I discovered Restaurant Sing Kee in most unconventional way – while riding my mountain bike for the purpose of waist management (beats running IMHO, you get a bit of adventure thrown in), I found myself at Sungai Way and saw this restaurant that was full of people.
If a restaurant at an old neighborhood is packed, it is usually good, and many weeks later, Haze and I decided to pay a visit for dinner.
Sing Kee at PJ Sungei Way
Sing Kee is just like any “tai chau“, with a huge variety of dishes on the menu. The specialty here though is their asam fish, a dish that we noticed on more than half the tables.
Since it was our first time here, I asked for the server to give us her recommendations. We ended up with asam fish, squid with salted egg yolk, and a plate of vegetable to go with two steamed rice.
the glorious asam fish – tilapia
It did take a while for food to be served, but at least the home brewed loh hon goh drinks accompanying our wait were plenty good.
Our food arrived.
The asam fish (RM 21) was almost a balanced meal by itself – steamed tilapia with brinjal, long bean, lady’s finger, onion, tomato, and red chili all in an asam soup base that strikes a perfect balance of sourness and hotness. The fish were done perfectly too, and despite a generally inferior species when it comes to taste, preparing it in this method clearly removes any muddy tastes that we sometimes associate with tilapia.
It was really one of the best asam fish dish I’ve tried thus far.
squid with salted egg, vegetable for vitamin c quota
Our second dish was the squid with salted egg (RM 22). A dish not recommended for the weak hearted (or those with high cholesterol for sure). It was another win, squid that still retains some chewiness coated with generous amount of salted egg and breading for that extra savory taste. The only problem with it was that the portion should be for 4 pax, not 2.
Then there was the vegetable, which tastes like any normal vegetable dish. Nothing to see here.
Haze and I were positively satisfied
If you’re looking for old fashion tai chau and a good plate of asam fish, you can certainly do worse than Sing Kee. I’m going to visit this place again when the asam addiction strike. Will try other dishes too.
P/S: I later found out that this is also one of Kerol’s favorite place, she is a picky eater.
Address:
Restaurant Sing Kee
No. 28, Jalan SS 9A/16
Sungai Way New Village
47300 Petaling Jaya
Selangor
GPS: 3.086855, 101.62206
Tel: 013-217 7260, 012-380 3918
When we think of fast food, what comes to mind would usually be the big American chains. Burgers, fried chicken, and maybe even of porridge and sandwiches are usually to be expected.
However, one of the truly fastest dinner you can get is at a Chinese tai chow style eatery located at SS2 by the name of New Paris Restaurant.
KY, Rachel, Horng, Kimberly, and Kerol at New Paris restaurant
New Paris had a humble beginning, many years ago this was an operation with tables and chairs sprawling under a tree. Today, the restaurant has grown to occupy three shop lots and three floors.
The ambiance might have changed, but the one thing that stays true is the speed of service.
Business is often pretty brisk despite the size of the restaurant. Once customers leave a table, the workers will simply detached a layer of plastic table cloths together with all the plates, and new diners can take their seats within about 10 seconds.
pork knuckle, spinach, Guinness pork ribs, four types of beans
Here’s the blow by blow account of our dinner at New Paris, time stamp gathered from JPEG EXIF data.
8:22 p.m. – we were ordering our final dish.
8:24 p.m. – first dish arrived! The German pork knuckle (RM 38), one of their claim of fame, was crisp on the outside, but juicy and fatty on the inside. Very savory, very sinful.
8:27 p.m. - sautéed spinach with garlic and topped with salted dried “silver fish” (RM 9). Not anything particularly special, but provide balance to the meat dishes we ordered.
8:28 p.m. – Guinness pork ribs (RM 18), one of my favorite new style Chinese dishes. Tender ribs soaked with the goodness of Guinness black beer, providing that hint of bitterness that is so addictive.
8:34 p.m. – spicy squid with long bean (RM 15). A little bit of spicy seafood with the meat and vegetable dishes. This dish was somewhat a disappointment, squid tasted a little stale. I wouldn’t order this again.
9:03 p.m. – paid and left the building
Another famous dish at New Paris is their watermelon chicken w(Huai Bin blogged about it here) which we did not order this time around. Though the food at this place isn’t exactly the best nor they are very special, they are still pretty tasty. Of course, the super fast service makes up for any short falls.
Where else could you have a full Chinese tai chow meal within 45 minutes?
Address:
New Paris Restaurant
No. 62, 64, 66, Jalan SS2/72
47300 Petaling Jaya Selangor
GPS: 3.118758, 101.62938
Tel: 03-7955 9180
BB battery tips:
For the Blackberry addicts, including the newly converts from Xpax BB, one of the most tragic things that could happen is when you are out and the Blackberry starts to run low on juice.
For casual users, most BB models could last for 1.5 to 2 days under moderate to heavy usage. However, for the true addicts, you might find yourself left stranded with your BB notification light blinking amber before the late night is over.
Good news is, there are some adjustments you can make to prolong the battery life.
It’s always a constant headache whenever we try to decide on where to eat, and asking me for a suggestion without specifying any criteria usually won’t get us anywhere. So when Eiling came over to have dinner with us, I left the decision to her.
88 Seafood Restaurant, with pictured menu
With her suggestion, we went to this 88 Seafood Restaurant at Sunwaymas Commercial Center (also known as Aman Suria) for some old fashion Chinese food. This was the first time I had any “tai chau” at this area despite staying relatively close by.
It was around 6:30 when we arrived on a Sunday and already the restaurant was over 70% full, with tables set up both under the roof and alfresco style. Business was rather brisk.
Guinness pork ribs, sambal belacan asparagus, salted-egg squid, tofu with minced pork
I like the fact that every entry on the menu at 88 Seafood comes with a picture, so you know exactly what you want to order will look like. That said, like most Chinese restaurants, you can always order out of the menu. We did just that for our fish dish, asked for normal steamed fish with red snapper instead of their Teow Chew style steamed fish.
We also ordered the Guinness pork ribs, asparagus with sambal belacan, deep fried squid with salted egg, and tofu with mince pork to go with rice for the four of us.
steamed red snapper, KY, Eiling, Kerol, Horng
Though service wasn’t terribly fast, the four dishes did come at almost the same time, with the steamed fish some 5 minutes later. This is much better than some restaurants that serves dish by dish punctuated with long waits in between.
As for the dishes, the asparagus was alright, I’d prefer them to be of smaller size; the tofu too was not bad but I think Lucky Loke at SS3 serves up a better tasting one.
That said, the Guinness pork was really good; and the steamed red snapper was very fresh and tasted superb with all the fried garlic and ginger, not to mention the perfect balance of soya sauce and oil to complete the dish.
This was my first experience with the fried squid with salted egg dish, my previous experience has been limited to salted egg with crab and prawn, but this version too passed with flying colors. It was a combination of the richness of salted egg yolk, fragrance of curry leaves, and the spiciness of chili padi that makes the squid tasted so yummy.
88 Seafood Restaurant is located at PJU 1/3b & PJU 1/3c
The dinner came up to some RM 75 or so, and considering we had 5 dishes with meat, seafood, vegetable, and tofu, it was rather inexpensive. Most importantly, it was a well satisfying and none of the dishes disappointed us.
I shall return.
Addess:
88 Restaurant Seafood Restaurant
Jalan PJU 1/3b,
Sunway Mas Commercial Centre,
47301 Petaling Jaya
GPS: 3.119835,101.599942
Lucky Loke tai chau (大炒) stall is situated just a stone’s throw away from where I live, and naturally I have been there on quite a number of occasions. However, due to the poor quality of pictures taken on previous visits, I have not had the chance to post about this place until now.
glorious garlic fish, not to be missed
Lucky Loke is quite an established tai chau place, always the busiest among the 3 places that are around the same area. We decided to have some decent dinner there after coming back from a rather enjoyable karting session last Saturday.
But first, allow me to digress a bit:
sorry kim, you missed the dinner
Anyway, for the 3 of us, we ordered the must-eat signature dish that is the garlic fish (siakap), asam prawn, and a plate of Hong Kong kailan. Naturally, we have white rice to go with these dishes.
garlic fish, HK kailan, and asam prawn
The garlic fish was excellent as usual. Served with plenty of raw garlic and chili padi on top of the deep fried fish with their special sauce (tasted like fish sauce with some vinegar and other ingredients), the texture of the fish and the taste was just right. Having it deep fried also mean that we didn’t have to worry too much on the bones.
The asam prawn was surprisingly good too, the asam base was very thick and flavorful. There’s garlic, egg plant, and tomato as garnish to the main item, the big size tiger prawns. It was just as good as the one served at restaurant Hoowan at Kelana Jaya. The Hong Kong kailan tasted a bit old this time, but it was still alright.
Lucky Loke is at Restaurant Kean Fatt
The dinner costs about RM 17 for each of us, not the most economical meal there is, but we are still plenty satisfied, it was just so good. Lucky Loke is also famous for their pork rib (phai kuat wong, 排骨王), you should give it a try if you haven’t yet.
Lucky Loke is located at Restaurant Kean Fatt, just directly behind the Taman Bahagia LRT station in SS3. The same restaurant also serves the famous pork noodle for breakfast and lunch.
Address:
Lorong SS3/59E
Petaling Jaya
47300 Selangor
GPS: 3.109577, 101.611776
Allow me to introduce you one of the bestest asam prawn in this side of Klang Valley, served by restaurant Hoowan that is just right next to the slightly more famous resturant Talipon (buffet steamboat/grill) and opposite the Kelana Jaya LRT station. Some of the noobs, like ST, suan, and paul will most probably agree that the dish is indeed, the asam pwn.
asam prawn… *drool*…. yummmmm
As the restaurant is actually a Chinese “order whatever damn dish you want to go with rice” (tai chau) place, they offer a wide variety of dishes. However, as with most these types of restaurants, there isn’t any menu, so you must trust your server’s oral description on each dish. Sometimes I end up ordering the dish that I don’t understand most just for the sake of experimenting.
The best dish that the establishment offers would be the Asam Prawn, it comes in a hot claypot, much like how bak kut teh is usually served. For a two person portion, there are usually about 6-8 pretty decent size prawns. Other ingredients are brinjal (eggplant,) lady’s finger (okra,) tomato, onion, and green/red chilli. You must try it for yourself if you are the asam curry type of person. It carries the sour and spicey taste but not overly done. The prawns are usually pretty fresh and goes very well with the curry gravey and the extra ingredients.
The other dishes they serve are pretty decent too. Particulary the trademark tofu and the kang kung belacan. Then again, you too should be bolder in trying out new things. Do note that the place is semi open-air, so avoid going when raining.
this is how you get there, foo!
Address:
Jalan SS 25/2,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.113305, 101.605886
