Been hearing about this Bangkok lane Mee Goreng that’s at USJ (that would be UEP Subang Jaya as the official name) for a while now, so I decided to check it out last week.
Bangkok Lane Mee Goreng at Restoran Ehsan Maju
For those who aren’t familiar with the background, there’s rather well known mee goreng located at Bangkok Lane in Georgetown. One that I’ve had quite a few times in Penang, and while it wasn’t my favorite, they do offer a very competent plate of this Indian dish compared to others on the island.
Of course, here in Klang Valley Penang style mee goreng is hard to come by, my previous favorite at PJ SS5 ceased to exists after the owner passed on, so to be honest, I haven’t had proper mee goreng outside Penang for years.
mee goreng with sotong
The stall at Restoran Ehsan Maju in USJ 2 is essentially a ‘branch’ from the same stall in Bangkok Lane, Penang. The menu is pretty simple, there’s mee goreng with or without sotong (squid), mee rebus (wet version) in the same two variety, and rojak – essentially their mee rebus without noodle.
mee rebus and rojak available too
So, how does it taste?
I would say it’s pretty spot on, except for the huge KL style portion, it is pretty consistent with what they offer in Penang. There’s decent flavor and all the ingredients are there. The fried shallots could be improved, and those sotong are a bit too bland (I’ll order without that next time). Other than that, definitely a more than acceptable “Penang style” mee goreng.
Will go again.
Address: Restoran Ehsan Maju 21, Jalan USJ 2/2c, Usj 2, 47600 Subang Jaya, Selangor GPS: 3.057507, 101.591064
I’m a fan of curry mee, whatever type of curry mee, I’ll try them so long as my taste buds agree.
I’ve heard about the Nyonya Curry Mee at USJ for quite sometime, and finally we managed to try it last weekends when we found ourselves at USJ for an appointment to check out some invisible grille option for our new home.
Located at USJ 2 kopitiam just right next to the Shell petrol station across from USJ Summit Mall, the stall is called Fushou Lou Nyona Curry Mee, or literally the “bearded man”. The stall offers Nyonya curry mee, dried curry mee, and seafood curry mee. There’s also the option to add roast pork, curry chicken, and other ingredients into the mix.
Nyonya Curry mee, with extra roast pork
For our virgin experience, I ordered Nyonya curry mee with roast pork (RM 8).
It was quite beautifully presented. It came with noodle/meehun, some long beans, bean sprouts, tofu pok, mint, cuttle fish, and of course, those yummy sambal in addition to roast pork.
Compared to KL or Penang curry mee, this has a more sourish taste, slightly more refreshing, and absolutely delicious.
KY & Haze, obviously enjoying the curry mee
If you have an affinity to curry mee or laksa, this is definitely a stall to check out. The normal version starts at RM 6, and I’m going to try their seafood noodle when I have a chance.
Address: Kedai Makanan USJ 2, Jalan USJ 2/2c 47620 UEP Subang Jaya GPS: 3.057137, 101.591065 Hours: 10 am – 2 pm
As someone who’s born and bred in Penang, we obviously love our hawker dishes, and hence it is always a mission for many of us Penangites to find the local taste right here in KL whenever we can.
New Apollos kopitiam at USJ 4
Now when most think about hawker foods in Penang, curry mee, prawn mee, laksa, and char kuih teow is often high on the list, and if you mention kuih teow th’ng (or kuih teow soup), many don’t even realize how difficult it is to find a place that offers the dish here in KL. Hence when I accidentally ended up at Restaurant New Apollos in USJ 4 and saw this stall, I knew it was something I had to order.
proper Penang style kuih teow th’ng
The operator (not the one in the picture, she was just the helper) speaks Penang Hokkien, which passed the first litmus test whenever I order Penang food.
When the bowl of kuih teow soup arrived, I was already pretty happy. The dish looked the part, with three fishballs, shredded steamed chicken, a few slices of fish cakes, vegetable, fried garlic, and a few bits of lard.
I was well satisfied with the kuih teow soup
As for the taste, this RM 5 bowl of goodness hits all the right spots. It might lack strips of duck blood, but the fish balls and fish cakes had the right texture and tasted rather good. Portion was not overly big like other KL hawker dishes, and the shredded chicken cooked just right as well.
In fact, I liked it so much I rode all the way from Damansara Perdana to USJ 4 just for this yesterday. This kuih teow soup is now on the top of my list so far as Klang Valley is concerned.
Address: Restaurant New Apollos 2, Jln USJ4/6B Subang Jaya GPS: 3.051770, 101.576209 Hours: Lunch and Breakfast, Closed on Tuesdays
Daorae Korean BBQ Restaurant is probably no stranger to most who loves Korean food. My first visit to this chain was the USJ Taipan main branch at least 4-5 years ago. I went there again last week when the worms in my gut was starving for some Galbi.
Daorae Korean BBQ Garden at USJ Taipan
I’m not quite sure if this is the very first branch of Daorae, they have branches now at Hartamas, Penang Bayan Point, Kota Damansara, Kepong, Puchong Bandar Puteri, and another new one in PJ (the NZX branch has since closed). When we were there, there was an friendly old Korean guy who looked very much like the owner, and he explained that “Daorae” means many people, which translate to good business.
I must say they chose the right name. Daorae for Korean food is much like the Superdining chains for Japanese food (Rakuzen, Sushi Zanmai, Pasta Zanmai, Kura)
banchan – kimchi, salad, chives, cockles and more!
The one thing I always love about korean food is all the banchan (small dishes). Other than the standard kimchi, you almost always get something different on each visit. On this trip there were cockles, steamed egg in hot pot, salad, chives, fish cake, and more. I think we had some 10 different varieties. You can usually ask for refill too.
galbi (marinated beef), 3 layer pork
For the two of us, I ordered a portion of galbi (marinated beef short ribs) and 3 layer pork for the grill.
As usual, the expertly trained servers did the whole grilling right in front of us. Galbi’s best served with the ssamjang sauce (fermented bean paste & pepper) and wrapped in fresh lettuce. I like to add a piece of grilled garlic too.
The samgyeopsal (three layer pork) was lovely too. Grilled and usually goes either with the same ssamjang or gireumjang sauce (sesame oil and salt). Nothing like some pork to fill the stomach.
kimchi jiggae, Haze
Other than the two grilled meat and those free banchan, I also ordered a portion of kimchi jiggae – a stew with kimchi, tofu, pork, scallion, onion and such. This is typically served with a bowl of fragrant Korean rice, which I like.
It was as usual, a satisfying meal at Daorae, though one that isn’t exactly economical (RM 140) for the two of us, otherwise I’d do it more often. Galllbiiiiiiiii
Address: Daorae Korean BBQ Restuarant
No.8C, Top Speed Business Center,
Jalan USJ 10/1J,
47620 UEP Subang Jaya, Selangor GPS: 3.048045, 101.585987 Tel: 03-8024-2616
Time to take a little break from writing about Bangkok and lets talk about something closer to home for a bit. After all, this site has the reputation of being a food blog of sort, no?
Well, this dining expedition happened late last year when Kerol decided to lead myself and Horng to this little hideout that is F4 Fish Head at the relatively unfashionable part of USJ, within the light industrial area at the back of Summit mall, otherwise known as the traffic death zone during rush hour.
F4 Fish head, next to USJ badminton hall
The restaurant occupies a small industrial lot, which is rather big by kopitiam standard. By the time we got there at around 6:30, it was already 80% full despite located in a rather hidden area.
We sat down and ordered a steamed fish head with ginger and onion, a plate of potato leaves with balacan, and a clay pot port belly with salted fish.
fish head with ginger & garlic, potato leaves, pork belly with salted fish
Food did take a while to arrive but it wasn’t unacceptably long.
The steamed fish head with ginger and garlic(not exactly sure the type of fish used) was very delightful. Now fish heads are usually prepared with curry, but if you have good quality and fresh fish heads, steaming would be a preferred method. The fish was soft, and as it was almost 1/3 of the fish instead of just the head, there were plenty to chew from.
The clay pot pork belly with salted fish too was a very commendable dish. Saturated with the goodness of 3-layered pork that is skin/fat/meat and salted fish in dark soya sauce and dried chili. It was a good contrast to the fairer taste of the steamed fish head.
KY, Kerol, and Horng
As for the potato leaves with balacan, well, it was decent but nothing particularly outstanding. A good accompanying dish to counter the meat and fish. But I do feel that perhaps a steamed soup might serve us better.
F4 Fish Head is hidden within Subang Jaya Industries Park
Total meal came to something like RM 60, very economical for what we ordered. I need to go back there again to try out other types of fish head dishes they have. They’re open for lunch as well as dinner.
Address: F4 Fish Head
Lot 776, Sub lot 3,
Jalan Subang 4,
Subang Jaya Industries Park,
47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor GPS: 3.04651, 101.59724 Tel: 012-325 9111
