KAMPUNGBOYCITYGAL A MALAYSIAN FOOD & TRAVEL BLOG

It’s interesting to see how the old premise where Ipoh’s legendary dim sum giant previously occupied has been transformed into a charming and quaint tea house. A lot of thoughts have been put into the layout and landscaping of the old premise. On one side of the outlet houses their retail segment which features various tea products and utensils, on the other side is the dining area with charming mismatch wooden tables and chairs. There’s even a mini “secret garden” behind where their VIP rooms are located.

From top left: two VIP rooms that require a minimum spending of  RM150, the charcoal wall that works its magic in absorbing moisture and unpleasant odour, I like how they decorate the ceiling with old flour sacks, round compressed tea and delicate tea cups.
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Happy Mid Autumn Festival to all my readers!

jelly mooncake from Kuala Terengganu

This year, I’m spending it alone because KampungBoy is away and it is a usual work day for me. But I have these refreshing jelly mooncake companion which symbolizes the heavenly blessing of reunion and good health.

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*photos taken with iPhone 3GS

I have to admit that even though I’m working in the city centre, the Chow Kit area with the most diverse selection of food is still an unexplored territory for me. It wasn’t until KampungBoy’s family brought us to this fish head noodles place called Tao Xiang at Jalan Tiong Nam.

Tao Xiang serves no frills Chinese fare such as bakuteh, stewed pork trotters and fish head noodles under the zinc roof. So it is almost impossible to stay cool while slurping the noodles with gusto and gulping the every single drop of the leftover soup. Does it deter patrons from keep coming back? Apparently not! The eatery is buzzing with activities always and if you are lucky, you might secure a table right away. If not, be prepared to wait a bit during lunch hour.
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Find yourself curious about 避风塘辣蟹 (Typhoon Shelter Crab) especially you have heard about it numerous times from those TVB dramas or Hong Kong movies? Just head to Causeway Bay…

No! I meants Causeway Bay Spicy Crab at Sri Hartamas. Save that journey of thousand miles just to savour the famous crab dish because the original outlet from Causeway Bay, Hong Kong has opened up a branch in Sri Hartamas!
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Malaysian consumers are in the lucky situation of having plenty of options when it comes to mooncakes. From Chinese restaurants, bakeries, franchises to hotels, everyone is presenting an almost endless variety of mooncakes every year. And this year, we were lucky to be invited to the show case of Hotel Equatorial’s offerings, thanks to the good folks from Feedmelah and Hotel Equatorial.

We had fun sampling the various delicate cuts and picking out our favorite.
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It’s that time of the year again. When the moon is at its roundest, children light lanterns and families devour mooncake which symbolizes reunion.

Nothing is more synonymous with the moon festival than the mooncake. It seems like hotels and restaurants have an early start on moon cake this year. The flavor selection is also getting better each year. Truffles, durian,  birdnest, cheese, bacon, you name it, they have got it.

We were fortunate enough to be invited for an early sampling of Toh Lee’s latest mooncake offerings with an unique theme of “Five Elements”.

Toh Lee has also put a lot of thoughts in the the packaging. The octagon boxes with 8 sides carry auspicious colors of red and yellow. It just make a perfect gift to friends and families, and perhaps future in laws?
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Nestled in a row of shop lot off Jalan TAR, Restoran Kin Kin itself is an eating establishment that takes pride in their killer chili pan mee. So much pride that I’ve heard so many horror stories of the grumpy owner and intolerable services.

To avoid getting shouted at, we went there on a quiet Sunday morning. I suppose the lady owner was in a jovial mood that day. She smiled while taking our orders. Service was a bit slow but it is bearable.

Our pan mee (RM5.50) arrived shortly after. The accompanying ingredients are pretty standard: fried anchovies (ikan bilis), minced pork, crispy fried shallot and egg poached to perfection. It is also served with a small bowl of soup and sayur manis to curb the spiciness.

What is chili pan mee without the piece de resistance – dry chili flakes! Add one or two table spoon of those fiery, aromatic chili flakes into your bowl, poke the runny egg yoke and give everything a good stir!
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I’m going to blog about one of my favourite wantan mee stall at Restoran Okay, SS2. The appealing nature of the noodles is its crunchy and springy texture. As we stood by and observed, the noodles were blanched for a while and plunged into cold water to ensure a firm and springy texture.

The noodles were tossed and mixed with the soy sauce gravy which is slightly different from the ones sold elsewhere. The gravy was darker and a bit starchy but it was delicious, nonetheless.

The wantans were slightly bigger and they never skimp on the meat fillings. We also like the huge siu kow filled with minced prawn and water chestnuts that gave some really crunchy and springy bite to it.

I will not proclaim it as the best wantan noodles ever, but it is decent enough to warrant multiple visits after you have tried it.

Hoong Kee wantan noodles stall is opened from 11am till 6-7pm. We also frequent the Fatty Duck stall which is open at night.

Restoran Okay
Jalan SS2/10, Petaling Jaya
(same row as KAYU)

My pre birthday lunch with KampungBoy, Christine, Chris and Ivy was amazing. I am very happy that they did those extra thoughtful gestures to make my birthday meal a memorable one. I am also absolutely delighted by the fact that Xiao Fei Yang is the chosen venue for our rendezvous. I’ve been there twice; all for the love of the comforting and nourishing brew of “má là” 麻辣 hot pot.

A no-frills, but clean and bright restaurant like Xiao Fei Yang gives me a good vibe. Though located at a hideous part of the city with limited parking space, they were doing brisk businesses.

We had the signature yuan yang soup base – Herbal Chicken Soup and Ma La Peppercorn Seed Soup. The mala soup base was heavy, oily with liberal use of pepper that creates a numbing and tingling sensation on the tongue. The herbal soup was ordered to counter the spiciness of the ma la soup. Deemed useless anyway, because our lips were all swollen after that.

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OK. another quick post that I churned out during my lunch break.

We have been exploring the Jalan Ipoh/Jalan Kuching/Sentul area lately. One of the first few things that we did was to look for a decent dining place. Zhen Liew Siang is one of them. There is another Restoran Makanan Laut Lau Heong at Sentul Perdana, but we chose to dine at the one in Sentul Raya because it’s in a closer proximity to our *new* place (bid goodbye to PJ/Damansara).

Zhen Liew Siang is a family run no- frills establishment tucked away in a quieter part of Sentul. The restaurant is usually packed with hungry patrons so it is advisable to go earlier or you can expect to wait up to an hour. We started the meal with Siong Tong Lala.

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Ban Lee is one of the few old school bakuteh establishments in KL  that still uses charcoal fire to heat up the claypot. It is also one of our favourite haunt for bakuteh because it is open throughout the day, albeit run by different bosses (I think).

Afternoon Session:

The bakuteh here is of the dark broth variation and is full of herbal aroma and flavor. There is also this bitter after taste that we absolutely adore while some find it too strong for their liking.

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With the famed Mo Sang Kor Bakuteh, Pao Xiang Bakuteh and Fatty Mee Hoon Kuih all located within the same row of shop lots, Taman Berkeley of Klang is probably a good place to do a mini food crawl.

However with only so much space left to relish our food, we opted for Fatty Mee Hoon Kuih since Mo Sang Kor has a branch outlet in Lot 10 Hutong while Pao Xiang already has a presence in One Utama and Pavilion.

Fatty Mee Hoon Kuih House is apparently a very popular restaurant. Rave reviews were all over the internet when I tried goggling. Apart from that, most of the tables were occupied by the time we got there. So we queued up, placed our order at the stall and prayed, hoping that we won’t have to wait too long for our food.
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