Economy Rice vs Zhi Char

I like my food hot. And due to my work pattern, normally on week days, I would only reach home after 8pm and have my dinner at kopitiam. I will choose rice or bihun (include other noodles) dishes. All freshly cooked. Almost never eat economy rice for dinner. Then, one time, a colleague that stayed in the same taman as me told me that there's a new economy rice shop in our taman, which offered 50% off after 8.30pm. 

So on one of the nights, I went to this economy rice shop. Well, from googling about the shop, apparently it's not a mom and pop shop, there are multiple shops around Klang Valley. Although it's almost 9pm, there were still plenty of dishes. I think it's good to offer discount to clear the food. At least the fried fish wouldn't become ikan tiga rasa and the fried chicken wouldn't become ayam masak merah the next day. A colleague of mine said he would never order friend chicken in Mamak restaurant. He said he once worked in a Mamak restaurant, since the business was ok, normally huge amount of fried chickens were prepared. So the odd of eating leftovers in Mamak is higher than eating in a smaller restaurant. Well, I don't think so, I think the more popular a restaurant is, the fresher the food will be. So, I would go to a restaurant or kopitiam that looks more lively. 

Anyway, I had this 50% discount economy rice on one night. I got stewed chicken/pork (I forget) with pickled vegetable, omelette style egg and stir fried pumpkin, it's only around RM4.80 total. Considered quite cheap in today standard. In this kind of shop, drinks such as plain water or chinese tea is free, even soup is provided free. However, when I went, the soup already finished, so I only had plain water. 

50% discount economy rice

In contrast, to enjoy freshly cooked hot food, one have to pay more. Nowadays, friend rice or noodles cost around RM9 to RM11 depending on the stall. Items like fried bihun is around RM9, plus an egg, it will become RM10.50 total. And there's unspoken rule, you have to order a drink. There's quite a number of diabetics in my family, so I only order plain warm water, it's RM0.60. One interesting fact, when I worked in Seremban, I came to know stewed bihun (焖米粉) and I like bihun, so it's my repeating order. 

After that, I changed job and I stayed in Klang. When I said I wanted stewed bihun (焖米粉) in a Kopitiam, the stall owner looked at me strangely and asked me what was that! Then I described to her, bihun soaked in black sauces. The stall owner clapped her thigh and said, "Oh, that's Hokkien style bihun".  Well, that's another prawn noodle story again. 

hokkien style bihun

Another good thing for this Zhi Char style stall is it's highly customizable. One can order anything not on the menu as long as they have the ingredients. However, normally I will just have the normal. Sometimes, while I was still standing there thinking what to order, the stall owner would just blurted out my usual orders, and I would choose one from there. For economy rice, the variety is there, but sometimes one just didn't know what to choose.

I was taken by surprise when I saw the line outside the economy rice shop right before 8.30pm, it was a long queue, they were waiting to take the plate on 8.30pm so that the price would be 50%. I understood that, for me, one single person, the money saved wouldn't be not much, but for families with multiple persons, the savings would be huge. I think it's a sort of CSR, avoid food wastage and help people save money. 

Conclusion, no matter economy rice or zhi char, it's just a way to fill our stomachs, hope there's no people gone to bed hungry.