IT’S amazing the effort Daniel Chong puts into his food at Makan Time, especially in his daily lunch specials. I had the good fortune to twice savour his short ribs percik with lemuni rice.

The meaty, tender and smoky short ribs were a treat, drenched in a percik sauce cooked with onions, garlic, ginger, cloves and cardamom and a little chilli. It had none of the too-sweetness that you usually encounter in this Kelantanese sauce.

The beef short ribs were brined overnight, slowly smoked for four hours and cooked with sauce. They were simply scrumptious, as I tore at the meat. Pairing the meat was lemuni rice, cooked with two types of daun lemuni – green and red.

The herbs would taste green and bitter raw, but the rice was tasty when cooked with them. Cucumber pickles, ikan bilis sambal and egg completed the lavish meal which cost just RM22.

Makan Time is tucked away in Kota Damansara, Petaling Jaya, and sports a rustic frontage amid lots of greenery.

Dan, as he’s better known, leans towards Malaysian cuisine. As he is from Ipoh, he does a superb Ipoh kai see hor fun, or kway teow soup with chicken and prawns (RM13). It is not available daily though.

I revelled in the deep flavours of the prawn-chicken stock, simmered for 10 hours with chicken bones, chicken feet and dried fish, and finished with prawn shells and chicken pieces.

We loved the smooth kway teow in the naturally sweet stock, topped with chicken meat, prawns, chives and fried shallots. The frozen broth is available too for orders.

Another delicious lunch special was burasak and rendang serai (RM20). Burasak was a wrapped parcel of rice pre-cooked with santan and salt, then boiled for four to six hours.

Rendang serai mukim binjai was sliced beef cooked with serai and spice is from Kedah and usually served during a kenduri. The smooth, pillowy burasak is so good with the rendang serai, serunding and ikan bilis sambal.

Khao mok gai. or Thai chicken bryani (RM18), was yet another exceptional lunch special we have ordered from Makan Time. It was like a dum bryani with the chicken marinated with yoghurt and spices overnight, pan-fried and double-boiled with parboiled rice.

The chicken juices seeped into the rice, flavouring it. The chicken bryani is served with dhal and a hot, tangy and refreshing yoghurt with mint namjin (side dipping sauce).

Makan Time turns out a yummy Penang lorbak, five-spice meat roll with bean curd skin, filled with chicken. It delivered moist and flavourful bites against a crispy fried bean curd skin. It’s six pieces for RM28.

Another Penang Nyonya favourite here is otak otak (RM6). It had a firmer (not runny) texture that I liked. Dan laid out daun kadok on a banana leaf, then sliced mackerel covered with a rempah paste of turmeric, lemongrass, chilli, onions and lengkuas.

A mixture of egg, santan and rice four was the finishing touch, together with limau purut leaf, Steamed, the otak otak was a flavour bomb, releasing the aromas of all the herbs. We usually order more otak otak to take home to freeze.

Dan turns out an awesome perut ikan too but the pandemic has made it difficult for him to get the fish tripe which he pickles himself.

Desserts here are kuih, such kuih ketayap, green rolls bursting with gula Melaka coconut filling, Akok, a soft lovely kuih from Kelantan, bengka ubi kayu, cekodok pisang, pulut inti and pulut bakar rempah udang, among others. The kuih vary daily.

Makan Time is pork-free. Dan is supported by a Muslim head chef and his team of Muslim workers. The restaurant is at E-45-G, Jalan Teknologi 3/9, Kota Damansara, Petaling Jaya.

Opening hours are 8am to 2.30pm daily except on Monday. Call Terri at 013-323 9366 or Dan at 019-774 9366 to order. Click here for the menu and daily specials. – August 14, 2021.

* Eu Hooi-Khaw has been writing about food for the longest time, covering all aspects, from restaurant reviews to cooking and recipes, as well as the healthy side of it. She has written for major newspapers and magazines, published the cookbook Fresh Ingredients, and also writes for her website hooikhawandsu.com.