Eating Out: Nasi Lemak House, 115 Grattan Street Carlton.

Up at 7:30am on a Sunday morning. Why? To attend a 9:30am-5pm vce biology lecture at Melb Uni cos I'm a good girl....yeah....So after almost falling asleep numerous times and trying desperately to concentrate (not helped by my grumbling stomach of extreme hunger) it was finally lunch time. Met up with a friend who was also attending a lecture cos he's a good boy (he is actually a very good boy and very smart) and went to look for somewhere to eat lunch. Original plans were to go to trusty union house and get a good deal however it ain't so trusty on sundays...so plan B was to go to KFC, you can't go wrong. However all the kids from the lectures also decided they wanted KFC so the line was insane, no chance for getting lunch on time. Kept walking to find another place, and saw a Jap restaurant with a sign out the front saying $7 however after walking to the sign it said from 3pm-10pm. Almost got tricked. Kept walking until we ended up in front of....NASI LEMAK HOUSE. Somewhere I've wanted to go since I read someone's blog review on it.
Seriously you wouldn't notice this place, it's pretty shabby and lets say not the brightest or cleanest place I've ever been to. The place is very small, probably seats about 15-20 people. Pretty much they specialise in Nasi Lemak (many different types)...which may possibly be the national dish of Malaysia if I am not mistaken. From my knowledge (or lack of knowledge as I have never been to Malaysia) Nasi Lemak should contain coconut rice, ikan bilis, peanuts, sambal. And possibly added meat curry or fried chicken. I think egg should fit in somewhere....

Nasi Lemak Traditional $9.40

(I always go for their signature as it should be their best and safest dish)

I enjoyed the dish, especially good since it was so cold. You could smell the coconut rice, however the taste was there but not overpowering. The prawn cracker like things were the best dipped in sambal. The fried egg super crispy but the yolk was very cooked. The ikan bilis was crunchy as were the peanuts. About a tbsp of each so i guess it was quite generous. The fried chicken drumstick was huge. I started to doubt whether it was actually a chicken drumstick due to its large size, looked like a turkey drumstick. But it tasted like chicken. The skin was crispy and spiced(plenty of it too =D). The meat moist (best dipped in sambal). The two slices of cucumber were definitely not enough to cool my tongue. Which brings me to the SAMBAL. I'm not the biggest fan of sambal due to it's extreme spiciness. It tastes so nice but it burns your tongue so badly. So I guess it's a love hate relationship. The sambal here is fragrant and delicious however very spicy and when placed next to the rice the oil seeps into the rice and makes the rice chilli as well. Last time I had sambal was at Old Town Kopitiam Mamak and it was very sweet and about equally as spicy, I didn't really like it. But I loved the sambal here and I wish I could take a jar home. Also they give you good COUPLE of tablespoons so you won't run out. However I'd like to see someone eat all of it with their dish.

Look at all that sambal =.="

Also noticed that many customers ordered teh tarik. Looked very frothy, only weird thing was they served it in those polystyrene cups.

Food: 8.5/10 Pretty damn good.
Environment: 6/10 The place needs a vacuum, some better lighting, cleaner cups, and maybe not a self serve cutlery counter.
Service: 8/10 You order at the register, they give you a ticket (the ones you use for raffles), you sit down and the waiter will call out your number. Food came out within 5 mins of sitting down.

Verdict? Pretty decent place which is committed to their food. I would come here again on a cold day and if I was in the area. However there are also many other places in the area I want to try so I'm not sure when I'll next end up here. But definitely recommended if you like Nasi Lemak.

Sorry about the long post, got a bit too excited.