The name Wau Penyu is quite unique. Why not call it Wau Bulan? Now, the clue lies hidden in the two owners of this place. One is from Terengganu, hence the penyu and his lovely fiancee from Kelantan which, of course is associated with the Wau. So there you go. Wau Penyu.

If you like Kelantanese and Terengganu food, this is a place that you should visit. Prices are upmarket but reasonable and located quite centrally in Solaris Dutamas. From your first step in, you will be greeted with traditional Malay decor done in a modern twist with wooden wall panels, hundred year old antique furniture and family pictures from the past thrown in to flavour the restaurant a bit more.

You'd expect a place like this to stay true to authentic east coast fare. Familiar dishes such as nasi kerabu, nasi dagang, nasi tumpang and laksam should be "on page one". Yes, it's all there but imagine our surprise when we stumbled on dagang sushi which is nasi dagang served in bite sized sushi style and served with tongkol fish curry. Now how about satay croissant? wau burger? and wau penyu club sandwich? WTF? These guys are creative.

Lets just talk about fundamentals for now. I'd come back for their Nasi Kerabu and Nasi Dagang. A famous north/east coast dish, Wau Penyu's Nasi Kerabu version (RM15.90) comes with grilled ayam percik, a slice of daging salai, ulams, kerabu rice (salad), local crackers, Malay curry and to top it all off budu and sambal in a small serving plate. A complete meal in one dish. I love, love, love their ikan kering (dried fish) which is the spiral kind. Not a lot of places serve this particular version which I suspect is made from stingray and has crunchy but slightly chewy texture. A great fit with the rice which is not blue by the way. Also, the sweet coconut gravied grilled percik chicken is delicious with some curry and rice.

"I love, love, love their ikan kering! "

Now, the laksam (RM8.90) is bit different from the ones that I am used to. This has a lot of aroma but less fishy taste. Terengganu version I suspect. Comes with fresh crunchy kacang panjang, taugeh and other ulams. If you are not used to Laksam, this is the Terengganu/Kelantan's version of laksa. Cooked with a great deal of fish and coconut milk for gravy and served with fatter, flatter flat noodles than the ones down south south.

I love Wau Penyu's Nasi Dagang Istana (RM15.90) served with ikan tongkol curry. Saying this can be a bit tricky as they don't use a lot of fenugreek in their version. But I guess that this is their style. What I care most is that the tongkol curry and sambal compliments this nasi dagang beautifully. The tongkol fish is fresh. I like that slight meaty soury fish taste when I eat the nasi dagang with it. Gives it a nice flavorful bite.

Murtabak Kelantan (RM8.90) is a good choice for a snack as long as you don't confuse this with the indian version. It's thick, does not have a curried taste, a bit more vegetable and eggs as filling and is blander than their indian counterpart. It's supposed to be this way. They have a chicken and beef version but I can't tell the difference.

Now, just to stir the pot a little bit, I noticed that there has been mixed reviews about Wau Penyu. The food here has plenty of flavours but does not have strong flavours that is normally associated with people eating Kelantanese food. This is not a bad thing. It boils down to cooking styles. I like their cooking style because all the lauks match with one another. The Malay word for this is 'Kena'. Lauk Kena Dengan Nasi (accompaniments match with the rice). Its about balance and they have it. I suspect that there is a grandma or a mother somewhere doing some kind of tight kitchen quality control that they are not telling us about....



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Wau Penyu

                   

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