I always thought that Mini Apom is only found in but two stalls in Penang situated right outside Union Primary School at Jalan Burma, and every time I went back to the island of good eats, getting my stomach stuffed with these was always in the list of things to do.
Well, now I can do that right here at PJ’s Ming Tien food court.
Penang apom, comes in two flavors
The Penang Apom stall is situated on the far right of the food court, manned by an operator from Penang who moved down to KL some 7-8 years ago (and speaks perfect Penang Hokkien, of course).
The mini apom comes either with sweet corns or banana slice in them and you get 5 pieces for RM 3. The taste is as good as those found in Penang, and definitely worth the money paid for. The only downside is that if the apom’s been sitting on the shelves for a while they tend to get cold and wouldn’t taste quite as good. Then again, 15-20 seconds in a microwave would fix that, or you could perhaps insist on freshly made ones.
The stall operates from about 5 pm till late, they also offer regular apom.
chicken porridge – simple comfort food
The chicken porridge stall at Ming Tien food court now has a pair of new operators that is familiar to anyone who frequents SS 2 mamak square. The kids that used to help out at the chicken rice stall at SS 2 are now running the show.
I’ve always loved their silky smooth steamed chicken, so it was my dinner choice the other night as I was looking for some comfort food to fill my stomach.
chicken porridge at Ming Tien, originally from SS2 mamak
The chicken was identical to those offered at their parents’ stall, and the porridge too were quite flavorful in itself, with the dash of sesame oil, white pepper, and soya sauce. Bean sprouts is also offered as a separate dish, and on top of that, there’s chicken liver and gizzards as well.
It’s a shame that they don’t serve chicken rice here (most likely due to presence of other chicken rice stalls at the food court), but if you’re looking for some good chicken porridge, this is definitely one of them.
Address:
Ming Tien Hawker Center
Jalan SS24/8, Taman Megah,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.114334, 101.611658
Penang One restaurant, oh how I am glad I found you. Even though you are located at this god forsaken place that is ruled by the trafic devil, I will still visit you whenever my cravings for Penang food arises.
The back story: last Saturday I had a sudden cravings for a bowl of good old Penang curry mee. I woke up early enough (they usually run out before 9:30 am) and headed to Restaurant Okay at SS2, they were closed for Wesak.
I recalled that masak-masak blogged about this place at Hartamas, so I drove 13 KM to the destination, well, they’ve been closed like 3 years ago.
Not to be deterred, I then drove another 12.5 KM to the curry mee at Restaurant Good Food in PJ Old Town…. to find out that they’ve moved. By then I was too hungry and settled on a bowl of kuih teow soup, which actually turned out to be very good, but that’s another post on another day.
This was when I shared my unfortunate adventure on twitter and facebook, with quite a few of you suggested that I should try Penang One, so here I was, a day later, with another fellow Penangite in Fresh, and the laksa expert in Haze as my partners in crime.
Penang One, delivered daily from Penang for original taste
According to their website, the food here is professionally cooked by the original masters of the selected famous street foods, and then transported to Puchong on a daily basis. By their account, this would be as good as the original.
So I ordered my long overdue curry mee, Haze had laksa, while Fresh asked for a plate of char kuih teow with duck egg.
curry mee, char kueh teow, and Penang laksa
Service wasn’t the fastest considering the relatively low volume of people when we dined, but it wasn’t terrible either. Some 15 minutes after ordering, our food came.
The curry mee (RM 8.50) is purportedly from Pulau Tiku’s Keong curry mee. Prawns, cuttle fish, coagulated blood (YES!), tofupok, long bean, cockles, and mint leaves. That’s about all the ingredients you’ll ever need in a bowl of good curry mee, and the sambal too was top notch, fragrant and spicy.
Char Kueh Teow (RM 9.90 with duck egg) is of Kampung Jawa Pee Chuan’s recipe. Fresh had it and she didn’t speak a word while eating, it was as good as original, and really comes with those huge prawns and all.
The asam laksa (RM 7.90) that Haze had was from Lorong Selamat’s Ji De Chi, and when asked about how it tastes, she replied “just like those in Penang lor”, and then continued slurping away. It passed her test.
chee cheong fun, kueh teow soup (with blood too!), ice kacang
Since we were already there and that their portion rather close to Penang serving size, we decided to go for seconds.
Fresh had the chee cheong fun (RM 3.30) from Lorong Macalister and I took bite too, no disappointment, the only other place in PJ to get this version of chee cheong fun would be at O&S restaurant in PJ.
Haze’s second order was the duck meat kuih teow soup originally from Lebih Cecil. There’s duck meat, shredded pork, fish cake, and even coagulated duck blood. Now if you like pork blood, you’re going to love duck blood, they are quite a lot smoother and has an even more exquisite taste to it. I love it. The fish balls though, were just very average in my opinion.
I had ais kacang (RM 6.50) Swatow Lane New World Park, and it tasted just as I remembered, except for the serving size being larger here. All the ingredients you’d expect is in, give me a bowl of ais kacang anytime over any Snow Flake shaved ice.
KY, Fresh, and Haze, we were well satisfied
Prices are a little on the high side, but not any more than other Penang themed restaurants such as Penang Village or Little Penang Cafe. The difference is, this place isn’t halal and really do serve you the original ingredients in all their dishes.
By the end of the afternoon, we were very well fed and very well satisfied with the food from Penang One. The 6 different dishes we tried did not disappoint, and I can’t wait to go back there again, we still need to try the Hokkien mee (Jalan Burma), Yam Cake, and Bak Chang (Cintra Lane).
more photos at KYspeaks.com facebook page
Address:
Penang One
No. G5, Jalan Puteri 2/1
Bandar Puteri, Puchong Jaya
47100 Puchong, Selangor
GPS: 3.024748, 101.615945
Tel: 03-8052 0181
Web: penang-one.com
Hours: 9:30 am – 9:30 pm
A couple days ago we were invited to The Saujana Kuala Lumpur to sample the food that they have for Penang Food Festival. – a little thing that this classy hotel near the old Subang Airport is having from 1 – 14 March, 2012.
It was the first time I find myself at Saujana, the traffic heading there was rather agreeable, and parking is ample and free, what a refreshing idea right? It baffles me why most hotels that aren’t located in the city centre still charges exuberant parking fees that pisses many potential guests. Saujana, you are doing it right.
Penang food festival at The Saujana KL
Overseeing a huge lake and lush green golf course, Suria Cafe surely have one of the best ambiance around town, especially if you are the sort that loves alfresco dining.
For the two week period that Penang Food Festival is running at the restaurant, three chefs from my home town (yes, I hail from Penang) are flown here to prepare many traditional Penang hawker delights to be served right along the usual array of buffet dishes. For those who loves to sample different Penang foods all at one go, this is a perfect chance.
Chef Desmond’s char kuih teow, original Penang style
I got the chance to speak with Chef Desmond, who specializes the fine art of Chinese cuisine but at the same time is also well known for his char kuih teow. Of course, we spoke in Hokkien, as this is almost always my litmus test for anyone who claimed to know the art of Penang food, he did not disappoint.
The char kuih teow that he prepared too, was a plate of mean hawker dish that ranks right up there with some of the bests. No small feat considering this is a pork-free version, I finished the whole plate, every single bit.
char kuih teow, poh piah, apom with banana
Together with Chef Badrol and Chef Wafi, who are also from Penang, these three gentlemen oversees these live cooking stalls at Suria Terrace -
Haze loves the asam laksa, mee goreng, fried oyster and char kuih kak
I’ll be lying if I said I tried everything, I don’t have a huge stomach and at this .. ahem.. age, I don’t exactly eat like a teenager anymore lest the circumference of my waist be overtaking my manly butt.
Anyway! As mentioned, the char kuih teow was very good. The mee goreng stayed true to Penang style, and while slightly dry for my liking, was pretty decent. Char kuih kak too was again a little dry, but the fried oyster was very agreeable with my taste buds. I really liked the blend of spiciness to the point that I was enjoy the egg even after I’d finished the oysters.
Haze had two bowls of asam laksa, that’s cos she is now a bit of an authoritative figure in asam laksa, being a fanatic and all. She proclaimed that it did not disappoint.
chee cheong fun, ais kacang, kopi tarik
I was also happy that they serve Penang style chee cheong fun at the festival, and got the chef to cut me a portion. I always like my chee cheong fun still wrapped, and with all the accompanying sauces, I was happy.
The ais kacang was pretty decent, but perhaps with slightly too much ingredients? Then again I’m sure you can always ask for less during the preparation stage.
appetizers and desserts on the buffet lines
Other than those live cooking stalls, there are also prepared Penang food, these includes sotong kankung, pasembur, chicken loh bak, Penang rojak, pohpiah, and so forth.
Then there’s the buffet lines where you find the usual suspects – croutons, turkey bacon, tomatoes with herbs, olive, tomato, cold cuts, various types of cheese, fruits, salad, soup, kuih, and way too many type of cute little cakes and such. Heaven for those who love it sweet.
some of the other dishes – the lamb cutlet was outta this world
Oh, and how can I forget the lamb cutlets?
The lamb cutlets with herbs and cheese was so tender and awesome that I ate two whole pieces, that is almost a cardinal sin of buffet dining where I usually try to sample as many dishes possible, but the cutlet was worth it, and deserves its own paragraph right here!
The Penang Food Fest at Saujana runs from 1 – 14 March, 2012 and are priced at RM 68++ for lunch and RM 84++ for dinner.
Bon Appetit!
Address:
Suria Cafe
Saujana Resort, Jalan Lapangan Terbang SAAS,
40150 Selangor
GPS: 3.108849, 101.578474
Tel: 03-7843 1234
email: info@thesaujana.com
Curry Mee has always been one of my favorite hawker foods.
The Penang style curry mee is quite distinct from any other version, it’s ingredients encompasses elements that are quite uniquely Malaysian – santan, sambal, seafood, tofu pok, noodle, meehun, and coagulated pork blood. I bet you can’t find this blend of ingredients readily available outside this region.
Truly Penang style Curry Mee stall at Restaurant Okay, SS2
Ever since I read about this place on masak-masak, I’ve always wanted to give it a try. A couple failures later (they usually finished early on weekends, like 9am!), I struck charm on the 3rd trials, and had this for breakfast last Monday Tuesday.
coagulated blood, cuttle fish, prawns, cockles, tofu pok – yums!
A bowl of curry mee here costs RM 4.20 and really does come with all the ingredients one would expect from the original recipe, heck, even the owner speaks proper Penang Hokkien.
There’s prawns, lightly boiled fresh cockles, tofu pok, cuttle fish, and yes, coagulated pork blood, my favorite! There’s also of course, your choice of noodle/meehun swimming in santan based soup and the signature curry mee sambal that’s not overly spicy but slightly burnt.
KY & Haze at Restaurant Okay
While not exactly the best curry mee I’ve tried (this one at Mt. Eskerin in Penang’s one of my fav), this must be one of the better ones especially in Klang Valley. I’d choose this version over the likes of Ahloy at OUG and especially over the now pork-free Lorong Seratus Tahun at SS2.
Give it a try if you’re longing for Penang Curry Mee, but be there early, and they’re closed on Mondays too.
Address:
Restaurant Okay
2, Jalan SS2/10,
Petaling Jaya,
(at the other end of the same row of shop houses comprising KAYU)
GPS: 3.115084, 101.616390
Whenever I go back to Penang, there are a few hawker food that I usually do not miss. The char kueh teow, curry mee, mee goreng, and also kueh teow soup such as the one at Lebuh Armenian. The other dish would be this famous dried kuey teow at the Mt. Erskine road side hawker center.
the kueh teow soup stall
This particular stall has been in operation for at least the past 20 years or so, back when this make shift hawker center only had a couple of stalls operating under the trees. There are many places that sells kueh teow soup, but when it comes to the dry version, this place probably came up with the best concoction.
dried kueh teow, with soup on the side
Much like wantan noodle , this dried kuey teow is served with a bowl of 4 types of fish ball soup on the side. The kueh teow then is served with some dark sauce, shredded chicken, and raw vegetables.
The different types of fish ball has their own unique texture and taste to it, some softer, some firm and bouncy, and all very delicious. I particularly love the sambal belacan that is served as the condiment, made from fresh red pepper, belacan, and lime that is rather spicy and perfect with those fish balls.
my favorite sambal.. slurps
A bowl of the dried kuey teow goes for RM 3.50, but as with most Penang hawker dishes, the portion is quite small, which is just as well so that I can order another bowl of curry mee or mee goreng to fill up my stomach. 
map to the hawker centre at Mt. Erskine
The hawker centre operates from around noon to 4-5 in ther afternoon.
Address:
Jalan Mt. Erskine,
Tg. Tokong, Penang
GPS: 5.450560, 100.302064
