I was first introduced to Restaurant Uncle Meng by a colleague of mine that simply said “the other day we went to this char siu place, it was good, lets go”, or something to that effect. So on one fine Friday over lunch (2 hours lunch wooho0), we drove all the way to Taman Shamelin for some good old BBQ pork.
restaurant uncle meng is actually a kopitiam
We ordered char siu (BBQ pork) and roast chicken for the four of us, and like many other chicken rice places, soup is self served, you can take as many bowls as you like. They have roast pork here as well but it didn’t seemed to be their speciality and hence we decided to opt out on that. We also ordered some rice to go with the meat.
glorious char siu, as good as I’ve ever tasted
You get to choose the fattiness of the char siu, we had ours medium and it was glorious! The meat was super tender and you can cut through the fat just by gently slicing it with a blunt spoon. Accompanying the superb texture was the taste that did not disappoint, it was simple one of the best char siu I’ve ever had.
I found out that Meng Brother is actually the younger brother of Meng Kee char siu at Tengkat Tongshin (now at Jalan Alor), which is also the sibling of the equally superb Meng Kee at Shah Alam. The three brothers seemed to have Cheras, KL, and Shah Alam covered so far as awesome char siu goes.
Sheng here was enjoying his lunch to the fullest extend
As for the soup and roast chicken, they were of pretty decent quality too. If you crave for some good char siu that is priced decently and don’t mind making a drive to Taman Shamelin, check out Meng Brother’s!
Address:
Restaurant Uncle Meng
Jalan 6/91
Taman Shamelin, Cheras
Kuala Lumpur 56100
GPS: 3.123898, 101.738310
Yes, this is yet another curry mee post. More specifically, a curry mee place with coagulated pork blood in the list of ingredients, the only way real curry mee should be.
It is the same back story from Penang One post is what led me to this place.
restaurant Millenium 86 at Seapark
A man’s gotta have his curry mee, and I’m actually glad that this stall is now much closer to home than when it was located at Restaurant Good Food. To me, this means that I don’t need to necessarily wake up before 8:30 for restaurant okay’s curry mee, or brave the traffic to Puchong for Penang One.
glorious Penang style curry mee, with coagulated blood
The curry mee is as good as I remember. Pork blood, prawns, cockles, tofupok, long beans, and of course that slightly charred chili paste with fragrant coconut milk based broth. This is Penang style curry mee as close as you can get, and would have been absolutely perfect if not for the lack of cuttle fish, but I’m not complaining.
If you love curry mee, this is definitely one of the very few places worth going. The operator also offers Kuih Teow Soup, I should try it next. 
map to Restaurant Millenium 86 at Sea Park
Address:
Restaurant Mellenium Eighty Six
Jalan 20/22,
Taman Paramount, Petaling Jaya
GPS: 3.108099, 101.623983
I first came to Restaurant Good Food in search for curry mee, and so when I went back there again to find out that the curry mee has moved (back story in Penang-One food review post), I settled for another favorite of mine instead – the Penang kuih teow soup, or kuih teow th’ng (粿條汤).
restaurant good food at PJ Old Town
Kueh teow soup is a pretty common hawker dish in Penang that is akin to pork noodle in Klang Valley, their soup base is similar, but instead of everything pork, kuih teow soup usually comes with fish balls, shredded chicken (or sometimes duck, or pork), fish cake, and when you are lucky – coagulated blood (of pork or chicken/duck).
kuih teow soup with coagulated blood
The stall at Restaurant Good Food is operated by an old couple who spoke Penang Hokkien (always a good sign), and the kuih teow soup indeed tasted original and comes with all my favorite ingredients, most importantly lard and coagulated blood. It was subtle yet delicious, with the only downside being their somewhat average tasting fish ball.
For kuih teow soup outside the state of Penang, this one is definitely worth eating.
Address:
Restoran Good Food
Jalan Penchala
Seksyen 51,
46000 Petaling Jaya
GPS: 3.087026, 101.641479
morning till 3pm, close every 1st & 3rd Sundays
Restaurant O&S is one of those kopitiams that is always too hot, too humid, and too difficult to get a parking space. Yet despite all these “problems”, it is arguably the busiest kopitiam probably in the whole of PJ.
Over here, sharing a table is a norm, and most of the time you’ll have to wait for a few minutes before you even get to do that. If you want comfort and personal space, don’t bother going there, but if you’re looking for good food, this is where you belong!
yong tau foo at restaurant O&S
On my last visit we had the beef noodle and yong tau foo.
The yong tau foo here is self served. You line up, get a plate, choose your favorite ytf, then give it to the lady who would cut them up and add soup + spring onion for you.
The tofu is smoother than baby’s butt, I never miss them. I haven’t had a disappointing piece of ytf from here, ever. Pretty reasonably priced as well.
yummy beef noodle, one of the underrated stalls here
The beef noodle at O&S is perhaps one of the most underrated stalls. I was introduced to this by Haze, who absolutely loved the broth (very sweet and flavorful). Meat, tripe, beef ball, and a few slices of radish completes the dish, and it would have been perfect had it come with tendon.
The beef noodle is only RM 5.50 to RM 6.50.
Haze and KY enjoying brunch
Other yummy dishes at restaurant O&S includes the prawn mee, laksa, kuih teow soup with coagulated blood, and more!
Address:
Restaurant O&S
Jalan 20/14, Seapark,
Petaling Jaya
GPS: 3.107713, 101.624919
Hours: morning till lunch
Penang is a heaven for supper lovers, and if Gurney Drive is your destination, there isn’t a better place for these few yummy late night dishes than at Song River, one of the old school bangalow turned kopitiam eateries that has been gracing the 1-mile sea side road for decades.
ikan bakar stall does offer quite a few choices of fish, Haze & my sister
During our stay at Penang over Chinese New Year, we were lucky to be within walking distance from this place, the photos on this post were compiled from a few visits. Though I’d love to eat all these in a single seating… only my limited stomach space saves me from doing that.
The first must-have at Song River is the ikan bakar/ikan panggang (grill fish). As with most other places, you get to choose from 3-4 different types of fishes as well as prawns or squid. My go-to choice is always sting ray.
ikan bakar – positively hot
The wait time at this stall can sometimes be quite substantial, but the honest (or sometimes very blunt) operator will usually tell you up front: “have to wait 30 minutes wan”. Fine with me.
The grill fish here tastes almost completely different from anywhere else. The fish is covered in a special sauce that has a strong presence of fermented beans, belacan, chili, and shallots. The flavor is so intense that very little of the sauce on the side (which is probably made from similar ingredients) is needed.
This will leave the weak with inflamed tongue, but definitely worth it!
Song River bbq chicken wings
While waiting for the ikan bakar, you should grab some bbq chicken wings as appetizer.
For RM 2.20 a pop (or was it RM 2?), this is also one of the best chicken wings in town. The operator has perfected the BBQ timing to give the skin that crispy texture that you get just before screwing up and burning the whole thing (I usually mess this up).
This while the meat is tender, juicy, and the accompanying chili sauce is yummy too. They also serve BBQ drumstick and thigh.
cuttle fish with kangkung, classic Penang “junk” food
And while you’re at it, why not some cuttle fish with kangkung too?
The version here is not shabby either. This plate was RM 10 and came with plenty of cuttle fish with kangkung soaked in delicious prawn paste and chili sauce, good stuff.
You usually won’t need to wait for more than 5 minutes for this dish.
and this is how you have supper in Penang
All that is missing from these supper is of course, some ice cold beer. Damn it I am missing Penang food again.
Address:
Song River Cafe
65 Persiaran Gurney,
Georgetown, Penang
GPS: 5.432392,100.31738
Tel: 012-488 8275
Tel: 017-477 7938 (chicken wings)
