Dec
19th

Room Eighteen 拾八风味- Cantonese Food

A few weeks ago I went to Room Eighteen at Berjaya Times Square for a food review. I was in fact, already quite a  fan of this relatively new franchise from Tai Thong group ever since the branch at Tropicana City Malls opened. However, this was the first time I visited the BTS outlet.

I brought along Terence, Jaclyn, Eric, Kerol, and Cheesie for the session. I love food reviews where I can bring friends along, it always make the occasion a lot more fun.

room eighteen cantonese cuisine
room eighteen at BTS, eric, jaclyn, cheesie, kerol, terence, KY

Coincidentally, the senior manager of the chain hailed from the same high school as me in Penang, my junior in fact. Since he is also from the same island that is known as sort of a food capital of Malaysia, I placed a higher trust on his taste and let the guy handled food selection for the evening.

And just like how the pork gang’s dinner always go, we over ordered.

dimsum and xiao long bao at room eighteen
siu mai, papaya cream puff, herbal xiao long bao, tofu skin with pork

We were first served with some dimsum as appetizer. The siu mai (steamed pork dumpling) and tofu skin with pork were really tasty, as good as some of the best dimsum I’ve had. The papaya cream puff too was quite good, albiet a little different from what you’d expect from dimsum.

We were served two different types of xiao long bao. I felt that the normal version was just rather average, and favors the herbal version (photo above) a bit more. However, it wouldn’t be something I’ll necessary order again, they weren’t really on par with those I had from Dragon-i.

roast duck, roast pork, vegetable at room eighteen
roast duc, char siu, and roast pork, fried venisen with you char kwai, vegetable

The roast duck and char siu were really done very well, I particularly love them with their really fragrant chili oil. The roast pork though, didn’t particularly capture my attention, but perhaps I’ve been spoiled by the excellent roast pork at wong meng kei at pudu, literally just a stone’s throw away from BTS.

The fried venisen with you char kwai was quite an interesting combination. The meat was tender and juicy, with the contrasting texture of the you char kwai it was rather good. We ordered a plate of Hong Kong choi sum as the vegetable dish to counter all those meaty dishes. Always have your vegetable!

wantan soup, fish ball noodle
wanton soup, fragrant chili oil, fish ball noodle soup

The wanton soup was one of my favorites at Room Eighteen. Instead of prawn or pork, the wanton filling was half pork and half prawn, that really gave it the best of both worlds in terms of taste. Quite excellent!

The fish ball noodle soup was quite good too. The fish ball quite firm and tasty, together with the noodle and soup it can make a pretty simple meal when you feel like giving the taste buds a bit of a rest.

lotus leave rice, steamed rice with chicken, porridge
lotus leave rice, steamed chicken rice, two types of porridge

Lotus leaf rice and the steamed chicken rice with mushroom were two more dishes that I really liked. The chicken was really smooth and delicious I wish I can have some right now, writing this at the wee hours. Ah well…

And as if we were not already overly fed by then, our host insisted that we should try out their porridge. Both the two different porridge we tried were really good, but at this point I seriously couldn’t really take more than a spoon full.

black sesame soup, drinks, shaved ice, at room eighteen
black sesame soup, drinks, blueberry shaved ice

We capped the evening with some desserts to share (seriously couldn’t finish one by myself anymore). The sesame soup was decent, and the mango sago wasn’t bad either. My favorite of the bunch though, was the blueberry shaved ice, really “kao” and really sour with just the right amount of sweetness. That freshened me up pretty good, I liked it.

Prices at Room Eighteen are comparable to Canton-i and Dragon-i, a typical meal would fetch about RM 15-30 per person, but of course what we had here would have been more than that if we split 6 ways.

Address:
Room Eighteen
Berjaya Times Square
LG 50 & LG 18C
Lower Ground Floor
No 1, Jalan Imbi
55100 KL

GPS: 3.142444,101.710621
Tel: 03-2148 8688



Apr
4th

KY eats – Herbal Roast Duck at Restaurant Hoppy (好比药材烧腊), SS2

I have drove past Restaurant Hoppy with the recognizable giant roast duck “statue” at SS2 many times, but for various reasons (eg: several of the noobs do not eat duck), I have never had a chance to try it until last weekend. This is despite the fact that I actually do love to eat duck, as evident from postings on Fatty Duck, Sunrise, Loong Foong, and the PJ State Loh Ngap.

Herbal Roast Duck at Restaurant Hoppy (好比药材烧腊)
herbal roast duck, tofu, and steamed soup

For the two of us, I ordered a bottom quarter (thighs and drumstick portion) Tang Gui (当归) roast duck, a tofu dish, and a steamed soup. The other types of herbal roast duck includes Ginseng (泡参) and Shin Chuan (十全) style. I know Tang Gui is supposed to be a female’s herb, but that’s the only type left when I was there, so be it.

To be fair, the skin of their roast duck, while very good, is not as crispy as Loong Foong. However, the unique herbal taste more than make up for this short coming. The duck meat actually tastes strongly of the herbs, and the gravy was very strong too. I must say that this is not for those who dislike the Chinese medicinal herb tastes, but I absolutely love it. The tofu and soup, while not exceptional, were pretty decent as well.

Herbal Roast Duck at Restaurant Hoppy (好比药材烧腊)
no frill but comfortable set up

The meal for two came to around RM 25 for two. That is including the 5% government tax and the curious 2% service charge. This is still very good value for the rather unique roast duck and some pretty good side dishes. The restaurant also offers other dishes commonly found in many Chinese restaurants, such as seafood, vegetables, poultry dishes, and so forth. You can actually bring friends who aren’t into eating ducks there.

map to Herbal Roast Duck at Restaurant Hoppy (好比药材烧腊) at PJ SS2
Restaurant Hoppy is situated at SS2

This restaurant, is in fact, not the only branch. There are branches of Restaurant Hoppy in PJS 8/5, Sunway, and Jalan Desa 2/1 at Kepong.

Address:
Restaurant Hoppy (SS2 Sdn Bhd)
40, Jalan SS2/66,
47300 Petaling Jaya

GPS:
3.119471, 101.620429
Tel:
03-7877 9729



Sep
18th

KY eats – Roast Duck at Loong Foong, Taman Paramount

I’ve heard about the roast duck rice at Loong Foong Restaurant for quite a some time, but since one of my housemates do not consume duck and a failed attempt to dine there (they ran out), I finally had the chance to let my taste buds judge what the fuss was all about.

Roast Duck at Loong Foong Seafood Restaurant, Taman Paramount
yes, it’s a “seafood” restaurant

The odd thing about the roast duck rice stall is the location of it, at the Loong Foong seafood restaurant. I assume there are quite a lot of people who orders the duck as just another dish instead of as the only item to be eaten with rice. I wasn’t interested in seafood that day, so we ordered up roast duck rice for two.

When the dish were served, I was pretty impressed with the duck at least visually, the skin roasted to the perfect dark golden brown color with some dark sauce over. I was not too thrilled about the rice though, they served normal white rice instead of the special blend of duck rice like what you get at the PJ State Loh Duck. However, a bite on the soft and tender duck explained why this place is so highly regarded, the texture of the meat was perfect, easy to chew and with no pungent duck smell that is undesireable to many. And the skin.. the roast duck skin was that of the Peking duck caliber, reminded me of a few times I had the chance to taste that expensive dish in a proper Chinese restaurant.

Roast Duck at Loong Foong Seafood Restaurant, Taman Paramount
just look at the crispy duck skin

The chili sauce was pretty good as well, an extra portion of the dark sauce is served together with the dish for blending with the rice. This sort of make up for the fact that white rice is served, though I would still prefer the proper blend instead.

Despite the small shortcoming, the roast duck lives up to its name. This place is not to be missed if you do eat duck at all. The dinner costs about RM 14 for pretty a good portion of duck. I would definately go there again.

Roast Duck at Loong Foong Seafood Restaurant, map to Taman Paramount
the restaurant is nearby the Giant hypermarket at Paramount

Address:
1 Jalan 20/13, Paramount Garden,
46300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor

GPS: 3.106085, 101.625595
Tel: 03-7876 9045



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