now at The School, Jaya One
Hurray was our first reaction when we got wind of our favourite steamboat restaurant Xiao Lao Wong reopening its door in Damansara Uptown. We have been a loyal patron of Xiao Lao Wang ever since their Sungai Buloh days but unfortunately the owners made a painful decision to close down the outlet due to quiet weekday crowd.
Fortunately, Damansara Uptown is a good location for Xiao Lao Wang’s business. It is also closer to us now!
We were torned between Xiao Lao Wang’s fantastic four – Pig Stomach Chicken Soup, Salmon Head with Tomato Soup. Tomato Soup and Spicy Chicken Hotpot. There were only 6 of us and we can only manage two pots, hence Spicy Chicken Hotpot (because it is a new addition to XLW’s menu) and Pig Stomach Chicken Soup it is!
Spicy Chicken Hotpot (RM 68.80, small, half kampung chicken)
I was first introduced to spicy chicken hotpot in Hong Kong. It was a cold winter night, the hot pot came simmering, I took a bite and was immediately hooked! Unfortunately, I can’t find it elsewhere in KL but now I can have the best version in XLW!
This spicy, heavily flavoured chicken dish is often cooked with copious amounts of onion, shallots, garlic, chilli and other spices, topped with plenty of coriander. The spicy chicken hotpot in XLW looked intimidating with that red slick across the top and the floating dried chillies. Trust me, it is not that spicy but it is extremely addictive!
We started by enjoying the chicken in a thick and flavourful sauce. The chicken pieces were really tender and delicious. After that, clear chicken broth was added to dilute the remainder of the thickened sauce after some time of boiling. The chicken hotpot residue creates becomes a rich, flavoursome base for regular hot pot.
We were told that poultries work really well with the broth so we dunked in some sliced beef, beef balls, pork balls into it. With a good balance of sweetness, saltiness, numbing spices and heat – everything was good! You get to customise the level of spiciness too!
We also tried another signature soup of Xiao Lao Wang – Pork Bone and Stomach with Chicken Soup (small, RM 38.80, for 2-5 pax). We were told to eat the kampung chicken and pig stomach before dunking any steamboat ingredients into the soup. Both the chicken and pig stomach were so soft and tender! The milky, white soup was really rich and flavourful too.
Xiao Lao Wang encourages their patrons to mix and create their own dipping sauce. There were numerous pots containing soya sauce, chili sauce, fermented beancurd sauce, XO sauce, sesame sauce, mushroom sauce, sweet sauce as well as chopped garlic, ginger, chillies, coriander leaves and spring onions.
We were lucky because the affable owner, Andy was very passionate with his “sauce”. He created this two versions for us and they were really, really good. Remember to look out for Andy if you need help with your sauce buffet.
US Beef Sirloin (RM 68.90)
Xiao Lao Wang’s menu offers a wide variety of fresh steamboat ingredients which includes seafood, chicken, beef, lamb, pork, vegetables, mushrooms and their home made meat balls and pastes.
Lamb (17.90)
Pork Neck (RM 13.90)
Mushroom Pork Ball (RM 8.90)
We really liked XLW’s mushroom pork balls – nice bouncy texture, strong flavors and juicy meat.
Garlic Pork Ball (RM 9.90)
The garlic pork balls were really addictive too! The outer layer was deep fried till crispy while the inner meat remained juicy and moist, with nice garlic fragrant.
Tong Ho (RM 12.90)
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Save the best to the last as they said! Andy instructed us to cook the white sea prawns (RM 18.90) in the remainining pork stomach and chicken soup base.
Eggs, rice, shredded ginger, spring onions were also added to create his “specialty” porridge. It was utterly delicious! The flavourful, briny prawns added a real umami boost to the soup.
With good quality and fresh ingredients, Xiao Lao Wang is definitely our favourite steamboat place in KL now! We have been revisiting XLW ever since, and each time we drag more eating companions to order more stuff!
Xiao Lao Wang Hotpot
47G, Jalan SS21/37, Damansara Uptown,
Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
Tel: 03-7725 9513
Hours: Open daily 5:00pm – 11:00pm
