restoran huat kee

herro, folks! how was raya holidays? mine was not much of a hols, but i had two great dinners during the weekend/hols. yesterday night, my uncles called for family dinner and we had it all the wayyyyyyyyyy in semenyih. this wasnt our first visit to the humble restaurant, in fact our first visit would be one thats gonna be forever etched in my gastronomic memory!

restoran huat kee

on our first visit somewhere end of last year, we ate like pigs and hungry vultures. after all 15 tummies were stuffed, all of us just walked out of the restaurant coolly and calmly... until we reached an uncle's place and the adults started to ask how much was their share to the bill. uncle A looked at uncle B, uncle B pointed to aunty C, aunty C shook her head saying 'i dunno' and asked aunty D.

... and then we all burst out laughing! nobody paid, but everyone ate like pigs.

but of course, being honest customers my aunty gave a call to the restaurant to inform them about this. my aunty paid them in her next visit and they promised a complimentary noodle dish next time.

anyway, that was my first and so far only experience of eating 'ba wong chan' (ate without paying bill). i still find it hillarious, 15 grown ups ate, laughed, burped, patted their backsides and walked out without paying. and the proprietors/workers didnt even noticed!

ice bucket

restoran huat kee is located somewhere tucked in the corner of the little town of semenyih, somewhere i will never in my food-loving life be able to find if not for my jalan-jalan cari makan uncles and aunties. respect sial. the journey from kl to semenyih takes about 30-45 mins with 3 tolls throughout the journey. it is not a very proper restaurant, in fact it deserves to be called kedai makanan more (restoran is too high klass).

after 'bout 30mins or more of waiting...

fried fish with loadsa shredded onions, cucumbers and red chillies

boney parts of the fish cooked with tofu

stir fried fish fillet with chives (kau choi??)

the first 3 dishes were all from the same fish, hence the name- one fish, three dishes. the fried fish were fried to perfection, crispy and i dont know what other ingredients went in with the marination/batter but it tasted reaaaaaaally goooooood. the shredded onions and cucumbers complemented the dish very well.

the second fish dish (heheh it rhymes!) was the boney parts of the fish cooked with tofu and some chives. i only had a piece of the tofu, the fish parts didnt really appeal to me. tasted ok-lah, not my kinda fish dish.

the third fish dish is a common one found in most tai chow/restaurants. its one of my fav style of fish dish :) taste-wise, not too bad.

some vege

stir fried kangkung

i dont know whats the name of the first vege. any vege-nius can enlighten me?

the stir fried kangkung was delicious. can really taste the 'wok hei' (big wok with big fire). thumbs up!

fried sotong

everybody loves fried sotong! this sotong dont quite look like sotong to me, i reckon because of the batter enveloping them looks out of shape (am i making any sense?). taste-wise, its nice, crispy and tangy, just the way i like it with a little spicyness cos of the cili padies.

pork ribs with capsicum, baby corns, chillies, onions, carrots and 'tau si' (black beans?)

i only had a piece or two of this, its clearly not my fav dish. and i dont really like pork ribs with little or no meat at all. so if i were to be the one ordering, this will not appear on my order list.

the total bill for 7 dishes above inclusive of rice and teh cina for 14 persons (plus 2 ice buckets) was rm185.

*burpssss*


restoran huat kee
somewhere in semenyih.


[disclaimer: the opinions expressed here are based on my personal views, tastebuds and preference and may vary for others. please dont sue me, i dont have money. kthxbye.]

sunday breakfast @ oldtown white coffee

after music class this morning (i know! what a spoiler to sunday mornings to wake up at an ungodly hour- 7am(!!) to go for music class... grrr, but that's another story) i ajak'ed eiling for breakfast cos i wanted to eat polo bau.

p/s: i love wikipedia.

oldtown ice fire polo bun

anyway (gosh, 'anyway' seems to be the only 'kata hubung' i know of), we went to oldtown white coffee, ss15 outlet. this 'konon-nya' kopitiam that will give you an old nostalgic feeling of the olden days are mushrooming to so many outlets, its soooooo commercialized i hate it.

oldtown white coffee, ss15 outlet

dont even tell me about 'uncle lim's cafe' (though we have the same surname...).
yorrr... overpriced, overrated, and not tasty hawker food. i hate paying so much for cheap everyday-everywhere food like nasi lemak, char kuew teow, asam laksa and kai see hor fun.

(L)- kedai kopi sin yuan loong
(R)- kedai kopi sin yuan foong

what's the difference? i dont know too. maybe theyre bros? twins? or enemies?? like this--> sri paandi vs sri paandi

kedai makanan nam heong

watercolor picture credits: joekhor

******

if my knowledge as an ipoh-born and bred serves me well, ipoh white coffee ('pak kopi') is as famous as the ipoh chicks in... ipoh *shamelessly points to self, GRINS :D*

mention sin yuan loong (hardly ever comes by people mentioning sin yuan foong though) or nam heong and images/smell/illusion of white coffee comes flashing through ipoh'ians minds. i wasnt a big fan of white coffee when i was still living in ipoh though, maybe cos its everywhere and easiyly buy-able whenever i crave for it (though i hardly ever craved for it then- mana ada budak kechik crave for white coffee right?? crave also crave for mcdonalds ke, kfc ke, pizza hut ke etc).

the menu

accompanying the aroma of white coffee would be the famous old fashioned breakfast- toasts with half boiled eggs. the bestestest™ simple, tasty, nutritious and convenient breakfast set.

however! NOTHING can beat kluang's roti bakar. (some kopitiam in kluang, which i dont know the name of, sorry!!) but serves damn good charcoal toasted roti bakar with slabs of butter *so good can faint*

they'd probably have a million reprints of this backdrop considering the amount of outlets they have!

anyway, i did a lil' read-up on ipoh white coffee and the kopitiams and found out that these few above mentioned kedai kopi-s are the founding inspirations for the modern kopitiams like uncle lim's, oldtown, kluang station etc. and these new kopitiam babies are multiplying to everywhere!

1Utama- check!
SS15, Subang- check!
Taipan, USJ- check!
Cyberjaya- check!
Queensbay Mall- check!
Megamall, Penang- check!
Taman Maluri- check!
Low Yat Plaza- check!
Ipoh Parade- check!
Ipoh Garden- check!
Ipoh Greentown- check!
(i was told every corner in ipoh has an outlet!)

... too many-lah!!

A Dunggu's Guide to Getting Rich: open a donuts or kopitiam franchise!
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sorry for my digression, moving on to my review of oldtown...

hot 'xi mut' milk tea- rm2.20

oldtown enrich hot chocolate- rm2.80

'xi mut milk tea', what is that?

Xi mut is actually a smooth and fine cotton cloth. This cloth is used as a strainer when making the tea. The tea will be strained though this Xi mut for at least 7 times before the tea can be served.

source: eatfirstthinklater

it has a 'chef's recommendation' logo, so i'd thought why not give it a try. my verdict? NO GOOD. eiling's enrich chocolate was NO GOOD as well. first off, the supposely 'hot' beverages are not HOT, its merely warm. the 'xi mut' milk tea tasted weird, i suppose they curi tulang and strained it 3 times or so instead of 7 times (??) the enrich chocolate tasted rather normal only (milo tastes better, IMHO).

kaya and butter toast (double)- rm2.00

the butter looks like 2 crinkled fries, eh? tastewise, i kinda like this but hate the fact that the toast was served cold... although it was crispy, it lacks the authentic roti bakar feel- crispy, warm and fluffy bread? i dont know how to describe it but oldtown's version is just crispy fullstop.

kaya and butter thick toast- rm2.50

the flavours of kaya and butter could only be tasted on the top layer. as you can see, its a thick toast, with stingy spread of kaya and butter, so most of the time i could only taste white bread. its very filling (since its thick!) but again, its not served warm :(((

ice fire polo bun- rm2.20 per piece

somehow it tasted better during my first visit. again, its not warm. whyyyyyy :(((((

breakfast for two

it was my treat and the bill came up to...

rm15.30

my final verdict: i dont like it.

on a non food-related note, my international accounting assignment is driving me 'cheeseeeeen'!! arghhhhhhhhh :S



oldtown white coffee (ss15 outlet)
92, jalan ss15/4,
47500 subang jaya,
selangor darul ehsan.


[disclaimer: the opinions expressed here are based on my personal views, tastebuds and preference and may vary for others. please dont sue me, i dont have money. kthxbye.]

restoran makanan laut zhen liew siang

tonight's dinner was in sentul.

mention sentul, and it reminds me of...

photo credits: ahmok.com

ive never been to sentul except once to klpac, so please dont ask me for directions. pretty hopeless when it comes to directions of places i hardly ever come by. (actually i think im pretty hopeless when directions are involved. can never be a taxi driver for that matter, sighs)

but i think i still cant beat ziling's sense of directions! she's more hopeless i believe...

anyway!

my uncle brought us to this unfamiliar territory named sentul... i dunno how my uncles always manage to find good eatery places tucked somewhere unbeknownst to human beings like me. heh, maybe i just havent reach that 'search-for-good-food-level' yet.

restoran makanan laut zhen liew siang

there were 人山人海 people mountain people sea.

it was raining... BUT!!!
nothing can deter hungry (chinese esp) people from eating! *grrrrowl*
and nothing can stop people from coming in droves even if there're already tableloads of obviously hungry people waiting for their foooooood.

after about 30 mins of waiting...

pork knuckles- rm32

my first thought was... 'how come the gravy is orange one?'
looks like curry or satay sauce aint it?

the meat was... ohmaigourddddddd. it was soooooo gooooooood, the meat wasnt at all fatty, it made everyone felt like a barbarian. heh. the sauce isnt spicy despite its appearance, has a lil' sour taste to it. still cant figure out what it is cooked from though... but this is one of the BESTESTEST™ pork knuckle dish ive ever eaten!

eiling says its a fusion pork knuckle. since its deep fried (normally chinese style pork knuckle is braised) and the sauce resembles satay sauce. and at rm32 it is damn worth it!

homemade tofu

this second dish is the restaurant's homemade tofu. i think many other restaurants have their version of this tofu... nothing fantastic to shout about. but IMHO they should serve this with mayo or some special sauce cos the tofu taste is quite bland-lah.

banana leaves sotong and prawns

this dish of banana leaves and prawns is nothing great to shout about as well. i couldnt really taste any banana leave flavours and the sotongs were not that tangy. i like my sotongs to be tangy!!! *grrrr* the prawns also lacked the 'bouncy' feeling :( and it took me quite some time to make out what the gravy is made of. i had santan in mind and eiling thought the same too. its either great minds think alike or great tongues taste alike! heheh :p

stir fried potato leaves with belacan

ordinary vegetable dish. i dont really like this style of cooking though. i prefer the one with belacan and chillies... a little spicy taste.

the second vege dish was one of my fav vege. but i really dunno the name. can someone enlighten me? as you can see from the pic, there's very little left... that's cos before i managed to snap a pic everyone has taken a serving from it!! grrrr... they still dunno the food blogging rule--> NOBODY TOUCHES THE FOOD BEFORE PHOTOS ARE SNAPPED geddit!!

anyway, i'll make them get used to the rule soon!

:)

lemon chicken

mom opted the lemon chicken cos she says its not an everyday dish at home. i was hoping she'd order herbal chicken. its my favvvvvvvv :))))) i love the herbal soup that comes envelop with the chicken. anyway, this lemon chicken is also so-so only. nothing special-lah.

and so it was time to 'mai tan' (pay bill)...

rm141 for 9 mouths

i dunno if the price justifies the food but since those who payed never said anything, i pressume it's reasonable. wont mind coming back again for the pork knuckles though!!!

p/s: on an annoying note (to both my sisters- i know you read my blog!), i want sushi zanmai, and i will bug you guys till you take me there! preeeeeeeezzzzzz?

update: screw sushi zanmai, i want jogoya nowwwwww!!

;)


restoran makanan laut zhen liew siang
no. 30, jalan 14/48A,
sentul raya, off jalan sentul,
51000 kuala lumpur.
tel: 03-40413781


[disclaimer: the opinions expressed here are based on my personal views, tastebuds and preference and may vary for others. please dont sue me, i dont have money. kthxbye.]

点dim 心sum at king crab

this is a superrrrrrrr backdated food review post.

it was a sunday morning (one of the very few sundays where music class was cancelled), dad was back from dubai, we decided to have dimsum breakfast @ king crab. dad's fav breakfast :)

King Crab Seafood

if you hadnt noticed, king crab, marco's pizza and pathlab have the same color scheme and they are all located at the same row of shops opposite kelana jaya lrt station.

Marco's Pizza

Pathlab Healthcare Centre

see what i mean with the color schemes? red and yellow, striking and vibrant!

all three highly successful businesses belongs to the same owner of cos. and the owner happens to be mom's friend (we live in the same neighborhood, but of cos they live at a more atasan area-lah).

mom went and sampled the food before and she was all praises for the dimsum, albeit a lil' pricey no doubt.

a lil' introduction on 点dim 心sum that you should know and appreciate this chinese cuisine.

"The Cantonese phrase Dim Sum (點心) means literally "touch the heart" or "order to your heart's content". It may be derived from yat dim sum yi (一點心意), meaning "a little token". ("A Touch of Heart" is perhaps the more poetic translation.) Though the English word "dim sum" refers to the Cantonese variety, the idea of a wide variety of small dishes for lunch also holds for other regions of China." from Wikipedia

anyway, a picture paints a thousand words! i'll give you loadsa pictures!

STARTERS

tie kuan yin 铁观音

braised groundnuts


MAIN

luó bo gāo 萝卜糕 radish cake

cháng fěn 肠粉 rice noodle rolls with shrimps

lou mai gai 糯米雞 glutinous rice with chicken

chā shāo bāo 叉烧包 roast pork bun

fèngzhǎo (??) 凤爪 (??) chicken feet (??)

yu mai elongated shape fish ball

xiǎo lóng bāo 小籠包 soup dumpling

green chillies yong tau foo

har kuen 蝦捲 fried shrimp roll

big succulent prawns inside!

har gau 蝦餃 shrimp dumpling

shāo mài 烧卖 steamed dumplings with pork and crab roe

guō tiē 鍋貼 pan fried dumplings

wu gok 芋角 taro dumpling

DESSERTS

avocado roll

cold inside, crispy outside

cha siu sou 叉燒酥 flaky pastry with char siu

sesame balls with pandan filling

it was deeeliiiiseeeousss :)))))))

11 full stomachs = rm251.36

... but pricey nonetheless (bill shown is for 11 pax). my personal favs and recommended dishes are avocado rolls, prawn rolls and har gau. the prawns are really BIG. everyone loves BIG succulent prawns, right?


but if you ask me if king crab is comparable to ipoh famous foh san, well in terms of the concept of dimsum, i still prefer the old fashion way of waitresses pushing carts carried with dimsum goodies around rather than ticking on kim gary style menus.

photo credits: kampungboycitygal

ticking boxes no doubt saves time but i like the personal touch and the fact that i can see the goodies before i order 'em. just my 2 cents worth ;)


in terms of types of cuisines offered, i think king crab has more variety (not too sure though), there are western dimsum'ed items that foh san doest have, like avocado roll which is very very very tasty. the thought of it now makes me drool :p


OMG. I WANT TO EAT DIMSUM NOWWWWWwwww !!!!1111111 and so should you!


restoran king crab
103-107, jalan ss25/2,
taman mewah jaya,
47301 petaling jaya,
selangor.
03-78082388

[disclaimer: the opinions expressed here are based on my personal views, tastebuds and preference and may vary for others. please dont sue me, i dont have money. kthxbye.]