Earlier this month I was invited to the Wild Rice restaurant at Mid Valley Boulevard hotel for a food review session courtesy of foodstreet. I looked through the list of my MSN and found a dinner partner in Ringo to go there with me. (you know, a fehmes blogger to increase my street cred.)

wild rice restaurant, with indoor and outdoor seatings

The wild rice restaurant is situated on the 9th floor with nice indoor seatings as well as the open terrace with a beautiful pool view.

We were greeted by the friendly communication manager Mr. Huang, and shortly after that the dishes started coming in. The good chef prepared eight dishes for just the three of us for the night. Other than their weekend buffet, Wild Rice restaurant serves Malaysian food as well as Western dishes.

clay pot chicken rice, char kueh teow, Penang seafood hor fun

Our first dish of the night was none other than Char Kueh Teow. I usually have my reservations when it comes to this dish, but the chef (who has a very strong Penang tie) actually pulled this off rather well. The good size prawns, chives, bean sprouts, and egg combined to deliver a dish that tasted pretty good.

Similarly, the Penang Hor Fun was very nice as well. I like the way the egg is done with the yolk still half cooked while the white spread over the flat noodle. The hor fun comes with prawns, squid, dory fish fillet, and vegetables.

The chef also prepared two versions of clay pot chicken rice for us, the more usual recipe with salted fish, and a version with century egg. Although I love century eggs, I think the combination is a little weird though, this little experiment from the chef didn’t turn out very great (the dish is not on the menu). Then again, I always applaud chefs who are willing to experiment.

Hainanese chicken chop, avocado burger, pan fried salmon, oxtail soup

Then there’s the very crispy and juicy Hainanese chicken chop that I wish I have a bigger stomach to eat more. The chicken chop consists of 1/4 quarter chicken with thigh and drumstick, fresh button mushroom in brown sauce with some mixed vegetables, and of course, fries. (I wonder if they have fries in Hainan, but lets not digress)

The pan fried salmon was good as well, but I think the most interesting dish for the day goes to the avocado burger. This vegetarian dish has beet root, cheese, butter, and a generous serving of sliced avocado. If you had California Roll, you know how avocado tastes like. The combination of avocado relish, and cheese in the bun was actually delicious.

the good chef and Ringo

Ringo’s favorite dish, if my memory serves me correct, was the Malaysian oxtail soup. It wasn’t too spicy nor tasted too strongly. The soup was just nice with the meat tender and the carrots soft, serving it in a clay pot does help by keeping the temperature.

Boulevard Hotel is situated at the North Court of Mid Valley City

The best thing about Wild Rice restaurant is the fact that it is open 24 hrs a day. To me this spells the end of mamak after midnight show especially if I’m at Mid Valley.

As for price, I think they are pretty reasonable for a hotel. Soup is RM15; the burger and other local dishes are around RM 18 to RM 22. Expect to pay slightly more for western dishes, but the portions are pretty big. The good news is that the prices are nett, no extra 10% or 5%. I like that.

Address:
Mid Valley City,
Lingkaran Syed Putra,
59200 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.119262, 101.677802
Tel: 03-2295 8000

Tags:  avocado,  char-kueh-teow,  chicken-chop,  chicken-rice,  ckt,  claypot,  local food,  mid valley,  oxtail soup,  salmon,  wild rice

Posted by KY | 32 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 »

Many of us cannot deny that the best hawker food in this world are found in Penang, the pearl of the orient. While there are variety of offerings, I have decided to introduce you the most talked about penang dish of all - Char Kuih Teow.

There are two acclaimed Char Kuih Teow places in Penang and they are situated only about 1 kilometer from each other. The Macalister Road Sister’s Char Kuih Teow, also known as the 5-junction Char Kuih Teow, and the other that is situated at Lorong Selamat.

Personally I go for the one at Macalister Road simply for the fact that the Lorong Selamat aunty has been way too arrogant and over her head. You have to wait at the stall under the searing sun, sometimes up to half an hour, to serve yourself that plate of Char Kuih Teow. That is too much trouble I’m willing to spend just to save the stall owner RM 30 bucks hiring a helper a day.

Here’s a typical plate of Sister’s Kuih Teow. Served on a piece of banana leaf, with bean sprouts, egg, huge prawns, and topped with some awesome crab meat. Try some when you are in Penang next time!

You drolling yet?

Here’s Lorong Selamat’s stall, you can see those desperate dudes lining up under the sun to self-serve their kuih teow. I’m not doing that.

An interesting trivia: rumours have it that the sisters used to be “working girls” when they were young. Luck was on their side that when their bodies aren’t desirable anymore, their cooking skills came to the rescue.

Address:
Jalan Macalister (near Jalan Perak intersection)
Penang
GPS: 5.419351, 100.317407

Tags:  char-kueh-teow,  ckt,  hawker,  kopitiam,  ky,  Penang

Posted by KY_a | 8 Comments »