Poon Choi at restaurant LYJ with #porkgang!
Last night the infamous #porkgang had our first ever annual dinner at restaurant LYJ. Even though we’ve been having lunches, dinners, and activities like go-karting and such for quite a number of months, it was actually the first time all of us showed up all at the same time.
A little bit of background.
It all started on Twitter, we were organizing dinners and had too many people’s twitter nickname to include on every replies, in a flash of epiphany, I came up with the #porkgang hastag since we love to eat pork, and the group name was formed.
The members are: Kim, Gareth, Suan, Kerol, Eric, Jac, Cheesie, Horng, Ruby, Terence, Haze, FA, and of course, yours truly.
at restaurant LYJ, they serve pork lard with rice, as Kim pointed out
Anyway, for the dinner, Jac and Kim came up with the idea of Poon Choi. Poon Choi (盆菜) is basically a whole lot of top dishes served in a basin (traditionally wooden) to be shared with a bunch of hungry souls.It was said that the origin of Poon Choi came from the people serving their best delicacies to the Song Dynastic’s young emperor and his soldiers who fled from Mongol troops.
Though we’re not fleeing from anything, we felt like we deserved to eat like an emperor at all time, so Poon Choi it is then.
When it comes to Poon Choi, the one place that consistently came up from search result (and recommendations) is Restaurant LYJ at Sungai Buloh. Naturally, we went there.
yee sang is a must, the first one for #porkgang
The restaurant is located at a pretty old school part of Sg. Buloh, parking isn’t the easiest, nor finding the place without the help of GPS assistance, but it is one place that is definitely worth a visit or three.
Since it was still Chinese New Year, (the thirteen day, with thirteen members, how apt) we started off with yee sang (RM 28) – for prosperity, health, and wealth!
glorious poon choi, what you see is only the top layer
Everyone arrived at the dinner table at around 7:30pm, and by 7:40pm the glorious Poon Choi is served!
The RM 238 package comes with 1/2 boiled kampung chicken, 1/2 crispy roast duck, 12 salt & pepper prawn, brewed ma-yao fish, sea cucumber, stewed pork, fish maw, abalone, pork knuckle, chicken legs, and mushroom; while the RM 480 package adds brewed oyster and pork ribs, a whole can of Australian abalone, 12 scallops, and shark’s fin. A plate of vegetable (in this case, kai lan) is served with the Poon Choi.
Naturally we went for the RM 480 package for the 13+2 of us.
kai lan, the glorious pork lard rice, and the second layer of poon choi
The dish is separated into two layers, with the dry ingredients (scallop, chicken, duck, prawn, ribs, abalone, oyster) on top and the soupy stuff at the bottom layer (mushroom, chicken feet, pork knuckle, fish, fish maw, stewed pork). The entire thing were rather delicious, the only criticism, if any, were that there were a bit too much arrowroots for my liking.
As we called ourself the #porkgang, we naturally ordered their pork lard rice (RM 3) to go with everything. It was probably the most impressive rice that I’ve ever had, just very very flavorful. Cheesie said she’s already missing the pork lard rice even as we were having it, I certainly could use a bowl now!
the whole porkgang, all 13 members showed up for the first time
With the yee sang, 10 bowls of pork lard rice, six beer, and that basin of goodness, total bill came to RM 620 for the 15 of us, or just short of RM 42 per pax. It was an awesome feast and I couldn’t wait to go back there again!
restaurant LYJ isn’t too difficult to get to
Address:
PT 11, Jalan Perkhidmatan,
Kg Baru, 47000 Sungai Buloh
Selangor
GPS: 3.196949, 101.569118
Tel: 03-6140 2698
Operating Hour: 11.30 am to 2.30 pm, 6 to 10 pm, closed on Mondays
Tweet
100% for the 1st time FTW
Myhorng,
Oh yesss!
Yay!!! 1st time all show up!!! Let’s do it again!!!
btw, where is the group photo??!?!?
CHU YAU LOU FARNNNNNN BETTER THAN THE AWESOMESAUCE POON CHOI hahaha
sotong,
Hahah it’s in my PC, why? I like action shots more maa
kimberlycun,
Hahahha yah pork lard rice for the win!
i can has chicken legggg
JaCJaC,
Hahaha yah i think you had quite a few chicken feet kan?
damn rare for a group of youngster to enjoy LARD RICE . . . . .be glad to join u guys for dinner. . .soon!
foodcrazee,
unfortunately we’re not exactly youngsters anymore. LOL
Poon Choy is something I’ve always wanted to eat…seems very decadent with it’s glorious multiple layers of Good Stuff (TM).
This is degrading! What’s “poon choy” different from the pig feeding trough?
i jz went there last Thurs ^^
do you work in klcc?
that’s a huge portion!!
was a good dinner
Huai Bin,
Yah, it’s glorious!
eatWithClass,
No different, that’s why we call ourself the #porkgang.
SanDra,
Small world!
sha,
err, yes.
theeggyolks,
very! it fed 15 of us!
suanie,
Oh yes!
I wanna go also… NExt time call me also lar!
wah.the poon chai rely huge lor..
i wan lard rice!!!!!!!!!!!!
eyeris,
ok porkgang will bring the issue up during the next general meeting!
nikel,
yeah it’s massive!
winsern,
yess come!
compared to me – #porkgang is still young. . .:)
RM42 for this massive Poon Choy is definitely worth it! Not to mention the pork lard rice, yummy! Btw, the Poon Choy is available year round right?
hahaha…such a mini Yeesang lou-ing, enough to go around meh!?
the pictures very nice! Gosh… next time you have to show us the pork lard with rice!!!
sorry I mean the fried pork lard not like the one in the pic only can see the brown sauce one
foodcrazee,
ahhh, everything is relative I guess
JD,
Yaaa, it’s available all year
lb,
Hahah just to get a taste ma, poon choi already so big.
eiling,
there’s no fried pork lard with rice, the “brown sauce” is lard!
i want it naooooooooo
Nobody beats the original pork gang!
Cheesie,
Me toooooo!
superwilson,
thank you thank you, you’re far too kind.
Yah awesome man 100% turnout, great food, great yee sang and great company – w00ts.
So poonchoi actually made you finish all the food on the top layer in order to get to the layers below…less wastages
ShaolinTiger,
yah was awesomesauce!
PocketAnne,
Hahah you can always stir it upside down
That is ridiculous! Can’t wait for awesome M’sian foood… Just 2 more months…
Sammy,
Oh yes it is!
Did you enjoy the drive there? LOL. Love the poon choi at LYJ. Yum.
OMG !! i can die happy…see me side profile…i have flat stomach
awwwwwwwwwww
Lyrical Lemongrass,
hahahaha not exactly.
Terry,
and die skinny!