When it comes to sinful meals, banana leaf rice can’t escape to be in the list that also includes bak kut teh and nasi lemak. Good food are usually not very good for the body, and I guess that is what made us we enjoy it so much. If it is something you can have every day, you would get bored of it very fast isn’t it?

Anyway, one of the more famous banana leaf rice in PJ would be Raju’s that is situated next to La Saelle Secondary School just off Jalan Gasing.

they can deep fry everything

Much like most Banana leaf rice places, Raju’s serve all sorts of freshly deep fried stuff to go with the rice on banana leaf accompanying the typical three vegetables and papadum. You can choose from various types of fish, squid (which I love), chicken, fish roe, prawn, and so forth.

There are also other curry dishes, we ordered a plate of curry prawns for the day. Other choices include mutton curry, chicken, and curry squid.

prawn, squid, chicken, and the curry
The condiments i absolutely love when having banana leaf rice is the deep fried bitter gourd and chili padi. After deep fried, the bitter gourd is crunchy and only retain a very subtle bitter taste, goes very well with curry. The chili padi is salty and spicy, acts more like a substitute for a spicy and solid version of soya sauce than anything else, to me at least.

love the deep fried chili and bitter gourd

As for price, the standard banana leaf rice with just vegetables, papadum, and meatless curry would be around 4 or 5 ringgit. However, the bill can really add up when you add in many other side dishes like what we had that day. Few ringgit a piece of chicken, more than 10 for the squid, the prawns, and drinks. It can easily come up to over 20 ringgit per person. I’d say the price at this place is on par with other banana leaf places.

Raju’s is next to La Salle High School

Besides banana leaf rice, you can find many types of traditional indian snacks like vadai here. The tosai and roti canai (also served on banana leaf) are very good here as well.. I also love the outside under-the-tree seatings they have.

If you haven’t been there before, give it a try.

Address:
27, Jalan Cantek 5/13
Off Jalan Gasing
Petaling Jaya
GPS: 3.101703, 101.653769

Masak-Masak’s entry
Daily Ranting

Tags:  banana leaf,  curry,  delicious,  indian,  PJ,  sinful

Posted by KY | 32 Comments »

Last week Kerol came over and suggested that we should try the Sango Japanese Restaurant at Crystal Crown hotel as her colleague insisted that it is one of the bests around the area. Coincidentally, Jack appeared at the gate right at dinner time, so three of us went to this little known restaurant to validate the claims of Kerol’s colleague.

38++ for all the teriyaki you can eat. Look at Kerol & Jack so happy!

I am a raw fish lover, my order at Japanese restaurants includes sashimi or sushi every 9 out of 10 times. However, as we were browsing the menu, we couldn’t help but be intrigued by the current offer - “Yakitori Tabe Hodai” (eat as much as you can) at RM 38++ that even includes a beer or juice. The offer includes all sorts of food on skewer, so we made the choice to skip raw fish for this round and took the offer (only valid till 15th April 2008). It was a wise choice.

we had more than 18 types of food on skewer

From the 24 items on the menu, we tried probably around 20 of them (the pictures already show 18.) Most of the items were very delicious, I love the ginkgo nuts, lightly salted and skewered. Then there’s chicken with leek, with wasabi, chicken wing, and even chicken skin! So many choices you wish you have a bigger stomach.

special meat ball - top left

If the chicken dishes were good, items involving beef were even better. the asparagus wrapped with beef was very delightful, but the absolute must-order item would be the “special meat ball”. The description could be better, it looked like an ice cream stick with beef instead of ice cream, and a raw quail’s egg accompanying the meat, very rich and yet very addictive. I need to have that again!

Crystal Crown is just a couple minutes off Federal Highway

Other than meat items, there are also skewed non-animal products. Mushroom, okra (lady fingers), ginkgo nuts, garlic, egg plants, and so forth. If you’re the more adventurous type, you can go for chicken liver, heart, or gizzards too.

Remember, the offer ends at 15th April, I think I need to go back there again soon.

Address:
12, Lorong Utara A, Off Jalan Utara,
46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.109352, 101.643131
Tel: 03-7958 4422

Tags:  Buffet,  crystal crown,  hotel,  jack,  Japanese,  Japanese-Food,  kerol,  skewer

Posted by KY | 21 Comments »

Being a Penangite living in KL, one of the many hawker foods that we always miss is the famous Char Kueh Teow. When I first came down to this part of the country many years ago, this is the dish that I always avoid when fixing my stomach at various kopitiams. On the rare occasions that I gave it a try, the experience was usually quite horrid.

yeh, that’s the size of prawn i love

However, recently I have started to experiment with the various “Penang” char kueh teow places in KL again, thinking that there must be a few good stalls around. I now employ a standard litmus test before I make my order. It is very simple, I will order in Hokkien, and if the hawker answers in anything other than a perfect Penang version of Hokkien, I simply excuse myself and go for my second choice. The test has proven to be very useful thus far.

now you see it, now you don’t

I have actually heard of this place from FA before decided to give it a try. The kopitiam is nameless and is located at the other end of the same row of shops that has the famous kopitiam with loh ngap (duck), very good roti bakar, and seafood porridge, among other things.

The char kueh teow was surprising good, not as great as the two famous Penang stalls, but plenty close enough to warrant a trip for anyone who loves this dish. The prawns are pretty big, and the dish comes complete with cockles and Chinese sausage too. I usually like to have mine extra spicy for some extra kicks. I finished the plate in no more than 5 minutes.

the unnamed kopitiam housing this char kueh teow stall is situated by MBPJ building

Upon looking at me snapping pictures, the stall owner actually came up to me for a chat. Apparently he is the 2nd generation owner of the stall, handed over from his mother and the stall has been in operation for some 20 years.

As usual, there will be people who are quick to point out that it used to be better, and the son isn’t as good as the mom’s char kueh teow. To me, I think most of us don’t realize that char kueh teow is not something like great art works, where Picasso’s son wouldn’t do better. Our taste buds are getting less by the days, and most often than not, we would have been exposed to wider variety of good food since 5 years ago. Don’t commit the fallacy, just give it a good honest try, I think you’ll like it.

Address:
Jalan Tengah,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS:3.099046, 101.644467

Tags:  char-kueh-teow,  ckt,  hawker,  penang-food,  PJ,  state

Posted by KY | 22 Comments »

Scouring for lunch one weekend afternoon, we somehow arrived at PJ old town food court. Since my house mate recommended the chicken rice, we did not bother to really look for anything else over there.

the girls are enjoying their lunch

This Kie Kee chicken rice stall has been in operation for many years, and actually serves more than just chicken rice. They have roasted pork (siu yok), bbq pork (char siu), chicken with mushroom, and even curry chicken and curry pork. Of course, the standard steamed chicken and roasted chicken are available, there’s porridge too.

I ordered a plate of dark meat roasted chicken with siu yok, while the other noobs had chicken with char siu, and siu yok with curry sauce. The food were actually rather good, the chicken prepared boneless, and the pork tasted like how they should be. Most importantly, the chili sauce was really nice. I maintain that one of the most important ingredients for chicken rice is the chili sauce, this place didn’t disappoint.

roasted chicken, roasted pork, bbq pork, curry

While many other places sells chicken rice for no less than RM 3.50 for a plain chicken and rice dish, and RM 4.00 to RM 4.50 for combo; Kie Kee only charges RM 3.50 for combo and RM 3.00 for a normal plate. Pretty cheap for PJ standard.

the food court is situated opposite the bus terminal

Give it a try if you are going to old town. There are a couple stalls that sell Chinese satay, and the ais kacang is very delicious too.

Address:
Intersection of
Jalan Othman & Jalan Selangor
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.087519, 101.645948

Tags:  char-siu,  chicken-rice,  curry,  food-court,  hawker,  kerol,  old-town,  PJ,  roasted-pork,  siu-yok,  val

Posted by KY | 20 Comments »

After posting about the clay pot chicken rice at Damansara Jaya, a few of you have suggested me to give Veng Soon at PJ old town a try. Since I have been going to PJ old town quite often lately, I figured why not?

restaurant Veng Soon, leng lui spotted

Veng Soon has a typical kopitiam set up with a pretty clean environment. On their menu is the chicken rice, over half dozen types of steamed soup, and a few types of oily vegetable, pretty much what you would expect from such a place.

For the three of us, we ordered 3 portions of chicken rice, water cress soup (西洋菜), pork tripe soup, and Chinese Broccoli (kailan) oily vegetable (油菜).

note the raw ginger garnish on top of the rice

The two bowls of soup came first, and they were very good, especially the pork tripe, not overpowered by the strong pepper taste. As for the clay pot chicken rice, it was every bit just as good as the offering from Damansara Jaya. Plenty of chicken, lapcheong, and salted fish while having the rice not too dry nor wet. The biggest difference between the two places is generous portion of raw ginger strips as garnish at Veng Soon. I find the extra garnish goes rather well with the dish, adding a slightly different dimension of taste to it. As for the oily vegetable, it was just average.

just a short walk from the bus terminal

The dinner costs us about RM 10 per person, a fair price. The chicken rice were cooked with gas stove instead of charcoal fire, however, I do not find any difference in the taste that might contribute from the method of cooking at all.

Address:
No. F19, Jalan 1/21,
46000 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.086276, 101.646205

Tags:  chicken,  chicken-rice,  clay-pot,  margie,  old-town,  PJ

Posted by KY | 12 Comments »