Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Great Food, Great Prices


An unassuming place for great Indian food.


Mr Pandian has made it his goal these 15 years to offer the best-tasting, home-style Indian food at the most reasonable prices possible. At his humble little shop lots at the food market in Taman University, SS3, Petaling Jaya, he offers breakfast, lunch and tea from 6am to 5pm, seven days a week. You need to look for the stalls at the furthest end where vans with the name Megaway Caterers are the only sign that you are at the right place. 
 
You will always be able to pick up Mr Pandian from the crowd. He is always in pristine white!

There are no price lists and no receipts. Only Mr Pandian totals up the bills and he continues to delight diners by quoting far less than they think their meal is going to cost. 

The whole set up is very basic. Foods are grouped roughly by category. Silver pots of curries and gravies sit side by side trays of chutney; the fried snacks like vadai and curry puffs are on the food court tables, while the rice and noodles are in warming pans on the counter. 

A hot cooking station serves patrons throughout the day with roti canai and thosai. The rotis are always made fresh and cost 90 sen. A plate of fried noodles – mee or meehoon – with as much sambal as you want costs RM2. 

One of the most delicious breakfast items is the stir fried tapioca. Small cubes of the starchy tuber are mixed with an aromatic variety of curry leaves, dried red chillies, and various Indian spices to deliver a satisfying meal for RM2 a plateful. Also on offer for breakfast are poori (the deep fried puffed bread), capati, idli, string hoppers (putumayam or uttapam), and uppuma, a dish of steamed semolina flour infused in ghee, and aromatics and served either in slices, pudding-like, or crumbled up in lumps. Patrons can help themselves to a good variety of gravies including dhal, fish or chicken curry, coconut chutney and sambar. 
 
Informal, and cheap.
Lunch is rice-based with patrons getting a heaping serving of white rice and helping themselves to a selection of food items. Mr Pandian offers a different menu every day and rotates between fish head curry, chicken curry, dry chicken curry, and a selection of meat dishes. Many vegetarians patronize his stall for his wide selection of tofu, vegetable curries, marsala and potato sambal. One of the most flavourful vegetarian dishes is the curried pumpkin, with its sweet and spicy mix of flavours. Vegetarians can get away with a full lunch for as low as RM4, while lunch for one with chicken, fish, three vegetable side dishes and poppadum, not to mention all the curry gravy you can eat, is about RM7. 

Help yourself to all the yummy curries and freshly cooked veggies at lunch!
 
The meat dishes are fantastically spiced.
 
My RM7 lunch consisted of fish head curry, chicken sambal, pumpkin, spinach and green beans.
Teatime menus are a pared down version of breakfast, with vadai and banana fritters, curry puffs and home-made sugee cake on offer. A snack and a hot cuppa will probably come up to RM2. 

Megaway Caterers
Selera Wawasan Food Court, Jalan SS3/33, Taman University, Kelana Jaya, Petaling Jaya.
Opening hours: Daily 6am-5pm
GPS Coordinates: N305.858 E10136.720
Pork-free