Over the last decade or so, Kota Kemuning has slowly transformed from sort of a backwater township to one that is rather mature, and with that, comes a slew of pretty interesting dining options we often associated the more “hip” places like Bangsar, Subang, or PJ area.
Today, we look at one of the more interesting offering at Abanico Your Deli Restaurant.
Abanico at Kota Kemuning
For those who love to indulge in some porky goodness, it may be quite a common knowledge that Iberico pork are some of the most sought after type of pork there is. Iberico, as the name suggests, is the meat from Black Iberian pigs that are originated from Portugal and native to the Iberian Peninsula.
Much like Wagyu for beef, this type of pork has a higher percentage of intramuscular fats, making it more tender and have higher marbling. Additionally, the pigs are often fed on acorns, giving it a distinct taste that is quite unique and often said to be superior than normal pigs we get.
Anyway, what I really wanted to get to is that Abanico is actually the spare ribs of Iberico pigs, so by the name of the restaurant they really do tell you what is the specialty here.
abanico, pinchos, clams in white wine pasta
Abanico operates like a deli, pick your choice of meat from the glass chiller, and the kitchen will prepare and serve you there after. Additionally, there are also a selection of dishes not displayed on the chiller, but clearly stated on the blackboards just above the cashier.
We ordered a piece of abanico (pork ribs, RM 52.90 per piece), a stick of pinchos iberico (RM 26), pasta with clams in white wine sauce (RM 35.90), and Portuguese seafood stew (RM 38.00).
Portuguese seafood stew
The ribs were served in a very straight forward, simple manner, grilled just right to retain the natural flavor and came with their homemade (who’s home?) black pepper sauce and mustard sauce. To be honest I actually liked to savor the meat as is, without any sauce, but there’s no wrong way to enjoy it your way.
The pinchos iberico were our favorites of the day, the skewer was properly marinated and carry a hint of sweetness coupled with the savory taste from iberico pork that were so delicious I wished we had ordered more.
menu on the wall at Abanico, Kota Kemuning
The other two non-meat dishes we ordered held up the standard as well. The pasta were filled with plenty of clams (lala actually, although I’d much preferred the bigger clams) infused properly with enough white wine to compliment the seafood sweetness.
Portuguese seafood stew too is a dish worth ordering, packed with enough seafood in the dish to satisfy anyone. I also liked that they gave a generous slab of garlic bread for you to go with the stew.
I thought the food were as good as anywhere, they could perhaps improve a little by having served the meat with a bit of sides instead of a few green leaf. Additionally, the prices are perhaps on the higher side for the service quality rendered, but it is something that usually happens in smaller townships. The services wasn’t bad, it just could have been better.
Overall, the experience was a positive one, Abanico is certainly worthy of a visit, especially if you’re closer to this part of Klang Valley.
Address: Abanico 39-G, Jln Anggerik Vanilla BF 31/BF, Kota Kemuning, 40460 Shah Alam, Selangor GPS: 3.00455615, 101.535562 Tel: 011-6565 3533
This is the 63rd bak kut teh review that I’ve done, so I guess it’s safe to say that bak kut teh was and still is one of my all time favorite dish. This time, let’s look at one of Klang’s more famous outfit – Batu Belah Boon Hua bak kut teh.
Batu Belah Boon Hua bak kut teh
Batu Belah Boon Hua is located off Jalan Meru, just 3-4 minutes away from the NKVE or Federal Highway exit respectively. Like many bak kut teh restaurants in Klang, this place is fitted with zinc roof and does not have 4 walls. The fans generally does an okay job in providing comfort to diners, but expect a bit of sweat when the weather is hot, place is packed, and soup is steaming.
You get to have your bak kut teh in either individual bowls with your favorite cut of meat, or in claypot with a bit of a mix plus tofu skin (fu chuk) and raw cabbage. Purists will go with bowls, but to be honest, do what you like as there’s no wrong way of serving bak kut teh (except if you make it pepper soup instead, looking at you, Singapore & Johor!).
We had kahwan (fatty leg joints), and pua pui chiak (pork belly) in clay pot for two. The meat were tender, flavorful, and fatty bits could be cut just by using your spoon. The soup too had a strong hint of herbal taste to it, well balanced. I do also like the fact that you can request for fried shallots as a side to add to the steamed rice, elevating the experience just a bit.
mixture of kahwan & pork belly, my favorite cuts
Get here earlier especially if it’s on a weekend, you don’t want to be sweating from standing in queue even before you eat.
Address: Restoran Batu Belah Boon Hua bak kut teh 41, Lorong Pauh Kijang, Taman Bahagia, 41150 Klang, Selangor GPS: 3.073105, 101.447905 Tel: 012 2954 721 Hours: breakfast and lunch
Klang will always be associated with bak kut teh for most people, and while that is certainly true since the region has something like 300-500 bak kut teh restaurants, there’s another hidden gem that most may not know about – them fried chicken!
Klang Jaya fried chicken
After I posted about Yummy fried chicken located at Bandar Puteri Klang on social media, I was made aware of this Klang Jaya Fried Chicken by quite a few people who are from Klang and are familiar with this whole fried chicken scene, without hesitation, I knew we were going to have to check it out.
As it turned out, Klang Jaya fried chicken used to be a stall by the roadside, but has since moved to occupy a shop lot by itself several months back. Google map may still have the old address in the database but the one below on Jalan Selampit 21 would be the right one.
While most yoyo ice and fried chicken places like Nijia opens operates mainly on day time, Klang Jaya fried chicken caters for dinner and supper crowds. We got there by 6:30 or so and started picking our poisons right after checking in our location thanks to Covid measures.
fried meehun, fried chicken, nasi lemak, and fishball on skewer
Fried chicken is priced at RM 3.60 per piece, additionally, they also offer fried meehun and nasi lemak (RM 1.60), as well as fried fish ball, red bean soup, and a limited choice of drinks (see menu below).
piping hot fried chicken!
I had thigh and drumsticks here, and these fried chicken were served piping hot, with crispy skin and rather juicy meat. They were super delicious, and though I thought the extra cut on the chicken thigh sorta made the meat slightly less juicy, it wasn’t a deal breaker at all. Meehun goreng here was pretty good especially with the curry sauce, with nasi lemak presented as a decent alternative too.
As for those fried fish ball and other items on skewers.. I’ll give them a miss next time.
Overall, it was a very satisfying meal indeed, and definitely somewhere I’d be looking forward to returning.
Address: Klang Jaya Fried Chicken Jalan Selampit 21, 41200 Taman Klang Jaya, 41200 Selangor GPS: 3.007844, 101.444584 Tel:+6012 250 0766 Hours: 6-11pm
Always on the lookout for a good bowl of ramen, I was recently intrigued by taufulou’s rave reviews about Ichikakuya Ramen, probed into it a little bit and realized that it is located at UOA Business Park, that big office building across from SS15 over Federal Highway, which is quite a convenient place for me to get to, so I thought we’d give it a try.
Ichikakuya Ramen at the Podium, UOA Business Park
The brand Ichikakuya is from Yokohama and is a relatively new establishment from only about 5 years ago, the branch at UOA Business Park is the first in Malaysia.
The menu is pretty straightforward, choose between normal or red iekei (spicy) soup that’s either soy or salt based, and you can also opt for more chasiu (pork), soft boiled eggs, spinach, bamboo shoots, green onions and such. Additionally, they also have a few types of rice bowls if ramen isn’t your thing.
What makes Ichikakuya stands apart from other ramen places is the ability to customize the taste and noodle doneness in the following way:
We went for soy sauce soup and red iekei ramen, with normal noodle, strong taste, and extra chicken oil. I guess the “purists” will want to go for hard noodle, but to be frank I’ve never really enjoyed al dante noodle in pretty much any noodle dish.
The chicken oil and soy base soup reminds me of those equally good soup base from marutama, the wheat flour noodle carries a unique texture that went very well with the soup as well. The spicy version does come with a bit of a kick, not something that I’d call “hot” but should satisfy those who enjoys spicier food.
Overall, with the vege, seaweed, egg, and everything else, the ramen was as good as any I’ve tasted, well balanced and certainly delicious.
chasiu, egg, and soup all comes together
As for the gyoza, they were perfectly ordinary and would be something that I probably won’t order again. Price of ramen starts from RM 18.00 to RM 32.50 depending on how crazy you want to go.
Address: Ichikakuya Ramen Unit 1-3A, Level 1, Tower 3, The Podium, Uoa Business park, No. 1, Jalan Pengaturcara U1/51a, Kawasan Perindustrian Temasya, 40150 Shah Alam, Selangor GPS: 3.086171, 101.586808 Tel: 014-958 3884
Ever since the relaxation of movement controlled thanks to Covid-19, I’ve been slowly getting back to doing a bit of hiking over the weekends. A couple weeks ago that brought us to one of the destinations that is new to me – Gunung Datuk in Rembau. It was a 5.25 km round trip hike with 630+ meter total elevation that took some 3 hours, a nice, satisfying medium effort hike.
And what do you do after a good hike? Brunch of course!
beef noodle at pasar besar Seremban – stall #241A 新儒记
Since we were in Negeri Sembilan, it was natural to get something that is uncommon in Klang Valley – a proper bowl of Seremban’s famous beef noodle.
For this, we headed to Pasar Besar Seremban, the biggest wet market in the state.
The hawker center at the market is situated on the first floor, and you’d be greeted by a plethora of choices – but if you want the most “famous” of them all, head to stall number 241A (新儒记) for their famous beef noodle.
There are several choices on the “menu” to choose from, we settled on standard mixed beef noodle for the most part, but you can also order with just beef without the “mixed” bits, which are those delicious offal. Expect a 15-30 minutes wait on weekends.
starchy, sticky, and absolutely delightful
The Seremban beef noodle is quite a unique dish in itself, with very little in common from the type that you often get in Klang Valley, such as those from the likes of Lai Foong or Yung Kee. or Shin Kee. While the others are soupy and serves with yellow/wantan noodle, or even meehun, Seremban’s version comes with “lai fun”, which is also referred to as their version of loushe fun.
The starchy sauce is rather flavorful, with beef & innards cooked to a soft and tender texture, a hallmark of any decent beef dish, there’s also a side of soup to wash it all down. I also like the chili sauce that it came with, not overly spicy and carries some acidity from vinegar to provide a good contrast.
Jodie, Desmond, and Jean, good meal is a must after hiking
At RM 8 to 9 per bowl, this was a very satisfying brunch, will perhaps try other offerings in Seremban next, though I wouldn’t mind repeating this very same stall at all.
Address: Stall #241A 新儒记 Pasar Besar Seremban Jalan Tuanku Munawir, Bandar Seremban, 70000 Seremban, Negeri Sembilan GPS: 2.730767, 101.936588 Hours: breakfast and lunch
