You know, it's interesting, but I've come to like this place more and more.
When we first started coming here typical ol' me wasn't very sure.
I mean, my head at that time had the notion that briyani places are a dime a dozen all around Singapore in nearly every housing estate and residential neighborhood. Why did we have to come all the way here to this (random) coffee shop at Geylang Lorong 1 for?
Back then I didn't understand.
Now I do.
Sometimes it isn't whether or not there're more than enough places to get a mutton briyani fix.
It is whether or not the place is open for business, whether or not the food is consistent, whether or not it makes you want to eat more.
One thing about Indian-Muslim places in Singapore is that they always seem to be open.
If they're not open 24 hours, they're at least open every day.
How it is they don't seem to take holidays, I don't know.
Because it don't matter whether it is be Hari Raya Puasa, Hari Raya Haji, Deepavali, Labor Day or National Day, there's never a place that you'll find closed.
Sure, some will close at 10pm or 11pm, but come daytime they'll still be open.
To be sure, IMAM Banana Leaf here at Geylang Lorong 1 close to Kallang MRT has- in terms of aesthetics and quality of food- changed quite a bit over the years.
At one time they seemed to cater more for Bangladeshi workers who preferred to tapao their food, so dining in their place felt cramped, less bright, with little ventilation, and somewhat humid.
In recent times however the lights are brighter, they've turned on more fans, there's a new addition of a huge rectangular mirror mounted high up on the wall- facing the counter- and everything's become cheerier and brighter.
The main difference, however, is the food.
The food here used to be leaning towards the oily side.
Not so now.
I had thought the rice be coated in that sheen of oil that I once saw whilst eating here.
But today the basmati rice felt light and fluffy, there was hardly any taste oi the oil, and best of all, the rice was dry.
And the chonk of mutton, where once seemed to be coated with so much oil and so much chili that I got the odd, odd feeling in the tummy after eating it, this afternoon turned out to be not so spicy, nor so oily, nor so heavy as I thought it might be.
I had my portion of rice with the sourish sweet refreshing pickled vegetables.
My friend had the pappadum.
What's more, this wasn't the only dish we had this afternoon.
So a part of me wanted to try their kuay teow goreng, but then we thought it might be too heavy for the tummy and the tongue, so we opted for two prata plasters, one each.
I'd like to say that it was familiar the way I always remember my prata to be, and in a way it was, there was a bit of chew in the flour crepe, and the egg was well fried, but it was hot when brought to our table, and so controlled had the prata been that I watched with delight as the yolk flowed all down over the crepe after I cut into it, and it was as savory as I anticipated it to be.
