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
Every we went out to eat with Chow Ahbeng aka Galvin, he would always say something like “next time I bring you to eat at this place, they serve the best xxx”, and one of the places he mentioned most was this “fried porridge” thing at Klang.
So after listening to him talking about it for a good part of last few years, we finally made a trip to Klang a couple weeks ago and actually tasted it for ourselves. The place is appropriately named Restoran Bubur Goreng, direct translation – Fried Porridge Restaurant, not the most imaginative name huh?
the group includes Galvin, Damien, Rachel, Kerol, Horng
The restaurant is located right across the 7-11 at Berkeley Garden in Klang. Berkeley is in turn, located on the right of Federal Highway after taking 3 o’clock at the round about not far from the Klang toll. Not exactly terribly difficult to find even for a first timer to the area.
Galvin did the honor by ordering for the nine of us. A big plate of Hokkien Mee, two bowls of their signature fried porridge, and another huge portion of crab meehun.
hokkien mee, fried porridge, huge plate of crab meehun, bottled sugar cane
The Hokkien mee here is a little wetter than usual, and the extra sauce really does help bring out the flavor, I just wish there were slightly more lard like those at restaurant Ahwa in PJ though.
Crab meehun was this giant plate of fried meehun with three or four rather good size flower crabs. I’ve always love crab meehun and this did not disappoint, having flower crab instead of the usual mud crab made it easier to eat too. This was my favorite dish from the dinner.
crab meehun, and fried porridge with extra lard!
As for the fried porridge itself, well, I find it tasting a little weird. It’s a combination of familiar tastes that never felt quite right to me. The porridge has pork, tofu, spring onion, and some ingredients I couldn’t identify/recall. Horng and Galvin seemed to like it, but the slightly burnt porridge taste was still a bit weird, probably takes a little used to.
The bill came up to less than RM14 per person with drinks included. Pretty reasonable considering a typical meal of Hokkien Mee at PJ and drinks will fetch close to RM 10 anyway, and we had plenty of crab meehun.
Address:
Restorant Bubur Goreng
(Old Berkeley Cinema)
Lot 6932, Lebuh Bangau Taman Berkeley,
41150 Klang, Selangor Darul Ehsan
GPS: 3.06005,101.464974
Tel: 016-6868 579
My exhousemate Kerol reads the Chinese daily Sin Chew religiously, and once in a while she’d come across a food review from the paper that she thinks we should try. Most often than not, her recommendations prove to be spot on, just to show that you can usually trust a Penangite when it comes to food. 
Char Siew Zhai wantan mee at Taman Paramount
The latest place she recommended was this new wantan mee restaurant at Taman Paramount by the name of Char Siew Zhai (or little bbq pork), the first time wee went was just a couple weeks ago, and I’ve been there three times since.
One of the unique selling point of this place is the way the noodle is prepared. After boiling the noodle and going through the standard quick bath of colder water (to make the outer layer more springy), they throw it up really high and before catching it on the sieve several times. Apparently this is done to get rid of most moisture so that the noodle absorbs sauce better.
I managed to capture it on video on my 2nd visit there with cheesie, check it out!
dumpling, curry chicken, duck & char siew noodle
Char Siew Zhai offers a wide range of noodle and rice based dishes that is often associated with restaurants like this (another place would be Chong Loy at Sunway). They have wantan, dumpling, char siew (bbq pork), siu yok (roast pork), roast duck, curry chicken, chicken feet, stewed duck, fried pork, roast chicken, poached chicken, and shredded chicken served with noodle or rice.
You can also order most of the items listed above as side dishes.
kerol, rachel, cheesie, and KY at Char Siew Zhai
I’ve tried their dumpling noodle, wantan mee, roast duck, bbq pork and roast pork so far and I gotta say I really like their noodle. I guess the whole high throwing method really does work, they’re tasty!
The char siu (bbq pork) is really good too, slightly different texture (rougher and less oily outer layer) than normal. Roast duck was alright but not anywhere near Loong Foong which is situated just a few doors down. Wantan and dumplings were pretty tasty.
The best part is, a wantan mee, char siu mee, or dried curry chicken mee is only priced at RM 4.00, with the most expensive main dish not exceeding RM 7.00 (combination roast meat noodle). This is cheaper than most hawker stalls around the area in a much more comfortable area too.
Address:
Restaurant Char Siew Zhai Wantan Mee
No. 5, Jalan 20/13, Paramount Garden
46300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.106085, 101.625295
Tel: 012-628 1348
Cool things you can do with a blackberry
As per promise from the previous post on PM Najib’s Hari Raya open house, here’s the #4 cool thing you can do with a Blackberry – BBM!
BBM is short for Blackberry Messaging. It is basically a chatting program not unlike MSN or Yahoo messaging, but exclusive to Blackberry phones only. BBM goes through Blackberry’s proprietary network if you subscribe to BIS (the must-subscribe Blackberry Internet Service). Instant messaging on the go with everyone who has a BB, and you don’t need to pay for SMS charges!
You can pre-register for Xpax Blackberry here and get the new Curve 8520.
BU Centrepoint has always been sort of a meeting place for the only reason that Suanie stays only a stone’s throw away, and when she says we meet there, we meet there. An argument with Suanie is an exercise in futility.
We have been to the BigWateryAmericanCoffeeChain numerous time but strangely enough, last Tuesday was the first time we went to Cagayan’s right next door.
pork ribs at Cagayan’s, Filipino Cuisine
Cagayan’s is one of the very few restaurants that serves Filipino cuisine. Now personally I’ve never been to the country nor have I heard a lot about the food there. I must confess that the only thing about this place that attracted me was the rather big “Non Halal” sign and the pictures of pork ribs and nuermous other pork dishes. Kerol had the same sentiment.
I’m quite clueless when it comes to Philipinno food, but luckily the menu comes with description as well as photos of each dish, making our job much easier.
pork adobo, caldereta (lamb curry), pork binagoongan, french rivera
For the five of us, we ordered a medium rack of pork ribs (RM 36.50) with original sauce to share (6 pieces) as well as individual dishes. To be frank, I thought the ribs were average, Tony Roma’s at Bangkok‘s pork ribs was better than this, but this wasn’t bad either.
My dish was pork abodo (RM 11.00) with rice. Abodo apparently is a very common Filipino cooking process that involves stewing with vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, bay leaf, and peppercorn. The wholesome pork belly with the slightly sourish and salty marinate tasted better than I had expected, I could eat it with rice even without any chili, but with the chili padi that they have it was even better.
rachel, suanie, KY, kerol, and horng at Cagayan’s
Horng ordered Pork Binagoongan (RM 12.00), which is a bowl of pork belly cooked with fermented fish paste bagoong based soup. Like fish sauce popular in Vietnamese cuisine or shrimp paste in our local sambal, the soup carries a subtle but distinct taste that might not suit everyone, but we love it!
Rachel’s lamb caldereta (RM 12.50) actually tasted like a mild version of lamb curry with slightly different spices, I find it very delicious too. Apparently this is also a popular method of cooking for dog meat in Philippines, hmm, I wonder if that would taste even better?
The French Rivera spaghetti (RM 9.00) was alright, Suan didn’t complain nor compliment, so I guess it was just average.
Cagayan’s is located at BU Centrepoint, just next to Starbucks on ground floor
With the ribs and drinks, dinner came to RM 20+ per person. Though not everything tasted super awesome, the few rice dishes we had was impressive enough to warrant many visits in the future.
Address:
Cagayan’s
G107-108 Centrepoint
Bandar Utama
47800 Petaling Jaya
GPS: 3.137988, 101.610124
Tel: 03-77241022
Despite staying only some 1 km away from B & Best restaurant, I only got to know of this place recently when I read it on Huai Bin’s blog a week ago. Since I’m quite a big fan of fish and seafood noodle, I paid a visit there with Rachel and Horng last weekend.
choices – prawns, red snapper, grouper, fish ball, dry, soup, spicy version
As there are only a couple restaurants in the two rows of shop lots at Taman Rasa Sayang, SS4, parking is not at all a problem. The restaurant is basically a rather big kopitiam with the seafood noodle being the lone operator for breakfast and lunch session.
There are quite a lot of choices here. Any one or the combination of prawn (2 types), fish (choose from pomphret, red snapper, grouper, and more), lala, oyster, fish ball, and fish cake. They serve noodle, meehun, kueh teow, lou she fun, mee shua, and porridge. And of course, you can have it the kon lou (dry), soup, or spicy style.
top 2 pics: dry seafood loshe fun version, bottom: soup version and fish cake
I ordered the standard seafood noodle with 2 added prawns, horng got a bowl of fish soup (red snapper) with dry lou she fun, while Rachel went for seafood noodle with a bit of customization (no shellfish). We also ordered a fish cake to share (RM7)
The seafood, and especially the fish meat, was really fresh and succulent. There were also plenty of lala in the mix. Though not lacking in taste, I did expect the prawns to be bigger. Over all it was a very good bowl of seafood noodle, with fresh ingredients and not overly strong tasting. Perfect for breakfast/brunch.
i really love the sambal
The one thing I really love though, is their sambal belacan. It is actually quite difficult to find this particular type of no nonsense sambal belacan where the ingredients are just red chili, belacan, and a squeeze of lime. It reminds me of those I had at Mum’s place, Damansara Perdana.
Total price, with drinks, came to slightly less than RM20 for each of us. The fish cake was just very ordinary, I prefer those from Damansara Jaya and 60s teow chew fish noodle place.
B & Best Seafood noodle place is located at SS4
Though on the pricier side, I would definitely go back to this place again. I just love a bowl of good seafood noodle, and the sambal will be calling me soon enough.
Address:
B & Best Restaurant,
No.12, Jalan SS4C/5,
Taman Rasa Sayang,
47301, Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.110649, 101.603058
Tel: 012-295 8948
