Since I moved to the site office for work, I’ve been visiting Pavilion quite a bit due to the close proximity. So pretty soon I started exploring a bit more and a couple weeks ago, stumbled upon this curiously familiar looking restaurant on the 5th 6th floor by the name of Grandmama’s.
Grandmama’s to Madam Kwan’s is like BK to McD. The decoration is similar, and so is the menu (nasi bojari, char kueh teow, fish and chips etc). There are rumors saying they are owned by siblings or something…
Grandmama’s char kueh teow and beef hor fun
Since the initial visit with my colleague, I’ve been to the place in three separate occasions. I can happily said that the 3 different dishes tried so far have been all pretty good, at least taste wise.
The Char Kueh Teow comes with a couple big prawns, slices of fish cake, squid, chicken, and the usual chives and bean sprouts. Despite the seemingly non traditional ingredients, it turned out to be a surprisingly decent dish. The flavor and the kick is as good as you’d find from any air conditioned restaurant.
Curry Laksa, or curry mee as known to Penangites, comes in an overly large bowl and contains taupok, prawns, squid, ladies finger, and brinjal which I love. It’d be better if there’s some bloody cockles though (or coagulated pork blood, but I think that would be way too much to ask for, hehe)
curry laksa, nasi bojari, and hakka fried rice
The other dish I had was the unassuming looking Hakka Fried Rice. A plate of fried rice with dark sauce that has prawns, chicken, and plenty of chopped long bean in it. This one was pretty good too especially with some cili padi to go with. I had this after Horng’s favorable comment.
Terence, Winnie, Mychelle, Pauline at Grandmama’s, Pavilion KL
Ngau Hor (beef kueh teow), Chicken Mushroom Rice and Nasi Bojari that others had too turned out to be plenty good, though my other colleague ordered Fish and Chips that tasted just average.
So while food is generally pretty good at Grandmama’s, the pricing is a bit on the higher side. Nasi bojari costs RM 22, and most other hawker style dishes are around RM 14.5 to just below RM 20. You do get free plain water though.
Still a place worth visit for it’s pretty decent quality of food and good ambiance while not always overly crowded like Madam Kwan’s.
Address:
Grandmama’s
Lot 6.01.01, 6.01.02
Level 6, Pavilion KL
168, Jalan Bukit Bintang
Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.148872, 101.713368
Tel: 03-2143 9333
Every once in a while I get this from my colleagues:
“Eh KY ni selalu makan babi saja, bila nak blog makanan halal?
So here’s one! Another Char Kuih Teow place that serves good old fashion halal version of my favorite Penang dish. This time at Restaurant Jaya in SS5 by the name of Lau Wan Char Kuih Teow.
Lau Wan char kueh teow at Restaurant Jaya
Restaurant Jaya is situated a stone’s throw away from the slightly more famous Aunty Gemuk CKT at restaurant Jamal Muhammad, another halal CKT operated by Chinese stall owner in a Muslim restaurant. 1Malaysia, my friends.
Lau Wan Char Kueh Teow, with prawns, cockles, and soya sauce + cili padi
Lau Wan’s version of CKT is slightly different from your typical Penang style. The end product is quite a lot wetter, with prawns still in their shells and a side of soya sauce with cili padi. Other ingredients are your typical egg, cockles, bean sprouts, chives, and tiny pieces of chai poh (salted vegetable).
I was initially a bit skeptical, but the CKT turned out to be rather good, with plenty of “wok hei”, plenty of zest. This is a must try especially for Muslim friends.
tauhu bakar, KY & Haze
At restaurant Jaya, a RM 4 plate of CKT is best accompanied by a set of tauhu bakar (BBQ taofu) that is packed with rojak sauce, nuts, bean sprouts, and shredded cucumber for RM 2.40.
We had the CKT at night, but I’m quite positive this stall is operational over breakfast/lunch time too (correct me if I’m wrong).
Address:
Lau Wan Char Kueh Teow
Restaurant Jaya, Jalan SS 5/1
Kelana Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.10124, 101.60598
Grilled lamb isn’t usually one of the dishes I associate with road side hawker centre, but right here at Kuchai Lama, you find Cao Cao Grilled Lamb, a stall that specialized solely on grilled lamb (well they do have tofu bakar).
Tagline on the stall – In olden days, Cao Cao command soldiers and generals; Today, Cao Cao only knows how to grill lamb
Jalan Sawi Hawker Centre, off Jalan Kuchai Lama
The hawker centre at Jalan Sawi isn’t tough to find, turn into Jalan Kuchai Lama from Jalan Klang Lama, and you’ll find a row of old school hawker stalls along the road side within 100 meters or so.
We ordered grilled lamb to share, while each also ordered an individual dish for dinner.
Cao Cao Grilled Lamb – cheap and satisfying
The portion of grilled lamb we ordered did take a while to serve, mostly due to the fact that it was grilled on demand. The meat comes with mint sauce as well as chili sauce on the side, but I actually didn’t need any condiment that night.
The lamb was succulent, and carries a tint of taste that’s unmistakably only available from grilling. It was good, and excellent value at RM 8. This reminds me of the equally good grilled lamb at Hing Ket Grilled House at Kg. Jawa, Klang.
duck egg char kueh teow, pork intestine porridge
My “main dish” was a plate of duck egg Char Kueh Teow. While the duck egg did provide a unique old school taste and the prawns were of pretty good size, I wouldn’t give another try. The CKT was still rather average, and a little too wet for my liking. (RM 5 or so).
Haze had much better luck with her pork intestine porridge (猪什粥RM 4-5). The bowl of goodness came complete with coagulated blood, crispy intestine, pork tripe and more. It was as good as the on at Jalan Sayur, Pudu, I wish I had ordered it instead.
Haze and KY
With a couple bowls of tong sui as drinks, dinner ultimately came to about RM 20 for the two of us. The hawker centre at Jalan Sawi is definitely a place worth revisiting just to have the grilled lamb again.
Address:
Cao Cao Grilled Lamb
Jalan Sawi,
Kuchai Lama, Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.091033, 101.67601
Tel: 012-320 6681
Most everyone who are originally from Penang is a fan of Char Kueh Teow, myself included. While this particular dish hasn’t really found its rival outside the island, there are actually several places right here in Klang Valley that are certainly more than good enough to satisfy my cravings from time to time.
Robert Char Kueh Teow at Restaurant Say Huat
I’ve heard and read about Robert Char Kueh Teow quite for quite a while, but for whatever reason the few kopitiams at Seksyen 17 remains to be pretty unexplored to me.
I got the cravings again the other day, and this time I made it a point to head over to this famed stall.
glistering char kueh teow with prawns and lap cheong
The stall is located amongst the dozen of so other offerings within restaurant Say Huat with the friendly owner, Robert, busy frying away. I made our orders, 2 plates of Char Kueh Teow with everything.
Some 10 minutes later, we got our servings. The plate of Char Kueh Teow comes with all the ingredients: flat noodle, bean sprouts, chives, prawns, lap cheong (Chinese sausage), egg, tiny bits of salted vegetable, and of course, lard too.
KY and Haze enjoying char kueh teow
I must say that Robert CKT lives up to the expectations. The combination of all the classic ingredients, and the availability of pork lard of course contributed to the overall “original” Penang CKT taste. Now if only they could add massive prawns….
Address:
Restaurant Say Huat
1083, Jalan 17/29
46400 Selangor
GPS: 3.128818, 101.635305
A couple weeks ago, in the post on char kueh teow at New Yee Sang, Kelana Jaya, a reader by the handler gracieq left a comment that she usually gets her CKT fix at a mamak restaurant near Wisma FAM. That made me very curious, at a mamak restaurant? Char Kueh Teow? Is it even possible?
Glorious char kueh teow
Curiosity got the better of me, a few days ago I did a bit of research and found that boolicious from masak-masak gave very good review about this CKT stall at Restaurant Jamal Mohamed. If it’s good enough for boo, it is good enough for me.
I took my camera and went hunting alone for this impossible restaurant. I consulted google map, it’s actually less than 5 mins away from where I stay, how could I have missed it all these while?
Restaurant Jamal Mohamed with Penang Char Kueh Teow by fat aunty
Unlike most mamak outfits where the owners run everything, restaurant Jamal Mohamed is set up much like most Chinese kopitiam. There are at least half a dozen stalls operated by individual owners.
Sure enough I found what I was looking for. A char kueh teow stall operated by the famous “Fat Aunty”, with a label that simply states “Penang”
income tax department could perhaps count the eggs…
Despite the brisk business, I was still a bit skeptical. This is a mamak restaurant after all. My fingers started to twitch, what if this was all a big mistake?
Then the Char Kueh Teow came. It looked unassuming. I picked up the chopsticks and carefully delivered a small portion into my mouth.
Noms.. noms.. noms…..
Oh boy, the CKT had plenty of umph, it was wet, it was flavorful, and it had everything (sans the super huge prawns only found in Penang) a CKT suppose to have. It was very delicious. I was over the moon.
The best RM4 spent in 2010.
After my meal, I chatted up with the Fat Aunty for a bit. I found out that like me, she hailed from Penang. We conversed in Hokkien, at the restaurant with Indian, Chinese, Malay, and more enjoying their lunch in a hot afternoon. It felt good, I was happy, this is truly Malaysia.
Address:
Restoran Jamal Mohamed
24, Jalan SS5A/9
Kelana Jaya
GPS: 3.095372, 101.605484
