I started my day with a chewy buttered toasted bagel from MYO (Royal St, East Perth). So simple, yet so satisfying.

For lunch, J and I went to Munch Terrace (Shop 6, 230 Hay St, Corner Bennett St, East Perth) to have their Friday nasi lemak special. We got there after 12:30pm and the place was full of customers, most of whom were eating nasi lemak. It was as good as ever. For those who may not have read my previous posts about this nasi lemak, clockwise after the rice: fried battered chicken wing, deep-fried hard-boiled egg smeared with a little chilli sambal, otak otak (read Wikipedia entry on otak otak for a better idea), chilli sambal, acar (pronounced ah-char – pickled vegetables) and ikan bilis (fried anchovies) with peanuts.

So here’s my hainan chicken rice, with all the bits you’d expect: chicken, rice, chicken broth and gingery chilli sauce.

The chicken was moist and smooth. It was served on sliced fresh cucumber in a pool of soy sauce. I love eating cucumber dipped in soy sauce, so this was a perfect way to serve it, as far as I was concerned. :)

The chicken broth, with chopped spring onion, was good – not too salty.

The rice was great – good chickeny, garlicky flavour. You may see a speck or two of garlic in the rice in the photo. There were more bits of garlic scattered throughout the rice.

Jac chose to have beef curry with her nasi lemak (you can order it with chicken curry, beef curry, or just the nasi lemak, no curry). She wasn’t that thrilled with the nasi lemak. Again, as is the problem with so many “bought” nasi lemak (as opposed to homemade), the rice was lacking in coconut flavour.

She did like the beef curry – the beef chunks were tender, the gravy tasty, with a bit of a spicy kick.

We also ordered a serve of garlic bok choy to share. I really liked these vegies, but Jac always finds Chinese green vegetables too stringy. She chews and chews and finds the stringiness difficult to swallow. I never have that problem myself -I guess I was brought up eating lots of Chinese/asian greens – choy sum, bok choy, kang kung – yum. I think I ended up eating most of this dish. :)