Secret Recipe Asian Bistro
The man and I took off for North Carrollton for an adventure in dining to sample the Malay/Singaporean cuisine at Secret Recipe. At first we thought it odd to order our food at the counter, but our host indicated we could take a seat to peruse the menu. We took our menu to a booth to give dinner some thought.
No menu confusion here! It appears that Secret Recipe has consolidated their menu, listing both their American-friendly options plus their Southeast Asian dishes all in one booklet. (Their takeout menu however still lists only the Americanized menu, and consists of Thai, Chinese, and Vietnamese dishes.) In addition, nearly every dish had a brief description and a corresponding photograph, which made decisions a bit easier. Still…too many choices, so little time and tummy-space.
We opted to go straight to the entree choices, ordering nasi lemak, hokkien mee, sambal water spinach and the token eggplant with minced pork dish. Like most ethnic places I’ve eaten at, the dishes came out as they were cooked. We enjoyed the hokkien mee, a wet (not dry) noodle dish: super fine rice vermicelli in a shrimp sauce base tossed with squid, shrimp, and fish cake. Almost every bite hid a tiny sliver of green asian chili, and while it wasn’t a shocking heat, it built into a slow burn as we ate the rest. The dish even tasted better with a squeeze of lime.
Our water spinach and eggplant dishes came out next. I appreciated the water spinach dish; this Malay version was sauteed in sambal sauce, making the sweet greens even sweeter. Bright purple eggplant with minced pork held a hint of gingery sweetness as well; both my man and I were glad that it wasn’t too hot to eat, and happy that it was still firm and not overcooked. What we thought the dish lacked however was garlic, having found more flavorful renditions of this dish at other ethnic Chinese spots.
The last dish that came out was the nasi lemak. The portion size seemed more suitable to a single-serving, but the man and I agreed to split it amicably. I considered this dish the most distinctive of everything we ordered, yet so pedestrian. I liken it to diner or comfort food, home-cooked and unpretentious. Our nasi lemak came with a mound of coconut rice, curry chicken, sambal anchovies, fried anchovies, dry whole peanuts, a hard boiled egg and sliced cucumbers. Mixing the chicken with the coconut rice was something of an eye-opener, producing a “reverse” curry effect that gave me pause. Being the white boy that he is, my man devoured the egg, chicken and coconut rice, but left me with the anchovies, cucumbers and peanuts. I thought I got the better end of the deal, but then again, it’s an acquired taste.
After all the sweet-salty dishes, I had to order some shaved ice to finish the meal. Their ais kecang was too heavy on the ice and light on the ingredients: red beans, grass jelly, sweet corn kernels, and coconut milk. I imagine if it was a hot summer day, I would have enjoyed this dessert more.
Both the man and I agreed that while our orders didn’t produce the contrast in flavors we were hoping for, Secret Recipe’s southeast asian menu is worth further exploration. We’ll back to try out more of their staples.
Rating by epicureasian: stars
