Okay, so this doesn't happen very often, but in order to write this article I actually had to google the name of the restaurant/cafe that I knew was located in the basement of Funan Shopping Mall.
It's not that the name's hard to remember.
Just that we've always been referring to this place as the 'Indonesian food place in Funan' and so haven't quite had to call it by its name.
It would do well for me to keep the name of Five Foot Lane (Indonesian food) in mind from now on, however.
Because their food's good, and I'm pretty sure the story behind their name is gonna be good too.
I was first introduced to this place by a friend who frequents the area.
When told of its location ("Basement 1, Basement 2, somewhere there la") I had assumed it were one of those little spots in the food court setting where you bought your food dabao style then went to find a place in the general seating area to sit down.
So imagine my surprise when I found out it was in fact a sit-down place, a proper restaurant/cafe with its own brand, its own seating layout, its own wait staff, its own system.
I don't have a picture but one thing that stands out about Five Foot Lane is her decor.
You know how a good number of Indonesian restaurants tend to go heavy on the dark shades, the carvings and the (teak-colored) woods?
Not this place.
She's remarkably bright, lively and cheery.
I'm always taken in by the oranges, the greens, the blues and the reds.
But I'm even more taken in by the food.
They do it really good here.
There've been a couple of dishes that I want to try, but so far we've mostly gone for these two.
The beef rendang.
Both of which come served with a very pretty plate of rice that's got little pieces of keropok crackers, achar and little strips of egg omelet.
I'm always impressed by the way they serve their rice- a far cry from the basic plate of rice that, like how in other (reputed) Indonesian restaurants I've come to expect.
In fact, so good is it that I'm rather comfortable in having the rice on its own.
There's no question that the rice grains are warm and fluffy, and that the fresh achar of cucumber makes for a crunchy sweet/sour accompaniment to everything else you order.
I had worried that the beef rendang would have pieces of dry, coarse beef, or that it be too spicy or too oily.
But no, it wasn't like that at all.
The beef chunks were of the right size- not so huge that you had to tediously chew through it, but not so small that made you feel like you were eating leftovers.
It wasn't too spicy nor too oily either.
I mean, there was the spice, of course, and the chili, and the oil, but they don't make for a greasy, oily meal and the sweetness of the gravy makes it fantastic to be dunked over your rice.
So good is it that I've found it a little hard to drop the gravy after we've finished all the beef.
But it feels weird to dabao only the gravy away with no other ingredients especially since by that time we would have finished eating the smashed chicken- with cheese- too.
I don't know the difference between the chicken with cheese, or the chicken without.
So far we've always gone for the one with cheese.
Apparently that bit of dairy makes the chicken more appetizing.
And I have to agree.
The cheese doesn't take away the flavors of chicken that's been fried.
Neither does it overpower the delicious taste of fried chicken skin.
I like to think of this dish as a variation of a chicken cutlet, because at first glance that's what it kinda looked like, but unlike many places where the chicken's simply chucked into the oil without any care nor heart, here it's very well done.
The skin of the chicken is lightly breaded, not heavy, and whilst there's a satisfying crunch in every bite, the chicken itself is remarkably tender, easy on the teeth and the palate, and surprisingly juicy as well.
It's often very difficult to decide whether I like the chicken or the beef more.
Both are similarly good.
But these aren't the only dishes they have at Five Foot Lane.
They've got noodle dishes (there's a goreng somewhere I think), rice dishes, meat dishes, and vegetables.
Perhaps one day I might go for some of the other offerings on the menu.
Or perhaps I might go for their dessert.
They've got something like corn fritters (if I'm not wrong), and even if I can't figure out what it is I want, there's always Indonesian chendol.