My Elephant

my elephant

I came to know about my elephant's existance in Seksyen 17 after I read the review by another flogger. My Elephant serves thai cuisines. then the other day I went to Choon Yien for the chicken rice, I managed to locate it. It's just conveniently located behind Choon Yien, occupying 2 shoplots.

On saturday night, I suggested to have dinner there with Jon and Eiling. nowadays I'm acting like a food directory- people asked me to research and read reviews first before eating out. HAHA. Not that I'm complaining but at times I'm afraid that whatyoureadisnotwhatyouget (wyrinwyg)... and people lose trust in your foodtaste, you see.

The menu

My Elephant is a pretty comfy cosy place for meals. the decos are minimum, many items you can identify they're from Ikea- the touch of white and self painted walls reflect the simplicity of the place and the location itself. The place itself can accomodate about 30-35 patrons or so.

For beverages I had watermelon cooler and Eiling had the coconut cooler.

Coconut cooler- RM4.50

Watermelon cooler- RM4.50

Their coolers taste... weird. Well it is coconut and its watermelon alright but they added something in it which makes it taste... weird. Jon said it's lemongrass. well makes sense since one of the main ingredients in thai cuisines is lemongrass. also, I would prefer them to be really cold/chilled/cool since its called a 'cooler'. Don't get me wrong, it was cool but not cool enough, geddit?

For appetizers we had...

Miaeng kam- rm8.50
DIY daun kadok wraps with coconut crisps, peanuts, dried shrimps and assorted condiments topped with sweet-sour tamarind sauce

Well, it was my first miaeng kam so I didnt know what to expect and I cant compare which places have nicer miaeng kams but Jon commented that he had better of this elsewhere. However, it was okay for me... but I find it a tad too dry. Quite fun to wrap and dip the thing though. It's like a DIY leaves popiah.

Tod man plah- RM6.80

Deep fried thai fish cakes

I find the fishcakes acceptable, but it was abit too oily. My mom made these before and I really love it. Eiling and Jon said Krissada's fish cakes are much better. Krissada is a thai place at Sunway Mas, used to serve pretty good thai food till it changed management. Will find out more about it if I can find my way to Sunway Mas next (alot eatery places worth exploring there).

Gai tod gratiam prik thai- rm12
My Elephant's special deep fried chicken nuggets with kafir lime leaf, garlic and crushed thai pepper corn

Initially I thought the waitress had mixed up the orders cos I thought this looks like mantis prawns and we didnt order that. but after having a bite and getting the confirmation from the waitress, it is "chicken nuggets"- thai style in elongated shape. I think it is great as a snack (with beer *burp*) but as meals and for rm12, not really that worth it.

Tom yum- RM12
spicy galangal-lemongrass-lime soup with aromatic herbs and homemade chili paste

If you had'nt had tom yum then you had'nt been eating thai food! We had the tom yum, there were a few choices for soups- tom yum, tom ka, tom sap, tom som. no, they dont have tom dick and harry or peeping tom soup. Maybe a guy by the name of tom invented this soup. Differences between the soups are whether they're of clear soup or with santan or something. It comes in 2 sizes- small (RM12) and big (RM20). The waitress said the small is enough for 3/4 persons, thats of cos if everyone only wants a serving. If you're expecting second servings then big would be the better choice.

the tom yum is not too bad. not those chokingly spicy hot, just nice. it also has generous amounts of seafood- big tangy squids and prawns. quite worth the money :)

Jungle vegetable of the day- rm10

This is my fav dish of the night. when asked what the vege is, the waitress said 'paku pakis' and i went ohmaigourd, "okok this one, this one!!" I love paku pakis- for its rarity and previous experiences with this vege has never disappoint. I remember when we were young and still living in ipoh, the Super Kinta smelly big market has this vege called "sabah shu chai choi"- its something like paku pakis but smaller and its SO DAMN GOOD (also as the name suggests, it can only be found in sabah i think?). but they stopped selling it and since then we've missed this vege so much...

Oh sabah shu chai choi, where art thou now?

Anyway, this paku pakis was kinda good IMHO. maybe I love the vege itself so much that even if it's cooked badly it'll still taste heavenly to me. Heheh.

... and to accompany the dishes was unpolished brown rice. Fyi, white rice you normally eat are not good for health. Because it's polished, it has lost its nutrition values and white rice generally has higher sugar content, thats why diabetic people are warned against having white rice. At home, we have switched to organic brown and yellow rice :)

total bill- rm64

Prices of the dishes are generally not too pricey given its location and portions. Jon and Eiling don't really like it but I thought it was pretty alright to me... very well because they had better thai food elsewhere before (Sri ayutthaya, Krissada). Jon quipped, "the deco outshines the food."

For me, I think it deserves a comeback in the future that is until I taste better thai food elsewhere ...

My Elephant
CG-4, Happy Mansion,
Section 17, PJ.
(row of shops behind choon yien)
http://www.pureworks.com.my/myelephant/

[disclaimer: the opinions expressed here are based on my personal views, tastebuds and preference and may vary for others. please dont sue me, i dont have money. kthxbye.]