Portuguese grilled fish is a bit like chicken Maryland. If you head to wikipedia and search for Portuguese cuisine, there won’t be any dish described in there that is remotely close to what we are familiar with as Portuguese grilled fish. Similarly, I’ve been to Maryland a few times without ever encountering our version of this Western food chicken dish.
Nevertheless, along with such terms like Balinese cats that aren’t from Bali, we know what we’re getting into when we order Portuguese grilled fish, and we don’t expect it to be Cristiano Ronaldo’s favorite dish.
this stall has been around for decades
My very first experience with this version of grilled fish was actually at this famous stall at Petaling Street probably some 15 years ago when I was studying at Subang Jaya, and it wasn’t just a few weeks ago that I finally pay a return visit after all these while.
15 years ago, Petaling Street had no roof, the stall operators were mostly locals selling counterfeit products, and the Portuguese grill fish operation was a stall next to Hong Leong bank.
Today, the street has a shiny roof, stalls are manned by Banglas & Nepalis selling the same counterfeit products, and nothing has changed to the Portuguese grill fish stall.
medium portion with squid, lala, and sting ray
A portion of grilled fish starts at RM 5 (kembung) & RM 7 (stingray, tilapia, chicken fish) and comes with one serving of rice. The version we ordered had string ray, lala, and squid in medium portion and cost an affordable RM 15.
Other than fish, you can order prawns, squid, bamboo shoots, and chicken wings, and the combination of them.
The preparation method seems fairly straight forward – the ingredients are chucked into aluminum foil, and then cooked over charcoal fire. Waiting time is usually at least 25-35 minutes because everything is cooked from its raw form.
still as good as when I had it for the first time more than 10 yrs ago
While the rice we had that day was a little too wet, the grilled seafood was a blast. Their super spicy sambal is still as addictive as I remember, and there was just no way one could realistically finish the paste without suffering permanent damage to the stomach lining, but we couldn’t stopped ourselves from having just one. more. spoon.
It was another good meal, the old fashion way, and next time, I’m gonna order them with petai. 
Address:
Ikan Panggang Portugis Istimewa
by Hong Leong Bank, Petaling Street
50000 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.144501, 101.697725
Tel: 019 315 9448
To those who loves a good bowl of Loh Mee, Ulu Yam is undoubtedly what springs in mind. For those who has never heard about Ulu Yam, it is sort of a half way point between KL and Fraser Hill, within Batang Kali.
You can also go to Genting via Ulu Yam if you’re the sort who enjoys a bit of spirited driving on winding roads with good scenery, though the journey takes quite a bit longer (and further) compared to the standard toll way.
Swee Yen restaurant at Ulu Yam Lama
A couple weekends ago Haze and I had a little getaway at Fraser’s Hill, and since I have yet to try the famous loh mee, we decided to do just that on a pit stop before heading back to KL.
The only problem about finding Loh Mee in Ulu Yam is that.. which one?! It is almost like the case of Klang bak kut teh or Ampang yong tau foo where a relatively small area is littered with several outlets offering essentially the same thing, you have to know which one to choose.
There were different recommendations from Garmin GPS, Google Maps, and blogs. I settled on Kim’s blog entry. If it’s good enough for her mom, it will be good enough for me.
glorious lor mee, look at the lard!
Since there were just two of us, we ordered a bowl of Loh Mee for two and a lala with superior soup as side order.
The Loh Mee were huge (I think people Ulu Yam must eat only 1 meal a day or something), and true to the reputation, it was fantastic!
There’s a pretty strong taste of vinegar in the thick soup but in a good way. There were also bits of fried lard, some prawns, and meat to complete the dish. It’s easily one of the best Central style Loh Mee I’ve tried.
lala in superior soup
Then there’s the lala in superior soup. This too didn’t come in a small dish, and would probably be a serving for 4 in KL. The shellfish were quite big and juicy, with the superior soup carrying a kick thanks to the addition of chili padi and a healthy dose of ginger with plenty of coriander.
Good stuff.
check out the huge portion of lor mee
It was definitely a very satisfying lunch and we didn’t even manage to finish everything, the servings were just too big.
The bill came to RM 33 for everything, including drinks too. Glad that crazy inflation hasn’t hit small town as bad yet. I’m gonna go there again next time and order terrapin!
Address:
Swee Yen Restaurant
No 38, Jalan Besar, Ulu Yam Lama,
43300 Batang Kali,
Selangor Darul Ehsan
GPS: 3.4546, 101.64073
Tel: 03-6075 1123, 012-360 4837
The funny thing about foodie is that we often go on a long journey to sample something that we heard is good, but at the same time ignores the more famous eateries that are much closer to us. One of such places that I’ve managed to ignore for the past 7 years or so is the steamboat place Yat Yeh Heng,
Yat Yeh Heng is what steamboat is all about this part of Klang Valley, way before the rise in prominence of the various “pulau ketam” steamboat places, buffet style steamboats like Yuen, or the slightly more luxurious style like Damansara Village steamboat.
awesome chicken wings, and pretty good fried lala
The only reason Yat Yeh Heng eluded me all these while was the simple fact that the restaurant is located too near from where I stay.
Anyway, not too long ago we finally found ourselves at the area looking for something to eat, and decided to finally give this place a try. Alongside with 4 portions of standard steamboat set, we also ordered extra serving of fish meat, a plate of kam heong fried lala, and their famous fried chicken wings.
old school ingredients, awesome steamboat
Service wasn’t the fastest when there wasn’t even very packed there, but Yat Yeh Heng does redeem itself as soon as the lala and chicken wings arrived at the table. They were delicious!
The lala is comparable to the one at Alisan, and the chicken wings were simply superb, it must be one of the best I’ve had.
As for the steamboat, the soup were good, and ingredients pretty fresh as well. Together with the chili paste plus fried shallots (I always love to mix them), it is about as good as any steamboat places, except you won’t fret over finding a place to park at Yat Yeh Heng. We had both tomyam and clear soup, and I’d suggest you to start with clear soup before tomyam lest you want to not taste the former.
Together with drinks, the total bill came up to RM 133 for 7 of us, slightly less than RM 20 per pax. Satisfying dinner indeed, steamboat doesn’t need to always be in buffet format.
During lunch time, the same restaurant has a very famous and super busy chicken rice stall.
Address:
33, Jalan SS 4D/2,
People’s Park,
47301 Petaling Jaya
GPS: 3.112802, 101.599245
Tel:012-629 4807
Remember the previous post about the mysterious sign? I also posted a video on facebook, the same one like below:
Apparently these “signs” are appearing everywhere, and there’s already a guy hot on it’s trail. Check out this dedicated blog – Lambang Misteri. I’ve also seen the same signs at a few places in KL while at work.
A document related to this phenomena were recently uncovered and there appears to be a link – kolony.com.my. The mystery is soon to be revealed, I believe, but the link isn’t working for me at this time.. ermm…
What’s better than an ice cold beer? A frozen beer of course!
I’ve heard about this wonderful concoction from Gareth several years ago, so when Cheesie, Kim, Jojo, and I were shooting Project Alpha season 2 at Lost World of Tambun, we made it a point to have dinner there.
super chilled beer poured on frozen mug = frozen beer!
After spending a good 20-30 minutes looking for the place and almost ended up at a wrong shop with a deceptively similar name, we finally sat our collective butts on the table. Except this time around the 5 of us sat at a semi-circle aka TVB style dinner, and I got to do the food review in the video below:
Before talking about the food, lets concentrate on the frozen beer for a moment. The idea is actually pretty simple, the beer is chilled till it’s almost frozen, I’m guessing probably below 4 C.
The beer glasses are super chilled separately, and when the two meets, the beer foam is instantly frozen, and the beer itself remained super cold but in liquid form. The beer tasted super awesome! I’m not sure you can do this at home, but I think it’s worth a try, just don’t leave your beer in the freezer though.
tofu, kung pao chicken, vegetable, fried lala
Since the shop uses a super cool and ultra efficient wireless PDA for ordering, we ended up asking for way too much food. The five of us had 7 dishes, and later added on 2 other side dishes since we found out Jojo doesn’t eat seafood, at all!
We had tofu with minced meat, kung pao chicken, and vegetable (vitamin c quota ) for the non seafood dishes. While the tofu and vegetable dishes were pretty decent, the kung pao chicken was rather good, it had a good “wok hei” going on. Those were the only dishes Jojo eats, FHL.
mantis prawn, steamed pak sou kong, steamed frog
As for the seafood dishes, we had deep fried mantis prawn, steamed cat fish (pak sou kong), steamed frog with chicken essence, and fried lala.
Other than the fish which tasted rather ordinary, the other 3 dishes were excellent. The mantis prawns was my favorite, deep fried, salted, and with fresh chili all over, it packed a punch and was really flavorful. The steamed frog with chicken essence were very sweet too, Kim loved that max!
stuffed chicken wings, frozen beer, satay
Since Jojo were only able to have 3 out of those 7 dishes, we ordered stuffed chicken wings and satay for the tv celeb without telling her that the wings are stuffed with a variety of ingredients including mutton and fish. We liked it, and so did Jojo, but she almost killed me when I told her they had fish in them.
The stuffed wings are a must order item, and it’s sold by this old lady that has a stall next to Yoon Wah. Don’t miss out if you’re there. The satay though, was forgettable.
Kim, Gareth, Jojo, KY, and Cheesie
Since this was for Project Alpha, the production treated us dinner and I didn’t manage to find out the exact price of the feast. But from all the other blogs and comments, Yoon Wah seems to charge pretty reasonably. So if you’re in Ipoh, get some frozen beer and good seafood there.
Address:
Kafe Sun Yoon Wah
No. 7, Jln Bijeh Timah,
30000 Ipoh, Perak
GPS: 4.596231, 101.078977
Tel: 05-253 9980
Check out our other Project Alpha season 2 videos too!
Ep 26 – Musing around at Lost world of Tambun
Ep 27 – Photoshoot with Jojo & Cheesie, with snakes!
Ep 29 – Gareth spilling Kim’s secrets
Ep 30 – Terribly cute Racoons
Ep 31 – KY enters the Serpentarium
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
