Then there’s Las Vacas, a no-frill restaurant and retail that offers prime cuts of beef and lamb at very decent price.

Las Vacas at Kelana Jaya

Las Vacas is basically a meat shop with professionally trained butchers and a kitchen. They stock a wide selection of meat and you can either buy raw to grill at home, or dine in.

There’s Angus, Wagyu, grain fed, tenderloin, ribeye, sirloin, lamb shoulder, and even salami, sausages, and burger patties.

grain fed tenderloin and wagyu ribeye

We went there for the first time a few weeks ago, I ordered a medium rare tenderloin, while Haze asked for her Wagyu ribeye  to be prepared rare. Prices of meat is indicated at the display per 100 gram, and normal cut is usually 280-300 grams, though you can always choose a bigger/smaller portion according to appetite.

There’s a cooking fee (RM 15 if I remember correctly) on top of the price of the meat, and you get a small serving of salad (quite forgettable) and a piece of pretty decent garlic bread on the side.

love that my tenderloin was cooked to perfection – medium rare

The meat did take a while to get prepared, and I believe it was because they actually let it sit before serving to ensure they are properly moist. There’s Dijon mustard and A1 steak sauce if you like, but I love my steak as is with nothing but basica salt & pepper seasoning to fully enjoy the unadulterated taste of meat.

The result was excellent, and we thoroughly enjoyed our meal. Dinner ended up at around RM 180 including a couple bottles of premium carbonated drinks. Pretty reasonable for what we got, will visit again.

Address:
Las Vacas
No.23, Jalan SS5A/11 Kelana Jaya 
47301 Petaling Jaya 
Selangor, Malaysia
GPS: 3.095934, 101.604719
Tel: 03-7874 0711
Web: lasvacasmeat.com
Hours: Tues – Sunday, 10am – 10pm

If you aren’t exactly a Thai historian, the name Fa Ying (means Princess) might sound a bit bizarre for a Thai restaurant. According to the owner, Fa Ying was the name of the playful sister of Rama V, the revered Thai King who was credited to the modernization of Siam. Since this outlet serves a “playful” interpretation of Thai cuisine to the sister restaurant Rama V, hence the name Fa Ying.

Pretty neat, I thought, but maybe adding “Thai restaurant” at the back of that big sign board bight help a little.

Fa Ying Thai Restaurant at Paradigm Mall

The restaurant is located at The Boulevard at Paradigm Mall, the semi-outdoor area under the office block with a set up that’s not entirely unlike the “covered alfresco” area at Pavilion. It’s pretty much open air while still sheltered from the harshest of elements.

Fa Ying also spot a full bar, serving liquor, cocktails, and beer

For those likes some proper drinks to go with Thai food, Fa Ying is definitely a place to go. Spotting a full bar, the restaurant serves a variety of cocktails, beer, and other drinks.

Some of the drinks we tried were:

• Mango Thai Pandan RM 21
• Thai Tom Yam RM 21 (funny name..)
• Mojito Selection RM 24
• Lemongrass Basil and Mango Sparkler RM 13

They also serve a fishbowl drink called Marquessa (RM 100) that comes with dragon fruit, cucumber, Absolut blue, burnt orange peel, white wine, and soda. It’s like a potent Thai version of Sangria.

While not an expert in cocktails by any means, I did enjoy their drinks.

lamb, fish, and seafood sate

Lets move on to the food.

We sampled three types of Thai satay here. The lamb satay (RM 20) was flavorful but without the overly strong “lamb” taste that some people dislike.

Fish satay a tender and soft, while the seafood satay with prawns & mussels were refreshing and went very well with their sourish sauce.

minced beef in cucumber, watermelon salad, pomelo salad

Minced meat in cucumber (RM 12) looked a bit like sushi but carries the distinctive Thai taste. The cucumber provided nice contrast to the meat, without the requirement of steamed rice to complement the meat. I’ll wouldn’t mind this as beer food.

For those who loves to go green, watermelon salad (RM 12) and pomelo salad (RM 16) will do the job just fine.

grilled scallops served with spinach and manow sauce

Our favorite appetizer of the day goes to this beautifully presented grilled scallops with spinach and manow sauce (RM 19). The scallops were perfectly seared, and the sourish manow sauce provided just the kick to complete this seafood experience.

I also think that this dish offers excellent value.

cod fish with manow, spaghetti with river prawn, Thai green curry pesto

Codfish with Manow (RM 42) provides a choice for those who loves this buttery fish, I find no fault in the execution of this dish, except that it’ll probably leave some room for dessert.

Spaghetti with Thai green curry pesto (RM 22) and spaghetti with river prawn (RM 32) are among the two pasta dishes offered here, both were a bit spicy and definitely not masking their Thai origin. I find the experience a little strange, but perhaps it’s something you get used to.

roast duck sandwich, grilled tenderloin with green curry

My favorite main dish goes to the roast duck sandwich (RM 20). It was simple yet brilliant, and I wonder why it took so long for anyone to come up with this. It was utterly delicious and I would go back to Fa Ying just to have this. (btw my colleague Sheng had this and gave his approval as well)

Lastly, we also sampled their grilled tenderloin with green curry mushroom (RM 42). Perhaps I’m spoiled by those high grade beef at Prime, but for less than RM 50, the meat was decent.

Thai desserts at Fa Ying

Like most Thai restaurants, Fa Ying serves a variety of traditional desserts. I liked the fried banana fritters with vanilla ice cream, and their mango with sticky rice was pretty good as well. Each of these dish comes with half a strawberry, leaving the trace of the “playful” nature of Fa Ying.

Pearl, Reiko, Evelyn, Suan, Haze, KY, Audrey, Owner

We had a pretty good session at Fa Ying, and it is definitely a place I’ll revisit (if not just for the roast duck sandwich!). Mention ‘PRINCESS’ as password and get 10% off food bill before 1st of February 2013.

If you are looking for Thai food with a bit of a twist at a place with nice ambiance to bring a date, this would be a sweet choice.

Address:
Fa Ying Thai Restaurant
The Boulevard, Paradigm Mall
Kelana Jaya, Petaling Jaya
Selangor
GPS: 3.108806, 101.59564
Tel: 03-7451 2933

Nasi Lemak Utara, sharing the same stall with Burger Wan

This is a half-stall because it shares the same spot as the burger stall, with the nasi lemak “desk” facing on the other side. In fact, the nasi lemak guy and the burger guy are related.

Nasi lemak is usually ready by around 7+ in the evening but it often doesn’t last the whole night. There isn’t many dishes to choose from, but the usual suspects of sambal cuttle fish, fried chicken with rempah (my favorite), curry chicken, and cockles are almost always available.

super delicious nasi lemak, at a fair price, check out the rempah too

The rice is fragrant and usually served warm with a sheet of banana leaf, and you get peanuts, fried anchovies, and half a hard boiled egg by default. The sambal is pretty mean and carries quite a kick as well. My go-to order is usually the chicken with rempah (ask for more rempah) and cockles, and that usually comes up to RM 7 or so, pretty reasonable price for what you get.

Next time when you’re there, do give it a try if they are open (there’s no pattern, sometimes the dude takes random holidays it seems).

Address:
Nasi Lemak Utara
Jalan SS 2/60,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.117783, 101.622430

Toast & Roast at the less glamorous part of SS2

I was initially introduced to this restaurant from Cheesie, and this is her go-to restaurant due to the location as well as the availability of, in her words, very good charsiu.

So last weekends we finally stopped by this little shop and give it a try over lunch.

glorious char siu, one of the bests in town (this is from a rather “fat” section)

Unlike most other locations in SS2, this place doesn’t suffer from a shortage of parking space. The restaurant itself though, can be quite a bit busy over lunch time, and while charsiu and rice can be served relatively fast, noodle dishes can sometimes take a while to arrive.

The premise is pretty clean, and there isn’t any interior decoration to speak of. It’s a no nonsense old school eatery that just happened to have a pretty modern name.

the roast pork is decent, and I quite enjoyed the sui kao (dumpling) too

We ordered a medium portion of charsiu (bbq pork, RM 16) and a small portion of siuyok (roast pork, RM 8) to share. Yuki opted another plate of charsiu rice as her main dish while the rest of us went with Hakka noodle (RM 4.50 or RM 5.50).

The charsiu that was served to us turned out to be a pretty fat cut. This suits me just as well as “pun fei sau”, or the half fatty version, but might be too much for some. I love the flavor and the melt in your mouth feel from the fats, it was on par with some of the bests. My only complain is the serving size, for RM 16 you only get some 2 dozen pieces.

then there’s hakkan noodle, and you can order single serving charsiu rice too

As for the Hakka Mee, you can opt to have it served either with minced pork or charsiu. Since we already ordered charsiu to share, we chose the former.

The combination of minced pork with that bits of fried fish skin worked well, and I enjoyed the texture of the noodle as well. Of course, everything tasted even better when you add in a couple pieces of charsiu to go with. I wasn’t disappointed.

Horng, Yuki, Kerol, and KY

Oh, then there’s those fried sui kao (dumplings RM1) that’s stuffed with black fungus, minced pork, and prawns that were quite addictive. Do order this as they make excellent appetizer while you wait for those Hakka mee.

Toast & Roast can be a bit pricey, but I do think this is the case of “you get what you paid for”. I don’t mind revisiting this place at least once a month or something.

Address:
Toast & Roast
No. 20, Jalan SS2/72
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.128346, 101.627866
Tel: 016-682 2249
Hours: 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, close on Tuesdays 

Baan Ruen Thai, no fuss cheap Thai food

I first read about this place on ciki’s blog, and have since been there on a few occasions for dinner. The menu isn’t big, but covers the essential Thai dishes that you’ll often find offered by the road side if you travel to our neighboring land up North.

The biggest difference that sets this place apart from most other Thai establishment? Price.

Most dishes are priced at RM 6, price range that rivals some of the cheaper food courts at Klang Valley. The shop operated by Thai and we’ve spotted quite a few Thai workers (mostly laborers) dining there.

long bean with seafood, tomyam soup, pad see yew, pineapple fried rice, green curry

At this price range, we didn’t expect fancy ingredients or huge portions. Fried basil leaves with seafood with rice could use a bit more seafood, but if you have a bowl of tomyam soup to share as well then it’ll be more than sufficient.

Pad see yew and pineapple fried rice were quite delicious with some of those Thai chili added in, while the green curry is a lighter version that tasted quite different from what we’re used to, but not in a bad way in my opinion.

Yep, all these dishes are priced at RM 6, so are Thai fried rice, belacan fried rice, long bean with chicken/seafood, and garlic chicken and kailan that we haven’t tried yet.

The tastes aren’t super top notch, but they are authentic and offer great value while still pretty good on the tongue.

som tam (green papaya salad), tub tim krob (red ruby dessert), and mango with sticky rice

My favorite from this place though, is their tub tim krob, or red ruby dessert. At RM 3 per bowl it was sweet, crunchy, fresh, and absolutely delicious. Mango with sticky rice proved to be quite awesome as well but would be something that is best shared (portion is quite big).

So if you’re up for some Thai food that’s easy on the wallet, this would be a place to check out.

Address:
Baan Ruen Thai
Kelana Sentral Service Apartment (opposite New Yew Sang)
Jalan SS 6/8
Kelana Jaya, PJ Selangor
GPS: 3.106513, 101.598445
Hours: 9 am to 9 pm daily 

In another word, they are usually not exactly exciting.

That’s the run off the mill economy rice place, then there’s this Baba’s Nasi Lemak place at SS2′s wai sek kai.

SS 2 wai sek kai, a place with dozens and dozens of food stalls

While the name is a bit misleading, this super busy stall is in fact, closer to an economy rice outlet than a nasi lemak place. There’s those ‘buffet’ containers with various different dishes, and more people actually order usual steamed rice instead of nasi lemak.

So why is this place special?

Well, the short answer is that it’s super delicious!

here’s maybe half of what they cook up everyday (except Thursdays)

There are usually over 2 dozen dishes to choose from at Baba’s nasi lemak, and they aren’t always made with very economical ingredients. Here you’ll find some of the more “up market” dishes like “kao yok”, prawns, steamed fish, and even mantis prawns.

I’ve tried more than 10 different dishes from there thus far, and every single one of them was superb. Never too salty or too sweet or too anything, it was always just right.

As the name suggest, the cooking style is closer to Nyonya cuisine, which means you get a good mixture of spicy dishes and those prepared with traditional Chinese food methods.

and every plate is arranged precariously, macam pro!

The operators also seems to take their food very seriously. Every dish is meticulously placed on the plate, with appropriate amount of sauce on the rice.  I mean, when it looks good, you’ll feel more appetizing too kan? Just check out the photos above for some examples.

The down side is though, with the amount of dishes offered and knowing that they’re all super tasty, this economy rice is often not very economical for us. Picking 4 good dishes with rice can sometimes come close to RM 10 per plate.

Yah, it can be a bit pricey, but we kept going back, and judging from the rather long queue every time we were there, quite a lot of people shares the same sentiment. Maybe you should give it a try too?

Happy eating!

Address:
Baba’s Nasi Lemak
SS2 Wai Sek Kai (hawker center)
Jalan SS 2/61
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.118491, 101.620787
Hours: daily from 7pm, closed on Thursdays

note: this place has moved. new address is at No 70 jalan Pekaka 8/3, Kota Damansara Section 8
(Same row with jabatan pendaftaran and hospital Pusrawi)

Izwan Woon Abdullah, located just behind Taman Bahagia LRT station

The restaurant that offers this dish is Izwan Woon Abdullah, located just behind Taman Bahagia LRT station at SS3, a few doors down from the famous pork noodle and Luckly Loke tai chao at the corner.

nasi lemak itik salai, you don’t see this very often

The restaurants offer nasi lemak and a few other more traditional Malay dishes, but I had to try their nasi lemak itik salai.

The plate comes with fragrant nasi lemak on a slice of banana leaf, a side of sambal, anchovies & peanuts, half a hard boiled egg, smoked duck, and some brown sauce for the duck.

The brown sauce though, was a waste of time, so we asked for more sambal instead, which more than made up for it.

the sambal and the rice itself was quite awesome too

The sambal was top notch, spicy and very flavorful, and the duck tasted pretty close to Chinese style smoked duck but with a slightly different taste that I can’t exactly point out, it was good, and certainly a different experience being paired with nasi lemak. I find myself enjoying it.

they have nasi lemak ayam too, and the otak-otak is pretty good

Their nasi lemak with chicken was able to satisfy one of the biggest nasi lemak fan in Horng, and otak-otak Johor (RM 0.80 per stick) was delicious enough we ordered second servings (even Suan who was from Johor approved of the taste).

The restaurant has been in business some 2-3 months and I sure hope it stays. I’ve only been there a couple times but looking forward to head there more often. =)

Address:
Restoran Izwan Woon Abdullah
SS 3/59E Petaling Jaya
47300 Selangor
GPS: 3.109904, 101.611722
Hours: lunch and dinner

New Grand View kopitiam at Taman Megah

As this is a quieter side of Taman Megah with only one kopitiam at the whole shop lot island, parking is a relatively breezy affair if you don’t mind walking more than 10 meters.

The kopitiam itself though, is fairly busy, and you might have to wait a few minutes or share table with others during peak hours.

dry and normal soup version of curry mee, KL style

As it turned out, the curry mee was decent, but not quite what I normally would crave for (no pork blood or prawns). It is of the KL variety with cockles, chicken, tofupok, and long beans. If you love this style, you will probably enjoy it more than I do.

The unexpected food find here turned out to be the wantan mee stall that offers quiet a different varieties of wantan mee derivatives.

the “char yok” option with dry wantan noodle

I’ve had the normal version with wantan and chasiu, chicken feet and mushroom, and char yok (fried pork with namyu) with fungus so far. Though the chasiu is decent and wantan is pretty good, I love the other two versions quite a lot more. The phoenix’s claws were fat, juicy, and full of flavor, char yok with fungus absolutely tantalizing and definitely “original”. Reminds me of the nasi lemak with char yok at Segambut (non halal).

If you haven’t stopped by this kopitiam, perhaps it is time to do so.

map to New Grand View, Taman Megah

Address:
New Grand View restaurant
Jalan SS 23/11
Taman Megah, 
47400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.118003, 101.612908

New Yew Sang Thai Food with Yuki, Horng, Cheesie, Kerol

I was first introduced to this place by Kerol, who is a fellow Penangite and one of the harshest food critic especially when it comes to tomyam. If she said it’s good, she’s usually right.

I went there for a scouting expedition by ordering the tomyam meehun prior to the following two visits (where these pictures are sourced), and the experience was a really positive one. I think I overhead the owners speaking Thai to the kitchen staff as well, that’s always a positive sign.

paku, Thai steamed siakap, seafood tomyam

To be fair, this is a tai chau place with heavy influence of Thai food instead of a typical Thai restaurant, like Ghee Seng Thai food in Penang. The ambiance is nothing to shout about, the place is relatively clean, and there’re fans under the root in an otherwise semi alfresco dining area. Parking is relatively easy to get at night though.

The menu is quite extensive, but lets start with the most important item – tomyam. The tomyam here is thick, extremely flavorful and positively spicy. Use the ladle and dig at the bottom of the bowl will reveal the ingredients that made up the soup, ie: no short cuts, no powder/paste nonsense. If you like your tomyam hot & spicy, this is a place to go.

lala, steamed fish, butter squid

The butter squid here is laden with plenty of those very addictive deep fried egg on top. A dish that I’d recommend ordering, but according to Yuki & Horng, they have a “wet” version of butter squid that is even better. I imagine it to be similar to those from Thim Kee at Pudu.

The lala here is commendable, but not something that is really special. If you’re going for a pure lala trip, look no further than the lala stall at Alisan SS4 just down the road. Steamed saikap that we tried was of pretty good standard, the soup base definitely carries a heavy Thai influence – sour, strong, and slightly spicy.

prawn with petai, some tofu dish, vege (vitamin c, hey!)

In another visit we tried prawn with petai, another spicy dish that never disappoint. The petai was halved and cleaned (some place tends to leave the center bitter part intact), and prawns were fresh prepared just right, delicious.

For those who likes a bit of balance and enjoys eating tofu, I wish I could tell you what the dish in the picture was called, but for the life of me that escaped my mind. Ask the server to recite the tofu dishes they have and stop her at the most bizarre sounding one and you’d have the winner. It was very rich, smooth, and provides a great contrasting taste to the other dishes that were usually spicy, sour, or a combination of both. I enjoyed it a lot.

Prices at New Yew Sang is reasonable. We paid something between RM 15-20+ per person when we eat there. If you like your dishes rich and spicy, check out this place, or you can check out other Thai food posts here.

Address:
New Yee Sang kopitiam
Jalan SS 6/8
Kelana Jaya
GPS: 3.106717, 101.598178

Well, now I can do that right here at PJ’s Ming Tien food court.

Penang apom, comes in two flavors

The Penang Apom stall is situated on the far right of the food court, manned by an operator from Penang who moved down to KL some 7-8 years ago (and speaks perfect Penang Hokkien, of course).

The mini apom comes either with sweet corns or banana slice in them and you get 5 pieces for RM 3. The taste is as good as those found in Penang, and definitely worth the money paid for. The only downside is that if the apom’s been sitting on the shelves for a while they tend to get cold and wouldn’t taste quite as good. Then again, 15-20 seconds in a microwave would fix that, or you could perhaps insist on freshly made ones.

The stall operates from about 5 pm till late, they also offer regular apom.

chicken porridge – simple comfort food

The chicken porridge stall at Ming Tien food court now has a pair of new operators that is familiar to anyone who frequents SS 2 mamak square. The kids that used to help out at the chicken rice stall at SS 2 are now running the show.

I’ve always loved their silky smooth steamed chicken, so it was my dinner choice the other night as I was looking for some comfort food to fill my stomach.

chicken porridge at Ming Tien, originally from SS2 mamak

The chicken was identical to those offered at their parents’ stall, and the porridge too were quite flavorful in itself, with the dash of sesame oil, white pepper, and soya sauce. Bean sprouts is also offered as a separate dish, and on top of that, there’s chicken liver and gizzards as well.

It’s a shame that they don’t serve chicken rice here (most likely due to presence of other chicken rice stalls at the food court), but if you’re looking for some good chicken porridge, this is definitely one of them.

Address:
Ming Tien Hawker Center
Jalan SS24/8, Taman Megah,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.114334, 101.611658