Steamboat has always been one of my favorite type of Chinese food. There are mainly two types of steamboat places around, ala carte/set, and buffet style. While some swear by the buffet places such as Yuen at Sunway, I actually prefer the former version more. I find it usually a lot less stressful, and you don’t ever get the feeling of having to try to gorge yourself just to squeeze a bigger bang for the bucks.
Xin Chun Steamboat – Pulau Ketam style
A couple weeks ago I joined the guys at a simple dinner at Xin Chun Seafood Steamboat Restaurant at Kota Damansara. The place was pretty busy when we got there, the tables inside the restaurant were all filled up, and there are even tents set next to it shop filled with even more diners.
a glorious pot of steamboat
Since we aren’t exactly teenagers in puberty anymore, only three single set of steamboat is ordered (RM 13.50 per set). The set comes with prawns, dumpling, fish meat, pork ball, fishball, tofu skin, corn & carrot (to sweeten the soup), vegetable, egg, noodle, and a few of those other fishball lookalike thingy.
dumpling, steamboat set, condiment, pork slice
For good measures, we also ordered a plate of sliced pork and dumpling.
The most important ingredient at these Pulau Ketam style steamboat places is the sambal, and it doesn’t disappoint at Xin Chun. The sambal’s spicy and flavorful, if you like a bit of complexity, add the fried shallots in it.
While the soup isn’t as great as the one with herbs at Damansara Village (extra charge of course), it holds up on its own pretty well. The ingredients were good though, I particularly like the sliced pork and their very yummy dumplings.
Other dishes available at Xin Chun includes crab meehun, lala meehun, deep fried fish head, steamed clams and so forth, perhaps we should try those too next time.
With drinks, our dinner came up to less around RM 15 per person, simple, satisfying, and pretty economical. No wonder there’s the big crowd.
Address:
Xin Chun Seafood Steamboat
No 15, Jln PJU 5/3,
Dataran Sunway, Kota Damansara,
47810 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.15188, 101.59548
Tel: 012-544 5582
Hoho steamboat is probably one of the earliest “pulau ketam” type steamboat in town, it has been operating for so long that Kim said her parents actually dated there. It is then safe to say that this place has been in operation for well over two decades.
Hoho steamboat, established since forever
Housed at the same premise as the pretty well known Ipoh Road Yong Tau Foo at Segambut just a stone’s throw away from the intersection of Jalan Kuching and Jalan Duta, the restaurant is converted from a former Bungalow with ample parking space. There are tables inside the building, under the tin roof (with fans and ample lights), as well as under the moon light. The usual ingredients for pulau ketam style steamboat.
steamboat set, deep fried dumplings, bacon strips
Most of the porkgang and two extra guests braced the traffic last Friday evening for a good steamboat meal thanks to the suggestion by Cheesie.
For the eleven of us, we ordered steamboat set for nine pax that includes dumplings, pork balls, fish balls, fish noodle, tofu, prawns, vegetable, tofu skin, eggs, noodles (yee mee), mee hun, quail’s eggs, and fish cubes.
Kim and Cheesie doing the hardwork
We added a couple plates of deep fried dumplings to munch while waiting for the soup to boil, and they are actually rather delicious.
Other extra orders we had were clams (to make the soup sweeter), quail’s eggs (cos Eric has low cholesterol), and of course, extra pork balls and some raw bacon. Hoho is one of the very few steamboat places that offers bacon strips, the concept is a bit new to me as I usually like my bacon fried, but the boiled version is actually pretty nice too.
Haze is a very happy girl. Jac doing the “cooking”
Due to a bit of miscommunication, we ordered both tomyam and clear soup for our pot. While the tomyam soup turned out to be pretty tasty, I usually prefer to have only the clear soup. Having the pot split down the middle with two soup base that has very different tastes is usually not a great idea as they tend to mix up quite a bit when boiling.
The sambal supplied by Hoho steamboat is rather potent and fragrant too. To me a pulau ketam steamboat is never complete without good sambal, and this place does not disappoint when it comes to that.
Though not the absolute best out there, the combination of price (less than RM 25/pax with drinks), taste, and experience does make Hoho steamboat a place worth visiting. By the way, they have the best URL too: steamboat.com.my
Address:
Hoho Steamboat
67, Jalan Segambut,
Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.180645, 101.677523
Tel: +603-6252 6473
I usually make it a point to not review the same restaurant more than once, but when Kong called me up and told me about the hairy crab menu at Dragon-i, temptations got the better of my crab/crap policy.
The first time I had hairy crab (Chinese mitten crab 大閘蟹) was at Restaurant King Crab almost 2 years ago. It gave me a impression not entirely unlike the first taste of foie gras, the roe/juice from hairy crab has a very unique richness and taste.
The hairy crab set menu goes for RM128 nett, not for the faint hearted
Hairy crab served at Dragon-i is harvested and air flown weekly from Tai Lake, China. The season starts at around September and runs through December every year.
The set menu is priced at RM 128 nett per person (min 3 pax) with six dishes – steamed Shanghainese hairy crab, steamed Shanghainese crab roe dumpling (xiao long pao), double-boiled superior chicken soup with fish maw & bamboo pith, sauteed fresh vegetable with crab roe, yong chow fried rice, and sesame dumpling with ginger soup.
the crab is steamed and then masterfully prepared for your consumption
As with most classic Chinese dinners, we started out with the double boiled superior chicken soup with fish maw and bamboo pith. The soup was subtle yet sophisticated, I really love the big slab of fish maw and different texture given by the bamboo pith. Adding a little bit of soya sauce makes it rather tasty.
double boiled soup, vegetable with crab roe, yong chow fried rice
Next up was the sauteed vegetable with crab roe, a simple and unassuming looking dish that turned out to be very good. The richness and crab roe balanced by fresh green vegetable that is sauteed ever just slightly. A very good combination.
Dragon-i’s famous xiao long pao was served next. Only this time they’re topped with crab roe much like the style more associated with Japanese food. I particularly like the tiny tray with a handle they used to hold the xiao long pao, even the ginger in vinegar is meticulously chopped. Every strand is equal in length and width.
cheesie showing the xiao long pao topped with crab roe
Yong Chow fried rice was served just before the hairy crab itself. Although a relatively common fried rice dish you can find basically in any Chinese restaurant in Malaysia, the fried rice at Dragon-i was something else. Prepared by chef Kung Yu Hung who is actually from Yangzhou (that’s Yong Chow in Mandarin) itself, the rice is fried with bits of char siu, egg, green onion, prawn, and of course, hairy crab meat. It is on par with the excellent fried rice I had at Elegant Inn.
chef Kung Yu Hung, KY, glutinous rice dumpling with sesame
The main dish of the day, hairy crab, was up next. Simply steamed with no extra ingredients added, the crab is then prepared by our very professional server. The shell is opened, each leg is then cut and the crab meat pushed slightly outwards, the pincers too were cracked for easier consumption.
We had a male crab of about 200+ gram (female for the roe, male has more meat) each. The “kou”, technically not roe since these were male crabs, was supremely rich and savory. They are similar to “kou” found in the mud crab we are more familiar with but several order tastier, for the lack of a better description. The meat too was sweet and very delicious.
Kong (left) and fellow comrades who enjoyed the lunch session
We capped the day by having sesame dumpling with ginger soup as dessert, the ginger soup was something good to wash the tongue off any lingering seafood taste, and the sesame dumpling was rather good too.
Overall it was a very satisfying food review session that was only made better by the company we were with. Meena (who was shortlisted on Nuffnang Awards for best food blog), KampungboyCitygirl, fatboybakes, Cumi&Ciki, and more were there and everyone had a great time.
Address:
Dragon-i
6 Jalan PJU 7/3
Lot 136 & 137, 1F
Mutiara Damansara, PJ, Selangor
GPS: 3.157699, 101.611540
Tel: 03-7728 6888
The hairy crab menu ca n also be found at Dragon-i outlets located at Pavilion, Mid Valley, 1 Utama, Sunway Pyramid, and Queensbay Mall in Penang.
After one too many postings on parties and relatively pricey food, I think it is about time to write about something most everyone afford to eat in this economy. A good old plate of wan tan mee at Restaurant Ho Weng Kee, strategically located at the commercial area in PJ most recognized for its food offerings, SS2.
no air conditioning nor fancy tables
This particular kopitiam specializes in wan tan mee with its various differing types of ingredients. You can have them with braised chicken feet and mushroom, curry chicken, prawn dumplings,beef, shredded chicken meat, and so on. I usually prefer mine the old fashion way, dried noodle with char siu, and a small bowl of wan tan soup with spring onion served separately. To me, wan tan mee never not complete without pickled green chili.
old fashion char siu and wan tan with noodle
For this particular brunch session, we ordered 2 plates of old fashion wan tan mee, and a serving of deep fried dumplings as appetizer.
The fried dumplings were actually very very good! freshly fried with very crunchy skin and meaty yet with appropriate amount of other such as fungus, very juicy and tasted awesome. This was one of the better fried dumplings I had in a long time.
pickled green chili and the very good fried dumplings
The wan tan mee, on the other hand, were pretty decent in their own right. Char Siu could be a little thin, and while better tasting than most places, it falls short of hock lim at PJ State as far as char siu in wan tan mee goes.
Over all the meal was a pretty good one though, I helped myself with plenty of pickled green chili, and that fried dumpling was just pure ecstasy. I shall order the dumpling on my next visit and perhaps try their other wan tan mee varieties.
ho weng kee is on the street parallel to LDP
As for price, Ho Weng Kee charges slightly more than your normal kopitiam with hawker stalls. A plate of wan tan mee goes for RM 4.50 to RM 5.80 depending on the ingredients chosen. I still find it pretty reasonable.
Address:
32, Jalan SS2/66
Petaling Jaya
Selangor Darul Ehsan
GPS: 3.119294, 101.620284
Opens for breakfast and lunch, closes on Tuesdays
Every once in a while, we drive out to have lunch with colleagues and friends even though there are plenty of choices within walking distance at KLCC. Our destination last week was Charn Kee Tasty Corner at Jalan Alor, Nicholas (the driver) recommended the famous clay pot fish paste noodle he has been eating ever since he was a little boy.
a kopitiam set up, with illustrated menu
The restaurant (kopitiam set up) serves several dishes, with illustrated menu to aid the selection process for the uninformed. Naturally I have to try the clay pot fish paste noodle, the other noobs had the dry version of fish paste noodle and the lam mee (something similar to loh mee). We also ordered extra dumplings and fish balls to share.
lam mee, fish paste noodle dry and soup version, dumplings and more fish balls
Even though it was at busy lunch hour, food didn’t take too long to arrive. The clay pot fish paste noodle was really good, reminded me of the same dish that I had at Kota Kinabalu some years ago. The fish paste and prawns complimented the noodle nicely and give the soup a subtle seafood taste. I particularly like the strong chili paste that accompanies the dish.
My colleagues returned very positive verdicts on their respective dishes too. The extra fish balls and extra dumplings were very good as well. The texture of the fish ball were just perfect.
look at the happy bunch!
Price wise, Charn Kee is pretty reasonable, if my memory serves me correct, the meal costs less than RM 8 per person inclusive drinks. This is going to be one of the places to eat in KL for me.
Charn Kee at Jalan Alor is just a short walk from Bukit Bintang area
Address:
No 35, Jalan Alor,
50200 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.145797, 101.708819
7:30am to 4:30pm, close on Monday
