By TAN BEE HONG
INNINGS, Jaafa, doosra... gobbledygook? Not at all.
Cricket fans will recognise the cricket lingo at The Sticky Wicket in Plaza Damansara, Damansara Heights, where spirits can get real hot, especially during cricket season.
The bar is downstairs with tables for dining; upstairs are lounge sofas and a private room. Cricket paraphernalia hang on the walls and sports programmes play continuously on the many large television screens.
Cricket originated in England but soon spread to British colonies all over the world. The Sticky Wicket menu reflects the countries where cricket is popular – Britain, India, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Australia and Canada.
So you’ll find Scottish Cullen Skink, British Toad In The Hole, South African Springbrock Boerewers and Sri Lankan Crab Kottu.
It’s Salted Egg Yolk With Calamari (RM35) and Poutine (RM26) with gin and tonic to start. The deepfried calamari has a crisp batter coating and juicy inside.
The sauce on the side is house-made, evident from the slight gritty texture that says made with “real salted egg yolk”. It may be a tad salty but that makes it perfect with our gin and tonic or a beer.
Canadian style Poutine is fries slathered in gravy with pulled beef brisket or shredded chicken and melted cheese. At The Sticky Wicket, you get a sunny-side egg on top. I find the chicken poutine better balanced in flavours.
Also great with drinks is Crab Waugh (RM20). Soft shell crab is battered and deepfried to a crisp. It’s then tossed in salt, pepper and chopped chilli padi with fried curry leaves.
The Sticky Wicket Beef Rib Burger (RM42) has braised beef short rib instead of a regular patty, caramelised onions, rocket leaves and a mac’n’cheese waffle. Served with thick fries.
The deboned chicken leg in Fried Leg Stump (RM32) is panfried and served with mashed potato, mushy peas, mushroom sauce, salad greens, buttered cauliflower and carrot sticks. It has a strong flavour of rosemary, so beware if you’re not too fond of this.
For Fish & Chips, a British staple, it’s cod (RM60) or pollock (RM36) with a basket of chips. Our two slabs of juicy cod fillet have a crisp beer batter coating with mayonnaise and mushy peas on the side.
From South Africa, Springbok Boerewers (RM69) is a hefty 500g of coiled chunky meat sausage, served sizzling in a cast iron pan and drowned in a spicy curry sauce, with thickened cream on top.
I prefer the Crispy Lamb Shank (RM58). A quick dunking in hot oil right before serving makes the outside crispy. The shank is served on herb-infused mash and what the chef calls “naughty bean sauce” which has baked beans.
The Full English (RM38) is also available for Weekend Breakfast. On the wooden bat are two sausages, sauteed mushrooms, panfried tomato, panfried bread, beef bacon, baked beans and sunny-side eggs. Enough chow here to satisfy any growling tummy.
Room for dessert? Sticky Date Pudding (RM22) is light and springy and drizzled with sticky melted toffee. Add thick cream for a luscious treat.
Sweet Appam (RM8) is my all-time favourite. The original is a circle of crispness surrounding a soft centre sprinkled with coconut milk and gula Melaka. You can ask for a scoop of chocolate ice cream in it too.
The Sticky Wicket’s set lunch menu includes soup and iced lemon tea/lime juice.
There’s nasi lemak, nasi goreng, pulled beef burger, chicken salad, fried leg stump, fish and chips, beef bacon linguine carbonara, chicken chop linguine in basil-pesto sauce, chicken casserole and a spicy vegetarian fried rice.
The Weekend Breakfast menu includes Eggs Benedict, Avocado Toast, The Full English, Scotch Egg, pancakes, burrito, South African Lamb Curry, Sri Lankan Breakfast, Idli Tiffin and appam.
Tan Bee Hong is a food critic/blogger at fatphoenix.my. She can be reached at phoenixbee@gmail.com.
