With the blessing of the great lady luck, I had the chance to go to the Emperor Chinese Restaurant at Sheraton Subang Hotel for the second time. The first was an appreciation dinner from a vendor (which I didn’t manage to capture any photos), and this time it was an invitation arranged by foodstreets for a food review. Excellent (and free) Chinese food within the span of a couple months, what more could I ask for?

the friendly Chef Michael Wong and his creations

I arrived at Sheraton during dinner time and was greeted by the friendly PR person Bel, who introduced me to the Executive Chinese Chef Michael Wong. Chef Michael has been with the hotel from 97 to 2000 and recently joined back to lead the kitchen team. For this “exercise”, the good chef prepared a total of six dishes and a dessert to satisfy our taste buds.

double boiled soup, assorted vegetable, and cold chicken roll

First on the table was the double boiled fish maw with dried scallop and vegetable soup, it was seriously the best soup I’ve had so far. Scallop, mussel, and fish maw together with Silkie (black skinned) chicken really gave the soup a very distinct sweetness that is so delicious. I was still thinking about it for days after the session.

Then it was the cold dish, cold chicken roll with jelly fish. This dish is traditionally made with pork, but as the Emperor Chinese Restaurant serves halal food, chicken is used instead. Chef Michael explained to me the tedious process of preparing the chicken (slicing, steaming, rolling up) to create a texture consistent with the traditional ingredient. I must say he did a very good job and the substitute meat did not disappoint.

baked cod fish, butter prawn, and dancing fried rice

As for the cod fish, instead of the more orthodox steaming or deep frying cooking method, the good chef baked the generous slice of cod steak in an oven with garlic sauce. It was done just nice and not over cooked, a relatively simple dish that came out just right.

Butter prawn and assorted vegetable were both good as well. However, the other interesting dish would be the “dancing fried rice”, the fried rice is topped with tobiko (flying fish roe) and decorated with katsuobushi (the topping for takoyaki) on the side that seems to ‘dance’. A very visually captivating dish that tastes as good as it looks.

avocado apple juice and lemon grass pudding with mint ice cream

To round it off, we had the lemon grass pudding with mint ice cream as dessert. A nice way to cool down and refresh after the rather heavy meal. Bel also ordered us an the unique apple and avocado juice, a thick concoction that combines the sweetness of the two fruits that tasted surprisingly good!

Sheraton Subang Hotel is right next to SJMC at SS12

It was a very good meal and needless to say I was very satisfied. If you’re looking for a high class Chinese restaurant (serving halal food), you should definitely consider this place.

Address:
Jalan SS12/1
47500 Subang Jaya
Selangor
Tel: 03-5031 6060

Tags:  chicken,  chinese,  cuisine,  dining,  eats,  food,  halal,  hotel,  rice,  sheraton

Posted by KY | 17 Comments »

Funny how one can be oblivious to some of the best foods closest to home while traveling miles away to hunt for the exact same dish. Such is the case with Fatty Duck Teo Chew Stew Duck (大旺潮州卤鸭) that is located a mere 5 minutes away from home, and yet I have always traveled to PJ State to have the same type of Lou Ngap fan (卤鸭饭).

fantastic teo chew stew duck

Fatty Duck is a stall that operates from around 5pm and serves the dinner crowd. They serve stew duck with quite a number of side dishes to choose from. Among these are hard boiled duck egg, salted vegetable (咸菜), hot and sour vegetable (酸辣菜), mushroom, tofu, and even duck intestine. You can have either rice or porridge to go with these dishes.

many side dishes to choose from

For the two of us, we ordered a serving of stew duck (instead of two cos the other dude actually doesn’t eat duck), 2 tofu, salted vegetable, hot and sour vegetable, and mushroom to go with rice.

While the portion of servings was pretty small, the meal was enough to provide a satisfying dinner without over bloating myself. The taste of duck and side dishes were on par with their slightly more famous counterpart in PJ State. I especially like the very smooth tofu that goes very well with the stew duck sauce.

Restaurant OK is located near KAYU and Chow Yang

The dinner only costs RM 13 for all the dishes and rice. Pretty economical and definitely value for money for this great tasting meal.

Address:
2, Jalan SS2/10,
Petaling Jaya,
(at the other end of the same row of shop houses comprising KAYU)

Tags:  dining,  eats,  fatty-duck,  hawker,  PJ,  restaurant-ok,  rice,  SS2 SS3 SS4,  stew-duck

Posted by KY | 14 Comments »

Thinking of an economical tai chau (大炒, made to order Chinese dishes, served with rice) for dinner, we ended up at Ming Heong (明香). This busy little corner is actually just an outdoor stall by the roadside right next to Giant hypermart at Taman Paramount in Petaling Jaya.

excellent kangkong belacan

If you can read in Chinese, ordering will be easy enough. At Ming Heong, they have the menu (only in Chinese) on a big board hanging underneath a bright florescence light. For the three of us, we ordered a bowl of watercress soup (西洋菜汤), a plate of kangkong belacan (马来风光), sweet and sour pork (咕噜肉), and clay pot tofu (砂煲豆腐).

one menu to rule them all

As the place was still not very busy since it was only around 7pm, we got our food within 10 minutes. The servings were a little smaller than other places, but that fits just nice as there were only three of us for the four dishes.

The dishes were surprisingly good. The sweet and sour pork prepared the traditional way and not with ketchup, hence the brownish color of the sauce instead of the more familiar reddish tone. It was perhaps not as visually appealing, but has a more original taste to it. The clay pot tofu was packed with meat, green bean, sliced carrot, onion, two types of mushroom, egg, shrimp, and of course, some very smooth tofu. The base, sweet with the taste of meat as well as seafood; and the myriad of ingredients complimented the tofu nicely.

tofu, soup, meat, vegetable, we have it all convered

The watercress soup came in one of those steamed soup servings. Prepared in advance and kept in the steamer, it was well cooked and didn’t disappoint. The best dish of the night, though, was the kangkong. A simple dish with the vegetable fried alongside red chili, garlic, dried shrimp, and oil turned out to be done with the perfect taste and texture. It was easily one of the best kangkong belacan dishes I’ve had for a long time. Best of all, it didn’t even need to be overly spicy to be good.

Ming Heong is situated just by Giant at Paramount

The dinner was an economical RM 13.00 per person. Four dishes, a very good value. Ming Heong only opens for dinner, and I would recommend that you go there on a non-rainy night.

Tags:  belacan,  chinese-food,  dining,  eats,  kangkong,  ky,  paramount,  PJ,  rice,  soup

Posted by KY | 7 Comments »

Hunting for a new place for dinner at around Taman Paramount, I suddenly recalled that there’s a pretty good “siu chau” (小炒) stall that operates not only on lunch, but dinner time as well. We found a parking spot nearby and went in there.

oh! got leng lui also!

Looking at the menu (big font and well lit on the stall itself), I found something interesting - Petai and Prawn rice. Since I love petai (twisted cluster bean) and prawn, I ordered that without further deliberation. The dining partner ordered something that looks like a kung pou chicken rice with egg. However I can’t recall the name of that dish to save my life.

oooo, PETAI!

We didn’t have to wait long for the dish to be served. The petai and prawn dish was really good, plenty of petai and prawn with some onion fried with sambal paste. Not exactly a very refined dish, but for RM 5.00, it was worth every cent. Ahh… the satisfaction of stinky breath and even stinkier pee. This is something you can’t explain to people who does not eat petai.

The chicken dish was pretty good as well, with some of kick from the dried red chilli and plenty of chicken meat. Though it might be better (at least visually) with some green vegetables as garnish.

this is how you get to O & S restaurant

The stall opens for lunch as well as dinner. The same restaurant has some pretty good hawker stalls in the morning and afternoon. Most notably the yong tau foo and prawn mee.

Cheers!

Tags:  Eats,  petai,  PJ,  rice,  seapark

Posted by KY | 9 Comments »