the balinese influence is so apparent in this cozy restaurant. it welcomes smokers. every table has its own ash tray. the furnitures are a mix though.. the main area of the restaurant uses some old kopitiam style furnitures... while there is a small hut with teak table.. no chairs. you'll be sitting on the floor.. somewhat japanese there. there's a small pond, with carps which gave the place a zen feeling to it. perhaps it's the weather, or maybe the pond next to our table, it was cool despite the open air concept.
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| the carp pond. zen :) |
there are two types of menus you can find at Auntie Aini's Garden Cafe. the Malay menu and the Western menu. nana has been here a couple of times before and when she mentioned that the cafe actually has masak lemak cili padi in the menu while we were driving, i almost jumped with joy. when i opened the menu, there it was - daging salai masak lemak cili padi. i first had a taste of this dish when poji got married about 10 years ago. it has to have a good mixture of spices, and the heat of the cili padi and the creamy santan should just be perfect. While Auntie Aini's masak lemak cili padi was not as hot as the original, it was just right for my tastebuds and stomach. I also ordered kailan stir fry.. it was cooked with soy sauce and i think a little bit of sesame oil which i don't fancy much, but they used fresh young kales which was to my liking. it's not as bitter as the normal kale and you don't have to cook as long. so it's still has some crunch to it. nana had the shepherd's pie which was baked to perfection. i had a taste also.. of course. and it was delicious! the meat was stewed and not cooked with tomato sauce (i don't understand why some people use tomato sauce to cook the meat in shepherd's pie. but i guess it's up to the individual la kan?) yeay! nana and i finished everything even though both of us thought the portion was huge. hehe go figure :p
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| our selections :) |
as it was still early.. and i was still recovering from the heaty cili padi in the masak lemak, nana and i decided to go for the desserts. i was a bit disappointed seeing the desserts menu though. i thought they should add more to it. currently there are only three desserts on the menu - tapai, tapai with ice cream (no fair.. it's still tapai :p) and fresh local fruits. i don't really know how to eat tapai. i thought it tastes weird. so i chose the local fruits. and nana got herself tapai with ice cream. i also ordered white coffee.. perfect end to a lovely lunch.
Auntie Aini left us to have our "main course" and joined us again when we had our desserts for a lovely chat.. ok la more like gossips. she's quite a chatterbox and she is friendly. so it didn't take me long to open up to her. and one of her daughters is a malaysian actress.. quite famous gak la .. but am not telling who lah :p i saw her making her way from one table to another chatting with the customers.. while we were talking, Auntie even mentioned that the customer from the next table has come to Auntie's restaurant since before she was married. and now that customer of hers has 3 kids. it's been 8 years since Auntie Aini first opened the restaurant. she even had some famous international chefs cook in her kitchen.. i'll let her tell that story to you.
so if you'd like to visit this restaurant.. here are the details you'd need:
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| map to auntie aini's cafe |
address:
batu 16, Jalan Sepang,
kampung Chelet,
71800 nilai
negeri sembilan.
phone/fax: 06 799 1276
business hours:
mon - thurs : 11:30 am - 3:00 pm, 5:30 pm - 11:30 pm
fri - sat : 11:30 am - 3:00 pm, 5:30 pm - 12:30 am
closed sundays - they are opened on public holidays :)
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