Aunties Ssam Nonya Surprise

Also made an entry in the KL food hotspots. When first Stanley told me about this place, he mentioned that one dish synonymous to Aunties Ssam is the durian pork ribs and I went -_-. I can eat durian, though I am not a big fan of the thorny stinking fruit.

Aunties Ssam - the Ssam were the initials of the 3 owners (aunties) put together, Sheryn, Shally and Margaret. It took us only about 15 minutes to reach this place from KLCC, well, after 8pm that is and there were ample parking spaces for us. We were very surprised to see the place practically vacant even though the hour is still within dinner time. We later found out that the lunch hour is usually very busy at Aunties Ssam.

Decor was pretty simple on the outside but once you stepped in, there were nonya influences on the interior such as marble table tops and stools. But as there were some cleaning going on inside, one of the owners advised us to eat outside.

Appetizer, some chips : $2

Stanley already did his homework and he knows exactly what he wanted : the durian pork ribs -_-. As it was pretty slow business, one of the owner, Sheryn got to recommend us some of their specialties, which is not available in the menu.

A poster on the wall.

We ordered a total of 4 dishes.

My guava juice.

That's Stanley's carrot milk juice. Lam got himself a recommended drink: some sort of lime cucumber juice.

We were the last customer during that hour (with the exception of a man that came in and finished his dinner quickly), so service was pretty good and fast.

The first dish to arrive was the salted egg fried rice.

The bland colours of this dish certainly won't excite anyone but it tasted very nice. The egg yolk is well blended with the rice and has a very fine texture. There were also curry leaves which definitely enhances the taste of this fried rice, in addition to the prawns, and squids. The use of salted egg and curry leaves reminds me of that crab dish I used to have at Teluk Kumbar. Superb.

Veg dish that was also supposed to be a specialty of AS. Recommended by Sheryn, this is the stir fried lotus root with kacang botol. There is something about the sauce that I seem to know but cannot really recall, as though it tastes like oyster sauce but it cannot be that simple, you know? Anyway, strips of red chillis, garlic and dried prawns were added to this veggie dish too. Loved it.

Yet another popular dish is the fish head curry. The serving is huge! Sheryn claimed that one man ordered an even bigger bowl (ours is the S-size) and that single person cleaned the bowl, gravy and all. The gravy is thick and served with brinjal, okra and tofu. Loved the mint leaves that accompanies the curry. Unfortunately all 3 of us weren't fish head eaters, so there was still a bit left in the bowl by the time we were done. TY would be a very happy dustbin here I think...

The sambal belacan which I use to eat with the salted egg fried rice. Apparently it is very good and Stanley even bought a small bottle of this from Aunties Ssam. For me, I think it's standard sambal belacan lah.

The final and most unexpected dish, the durian pork ribs.

As soon as this plate was served in front of us, we could immediately detect the strong smell of durian. I did not expect to enjoy this dish, but merely to entertain Stanley's request. As I sink my teeth into the ribs, the aroma of durian filled my tastebuds. After a few more chews, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the taste of the durian blended really well with the pork ribs. An almost perfect combination it seems! This is one dish that I definitely will bring my parents to try since they are huge durian lovers.

Obligatory photo of chompers.

I will definitely want to come back to Aunties Ssam to try out their other signature dishes, like pumpkin chicken, butter prawn and so on. After we finished our dinner, we got a chance to chat with Sheryn as I can recognise the northern Hokkien. I also found out that this place was featured in Ho Chak! Some TV show from US has also apparently made a visit to this eatery.

All in all, the total bill came up to RM120. Which is actually not bad since all of us were filled to our throats. Naturally fish head curry tops the pricey list at RM35, even that sounds pretty reasonable.

Finally a good find! I know where to bring you tourist for dinner now! :p