Hai-way Robbery?

Joy is a slice of bread for RM5. As long as you're the owner.

In all the interviews I have done with Hainanese chefs and older Hainanese folk, the one thing that came through strongly was their frugality. New migrants to Malaya were most often broke after paying their passage from China, and among the first things they did was to buy a few chickens for their eggs, as well as their droppings, which would fertilize a vegetable plot so there was cheap food available. The chicken would later also become part of  the food chain. Cheap, easy-to-cook items remain the backbone of Hainanese cuisine. Just not at restaurants or cafes.

Does this look like RM5 to you?

Call me a cheapskate, but paying RM5 for a piece of toast with a slice of processed cheese and sugar is something that would make a chef's mother turn in her grave (if she was buried, and not cremated). Just let me get this rant out of the way before we talk about the other food at Hainan Joy. RM5 for piece of toast! Of course the menu calls it thick Hainan bread, but I'd be the thick one if I ever order this one again, seeing the bread, though wholemeal, was not of such traditional quality that warranted the price of the item. In fact, I could get a whole loaf for that price, as well as a few slices of cheese!

Rant aside, it is always the case of willing buyer-willing seller, isn't it? What can a parent do if a child will only eat toast? As evidence by at least two other tables near mine, this was the clear case. The simplest food, with the highest mark-ups will allow a nice profit baseline and ensure clients who do their math will opt to price up and get a more expensive dish which has more value and substance than toast.

Charming little entryway.

Like CVS always tells me: people eat out for the convenience of not having to clean up. Eating out gives the cook a rest and allows him or her to be part of the dining experience as opposed to the provider of the food that makes up the backbone of the experience. For this, I'd bring guests to Hainan Joy.

The general food items are within market price for a cafe, and there is certainly some truth to their Hainanese claim. I'm told their coffee is also the traditional kind, sugar roasted for a sweeter aroma and silkier mouth feel. I guess RM3.50 for a kopi-o isn't too much to pay if it is really good coffee. I do think RM1 a glass for water is a bit much, although it is a large glass. I'm not sure if it is refillable.

While the Nyonya laksa (RM8.50) looked good, and was priced well-within acceptable limits, my dad claimed it was a bit watered down. It tasted, he said, like the Prima Deli packets available from Singapore - just not 'lemak' enough, as if they had tried to get too much gravy out of one packet. Still, it smelled very authentic.

Nyonya laksa.

The nasi lemak special chicken was RM10 - also well-priced. The portion was good, and the serving was made to look bigger with lots of little additional items. It was certainly a filling meal, and very passable.

Nasi lemak special chicken.

The Hainanese chicken chop (RM14) were also large. The chicken legs they used were certainly not the usual scrawny hypermarket chicken ones. They were also fresh, and well breaded. A Hainan chef, however, will tell you that chicken legs for this dish should always be de-boned and flattened before being coated in batter. Still, it was a good batter - very close to the puffiness of KFC's Hot & Spicy - though not as spiced.

Hainanese chicken chop.

While the peas were missing, there were baked beans in its place. The quality of the beans could have been improved if they'd warmed it in a pan slowly before serving, to dissipate the metallic tang that I always find prevalent in canned foods.

The fried egg was a bit of an oddity, but it had a nice, oozy centre, so it added thickness to the gravy. The brown sauce was so-so despite the addition of mushrooms. Using dried black mushrooms may have given the sauce more presence and a heavier clout.

Generally this is not a place I would shun in the future. I would, however, stay far away from any of the toasts because that RM5 slice of bread still rankles me!

Hainan Joy Cafe

53 Jalan SS24/8,Taman Megah, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia