Sungai Way, situated across from Heineken factory divided by Federal Highway, is a pretty old part of Petaling Jaya. The main road at Sungai Way has a few rows of shop houses near the morning wet market and police station, with a few kopitiam open for business, which make for a perfect spot for weekday breakfasts.
Nasi Lemak at Sungai Way, Petaling Jaya
Arguably, the busiest stalls at the center of Sungai Way has got to be the nasi lemak stall at Wing Lee kopitiam, situated just before the wet market if you’re coming from Federal Highway. The little stall operated by a few Chinese ladies always sell out their goods by around 8ish in the morning.
So I decided to take a stab at what they have to offer.
Other than the standard hard boiled egg, deep fried anchovies, peanuts, fresh cucumber, and sambal on coconut milk rice, there are also a couple add-ons you can ask for to spice up the dish, namely cuttlefish, potato, and curry chicken.
love my nasi lemak with potato curry & cuttlefish
While I find that this version of nasi lemak isn’t the most fragrant when it comes to the amount of santan in the rice, the coconut & curry chicken were on point, and I also particularly like their the texture of their cuttlefish.
Overall it is not hard to see why they sell out so early in the morning. Prices are reasonable, and the nasi lemak is certainly above average. Will tapao for work again!
Address: Nasi Lemak at Sungai Way Kedai Kopi Wing Lee Jalan SS 9a/1, Sungai Way, Petaling Jaya Selangor GPS:3.086479, 101.620678 Hours: breakfast
Prawn mee is only called prawn mee if you’re in Klang Valley, which is a bit funny since it is a dish that is originated from Penang, and up North we always called it Hokkien mee. It is unfortunate that Hokkien Mee is referred to something that looks like a plate of greased up worm instead of this glorious bowl of some of the finest creations from the Hokkien clan.
Heng Lee kopitiam at Sungai Way
Anyway, today I want to introduce to you one of my latest hawker find, the prawn mee stall at Sungai Way, first made aware to me by one of my instagram followers. A hawker stall at Heng Lee kopitiam located right opposite Sungai Way morning market on the main road with the entrance from Federal Highway.
glorious bowl of Penang style prawn mee
For RM 6, you get a bowl of prawn mee with all the proper ingredients such as prawn, boiled egg (a whole egg in this case), pork slices, kangkung, bean sprout, your favorite noodle/meehun, and even a few slices of fish paste which I don’t really care much about. The chili paste here is pretty decent, but the stand out part of this dish would be the broth, which I thought was really on point.
One thing to note, this stall serves Penang Laksa instead of prawn mee on Wednesday, something which I thought is a bit of a funny dish for breakfast, but whatever rock your socks. Give it a try if you’re a fan of these dishes.
Address: Heng Lee Kopitiam (opposite wet market) 611 Jalan SS 9a/1, Sungai Way, Petaling Jaya Selangor GPS:3.086479, 101.620678 Hours: breakfast
One of the more popular thing to do for many restaurant owners is to name their restaurant with the place the business is conducted from. After all, it is convenient for anyone to remember, and also make it sounds a lot more legitimate.
That is, until you expand to another location. One of such example is the confusingly named Peel Road Yong Tau Foo located at Sungai Way, our subject of this entry.
Update 21/11/2014: unfortunately this place has already changed to a “tai chao” operation and no longer serve yong tau foo
Restaurant Peel Road Yong Tow Foo at Sungai Way
We actually stumbled upon this place as Sing Kee was closed when we wanted to go for their asam fish a couple weeks ago. Since this shack/restaurant seems to be offering more than just yong tau foo, we thought why not?
As it turns out, the place is more of a tai chau restaurant that happen to offer yong tau foo.
naturally, we had to order some yong tau foo
Naturally, we ordered a selection of yong tau foo as appetizer.
True to the name, the YTF here were actually rather good, with the fuchuk particularly tasty. The tofu, chili, bitter gourd, brinjal and such did not disappoint either. The stuffing is a little heavy but we liked it nonetheless.
steamed egg, vegetable, curry fish head, bitter gourd chicken
For the six of us, we ordered another four dishes to go with rice for everyone.
The steamed egg was smooth n silky with a hint of sesame oil, reminding me of the version we had at K.T.L. Cheras. The vegetable more than passable, in addition to ticking off the vitamin C requirement in every meal.
The third dish, bitter gourd chicken, was also pretty decent, though not exactly the best version I’ve tried.
the curry fish head was really good
However, the curry fish head here turned out to be superb. We asked for grouper head which isn’t very commonly available in Klang Valley, but in my opinion, the best candidate for curry fish head. The version here has a thick flavorful gravy and packed with extra vegetables that adds to the overall experience. If I had to order only one dish from here, this would be it.
Over all this branch of Peel Road YTF at Sungai Way makes for a more than decent dinner option. We ended up paying around RM 15 or so per person.
Address: Peel Road Yong Tow Foo Jalan SS 9a/14 & Jalan SS 9a/19 Sungai Way, Petaling Jaya Selangor GPS: 3.086527, 101.622316
For those who loves classic Hokkien dishes, Hua Xing would be a place you shouldn’t miss. For reasons unknown, I didn’t know the existence of this place until very recently, despite staying rather close to the area and actually visited the police station just across this restaurant for “official business“, furthermore, Sing Kee is also one of the restaurants we frequent.
Restaurant Hua Xing at Sungai Way, Petaling Jaya
Most of it though, has to do with the location of this place. Situated on the first floor of a fantastically planned shopping strip that is Plaza Seri Setia (conveniently situated behind a row of shop houses), it is but 50 meters from Federal Highway, but well hidden enough that you’d never find Carmen Sandiego if he take up residence in this building.
Anyway, the restaurant has a pretty clean, air conditioned interior, with photos of various dishes plastered on the wall, which was helpful. Food arrived in less than 10 minutes after we ordered, definitely a good thing.
Hokkien braised pork with “alkaline” kuih, or Hong Bak in Hokkien
I’m ashamed to be a Hokkien for not having heard about Hong Bak before, and how insanely awesome this dish is. Really fat cuts of pork braised in thick, sinful gravy accompanied with soft “alkaline” kuih. The kuih is like a softer version of char kuih kak’s kuih, and really goes well with the gravy. Of course, those fatty pork doesn’t hurt at all. I love it.
Another notable dish here is the fried eggplant. It reminds me of the version at Serai which I loved, both are deep fried, one with sugar (Serai), and another with plenty of garlic. Very delicious and positively addictive, I will order this every time I’m here.
The bitter gourd Hokkien mee is a nice change from the ordinary version which can be a tad “jelak” after having the 2nd bowl. The slight bitterness from the vege neutralize the dark sauce in a positive way, I like it.
Potato flour noodle was a bit of a disappointment for us, a bit too dry for my liking, and doesn’t offer any advantage in taste either.
The rice wine (or actually red yeast) chicken was another old school dish that we tried, it could do better with heavier dose of red wine/yeast thingy but the dish held its own nonetheless. It’d be better with rice, we had noodle, so a bit of mismatched there.
Yuki, Horng, Suan, and KY at Hua Xiang, Sungei Way
Over all, the dinner at Hua Xing was a positive one. I believe we’ll definitely head back there again. I only wish that the parking situation is a bit more favourable though.
Address: Hua Xiang Restaurant Lot1-12, 1st Floor, Plaza Seri Setia, Jalan SS9/2, Seri Setia, Sungei Way, 47300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor GPS: 3.085874, 101.62023 Tel: 03-7876 3288 Hours: lunch and dinner, closed on alternate Wednesdays
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
