Mr.Chiam Pisang Goreng & Fritters @ Restoran Yit Sieang, Brickfields
Mar 16th
Next time, if you around KL Sentral and feeling hungry, why not hop over to Mr.Chiam’s Fritters stall and help yourself with some delicious pisang goreng, curry puff, kuih bakul and sesame balls. They are all made fresh and most importantly cheap and affordable, something that’s fast becoming rare in KL nowadays.
When I first heard of it I didn’t think of it as a big deal because I thought “how tasty can a simple fried banana be?” Wow, how wrong could I be.
Mr.Chiam’s fritters stall is located in front of Restoran Yit Sieang, which is also directly opposite YMCA at Brickfields. It would be hard to miss this stall, as there is always a bee-line of customers.
The stall is always manned by two people – Mr.Chiam himself and his son. His son has a funny way of calling his father ‘lou sai’ or ’si tau’ in Cantonese, which means boss. Fair enough considering they’re in a business lol. Anyway, this young chap is very friendly and is always spotted with a smile on his face. The tasty and cheap fritters aside, that’s another reason I like to patronize them.
Most, if not all of their raw fritters are prepared in a unit at the building behind them. The way the raw fritters are delivered is both unique and efficient too. They communicate with the people inside the unit using an intercom, usually when a particular fritter is out. Upon order the raw fritters would be prepped and delivered in a basket that hangs over the unit’s window.
Best Value Wantan Mee @ Tai Seng Noodle House, Amoi Street Food Centre
Mar 14th
Sometimes when I think our purchasing power it’s kinda sad. Just take our neighbor Singapore for example. What can you buy with RM3 nowadays? I doubt you can even purchase a plate of chicken rice with that amount in KL. Even if there is, only breast meat would be given at the most minimum.
But in Singapore, specifically at Amoy Street Food Centre you can get a plate of Wantan Mee with wantan, braised pork ribs, fucuk and mushroom and vegetable scooped and thrown in for you for a mere $3 at Tai Seng Noodle House.
Note the words *scoop* and *throw*, I am not kidding here. The lady who prepares the noodles does not even bother to look at the amount of ingredients she’s giving. I have seen hawkers counting the stalks of vegetable they allocate for each serving and hand-picking them out. Frankly, that is quite hilarious.
Sea Ocean Chinese-Thai Restaurant @ Permatang Tinggi
Mar 12th
Sea Ocean Restaurant is a Chinese-Thai restaurant in Permatang Tinggi discovered by my sister when she attended a friend’s wedding dinner held there. The food was found to be good even when prepared for a large banquet. So we took it as an indication of being a hidden gem worth trying. Moreover, the fact that we seldom travel out of BM for dinner made the trip felt anticipated.
Certain dishes that were served during the wedding dinner actually required booking at least 2-3 days earlier, for example the Whole Chicken Steamed with Chinese Herbs and Wine in Bamboo Steamer. We were unaware of this hence we couldn’t try it. But the waitress made a mistake by delivering one to our table, which was actually intended for the family seated next to us. Because of that we got a sight of the impressive looking dish. Too bad we knew it was wrongly delivered and had it sent back.. arrgh I should’ve snapped a photo of it lol.
Anyway the Cold Platter or Five Seasons is usually what we would have as the first dish. Each restaurant would usually have their own version but some dishes like Fried Sharks Fin with Egg (also my favorite) is always there. Sea Ocean’s Five Seasons @ RM40 that day consisted of Satay, Scrambled Egg with Sharks Fin, Kerabu and some spring rolls. This was actually the first time we had satay in a Chinese restaurant and it tasted quite good too! Lean pieces of meat were used and the gravy was thicker than the normal ones with loads of crushed peanuts. Nice.
Steamed Scallops with Chinese Herbs @ RM20 that was quite affordable considering the amount of scallops given. The sauce was rich and flavorful albeit a little salty with a whiff of fragrant herbs smell that wasn’t too strong.
Pork Noodles @ Restoran Pomander, SS15 Subang Jaya
Mar 10th
The Penang Pork Noodles aka Chee Yoke Fun at Restoran Pomander is perhaps one of the best known hawker food stall at SS15 Subang Jaya. Whenever people talk about SS15’s food, either this or the famous SS15 rojak van would be highly recommended.
It is said to be highly inadvisable to come during lunch hour because during the peak it would take more than an hour for your pork noodles to arrive. Which explains why most customers either have a newspaper in hand or a laptop turned on to past time. Even when I was there at 2pm the noodles took about 40 minutes to arrive lol.
Ah Leng RM10 Premium Penang Char Koay Teow @ Kafe Khoon Hiang
Mar 7th
Ooook, so when it comes to the best Char Koay Teow in Penang I am sure Ah Leng Char Koay Teow at Jalan Dato Keramat is one of them. Just consider the size of the prawns being used alone, they are so huge it would be shocking for first time eaters. The distinctive sweet prawn flavor and the thick and crunchy prawns are exactly what Ah Leng is famous for.
I got lots of response when I showed this photo to people who haven’t seen or tried Ah Leng Char Koay Teow before. Most of them are very skeptical about this special plate of Char Koay Teow that costs RM10. Some say I have been cheated lol. And some even commented that the plate used is actually a dim sum plate to make the prawns feel huge. Most Penangites were able to identify it at first sigh though, no surprise there.
Well, believe it or not the prawns are really that huge. So huge 4 of them are enough to cover almost the whole portion of koay teow from sight.
Ah Leng was open on the 4th day of Chinese New Year and there were already a huge crowd of customers. The queue was so long it wasn’t even funny. Since I had anticipated this especially during CNY, the one hour waiting time was still *quite* bearable lol.
