Food Finds
Since WCE (West Coast Expressway) is now partially opened, the travel time from where I stay in Shah Alam to Kuala Selangor was cut off by quite a bit to only around 45 minutes instead of the usual hour plus, a seafood meal at this part of Selangor is now possible without being a laborious journey.
Makanan Laut Jeti, Kuala Selangor
My last seafood trip to Kuala Selangor was at Restoran Kuang Wah, so I’ve decided to give another outlet a try this time around, and we settled on Jetty Seafood Restaurant, also located at the same general area by the mount of Selangor River.
crabs and snails
Ordering here is quite a simple affair, they have a straight forward menu with some photos, but most importantly, they prices of those “market price” seafood are clearly written on the white board by the wall.
For two pax, we ordered a couple steamed local crabs, spiky shellfish, a plate of 4 kingdom vege (long bean, okra, petai, brinjal), deep fried seafood tofu, and salt and pepper mantis prawns.
4 kingdom vege, seafood tofu, mantis prawns
While the crabs were small-ish in size, they were fresh, having them steamed also kept the natural sweetness intact, the only way to have good quality crab in my opinion.
Those spiky snails were a bit too small, quite a bit of work to eat, would probably skip that next time.
Vege was nice with a strong belacan taste while being only slightly spicy. The seafood tofu was really good, you can taste the bits of seafood within the tofu, I enjoyed it a lot.
I was hoping the mantis prawns came intact instead of shelled, but the dish turned out pretty decent, no complaints there.
Jetty Seafood Restaurant Menu & price
Dinner came out to be RM 124.30, with what we ordered, I thought it was a pretty sweet deal. Planning another trip soon!
Address:
Jetty Seafood Restaurant
26 Jalan Pasir Penembang
Kuala Selangor
45000 Selangor
GPS: 3.348020, 101.251619
Tel: 017-349 7713
Restoran Mei Keng is one of my routine Sunday pre-futsal breakfast stops, located just off Jalan 222, the restaurant occupies the other corner lot on the same row of shop lots that also houses the more famous Ahwa Hokkien Mee (night)
Mei Keng kopitiam, off Jalan 222
I’ve decided to give the Teow Chew Fishball noodle stall a try. My reasoning was simple, if they are confident enough to deep fried that big bunch of fish paste, it must be at least decent.
Like most places, you get to choose from a variety of noodle, my pick was kuih teow, but you also have options of yee mee, yellow noodle, meehun, mee suah and such.
The bowl came with a piece of seaweed, 3 fish balls, as well as 3-4 pieces of fish cake. There’s also lettuce, some pepper, and garlic oil, and a side of cili padi as condiment. While the soup itself was rather subtle, I thought the fish ball and fishcake were really good, bouncy and flavorful without being overpowering, they claim that it’s made with giant garupa meat, and I think the quality shows.
fish ball noodle, with fish cake & seaweed too
Satisfying breakfast indeed, would not hesitate to order again.
Address:
Mei Keng kopitiam
42, Jalan 14/48,
Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.097563, 101.629334
For this year’s CNY escape, my brother & I brought mom to Siem Reap for some Angkor Wat sight seeing. So naturally, we got to try some of the local foods.
I always thought it was a little strange that we can find many representations of South East Asian food in Malaysia – Thai being most popular, but you can also find Indonesian, Vietnamese, and to a lesser extend, Filipino food. However, I haven’t seen a single Cambodian hawker stall or restaurants in all of Klang Valley, and now I think I know why..
Old Market at Siem Reap
The short answer is – Cambodian food is just not very good.. or rather, they don’t appeal to the Malaysian taste at all. The biggest problem being that most everything ended up to sweet, even dishes that you never expect to have any sugar at all, they will add some just for kicks in Siem Reap.
So, if you order food there and specifically tell them not to put any sugar, things usually will turn out OK-ish.
Even though it’s the second biggest city in Cambodia, Siem Reap is really quite a small place, with population of only around 200 thousands. You can use local currency, but US dollar is accepted anywhere with a rate of around 1000 Cambodian Riel to 1 USD, I’d suggest using US dollar for your travel here.
Our first meal was at the Old Market at the heart of the city, walking distance from our hotel (there are many around the area at varying price range).
Instinctively, we went for the busiest noodle/rice stall in the market.
brunch for three, rice or noodle for you?
We ended up ordering 3 different dishes – vermicelli with pork, “instant” noodle with beef, and a plate of chicken rice. Ordering wasn’t too difficult since they do have English menu, and each dish cost US $2. Probably cheaper for the locals? Not sure.
Taste wise they were pretty decent, I particularly love the pork blood and vege in the soup. The soup base however, was a tad too sweet, though still quite acceptable, unlike some of the other stalls we tried at later meals.
I’d not shy away from eating at this stall again.
the dessert stall is right next to noodle stall
Right next to the noodle stall is this very popular dessert stall operated by a lady who doesn’t really speak any English.
Since Siem Reap food is already too sweet, it follows the logic that they would be pretty good at dishes that should be sweet, right? And after having been convinced by some instagram friends who urged me to try it out, we did, and it was awesome!
desserts for three
We had no idea what these desserts were called, or what they really were other than knowing grass jelly, coconut milk, sago, banana, condensed milk and the likes were involved. These 3 bowls cost us 5,500 Riel, they were sweet, tasty, and absolutely satisfying.
If you’re at Old Market, check it out.
Address:
Old Market (Psar Chas)
2 Thnou St,
Krong Siem Reap, Cambodia
GPS: 13.353874, 103.855226
I’m always in the look out for new bak kut teh places to try out, so when I saw this new stall opening up near Peng Heong Paikut at Klang, I thought I should check it out, hence, Yi Pin Seafood Bak Kut Teh.
Yi Pin Seafood Bak Kut Teh, Klang
Yi Pin took over the space that was previously occupied by another bkt place by the name of 石头肉骨茶 (rock bkt?). A corner shop a stone’s throw away from Masjid Bandar Diraja Klang.
I ordered a single portion of bkt with seafood, prawns in this case. I’d have liked to have it with lala, but was unavailable when I was there.
That order didn’t turn out bad at all. The prawns were top notch, fresh, flavorful, and together with the spicy herbal soup, makes for a good, sumptuous meal. The fatty 3-layer pork held their own too. I thought it was perhaps a little better than the version at Hon Kee I had prior, but my favorite is the lala bak kut the at Yun Heng.
a claypot full of fresh prawns and bak kut teh
At 28 ringgit for enough pork, 5 pieces of decent size prawns, I thought it was of good value as well.
They are open for lunch as well as dinner, and offer other dishes ala “tai chao” style in addition to bak kut teh.
Address:
Yi Pin Bak Kut Teh
21, Lorong Gudang Nanas 2,
Kawasan 18, 41400 Klang, Selangor
GPS: 3.049213, 101.444402
Can’t believe I didn’t know about this Chong Kok Kopitiam after having stayed closed to Klang for some four years, more spectacularly, it’s located just a stone’s throw away from Seraph Awaken, one of my favorite hand crafted coffee places in all of KL.
Chong Kok Kopitiam, Klang
For those who were like me, Chong Kok Kopitiam is one of the rare type of eatery that truly represents the best of Malaysia – the restaurant is always crowded with Chinese, Malay, and Indians alike pretty much daily, a scene that reminds me of Hai Peng kopitiam at Kemaman, Pahang.
The restaurant serves your typical selection of local coffee menu, with toasts, steam bread, and half boiled eggs. They also have a few stalls, including a very popular nasi lemak, satay, Nyonya kuih, and more.
breakfast set with perfect sous vide half boiled eggs
The toast and eggs here were perfect, with the half boiled eggs especially on point having prepared using sous vide method. The coffee too is thick and flavorful.
nasi lemak, nyonya kuih, and more are also available
However, the best thing about this otherwise unassuming coffee shop is its atmosphere. You don’t often see this mixture of Malaysians from all walks of life congregating in the same eatery, often even sharing tables.
We need more places like Chong Kok kopitiam.
Address:
Chong Kok Kopitiam
5, Jalan Stesen, Kawasan 1,
41000 Klang, Selangor
GPS: 3.042631, 101.449515
Tel: 03-3371 0996
