From time to time, I like to go into a restaurant totally devoid of any idea what is being served there. Last weekend was one such occasion. Haze and I were near Leisure Mall and hungry, we drove around a bit, parked the car, and decided to head into Restaurant K.T.L – which stands for Kwong Tau Lou (光头佬, bald guy)
steamed tilapia and steamed egg are the must order items
The reason we chose this particular restaurant was that it looked cheap, almost unfurnished, and yet filled with mostly older diners & families. To me, these are a sure sign that good food is available, and it won’t break your wallet.
After seated, we asked for recommendations from the wait staff and ordered a steamed tilapia with tao chio (beans), steamed egg, and a plate of vegetable. Total dishes to choose from was very limited, there’s 2 types of fish (other being haruan), always steamed but with a few different variations, eggs, steamed ribs, and a few types of vegetables. Just as well, makes ordering quite a lot easier.
check out how smooth is the steamed egg, slurps!
Dishes didn’t come quick, and you have the pleasure of seeing them catch the tilapia that’ll end up on your table.
But when it does, boy, the fish was great! The tao chio sauce was very flavorful and quite a bit spicy too, they even stuffed it full in the fish’s cavity too, a nice touch for sure.
The steamed egg was on a big plate but very thin, and very very soft. Imagine the softest chawanmushi, and this was 3 times softer. It tasted very simple yet awesome, with soya sauce and a hint of sesame oil on it. (I tried to replicate the steamed egg at home the other day and failed miserably)
The only let down at the place was the vegetable. Well, it wasn’t bad, it was average, but after the fish and egg, this was slightly disappointing.
The dinner came to be slightly less than RM 20 per person including two Chinese tea. For fresh fish and excellent dishes, it was a steal. Definitely will go there again.
Address:
Restaurant K.T.L.
Gerai No.3A, Jalan Manis
Taman Segar
56100 Cheras, Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.088250, 101.743231
Tel: 017-872 7567, 012-308 7311, 014-322 3613
After having a pretty good first impression on the food at Jalan Peel that came in the form of Kar Kar Lai chicken/pork rice stall, I was determined to go back to the area again. We did just that several weeks later, but this time to check out the hawker scene at night.
hawker stalls at Jalan Peel, Cheras
The setup of the hawker center at Jalan Peel is much like the one at Kuchai Lama (awesome grilled lamb), with rows of stalls situated along Jalan Peel, right across Shell gas station. Pollution in terms of noise, smell, or air aren’t exactly the best, but hey, we’re a third world country and we embrace this kinda thing, don’t we?
mixed pork soup – meat, tripes, intestine, blood, tongue etc
There are some dozen stalls operating on the stretch, but as soon as I saw the pork innards stall, I made my decision. The last time I had this was at Restaurant Matahari at Bandar Seri Damansara with Kim, and that stall has unfortunately, already ceased operation.
The bowl of goodness you see in the photo above comes with generous amount of 3-layer pork, tripes, big and small intestines, pork tongue, and even my favorite – coagulated pork blood. It was a little slice of heaven for RM7.
drinks, coagulated pork blood, popiah
Having seated outside the corner kopitiam, we ordered drinks from another stall. Fresh sugar cane and coconut juice, kinda felt like being on a holiday.
The pohpiah here (RM 1.80 per pc) was crispy and pretty good too. We ended up ordering more cos the Char Kueh Teow I tried to order somehow didn’t came. I still prefer the non-halal pohpiah at Jonker’s street in Melaka, but this was quite fine too.
KY & Haze at Jalan Peel
There are certainly more stalls to try out at this hawker center. The chicken wings and the satay stalls always looked busy, and I want to try the CKT too. Will go there again soon!
Address:
Hawker Center
Jalan Peel, Cheras
55100 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.13102, 101.72293
Jalan Peel has always been a place where the locals go to eat. The area has some of the most old school traditional eateries one can find outside Pudu area.
A few weeks ago I went there for the first time when we visited the Sunway Velocity showroom. It was the good people from Sunway who actually treated us lunch at Kar Kar Lai (家家来). Thanks!
Kar Kar Lai 家家来 at Peel Road
The set up at Kar Kar Lai isn’t much. An inconspicuous stall with plenty of meat on display, with make shift tents over a dozen of so tables by Jalan Peel. Not very different from Thim Kee at Pudu, 10 points for old school feel, 1 for weather protection.
We ordered steamed chicken, siu yok (roast pork), char siu (bbq pork), steamed tilapia, and vegetable to go with rice for lunch, but did not try the yummy looking pork knuckle or chicken feet, unfortunately.
steamed tilapia, steamed chicken, char siu
The steamed tilapia with thai sauce was pretty good. The meat fresh and tender, the sauce packs a kick, goes well with white rice but probably too strong to eat as is.
Steamed kampung chicken was yummy too, slightly tougher than normal chicken, but quite a bit more flavorful. After all, Kar Kar Lai’s signboard shows that this is a chicken rice stall.
My favorite of the day though, goes to the char siu (bbq pork). The caramelized meat was tender, sweet, and positively delicious, don’t miss this out if you come here. This is on par with some of the better char siu in town, like Meng Kee at Glenmarie and Famous Seremban Favorites at Aman Suria.
siu yok (roast pork), vegetable at Kar Kar Lai
The siu yok (roast pork) was what our host kept telling us about, but to be honest, while it was good, I couldn’t say that it is exceptional with a straight face, an off day perhaps? (Our host swore it’s better on other days). I would definitely give it another try.
As usual, we also ordered a vegetable dish to make sure mom approves.
Nic Gan, Kim, Gareth, Haze, KY
Overall, Kar Kar Lai is a place definitely worth visiting even just for the char siu and steamed chicken, I’d also like to try their pork knuckle and Chinese sausage next time. Price information is absent since lunch was bought by our generous host from Sunway, but I have a feeling it’s pretty affordable.
Address:
Kar Kar Lai 家家来
Jalan Peel, Cheras
55100 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.12865, 101.72488
As far as birds go, goose is one of my favorites for consumption. For the rich and fehmes, you have foie gras; for the rest of us, there is always roast goose. Glorious glittering roast goose.
Yi Kee restaurant at Taman Connaught
Unfortunately for the goose lover among us, there just aren’t that many places that offers this glorious bird. More often than not, places like Canton-i or Soon Fatt at Pudu runs out of them rather quickly.
Yi Kee is an old establishment that’s been around for a while, I guess you can sorta count the experience of the chef by his wrinkles… (and perhaps the goose fat in between, anyway I shall stop talking crap and get on with the program).
glorious roast goose drumstick
We arrived at Yi Kee on the weekends just past prime lunch hours, and luckily there were still roast goose left. Haze and I ordered goose for two, a serving of roast pork, and rice. I’ve heard they serve some good steamed soup, but we tried not to over order that day for a change.
A couple minutes later we were served with a rather huge portion of 1/4 goose, dark meat with drum stick. I stared at it for a minute, admiring the glistering fats over the layer of crispy skin that screamed at me, teasing it a little.
Then a bite, oh my. Roast goose will be roast goose, I’m not sure how great they are in HK, but this one is tasty and this one’s available, that will be good enough for me.
roast goose & roast pork, Haze & KY
Goose and roast pork are served with plum sauce, dark sauce, and chili paste. All of which tasted authentic and home made. The plum sauce’s most definitely home made, not as thick as those off the shelve type but tasted quite a lot nicer.
The skin of roast pork here comes with super crispy skin, they are also fatty but the non fatty meat are the firmer type. Old style, nice, though not as addictive as the one at Wong Meng Kee at Pudu.
Yi Kee is situated along Connaught Highway just across from where UCSI University (stupidest name ever, since UC = University College). Our lunch coasts about RM 20 per pax, guess goose is never cheap, but it was worth it.
Address:
223, Jalan Sarjana,
Taman Connaught,
Cheras, Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.082398, 101.734021
Tel: 03-9132 9968
Way back in 2005, just a few months after starting this blog, I ran out of things to write. Ideas came in, and the first one that I considered was to actually specialized on all things bak kut teh.
That idea was of course, a little too limiting, but it was the seed that eventually spawn this humble food blog. So there you go, a little bit of background that you most likely don’t care on a Friday. 
Friendship Bak Kut Teh, with pork tripe soup, braised pork knuckle
Anyway, bak kut teh remains one of my favorite Malaysian Chinese food. Today, I shall introduce this particular unassuming bak kut teh stall at Cheras that was one of Haze‘s regular dinner spots.
The bak kut teh stall is situated just a stone’s throw away from the biggest intersection in Cheras. Other than bak kut teh, the friendly female owner serves up really pork tripe soup that has a pretty good kick too.
clay pot bak kut teh with enoki mushroom
The bak kut teh comes with all the usual ingredients – pork, fatty pork, liver, intestine, stomach, and like a lot of the more modern outlets – enoki mushroom too. While I can’t say that the soup is the best I’ve had, it quite decent, and I do like the extra spicy chili padi they serve.
If you eat here, make sure you order yau char kwai though. The lady source this from her ex husband and it’s really one of the best yau char kwai I’ve had with bak kut teh. Like a lot of places, you get to choose from oily or normal steamed rice.
KY and Haze, late night bak kut teh dinner
While strictly speaking, this isn’t the best tasting bak kut teh, I do love going there for it’s ambiance and the warm and fuzzy feeling the owner always exude. The pork tripe soup and of course, the yau char kwai give more than good enough reasons to visit there too. (have yet to try the braised pork knuckle yet).
Friendship bak kut teh is open from evening till about 1am.
Address:
Friendship Bak Kut Teh
45, jalan 3/101c
Cheras Business Centre,
56100 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.099368, 101.738816
