It’s a Friday night. One by one they arrived, weary from the rigours of the work week. As heavy notebooks and work accoutrements were cast aside in a pile at the end of the table, sighs of relief were almost audible. Having unburdened the week’s worries to a corner, symbolically at least; countenance brightened, cheered, by the prospect of spending the next couple of hours just hanging out with old friends.
Chatters ensued. Seven voices competing for attention… pouring out the latest gossips, work frustrations et. al. Interspersed with “Have you heard from so and so…..?” “You know ah.. that day ah…“ were comments of ..… “How on earth did you find out about this place?" …… "Oh, I remember this place used to be a shop selling 'chap fun' (economy rice)"
Indeed, how on earth did we find out about a restaurant called ‘My Elephant’? This place has earned many accolades amongst the food blogging community. For the longest time A and I wanted to try it but didn’t get round to it. What better time to introduce our Chee Muis (and Di Di) to it then when we celebrate May birthdays?
The restaurant is located at the ground floor of Happy Mansion flats in Section 17. Tucked between the old shop lots is the elegantly renovated ‘My Elephant’ Hmmm… Elegant Elephant! Is that what you call a fashionable pachyderm..? :) Now, that is quite an apt description of the restaurant, simple quiet elegance.
My Elephant serves Thai cuisine. Perennial favourites like Tom Yam, fish cakes, green curry makes its appearance on the menu, but also dishes with interesting names and combinations like snow fish, roast duck curry with seasonal fruit piqued our interest.
For drinks, we had the Pandan cooler, which is pandan flavoured syrup with some seeds which name escapes me but it resembles frog spawns and KraChiap cooler, a refreshing roselle tea. 
(Pandan cooler with frog spawns :)
Making an entrance to our table that night was Plah Meuk Chup Peng Tod – tempura squid served with semi sweet thai chilli sauce, Tod Man Piah – deep fried thai fish cakes. The squid was fried in tempura batter and curry leaves fried with gives it a fragrant curry smell.The fish cakes were nice but quite ordinary, can’t go much wrong there. 
(Tod Man Piah – deep fried Thai fish cakes)
(Yum Hed - mushroom, mint leaves and purple onion salad) seriously does it look like a mushroom and onion salad?Brown rice mixed with white was served. It makes a nice change from the white rice. The fluffy rice was an excellent accompaniment to the Choo Chee Goong, a semi dry Thai yellow curry with prawns. The prawns were fried in batter then cooked in the curry sauce. Coconut cream was drizzled over it when served. The sauce was delicious, thick and creamy and we loved it so much that when the waiter wanted to clear the plate when the prawns were all gone, we stopped him. We wanted to mop up the sauce with more rice :)
(Choo Chee Goong – semi dry Thai yellow curry with prawns)
The Snow Fish was the restaurant’s best seller and came highly recommended. The sea bass was baked encased in a layer of snowy white coarse salt. Scrap off the salt and skin the fish. You’ll find a treasure of wonderfully moist and succulent flesh underneath infused with the flavours of galangal and lemongrass stuffed into the belly cavity. 
(Snow Fish – salt baked fish)
The Thai curry is usually the signature dish of a Thai restaurant. We opted for the Gaeng Phed, Thai red curry with chicken. It did not disappoint. Tender chicken cubes and vegetables soaked in the creamy curry. My only grouse was that there was too little vegetables in the curry.
(Gaeng Phed – Thai red curry with chicken)
Instead of Tom Yam, we settled for Tom Som. It is a clear galangal, lemongrass and lime soup boiled with onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, coriander and slices of starfruit! The clear soup can be deceptive. One sip and you feel the kickback of the fiery bird's eye chillies and eye wincing sourness all the way down your throat. While I can handle the spiciness, I found the soup too sour for my liking.
(Tom som – clear galangal lemongrass – lime soup with aromatic Thai herbs)
I liked the assorted vegetables we ordered, didn’t note down the Thai name. It is has snow peas ,capsicum, cabbage, cauliflower, mushrooms and interestingly, lotus roots. 
(Pan Fried Assorted Vegetables)
The jungle vegetables – Paku leaves was an after thought. We ordered it after we finished the rest of the dishes, much to our regret. The vegetables left a slimy aftertaste in the mouth due to the sap. According to the boss, it is normal of paku leaves, but my friends who eat it often enough to taste the difference beg to differ. That dish was left untouched. 
(Jungle vegetables – paku leaves fried with dried prawns and belacan)
We were disappointed when informed that the restaurant does not serve any dessert. I thought any Thai restaurant worth its salt will at least have Tub Tim Krob – red ruby water chestnut in coconut milk. Ah well… an excuse to adjourn elsewhere for dessert and conversation.
The entire meal for seven costed RM182.60. The most expensive dish we ordered was the Snow Fish which costs RM36. The rest ranges for RM9-RM15 and only RM2.50 each for the drinks. You won’t break a bank dining at My Elephant.
My Elephant Tel : 012 328 5028 ~ Patrick
Business Hours: Tuesday to Sunday (except Sunday lunch)
Lunch: 12.00 p.m. - 2.30 p.m.Dinner: 6.00 p.m. - 10.00 p.m.
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I guess we were no different. We joined the throng at the Big Red Strawberry Farm. Coincidentally, A found out that it is owned by her old schoolmate. Hmm... why we got no discount one?
Big Red Strawberry Farm grows strawberries and lettuce hydroponically. The whole area covers 4 acres. The farm is clean and well organised if not somewhat clinical looking.
The strawberry juice was a steal at RM3.90 cup. 
I absolutely adore strawberries and cream. It was one of my favourite during summers when I lived in UK. This cafe served the concoction with a drizzle of syrup and piped whipped cream. While the strawberries are juicy enough, I didn't like it with whipped cream, it tastes like eating air. Strawberries must be served with thick fresh cream but *sigh* I guess we don't get that luxury in Malaysia.
There are many restaurants in Brinchang offering steamboat, but beware, some have been known to be quite unscrupulous in ripping off tourists. It is advisable to ask for the price before you order. Some restaurants have 'local prices and out of town prices'.
O.K. Tuck charges RM15 per head for their steam boat. Quite reasonable but that is the 'local price'. We had choice of two types of soups - clear and tom yam. I do like the spicy and piquant tom yam soup but the taste can be quite overpowering. I prefer dipping the ingredients in the clear soup especially when if the ingredients are fresh. The steam boat set was quite the standard fare; fish balls, fried bean curd sheet, chicken, prawns, squid, some sort of crunchy seaweed, mushrooms and lots of vegetables. With farms in abundance in Camerons, not suprisingly the vegetables and mushrooms were very fresh.
You can give this restaurant a try if you are in Brinchang. They do serve ala carte meals but I'm not sure about the quality or the price. As always, if you are from out of town, ask for the menu with price or risk being a 'sui yee' (taken for a ride). 
High on our list of 'must try' at Camerons was to have tea at The Boh Tea Centre Sungai Palas. While driving up the winding path to the Tea Centre, I had visions of sitting down to a nice cuppa with warm buttery scones lathered with fresh cream and strawberry jam.
Well, the tea was nice enough. We ordered the best that they had - the Palas Supreme. We were advised to drink it without adding any milk. The Palas Supreme was very fragrant and it pours out into a clear amber liquid. Best sipped at a leisurely pace to allow the 'kam' after taste linger on your palatte.
While the food at the cafe was left wanting, the view did not disappoint. It was beautiful! The cafe was built jutting out from the hillside and overhangs the tea plantation. It looks out to a vista of rolling hills with green tufted rows of tea bushes. We managed to snag a table at the balcony and spent a laidback afternoon enjoying the breeze in our faces and feasting on the breath taking view while sipping tea. A pleasant afternoon indeed.
