After the colour burst from Central Market as well as feeling lighter after having my feet nibbled at the fish spa, it’s down to the main agenda of visiting Central Market – i.e. lunch at Precious Old China Restaurant and Bar.
Stepping into Precious, you can’t help but let your eyes wander and wanting to take in all the objects and images around you, the medicine cabinet, the vases, the cengal bar counter , the bright painting of the Chinese opera figures….
We were led to a two seater table, and I was grinning like humpty dumpty ( before his mishap) as I sat on the antique looking chair and admired the stained-glass decorative panels, later the sight was more than what was absorbed as we caught the whiff of cigarette smoke , lucky we hadn’t ordered, so we asked to be seated at the non-smoking area.
Let me briefly run you through the menu :
Appertizers : Pie Tee ( top hat) , spring rolls, Lobak, Jiu Hu Char
Soup : Itik Tim, Ginseng Chicken
One dish meals include: Nasi lemak ( RM10.80), Nyonya laksa, Mee Sua, Nyoya belacan fried rice.
Chicken : Fried Chicken, Ayam Pong Teh, Cincalok chicken, Devil Chicken curry, Nyoya rendang chicken, Kapitan chicken
Duck, Beef
Seafood : fish Head curry, sweet & sour, Sambal tumis fish, Asam fish fillet
Squid : fried sotong, sambal tumis, sambal petai sotong
Prawn: Lemak nenas prawn, fried asam, butter prawn, sambal petai,
Vege ” baby kalian, pucuk paku, okra kerabu, nyoya chap char
Tofu, eggs etc.
The Jiu Hu Char (RM10.80) presented to us was very dainty, the sengkuang/ turnip shreds were very finely cut with generous chicken pieces, mushroom and cuttle fish, there were some lettuce and also side dish of sambal. Step one, take 1 leaf of lettuce, fill lettuce leaf with Jiu Hu char, dabble generous amount of sambal, roll the lettuce and …YUMmmy..it was very delicious
The rendang chicken curry was.. …yummyyy…the gravy was rich and thick and fragrant and the chicken pieces are well marinated and tender…I almost felt like licking the plate but managed to maintain my composure…
The pucuk paku came with lotsa toppings : peanuts, prawns, lemongrass, onion, chili padi etc. This was good as well..all the condiments complimented each other and flavoured the dish very well indeed.
The interesting part of the furniture is each (almost_ of the tables and chairs differ from the other tables, there is no uniformity here, there are even Victorian style chairs here, these are said to be the props used in the movie Anna and the King. Directly facing me was an altar with a pair of deities ( said to be from Vietnam), one was riding an elephant and the other a tiger.
One other interesting thngy is the ‘traditional door’ in the washroom.
While waiting for the bill to be settled, we wandered to the table at the opposites of the bar counter and there were numerous Southeby auction catalogues- art, jewellery etc these catalogues are for sale, and according to the staff, proceeds goes to charity, the smaller books are RM5 and the large books are priced at RM10.
Location map Precious Old China Restaurant and Bar and Old China Cafe
