This will probably be the last post on quarantine food for the obvious reason – the rest of the menu was more or so a mix of the previous meals. I guess this is due to the control of the meal by the Ministry of Health and not left to the creativity of the hotel chefs (but then again it could be worse).
Another reason for having a similar dish served on a daily basis was probably is the cost factor. Having limited menu would probably make it easy for the hotel to plan their purchases and prepare the meals.
Read Part 5 here
Personally, I don’t mind having nasi minyak or briyani for lunch and dinner during my quarantine but then again, it is very “heavy” to have it on a daily basis. It would not be healthy too even with a good dose of cooked fresh vegetables as the side dish. After all, there is little option to burn off the additional calories when one is locked in a room with no access to outside.
A couple of days into the quarantine, the administrators, perhaps bombarded with complaints from foreigners not being familiar with Malaysian spicy food, decided to open up and came up separate categories of the meal served on daily basis.
They asked those under quarantine to pick from meals from 3 categories – Malaysian (which meant no change to the types of food served), Western (which some regretted very quickly as they only got steamed vegetables and a lame fish) and finally Hindu (perhaps of the fear of beef dish may be served).
The change of the menu however comes with a proviso – those who changed their menu cannot change back. This makes sense because if the menu is changed too often, it will be a nightmare for the administrators.
Since we were given a choice, I quickly picked for Hindu meal, not because I was worried of the beef dish concern (I doubt beef or mutton would be served during quarantine) but because I was missing home-cooked food.
I was therefore delighted when I saw roti canai with a very tasty dhal gravy the next morning for breakfast. The roti canai was thick but and yet fluffy enough. There was also 2 small slices of roti canai telur which frankly speaking was not enough.
Fish curry was rare during our stay for the 14 days, frankly speaking – I guess it is because it is not cheap to get fish. It makes sense that chicken would be a cheaper option when serving thousands of people in quarantine. However, we do get a fish dish occasionally – the best would be fish curry and not so good one would be the sweet and sour one.
To be continued in Part 7