Jade: Makan

I'm a homebody. I would rather lounge around in tatty pj's than get dolled up for a night out; I think curling up in bed with a good book is a much better use of time than heading down to the local pub, even if they do have the most amazing beer battered onion rings. Largely because my entire week is spent in a hospital making small talk with nurses and prying into the most intimate details of my patients' lives~[Who wants to talk about their menstrual cycle with someone they've just met 2 seconds ago. Frankly, I'm not quite sure I want to hear about it either]; so when I finally get a chance to enjoy the comforts of home, I struggle to leave my cushy little cocoon.

Last week though, struck by a sudden need to be spontaneous, possibly brought on by my quarter life crisis, I decided to have a wander around town with a girlfriend...in the evening!

Shows how far England has come~when I first got here, shops shut at 5.30..now they shut at 8. How's that for progress!..Right, this is all beginning to sound a bit sad. Point is, we were walking to Debenhams when we saw the word 'MAKAN' across the street. We ran a red light to get there. And when we saw penang char kuay teow on the menu, we just had to go in.

It was cosy...dimly lit, black furniture..although I wasn't quite sure about their choice of music..a remix of "qing ren de yan lei'' playing in a loop ..felt like I was in a low budget horror film...On to the food~ I had the singaporean curry laksa and teh tarik, which I was well excited about considering the only other Malaysian place in Southampton doesn't serve my favourite milky tea. It wasn't as 'kao' as I would've liked it to be...but beggars can't be choosers. The laksa, however....oh where do I begin....the broth was clear. Need I say more? To be fair, the flavours didn't suck..but if you're going to call it Singaporean curry laksa, some authenticity in the form of coconut milk would be nice. So if anyone in Southampton has a craving for curry laksa, I say stick to Supreme.

My friend decided on the Penang Char Kuay Tiaw. Wiser choice by a mile, although again, authenticity was a big issue. No slightly damp rice noodles, no chilli paste, no cockles. Taste was fantastic, plenty of 'wok hei', and really, it would have gone down so much better had they just called it char kuay tiaw. If anything, it reminded me of the CKT we get back in Sibu.

Service was good...not that I expected anything less considering we were the only customers in there..Fortune cookies at the end of the meal were a very nice touch, and the owner did say he was looking to introduce tea-time items like roti kaya, curry puffs and the like. So I will be going back...only next time, I will steer clear of the laksa.