Louisiana - Cajun Food Galore!
No, I am not in the US of A now (I so wish I am, though! LOL!) but who knew there's a place here in Malaysia that serves great Cajun food? I was introduced to Louisiana by a good friend when she took me out to dinner (and asked me to bring my camera along...heh!). It was such a superb experience that I brought my family out to eat there too a few weeks later! Yes, it was THAT good! Don't believe me? Let's allow the photos to do the 'talking' *wink* I'm no professional photographer, but the food there already look great, so not much editing is needed...heh!
The place itself....it has a nice homey feel to it, but the best seats are outside where it has a great view of the lake next to it! Eating out with a great view and a cool breeze blowing...*sigh of contentment*
Here's the address:
Block D-1-01, Jln SS7/13A
Plaza Kelana, Petaling Jaya
Tel: 03-78755230
My feeble attempt at capturing the cool decoration...outside, it's like a rustic Cajun diner that you see in the movies, with the striking red-and-green color banners and the vintage lighting...awesome!
The fountain that comes on during intervals at the lake...pretty, but err...my photography skills aren't. LOL!
Okay, okay...enough talk! Be prepared to feel hungry after this *wink*
For appetizers (both times!!), we had seafood gumbo! Remember the movie "The Princess & The Frog" where the princess would always talk about gumbo and how yummy it is? Well, if the real thing tastes like the one here, I would say "Get me another bowl!" The gumbo is creamy and savory, with plenty of seafood (shrimp, squid, crabmeat), some sausages and vegetables thrown in. Every bite is finger licking good! The dish comes with pieces of garlic bread and it's a great combination! If you thought pairing garlic bread with mushroom soup is great, garlic bread with gumbo is DIVINE!
This was what my good friend, Y had...seafood oglio. Spaghetti tossed with some spices and accompanied by loads of seafood...I had a taste and it was scrumptious! Had a little bite and spiciness to it, but it was mild enough to make you go for more...*grins*
Y's housemate, C had the American burger...look at the ginormous size of it! Love the fries that came with it...they are what fries should be: crispy on the outside but soft and tender on the inside with a bit of bite!
THIS was what I had the first time...Cajun Tossed Crawfish Spaghetti! I had heard of crawfish before, but I never expected it to look like this...they look like teeny lobsters! The spaghetti was done very well...cooked al dente and then tossed with some crawfish stock, herbs and spices. Squeeze a bit of lemon juice on it, and you get a yummy experience! Now, to talk about the crawfish: to me it feels like a combination of shrimp and lobster...the shell is a little difficult to get off (Thank goodness they left only one for me to peel! There were quite a few peeled ones in the dish by the way..*grins*) but once you get the shell off, you have this tender but dense meat...kind of like a lobster texture, but it melts in your mouth more. And yet it has a head like a prawn with the nice gooey stuff that the Chinese adore when eating prawns! Cool eh?
This was what my sister ordered the second time I went with my family...Louisiana's Famous Shrimps Scampi. Look at the succulent prawns!! (I can never differentiate between shrimps and prawns...they look the same to me, and so I shall call them prawns. Hah!) It has a citrus-y taste to it, but oh so good! The prawns are cooked just right and was very springy, not like some places where they overcook the prawns...MMMM!
Kids eat for free in Louisiana...isn't that cool? Rachel had this kiddie set called Popeye The Sailor or something like that...the kiddie menu items all had cartoon character names like Mickey Mouse and Winnie-The-Pooh, so it was quite cute!
My Mom, the ever health conscious person that she is, opted for the Salmon Tataki Salad. Kind of a standard salad really, but the difference comes in the salmon atop it...it's seared just right and seasoned with black pepper. Couple that with the vinaigrette dressing, it was delicious! This got polished off real fast...heh!
Dad always had a thing for rice, so he ordered this: Dirty Rice. LOL! Don't be fooled by its name...it's not at all dirty! Rather, it's a whole mix of yummy condiments: liver, seafood, vegetables, chicken strips, etc etc. Kind of like a 'rojak' rice, if you may...but it's SOOO nice! I had a taste, and the first thing that came to mind that it tasted like Tom Yam rice...hahaha! But after a few bites, it doesn't and you taste this awesome "I want to have more" dish...the portion was ginormous! Imagine a mini mountain...o.O" And yet, my dad can finish about three quarters of it! That's the testament to how good it was..*wink*
Meanwhile, I had the rack of lamb...*grins* Sorry for the bad lighting, but this was taken in the evening (with no flash) so the photo doesn't really do it much justice. The lamb was cooked medium rare, so it's tender and juicy...*licks lips* Pair that with a mustardy sauce on the plate and the roasted vegetables (namely potatoes and carrots! My faves!), it's superb!
Another highlight of the day was the Famous Cajun Crawfish Boil! It had 2 serving sizes...half a kg, or one kg. We ordered the half kg one, and it was sublime! Crawfish boiled just right with loads of vegetables in it! The combination of the crawfish 'juices' with the vegetables were SUPER cool! Squeeze a bit of lemon juice and it's a perfect combination of savoury and tangy flavours! *thumbs up* You have to get dirty eating this though, aka using your fingers...but that makes it extra delicious too! *grins*
We were stuffed quite full in the end (the portions were HUGE!), but Rachel wanted a little dessert, so we ordered the Louisiana Mud Pie...gorgeous right? It's like a Molten Lava cake with a generous scoop of vanilla ice-cream, drizzles of hot chocolate syrup, toppings of nuts, whipped cream and a maraschino cherry on top. Ooh, I'm salivating as I type this!
So yup, that was my account of the great food at Louisiana! Ooh, another thing to note is the impeccable service from the crew there. Everyone was very friendly and helpful, and I remember they asked us how was the food (which we don't really get in other restaurants...I thought that was really nice! People should do it more!) and even voluntarily brought in bowls of water for us to clean our fingers after our enjoyment of the crawfish (although I would have licked my fingers clean even if they didn't bring it...haha! I know, how unlady-like! =P)! Price-wise, it is a bit on the steep side...expect to fork out at least RM40 per person, but it's so worth it! Treating yourself once in a while is always a good thing, I say...plus, how often do you find a place that has great ambience, great view, great food and awesome service? *wink*
:O Always tempt me with the food!!! Will try it out when Brenda comes :P
Yummy!
Now I'm hungry for Cajun as well!
I'm fortunate in that Paul Prudhomme's nephew has a place in a town about thirty minutes from here -
I haven't been there in a few years but now I'm craving it!
Thanks for sharing this one!
Patrick: Yeah, you should! I see quite a few couples there hanging out and having dinner there too =)
Phyll: That's so cool that you have a Cajun place nearby! I think Cajun food is super yummy...*grins*