I’ve  heard of Restaurant Ahwa and it’s famous Hokkien Mee (not prawn mee) for a long time. However, for some reasons it took me years to finally go there despite staying only some 2 kilometers away.

What followed was a second visit just days after the first, the reputation for this place is indeed well deserved.

Restaurant Ahwa, hokkien mee, wat tan hor, and more

Restaurant Ahwa is located just next to the Shell gas station on Jalan 222, just a short turning from Federal Highway Jalan 222 exit. Parking is usually not a very trying affair as there is only a single row of shops where the restaurant is located. Looking for a place to sit though, might prove to be slightly harder as the restaurant is rather busy.

wat tan hor, hokkien mee, loh bak, and lala

On the first visit, horng and I ordered hokkien mee for two and we added a plate of loh bak for good measures.

The Hokkein Mee (RM 12 for 2) was rather good. Dark, rich, and of course, with bits of fried pork lad. I would say this place is on par with the other famous Hokkien Mee stall at Chow Yang. It did not disappoint despite the fact that KL style Hokkien Mee isn’t exactly my favorite hawker foods.

The loh bak was pretty satisfactory, but we’ve had better prawn fritters though, (the one outside Pudu Plaza comes to mind).

pickled green chili and red chili paste for the taking

On my second visit with Kerol, we ordered Wat Tan Hor (RM 12 for 2, flat noodle with egg gravy) for two with a plate of lala and a couple deep fried chicken wings as appetizers.

Perhaps it’s a personal taste, but I do like their wat tan hor more than the hokkien mee this place is famous for. The gravy was thick and savory, the flat noodle flavorful.

The lala (RM 11) too were juicy and spicy, which makes it a perfect appetizer. I wish we had ordered a bigger serving though. As for the chicken wings, they were decent enough as normal deep fried belacan marinated chicken wings, but not something to shout about since I still think mom makes the best belacan chicken wings on the surface of the earth.

On both occasions though, we ended up pretty satisfied while not exactly having to scotch the wallet for a sumptuous no nonsense KL hawker food. I shall return to this kopitiam again and again.

restaurant ahwa is located next to the Shell station along Jalan 222

Address:
Restaurant Ahwa
66, Jalan 14/48,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.096657, 101.629441

Tags:  222,  chicken wing,  hawker,  hokkien-mee,  horng,  kerol,  kopitiam,  lala,  loh bak,  wat tan hor

Posted by KY | 30 Comments »

It’s quite amazing how I completely missed writing about this place despite having been eating here since seemingly forever. The lala and noodles at Mei Yun restaurant in Taman Paramount needs no introduction to many of the dwellers at PJ, having been in operation for well over a decade and still using traditional charcoal fire to cook all their dishes.

charcoal powered

Just before heading to the soft launch of Bondai Grill & Pub at the Curve a couple weekends ago, the gang (my ex housemates) and I decided to have a quick dinner. Since we were at the area and lala was in my mind, this place came as a natural choice.

lala, more lala, and noodles

For the five of us, we ordered two types of lala. The kam heong (spicy), and siong thong (soup), as well as hokkien mee and wat tan hor (flat noodle with egg) in portions for two person.

It didn’t take long for the siong tong lala to come, and boy the portion was huge. I reckon there must be over a hundred pretty decent size clams in the pot. The soup was pretty subtle and the lala retains it’s natural taste. It was pretty nice as the lala were rather fresh.

a bunch of old timers

The kam heong lala, while not as good as the one served up at Alisan SS4, still did the seafood justice. Slightly spicy and a bit stronger tasting than the previous type. Again, the portion was pretty big.

The two types of noodles we had were equally good. Hokkien mee comes with just enough pork lard to give it a proper taste, while wat tan hor was smooth and flavorful, with egg yolks providing that extra color and savory sensation.

mei yun restaurant is located at taman paramount

The best part was, for five person, that entire dinner only costs RM 42. The shop operates from dinner till late.

Address:
Jalan 20/7,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.110242, 101.627129

Tags:  hawker,  kopitiam,  lala,  noodle,  paramount

Posted by KY | 34 Comments »

While Cheddie paid a visit to KL about 2 months ago, Cheesie and I went for a seafood dinner to commemorate nothing at all. I’ve decided that Lala Chong be the destination since I’ve heard about the place for the longest time but have yet to give it a try.

it was very packed

Lala Chong looks to be a halal place with many female Muslim working as servers. However, mud crab is served though, so I guess it would be up to individual’s interpretation on the appropriateness to eat here if you embrace Islam.

Anyway, for the two of us we ordered three dishes. A shiong thong 上汤 lala, baked crab, and a spicy paku pakis (fern) to go with some rice. The place was really packed on that Friday night, but luckily food didn’t take too long to arrive.

lala, paku pakis (fern), baked crab, cheesie & cheddie

The shiong thong 上汤 lala was cooked in this herbal soup with some chili padi, it was pretty good but unfortunately the shellfish lacks in size. For a place with the name Lala in it, I think that’s a bit wrong.

However, the baked crab was fantastic. I think only salt, plenty of ginger, and some chili padi were used; but the crab was very fresh, very sweet, and very very juicy. I really liked it. No thick sauce to mask the original taste of crab, and no messy wet fingers to deal with either.

Cheesie’s favorite dish was the paku pakis with canned tuna. I find it very interesting too, the texture of paku pakis is unlike other vegetables, and the taste of tuna, chili, and garlic made it a pretty unique experience. Can’t really have it without rice though.

Lala Chong is just opposite Terminal 3, Subang Airport

If I remember correctly, the dinner costs some RM 70 for the two of us. Pretty reasonable for what we had.

A little boy was really amused with Cheddie that night, as evident from that picture. I think he was asking if he could have her baked.

Address:
Lot PT 6824, Terminal 3,
Abdul Aziz Shah Airport,
47200 Subang, Selangor
GPS: 3.135145, 101.553626
Tel: 03-7859 1906

Tags:  cheddie,  cheesie,  crab,  lala,  paku pakis,  seafood,  subang,  tuna

Posted by KY | 48 Comments »

Lala is of course, is most commonly associated with the description of female who dresses up in horrible fashion with matching technicolor hair from the wrong decade, the male version would be addressed as ahbeng. They also tend to speak in the most accurate manglish (0.5% English, 10% Malay, 50% Chinese dialects, the rest unknown). The whole subculture is so amusing I wonder why there isn’t any PhD thesis written on it.

However, the lala we’re talking about today doesn’t walk on two feet with 4″ platform shoes. We’re talking about the favorite Malaysian shell fish found at many food courts and seafood restaurant, so lest I digress..

fat lala in kam heong style = best

It just occurred to me that I haven’t blogged about the best lala place despite having been eating there since before the inception of this blog, until I went there again a couple of weeks ago with IQG for a yum cha session, and again 2 days ago with Tock for dinner.

At this place, lala is typically served in two methods of cooking, “kam heong” and “shiong thong”. “kam heong”, with curry leaves, plenty of garlic and spicy curry sauce, is by far my favorite. The latter is a slightly soupy version with a lot less kick but most suitable for those who can’t handle hot food.

this place is actually a mamak strip

The thing I love about this place is that the lala is always rather big. The “kam heong” sauce packs a punch and the shell fish not overly done so it retains most of the juice. Imagine the spicy sauce in your mouth, and that sweet lala juice exploding into the mix when you bite on it. Simply irresistible. I mean, just look at the dude’s expression in the photos below. The sauce was so good Tock actually “sapu” it clean with the “chai kueh” from the other stall.

tock can’t get enough of the sauce!

The medium plate of lala costs RM 15, probably slightly on the more expensive side. However, I rather have this once than the others twice due to the quality on both taste as well as the size of the shell fish served. Simply second to none. Give it a try!

alisan is just behind Perodua showroom at SS4

Address:
Jalan SS 2/4A,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.111388, 101.611133

Tags:  lala,  mamak,  seafood,  ss4,  tock

Posted by KY | 41 Comments »

It’s been the second year in the running that I get myself busy and cook the Chinese New Year reunion dinner for my family. It is quite a bit of work compared to pigging ourselves out at some fancy restaurant, but I don’t get many chances of cooking for the family, so why not?

gone with the old, in with the new!

Since my cheap old twin stove has rusted till the point of no return, I decided to get something more hardcore for the kitchen. After scouring around the few electrical appliances stores, I finally get my hands on this hardcore industrial strength Rinnai stove, made in Japan. This baby has a flame thrower ignition sequence, and come complete with thick metal stand that will last me decades. It was RM 185 well spent.

My first dish is the miso soup with Lala (clam).

Ingredients:

• a packet of Lala
• some garlic
• miso paste (or instant miso soup, since I couldn’t find miso paste at Cold Storage)
• a tube of Japanese tofu
• spring onion

Steps:

• clean the Lalas throughly
• mince some garlic and boil them with the Lala
• add miso paste
• add the sliced tofu
• add some chopped spring onion just before serving

Simple isn’t it? Of course, this is only the first of four dishes that I prepared for the night. A little bit of Japanese taste to the traditional Chinese occasion. I’ll blog about the other 3 dishes: Hong Kong Kailan with roasted pork, steamed pomphret, and beef with broccoli in the next few posts.

Gong Xi Fa Chai to you too!

Tags:  chinese-new-year,  cooks,  ky,  lala,  miso,  reunion-dinner,  soup,  tofu

Posted by KY | 8 Comments »