Hatinie

She operates out of a two-lot shop in Seksyen 10, Shah Alam. And no self-respecting Kelantan Shah Alamian will forgive himself if he did not know of her. I only knew of her a few seasons ago, or I probably knew of her - but did not give her that much thought, then.

She is now a Malay restaurant with good quality control, and she is in business all year. She is that good, that many office workers from Holiday Villa area would patronise her for meals and drinks. Whilst the teh tarik can be expected to be sweetly prepared, many other kuehs will vie for the sweet-o-meter grand prize come late afternoon.

Sunday mornings will see arrays and arrays of German marquees vying for parking spots in her surround. Whilst I know that orang Shah Alam "banyak yang kaya-kaya", I think the reason for her attractiveness is her wide selection of Kelantanese food as well as main-stream Malay food. You would be spoilt for choice for her laksey, nasi dagey, nasi kkabu and the whole-some nasi lemak, too. And if you are from the land of the Kijjey, you would be delighted to find "apong" or "appo" (depending how you pronounce it) for breakfast. A truly nostalgic buffet she would serve.

The restaurant is big enough and could comfortably seat 80, but as many would concur, a nasi dagey meal can be taken uncomfortably, more so if you were on the first floor of Pasar Khadijah. The nasi kkabu is served quite well with budu and ikan goreng. You could even have pulut pagi here.

Pricing is not cheap. Reasonable but not cheap. But I think for the warranty that the meal would be more than decent deserves the price levels.

So, if you are in Shah Alam, and does not prefer the mamak fare to go with your teh tarik, try Hatinie. Based on the demography of her patrons, it is safe to say that Hatinie is a Shah Alam favourite.