Uhmm, May I Have A Plate Of Chicken Rice, Please?

Have you ever feel lost in ordering food when you are at a restaurant? I feel that all the time. Case 1:

Today, Mama was at wits end thinking of what to cook for the day (she bought nasi lemak for breakfast and McDonald's for lunch for us. All in the name of healthy living) so we all end up going to the neighbourhood mamak restaurant for dinner. I am usually the last one to order as I have absolutely no heavenly idea on what to eat, which was what happened today. As everyone's orders came in, I adopted the order-whatever-as-long-as-I-eat-for-God's-sake attitude and ordered the first thing I saw on the menu when I opened it, chicken murtabak. My mama was worse, she couldn't even decide on what to eat, she ended up sharing my meal.

This happens a lot when I go to restaurants with a huge variety of selections. It's totally weird since my family is known to be a bunch of picky eaters. We don't eat anything else other than seafood, chicken (breast or ribs only please, no drumstick, wings, organs and what-not) and beef. We don't eat any sort of organs, any sort of fat like chicken fat (the skin, unless it's KFC or McD's fried chicken) or beef fat, joints, lamb, venison, birds etc. Even seafood is a limited list as we only eat certain seafood and fish.

I can safely say I am the most adventurous one in the family as I eat salmon (which is considered disgusting by my whole dear family), mussels and some other things they would never touch with a 10-foot pole. We find that eating at a limited menu restaurants like high-end restaurants and hotels are way easier, considering almost 70% of the menu would definitely be our no!-no!-hell-no! list. Thus, shrinking our choices and making it easier for us to order and eat.

Living in Auckland is also relatively easy. Considering my dietary need (halal first and foremost), choosing is a smooth sailing path. Halal joints are limited to kebab, Indian, Arab-Mediterranean, Thai, Indonesian and some Malaysian places. Believe me, that list is abbreviated. If my friends and I go to specifically non-halal places like the bars and restaurants, making a decision is relatively painless and easy. We would either choose seafood or vegetarian. Or, if we are extremely lucky, some beef, lamb or chicken might be halal, considering New Zealand is one of a major halal beef exporters.

I remember a lot of my favourite places, like the Korean restaurant on Queen Street and the Japanese place on High Street where I used to go with Rachel, Joyce or Evie, one time or another (I can't seem to remember the places' names -_- even though I've been to these 2 restaurants for years). I always ordered the same food as they are my favourites and I don't have many choices anyway. I also remember the Occidental Bar where I always go to with Yaya and Dora. The mussels and salmon are out of this world! There is also this high-end cafe near High Street which serves the yummiest salmon pasta ever! The sushi place in the corner of Te Taou and Mahuhu Crescents is also in the best-places-to-go-and-eat list as they serve the best sushi in the world and to add its superbness, the sushis are also halal! What about the butter chicken, a specialty in one of UoA's city campus' Indian place? I miss them and the time I spend with my precious friends.

Anyway, making a food choice is never easy for me. I love eating out, but I'd rather go to new places every time I eat out because then I have a legitimate reason to order the house specialty. I hate making food decisions.