We were running around figuring out what to eat a couple Fridays ago (it’s harder than hell to get agreement from 2 girls on what’s for dinner), Kerol suddenly just decided to started driving with a purpose and said she’ll just surprise us.

15 minutes later, we arrived at Ah Foong Bak Kut Teh (阿峰肉骨茶), which was just as well since I never shy away from this uniquely Malaysian Chinese food. After all, this is the 10th time I blogged about a bak kut teh place.

note: from 1/7/2008 to 31/12/2008, get a 10% discount by saying “KY Discount” at this place!

friendly kopitiam setting

For the 3 of us, we ordered a portion of traditional soup bak kut teh, a portion of dried bak kut teh, sour and spicy vegetable (酸辣菜), a bowl of tofu pok (tofu with thicker skin), and some yau char kuai (油炸鬼). We also have extra string mushroom in the soup bak kut teh too, since the girls love that thing.

wet and dry bak kut teh, sour and spicy vegetable, tofu pok

Service was very good in this place, the boss made sure that we had a good experience, and gave us extra soup in bowls to avoid the customer running out of those very delicious herbal soup (unlike Ah Sang, who are too stingy and will ignore your 3rd soup request). The sour and spicy vegetable was very good too, it gives a contrasting taste and texture to the meat from bak kut teh.

The yau char kuai too, was still crunchy. Same can’t be said for most bak kut teh places, most of the time I get soggy yau char kuai instead. Ah Foong also has red chili, chili padi, chopped garlic, and fried shallots with soya sauce and dark soya sauce available on every table, nice. As for drinks, choose they have several types of Chinese tea to choose from.

chili, garlic, tea, and yau char kuai

The dinner only costs around RM30 for the three of us. Very reasonable and above all, very delicious. The soup was thick and full of flavor, and the meat well cooked tasted just the way they should. I’ll definitely go there again and again. This place is opened for lunch and dinner.

Ah Foong Bak Kut Teh is just opposite Sunway Pyramid

Address:
446, Jln PJS 10/11
47800 Bandar Sunway
Selangor
GPS: 3.076715, 101.604368

Tags:  Bak Kut Teh,  bkt,  chinese-food,  dining,  kerol,  kopitiam,  pork,  sunway,  val

Posted by KY | 18 Comments »

Scouring for lunch one weekend afternoon, we somehow arrived at PJ old town food court. Since my house mate recommended the chicken rice, we did not bother to really look for anything else over there.

the girls are enjoying their lunch

This Kie Kee chicken rice stall has been in operation for many years, and actually serves more than just chicken rice. They have roasted pork (siu yok), bbq pork (char siu), chicken with mushroom, and even curry chicken and curry pork. Of course, the standard steamed chicken and roasted chicken are available, there’s porridge too.

I ordered a plate of dark meat roasted chicken with siu yok, while the other noobs had chicken with char siu, and siu yok with curry sauce. The food were actually rather good, the chicken prepared boneless, and the pork tasted like how they should be. Most importantly, the chili sauce was really nice. I maintain that one of the most important ingredients for chicken rice is the chili sauce, this place didn’t disappoint.

roasted chicken, roasted pork, bbq pork, curry

While many other places sells chicken rice for no less than RM 3.50 for a plain chicken and rice dish, and RM 4.00 to RM 4.50 for combo; Kie Kee only charges RM 3.50 for combo and RM 3.00 for a normal plate. Pretty cheap for PJ standard.

the food court is situated opposite the bus terminal

Give it a try if you are going to old town. There are a couple stalls that sell Chinese satay, and the ais kacang is very delicious too.

Address:
Intersection of
Jalan Othman & Jalan Selangor
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.087519, 101.645948

Tags:  char-siu,  chicken-rice,  curry,  food-court,  hawker,  kerol,  old-town,  PJ,  roasted-pork,  siu-yok,  val

Posted by KY | 20 Comments »

It’s been a while since the last time I had pho in KL, and it’s been even longer since I went to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. As we were looking for dinner before movie, I happened to chance upon O’ Viet and decided to remind myself why I had come to love this traditional Vietnamese dish.

look mighty appetizing, no?

Since it was basically a quick dinner, I only ordered a bowl of mixed pho, and the hot chick got herself the seafood noodle. Nothing else, no spring role or any of those fancy Vietnamese appetizers (it turned out to be a wise choice, main dish came in big portion.)

we’re loving it

The dishes came after a short wait, served by someone who spoke with a Vietnamese accent, it was a good sign. The pho smelled pretty good, and the soup noodle come complete with a side dish of basil leave, mint, lemon, bean sprouts, and chili sauce. I wish they would only have some hot jalopeno peppers.

I put the fresh leaves and bean sprouts to the soup and started attacking the dish right away. Out of my expectation, this bowl of pho was actually one of the bests I’ve tried in Malaysia. The soup tasted right, and the meat (brisket, flank, tripe, meat ball) cooked to a very soft and tender texture. The type of noodle too, was pretty close to what I had in HCMC, though I still long for the proper flat rice type. If only they serve beef tendon, it’ll be perfect.

The seafood noodle came in a slightly spicier broth, and had plenty of squid, cuttle fish, fish meat, and prawn. It was pretty good, too.

pho.. *drools*

The meal came to a bit over RM 35 for two, including 5% government tax and 10% service charge. The plain water wasn’t free either. This place certainly wasn’t cheap, but I do feel that the quality of food justified the price, and I will gladly go there again when my pho craving strikes.

Address:
G1.45 Sunway Pyramid (near ice skating rink)
46150 Bandar Sunway
Selangor
GPS: 3.073297, 101.607576

Tags:  ky,  pho,  sunway pyramid,  val,  vietnamese

Posted by KY | 10 Comments »

It’s no secret that I am a fan of Bak Kut Teh (肉骨茶), in fact, I have devoted a whole subcategory for this uniquely Malaysian dish. In recent years, some of the more imaginative bak kut teh restaurant owners have come up with the concept of dry bak kut teh, in addition to the traditional soup type. So far though, I have only tried one at Lai Choon, Klang. Until last weekend, when we spotted the Restaurant Bak Kut Teh Shun Heng 吧生顺兴（干）肉骨茶 at Aman Suria.

nice and clean environment

For two person, we ordered one portion of dry bak kut teh, and another clay pot the normal variety. It was late afternoon and we didn’t have to wait very long for the food to be served.

The two clay pots came steaming with irressistable aroma, with a couple plates of oil rice and some yau char kuai (Chinese Crullers - 油炸鬼). While the normal version of Bak Kut Teh served were pretty good but not overly impressive with its soup (slightly lacking compared to some of the Klang stalls), the dry version was absolutely superb.

Other than dried red chilli and the thick sauce, there were also chunks of okra and some dried cuttle fish in the mix, with different cuts of meat and pork intestine as the main ingredients. The combination may sound odd to you, but you simply have to give this a try. It was great.

absolutely delicious bak kut teh… *slurps*

There are quite a number of Bak Kut Teh restaurants in this area, including Wong Siong Wong. However, to my knowledge, only Shun Heng serves the dry Bak Kut Teh. The restaurant is one that is nearest to the big aquarium shop.

Located nearby Aman Suria, at the Sunway Mas Commercial Center

Opening Hours:
weekdays 9am - 3pm, 6pm - 9pm
weekends 7:30am - 2pm, 5:30pm - 9pm

Address:
Restaurant Bak Kut Teh Shun Heng
No. 9-1, Jalan PJU 1/3C
Sunway Mas Commercial Centre
47301 PJ Selangor
GPS: 3.120055, 101.599460
Tel: 012-392 3082

Tags:  aman-suria,  Bak Kut Teh,  bkt,  ky,  PJ,  pork,  val

Posted by KY | 14 Comments »

Pork tripe soup (猪肚汤) is among one of the harder to find dishes at the everyday Malaysian kopitiam, though a pretty common item in a traditional home cooked dinner during festive seasons. It is the dish that my mom always for worshipping the ancestors on the various semi-religious “anniversaries”.

traditional dish at old school kopitiam

When my housemate suggested we go to Weng Soon Jaya (新永顺茶餐室)at USJ 17 to have the pork tripe soup, I was eager to try it. The restaurant is of a normal kopitiam set up, with over half a dozen stalls offering familiar dishes such as chicken rice and wantan mee. The stall taht offers pork tripe soup was easy enough to spot as it was the busiest.

Most of us ordered the pork tripe soup, but another friend who doesn’t take innards chose to have their soya sauce pork (豆油肉) which also come with hard boiled egg.

The pork tripe soup has a very strong white pepper taste, which is a common feature of this dish, however, the pepper did not overpower the sweetness of the soup. The tripe itself was nicely done to an easy-to-chew texture and wasn’t over cooked. Chicken feet was also used as an ingredient to further enhance the taste of the soup, the fusion of the two ingredients resulted a very flavorful soup indeed.

I did not leave a single drop of soup

The soya sauce pork was very nice as well. The gravy wasn’t too salty and the cutting of the pork was from the slightly fatty but most delicious belly area. A hard boil egg and few slices of fresh cucumber makes up the rest of the dish.

Each dishes was close to RM 5.00 including white rice. A very reasonable price for some very good food. The stall does not open on sunday and only serves for late breakfast and lunch hours.

pretty easy to go to this place even if you’re not very familiar with USJ

Address:
Jalan USJ 17/1,
Subang Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.033705, 101.578892

Tags:  chinese-food,  kopitiam,  pork,  soup,  tripe,  USJ,  val

Posted by KY | 9 Comments »