. I don't know shit bout it but would love to know, and I'm too lazy to check out the websites, hehe.

So enter Saiful stage right.

[Maharedza]

Man, you must really love this place to provide such a long running commentary bout it.