Portuguese Ikan Bakar
The Food Court, Mid-Valley Mega Mall

Went there tonight with my friend Emry. Its just at the entrance, first stall on the left. We had ikan bawal (pomfret) and sotong (calamari) mixed. If you want different types--there are ikan bawal, ikan kembong (mackerel), ikan pari (skate), udang (prawns) and sotong--don't go for mixed. Order separate dishes. We had about 3 pieces of sotong. For vegetables, they have bendir (okra), kacang botol (four-angled bean) and kacang panjang (long beans).

The fish is heated on a hot plate in a package of sambal layered with banana leaf and wrapped in tin foil. This means two things:

1) Firstly, because a hotplate and not a proper grill or barbacue is used, the fish is not grilled.

2) And more importantly, because everything is wrapped in the tin foil, its contents is steamed, and the fish is cooked by this steaming process.

While I have tasted better grilled fish elsewhere, this Portuguese "grilled" fish is quite tasty, the sambal being its sole redeeming feature. Despite being steamed on a hotplate, the ikan bawal we ate tasted pretty okay, much better than I had expected, with the piquant sambal saving the day: not merely hot, it's also sweet, sour and tasty.

Verdict: 3/5