I was hungry and it was late one night, I just decided we should try our luck at My Elephant eventhough they said they were fully reserved. So we went, had to wait outside because they were full (I wonder why... haha!) but we were given the menu and about 15 mins later our order was taken... 5 mins later we were given our table... What was astonishing was 3 mins later ALL the food came... and I mean ALL!!! It was shockingly fast! haha! and we didn't order very little...
We get a plate with a banana leaf cut out placed on the base and a bowl of "scoop your own" red rice.
Let's start with the appetizers... We ordered my favourite Thai appetizer which was the Tod Man Plah - handmade deep fried thai fish cakes. It was pretty normal in flavours and I definitely have had better even from roadside store in Thailand but don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad. It lacked the certain chewiness which I like in fish cakes and it was just on the bland side.
Then we had PoPiah Tod - Deep Fried Hand-Rolled Springrolls with Braised Glass Noodle, Dried Shrimp and Assorted Vegetables. I couldn't catch much of the taste because I had the salad first. My mouth was so full of spice I didn't find this dish impressive either. The filling was not seasoned enough although it was beautifully fried and crispy to the bite. Perhaps I will not judge too much on this dish.
Now it gets better from here. :) We had Som Tam Malakor - Hand-pounded Green Papaya with Dried Prawns & Peanuts. This I loved. It was super spicy although it looks very unasuming. One bite and you feel the spiciness filling your mouth right to the back of your throat. I had just the right amount of fish sauce so it wasn't too salty. The papaya was fresh and the tomatoes were juicy...
Next up was myElephant Tom Yum Seafood - myElephant’s SUPER Spicy Tom Yum with Aromatic Fresh Thai Herbs. They were not kidding about the SUPER Spicy. It wasn't the normal chili spicy but it had a certain heat to it. It just hits you the second you put it in your mouth. You could feel the heat up your nostrils. This bowl of Tom Yum was so filled herbs that you could not drink a spoonful of the soup without something else landing in your spoon... It was a tad salty which coupled with the heat just made you reach for a glass of water.
We also ordered the Gaeng Phet Yaeng - Roast Duck Curry with Seasonal Fruit. This time the seasonal fruit was lychee and green grapes. The lychee was just scrumptious. It was juicy and the when you take a bite of it, the combination of sweet lychee juice coupled with the savoury spicy flavours of the curry was simply yum! It just made me smile. The roast duck was tender and well seasoned. The whole dish was just a nice balance of savoury curry with hints of sweetness from the fruits which made it less heavy.
Last dish of the night was the ‘Snow’ Fish - Salt-baked Fish with My Elephant’s Signature Green Chilli Sauce. Although we were left wondering how they could serve this up in 10 mins flat but once we took a bite, it didn't matter. The fish was very fresh. It didn't even require the chili sauce as the salt has permeated into the flesh of the fish just enough to lend its saltiness. It was perfectly baked to the right degree of firmness without drying the fish out.
One thing I got to say is don't order everything that we ordered if you only had 2 people eating. It is a lot of food.
My ElephantC-G-4 Happy Mansion
Jalan 17/13
Section 17, Petaling Jaya
MalaysiaTel: 60102201283
Then it went downhill from there... We had an order or Lam Yee Pork which was a fermented beancurd seasoned fried pork. Although fermented beancurd is salty but this was beyond salty. The amount of salt there was in this dish I was sure it came free with the pork they bought. Not funny when it made us all very thirsty.
After that came the much talked about bacon fried rice. Bacon who? All I tasted was "Lap Cheong" and when I commented that to one of the waiter he told me it was a combination of bacon and chinese sausage. I just could not for the life of me taste the bacon. Where?
By far the most disappointing dish was the Braised Lamb... It was much talked about in many blogs so I had my hopes up but when it came and we sliced through it.. Immediately we knew it had not been braised long enough. Lo behold the meat was on the tough side and the taste of lamb was very apparent. It has not had time to braise fully and absorb the flavours of the gravy. The flavours were all there in the gravy and it was served with a pretty good and buttery mash potato and some ratatouille but unfortunately the star of the dish did not shine.
The fried crispy pork was really tasty.. It had a crispy outer layer with a tasty tender center... It is surprisingly one of the better "Hakka Char Yok" that I have tasted though it was a tad oily.
