Two weeks ago, I had to go to Tun Hussien Onn National Eye Hospital to get my left eye checked after being hit by the ball during futsal (now pretty much fully recovered.)

Barely a week after that, having been making too much fun on my injured eye, Cheesie too had something on her left eye. So I took her to the same hospital located near Asia Jaya to have a look. As suspected, it was due to allergy to those colored contact lenses she was wearing.

Moral of the story: 1. Karma is a bitch. 2. Love to appreciate your own eye color

Pork Satey at PJ Old Town food court, Gerai Satay Cina Thoo Yuen

After the whole eye opening experience at the hospital where we also met a reader who came up and greeted us, it was time for dinner. Since this part of PJ is quite notorious for its traffic during weekday rush hours, I suggested that we head to PJ Old Town for for some good old cheap and traditional food that also happen to involve my favorite meat – pork.

We ended up at the food court.

Appetizer was 10 sticks of pork satay from Thoo Yuen stall at RM 0.80 per stick. It was quite juicy, and tasted pretty good with the accompanying peanut sauce. I just wish they serve  pork intestine satay too, but they don’t. Bummer.

pork ribs with bitter gourd, steamed tilapia fish with lard at Gerai Thong Kee

To fill our stomach properly, we ordered two dishes from Gerai Thong Kee to go with rice. The stall next to Thong Kee serves umbra juice  with dried sour plum (kedondong in Malay) at RM 2 per glass, nice!

Our first dish was bitter gourd with pork ribs. Quite flavorful with the brown sauce, red chili, and ginger. However, we didn’t have very good cuts of ribs, could have been better, but I’m not really complaining here.

KY and Cheesie at PJ Old Town Food court

Our second dish was this steamed tilapia with spicy sauce as suggested by the owner. The paste tasted a bit like tomyam, and went really well with the fish. However, the secret ingredient that made this otherwise very normal dish good was the lard on top.

Adding lard (be it raw or fried lard) on steamed fish gives the fish meat a softer and smoother texture, and of course, that pork fat flavor. I do that too when steaming pomphret fish (hey, I cook too ok)

The two dishes with rice came to RM 28, that’s fish, meat, and vegetable in a balanced meal. Now both of us needs to put eye drops, *drips drips*

Address:
Intersection of
Jalan Othman & Jalan Selangor
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.087519, 101.645948

BB Update

By default, when you reply or send a new email from Blackberry, a default signature is attached at the end of the message. As with any email clients, you can always change the default signature into something that you deem appropriate.

Before this morning, mine said “Sent from my Mobile”.  Now it says “Sent from my awesome Blackberry”.

This girl used to not understand why BB is so addictive and now she’s the biggest advocate and addict there is. Cis! You can get your very own BB 8520 at a very good price from Xpax BB!

Tags:  cheesie,  lard,  old-town,  pork,  steamed-fish,  tilapia

Posted by KY | 27 Comments »

PJ is one of the oldest townships in Klang Valley with it’s oldest part aptly called Old Town. In this part of the valley, you can find quite a number of eateries older folks are familiar with.

As a general rule of thumb, older establishments that withstood the test of time usually offers better foods, which is why once in a while we’d head to the food court at PJ old town for some good old fashion hawker food.

sting ray curry, vinegar pork, and chicken rice

The last time we went was a few weeks ago, and this time around we ordered the curry fish from Gerai Seong Kee. There were a few types of fish to choose from, we ordered a big clay pot of stingray curry mainly due to the lack of hazard in fish bones.

I almost always choose stingray when it comes to ikan bakar as well. It’s just a lot easier, not to mention the fact that I actually love the way it tastes.

clay pot stingray curry fish from Seong Kee

Rather than ordering white rice to go with the curry fish, we got a serving of pork knuckle with vinegar and a plate of roast pork and roast chicken from Kie Kee chicken rice. This way, we get to have four different dishes with chicken rice instead of plain tasting normal steamed rice.

The concept is pretty much like how you’d dine in a Tai Chow place, except this is actually a food court.

roast chicken, roast pork, and pork knuckle with vinegar from Kie Kee

As it turned out, the rich and creamy santan based curry fish actually does go very well with chicken rice. Combination of cabbage, brinjal, ladies finger and that soft silky stingray meat mixes well with the slightly oily rice.

The pork knuckle was fatty and quite strong tasting, just the way I like it. The best thing is, alternating the few dishes ensures that your palate doesn’t go dull by having the same taste throughout the entire meal. It was good.

Best of all, the lunch session didn’t exactly cost us an arm and a leg, it’s in a food court after all. However, the serving from Kie Kee seems to be getting smaller and smaller while the price basically remains rather cheap. I guess you can’t escape from inflation after all.

Address:
Intersection of
Jalan Othman & Jalan Selangor
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.087519, 101.645948

Tags:  chicken-rice,  curry,  horng,  kerol,  old-town,  rachel

Posted by KY | 20 Comments »

One of my favorite dinner Bak Kut Teh destinations was always been at PJ old town. For the longest time, I actually didn’t notice the existence of Meng Kee Bak Kut Teh despite having been to Heng Kee just a stone’s throw away in numerous occasions.

Meng Kee Bak Kut Teh with all sorts of ingredients to choose from

Meng Kee is located right opposite Public Bank at Old Town at a corner shop that is basically almost all alfresco with no table within the walls. The whole set up is more old school, quite a lot more disorganized, and even busier than Heng Kee.

On the Monday night we were there, it was packed and we actually had to wait for some 10 minutes before a table was available for the six of us. It took a further 20 minutes or so before our food was served.

pork ribs, vegetable, 3 layer fatty pork, braised mushroom

Just like the other Old Town bak kut teh, the dishes are served in plastic bowls instead of clay pots. Personally I don’t find any distinction between having my meat in a clay pot or a bowl. You should eat bak kut teh fast enough that the soup stay warm irregardless of the type of container used.

We ordered 3-layer fatty pork, ribs, braised mushroom, vegetable, a small portion of intestines and tripes, and tofu.

KY, Ginny, Mellissa, AmCheong, Yee Hou, Firdy

The meat, fatty pork, ribs, innards, alongside with the teow chew style bak kut teh soup was good, on par with some of the bests out there. The mushroom and vegetable was alright too, though not particularly special. Tofu was a little too oily but I think it was due to the fact that they rushed it.

There are people we claimed that Meng Kee is better than Heng Kee, but honestly speaking I find no significant difference between the two and would probably prefer the latter’s slightly more comfortable dining experience. That said, Meng Kee does have the more old school nostalgic feel to it that works in its favor for that all important psychological effect.

Meng Kee BKT is located opposite Public Bank at PJ Old Town

Address:
Meng Kee Bak Kut Teh
Jalan Pasar 1/21
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.086565,101.646044
Tel: 017-291 1745

Tags:  amcheong,  Bak Kut Teh,  bkt,  firdy,  ginny,  mellissa,  old-town,  yee hou

Posted by KY | 31 Comments »

Scouring for lunch one weekend afternoon, we somehow arrived at PJ old town food court. Since my house mate recommended the chicken rice, we did not bother to really look for anything else over there.

the girls are enjoying their lunch

This Kie Kee chicken rice stall has been in operation for many years, and actually serves more than just chicken rice. They have roasted pork (siu yok), bbq pork (char siu), chicken with mushroom, and even curry chicken and curry pork. Of course, the standard steamed chicken and roasted chicken are available, there’s porridge too.

I ordered a plate of dark meat roasted chicken with siu yok, while the other noobs had chicken with char siu, and siu yok with curry sauce. The food were actually rather good, the chicken prepared boneless, and the pork tasted like how they should be. Most importantly, the chili sauce was really nice. I maintain that one of the most important ingredients for chicken rice is the chili sauce, this place didn’t disappoint.

roasted chicken, roasted pork, bbq pork, curry

While many other places sells chicken rice for no less than RM 3.50 for a plain chicken and rice dish, and RM 4.00 to RM 4.50 for combo; Kie Kee only charges RM 3.50 for combo and RM 3.00 for a normal plate. Pretty cheap for PJ standard.

the food court is situated opposite the bus terminal

Give it a try if you are going to old town. There are a couple stalls that sell Chinese satay, and the ais kacang is very delicious too.

Address:
Intersection of
Jalan Othman & Jalan Selangor
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.087519, 101.645948

Tags:  char-siu,  chicken-rice,  curry,  food-court,  hawker,  kerol,  old-town,  PJ,  roasted-pork,  siu-yok,  val

Posted by KY | 24 Comments »

After posting about the clay pot chicken rice at Damansara Jaya, a few of you have suggested me to give Veng Soon at PJ old town a try. Since I have been going to PJ old town quite often lately, I figured why not?

restaurant Veng Soon, leng lui spotted

Veng Soon has a typical kopitiam set up with a pretty clean environment. On their menu is the chicken rice, over half dozen types of steamed soup, and a few types of oily vegetable, pretty much what you would expect from such a place.

For the three of us, we ordered 3 portions of chicken rice, water cress soup (西洋菜), pork tripe soup, and Chinese Broccoli (kailan) oily vegetable (油菜).

note the raw ginger garnish on top of the rice

The two bowls of soup came first, and they were very good, especially the pork tripe, not overpowered by the strong pepper taste. As for the clay pot chicken rice, it was every bit just as good as the offering from Damansara Jaya. Plenty of chicken, lapcheong, and salted fish while having the rice not too dry nor wet. The biggest difference between the two places is generous portion of raw ginger strips as garnish at Veng Soon. I find the extra garnish goes rather well with the dish, adding a slightly different dimension of taste to it. As for the oily vegetable, it was just average.

just a short walk from the bus terminal

The dinner costs us about RM 10 per person, a fair price. The chicken rice were cooked with gas stove instead of charcoal fire, however, I do not find any difference in the taste that might contribute from the method of cooking at all.

Address:
No. F19, Jalan 1/21,
46000 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.086276, 101.646205

Tags:  chicken,  chicken-rice,  clay-pot,  margie,  old-town,  PJ

Posted by KY | 12 Comments »