Xiao Long Bao and Noodles @ Din Tai Fung

Well, I'm sure everyone is already well-acquainted with Din Tai Fung and its famous xiao long baos. Anyway here are my 2 paws on Din Tai Fung's scrumptious food =)

        

Their signature dish

     

Wantan Soup La Mian

     
Don't really know why JS ordered this since it looks soooo PLAIN but he should be comforted by the two bulbs of xiao bai chai ^_^
     

Shrimp Pork Wantan Soup 

     
Their wantans are really bouncy and chockful of shrimp and pork meat filling. Not a fan of Hong Kong style wantan soup though as it tastes too shrimpy to me.
       

Xiao Long Bao

       
This is their signature dish which is as good as they claim to be =)
       

Delicate stuff

               

Hot and Sour Soup La Mian

         
I love Sichuan food so this hot and sour soup suits me just fine. Very peppery and the thin somen like noodles absorb the flavours nicely. Also love the soft silky tofu bits and crunchy woodear fungus.

             

Grouper Fish Dumplings

           
Grouper fish dumplings are a welcome change to the usual wantans and xiao long baos. Quite delicious actually and not fishy at all.
         

Shrimp Fried Rice

         
I love having fried rice at Chinese restaurants as the chefs do it so well with lots of fluffy egg, crunchy shrimps and the nice aroma of wok hei.
           

Spicy Shrimp Pork Wantan La Mian

         
An interesting variation of the usual wantan noodles, the spicy la mian includes a dash of chilli oil and tasted really good.
       
         
PawPoints: 4 Paws
Pawket: Onion
                    
Din Tai Fung

Various malls

Kar Heong @ SS14, Subang Jaya

Kar Heong is one of my favourite places for chicken rice in Subang Jaya. It is located in SS14 which makes it slightly hard to get a parking spot but the chicken there is really worth our patience.

      

Shop Front

        

Bean sprouts

     
Bean sprouts are plump and crunchy with the fragrance of fried garlic oil.

         

Oiled rice

           
The oiled rice here is fluffy and warm.
           

Chilli sauce

       
Love the chilli sauce which has sufficient kick to it.

         

Steamed chicken

         
The steamed chicken is popular as the meat is moist and skin extremely smooth.

         

Pork ball soup

       
Pork ball soup is average but I do like the meaty pork balls.
     

Char Siu

       

Siu Yuk

     
We also tried the char siu and siu yuk which are on par with other famous chicken rice establishments. The char siu is the dark caramelised type and the siu yuk retains its crispy skin. There is also kuey teow soup but we did not try it. It seems a popular dish though as many other patrons ordered that.

   

     

PawPoints: 4 Paws
Pawket: Onion
       

Kar Heong

60 Jalan SS 14/2
Subang Jaya
Tel: 012 389 0399
Daily: 9am - 9pm

Beef Noodles @ Pasar Besar Seremban

En route to Melaka, we decided to stop by Seremban for brunch. I always wanted to try the sotong mihun but that stall is somehow always closed. Perhaps it does not open on weekends? Anyhow, the obvious choice was the famous beef boodles at Pasar Besar Seremban. Apparently there are a few beef noodle stalls at the market so you should look for the one bearing the number 748 =)

      

Stall 748

       

Beef Noodles (Dry) (RM 6)

       
The springy and thick noodles are coated in a thick beefy sauce with strong hints of grounded peanuts and pickled vegetables. JS liked it but I have to confess that the taste of the sauce did not quite agree with my tastebuds =.= I guess it takes some getting used to.

                 

Extra beefballs

         
I liked the beefballs though but the soup was rather average.
         
Not too bad but we probably will not detour to the market for a meal in the future.
       
     
PawPoints: 2 Paws
Pawket: Dough
                    
Beef Noodle

Stall 748, Pasar Besar Seremban

Tong's Kitchen @ USJ 19 City Mall, Subang Jaya

Tong's Kitchen at USJ 19 City Mall is a simple establishment serving yummy homemade dishes. It is great for a quick dinner without emptying your pawkets =P

Wonder what is their mascot supposed to be...

Menu

There is a huge variety of dishes to choose from which is always a good thing.

Stir Fried Sweet Potato Leaves (RM 12) 

A simple dish stir fried with garlic, the sweet potato leaves were very young and fresh.

Pumpkin Beancurd (RM 8)

JS's family love the Pumpkin Beancurd here which is essentially deep fried beancurd braised in a savoury and creamy pumpkin gravy.

Chicken with Salted Eggs (RM 18)

The fried chicken was moist and juicy and the chef was very generous with the amount of salted egg yolk which totally enhanced the taste of the chicken.

Sweet and Sour Fish (RM 23)

The portion is huge with lots of deep fried fish slices coated in a sweet and sour sauce. Very yummy indeed.

No pork is served but I am not sure if the restaurant has a halal cert. Overall, Tong's Kitchen is a great place for inexpensive home cooked fare.


PawPoints: 4 Paws
Pawket: Onion


Tong's Kitchen

G02, Ground Floor
USJ 19 City Mall

Tel: 03 8023 6153
Daily: 10am - 10pm

Hainanese Chicken Rice Balls @ Kedai Kopi Chung Wah, Melaka

I was debating between eating at Chung Wah Hainanese Chicken Rice and Hoe Kee Chicken Rice but during our last visit, we had the latter so this time we decided to go with Chung Wah as the waiting line is usually extremely long and we thought it indicated better food =P

Relatively short line on a working day

Although the shop entrance where the queue is is quite large, for some unknown reason the owner decided to barricade more than half of the entrance with miscellaneous boxes, chairs and stuff. There was only a small space about a person's width for entering and exiting the shop and with the queue starting immediately at the shop entrance, it was really a hassle to make way for exiting guests and more often than not, everyone was just left feeling squashed. They probably blocked half of the entrance to control the crowd but I wonder if they thought about their customers' convenience. Not a very good first impression indeed > . >

Interior

The interior of the shop is quite small comparatively even though it spans two shop lots and coupled with the inefficiency of the staff, hence you see the long queue outside. When it came to our turn, no one told us where to go so we waited around for a bit (we had expected the staff to show us to a table like in Hoe Kee) and suddenly the people behind us started walking towards the empty tables! So we rushed off to nab an empty table...

The staff did not take the order from customers who arrived first (God knows what their logic is) and were extremely unorganised, grouchy and forgetful hmmpf. There was no menu and they did not ask what we wanted, just asked how many persons we had in our group and slouched off.

Chef incessantly chopping chicken

Homemade chilli sauce

Their homemade chilli sauce is quite unique with an unusual colour of creamy orange and red, and it definitely packs a punch.

Chicken rice balls

It seems that the standard order would be 5 rice balls per person but you can ask for extra. The rice balls are smaller than Hoe Kee's but are more moist and hence holds its shape much better. It is also more flavourful (you can taste chicken stock) and did not break apart when I cut it in half so it remained essentially a rice ball and not chicken rice, if you know what I mean.

Steamed chicken

This is the standard portion for 2 pax (not sure if you can order extra as no one seemed to do so - they just ate whatever was given by the staff). The steamed chicken is extremely smooth and firm and has more bite to it (the kind which presumably had lots of exercise when it was still clucking around). However I was not impressed with the three measly pieces of cucumber > . >

There was no soup even on weekdays and the shop did not seem too hygienic to me. No doubt the chicken rice is sufficiently good but I have since concluded that the long line outside the shop is not because of its fame but rather because the staff are inadequate and slow. One visit is more than enough for me and the next time I return to Melaka, I will definitely head to Hoe Kee.

PawPoints: 3 Paws
Pawket: Dough


Kedai Kopi Chung Wah

18 Jalan Hang Jebat
Melaka

Lucky Chicken Rice @ Pasar Besar Seremban, Seremban

Not being in the mood for the famous beef noodles, I opted for my perennial favourite - chicken rice - instead. After all, how wrong can one go with chicken rice, right?

Stall

Good thing there were still chicken and pork left after the morning market crowd.

Chicken and Siu Yuk Rice (RM 5)

I had my go-to order which is chicken and siu yuk - in this case, steamed chicken as they do not serve roasted chicken.

Chicken and Siu Yuk Combo

• Oiled rice was average. Soup was forgettable.
• Chilli sauce was quite good with enough kick to it.
• Steamed chicken was slightly dry but the ginger and soy sauce made it much tastier.
• Siu yuk was average with a mix of soggy and crispy skin.

Overall not too bad but I guess there are plenty of other choices at the market.


PawPoints: 2 Paws
Pawket: Dough


Lucky Chicken Rice

Stall 751, Pasar Besar Seremban

J Tean Kitchen @ SStwo Mall, PJ

J Tean Kitchen serves some unique Chinese fusion dishes and its signature dish is its fusion Dry Bak-Kut-Teh and Porky Pie. It's located in the totally deserted SStwo Mall although its plus point would be ample parking.

The J-Ribs (RM 38.90)

The ribs are quite huge and really quite good. The well marinated meat is super tender and falls off the bones so effortlessly. This is apparently due to pre-stewing the meat prior to baking it. It is served with a small portion of coleslaw and potato wedges as well as char siu sauce. Both the coleslaw and potato wedges were really good and comparable to Western restaurants. The char siu sauce tasted good too but the meat itself has plenty of flavour so I left most of the sauce in its container.

Complimentary dessert

Complimentary desserts are always welcome and the one served at J Tean that day happened to be a refreshing chrysanthemum tea jelly. Definitely no complaints there =D

Nice meal but quite pricey for a dish even though it's ribs. I love the chairs and tables there but it really is a shame about its location. I'm sure there would be more patrons if only it was located somewhere more popular.



PawPoints: 3 Paws
Pawket: Olive


J Tean Kitchen

Lot G-58, Ground Floor
SStwo Mall
Tel: 03 7954 0819
Daily: 10am - 10pm

Moon Palace Revisit @ Bandar Puteri Puchong

Moon Palace Restaurant in Puchong is consistently the top weekly post on our blog...are there really so many unique visitors searching for Moon Palace or is their management so free to continuously click on the link? =P Either case, we both found the food at Moon Palace really good at a cheaper price than other restaurants so we returned for another meal. A few of our friends did tell us though that they did not enjoy the food there so perhaps it depends on your luck.
   
One of our visits was during Chinese New Year where we had the set meal for RM 368++.

      

Yee Sang

   
The Yee Sang is really fresh and they were very generous with the amount of raw salmon. There was no greasiness to the ingredients or slightly stale smell that is sometimes present in the Yee Sang served at other places. All in all, a yummy and refreshing dish with just the right amount of oil and honey.

     

Seafood and Crabmeat Soup

   
The thick soup had tons of seafood which made the price of the set menu more than worth it. The portion was quite big too for us to have seconds.

      

Butter Prawns

   
Even though it was a Chinese New Year set menu, the dishes were not prepared in advance. This Butter Prawns dish was deep fried moments before it was served and the prawns were extremely hot. The prawns were really fresh and tasted sweet and the deep-fried shreds of batter were extremely crunchy and flavourful due to the addition of curry leaves. Too bad the quantity of prawns was quite little =(

       

Tong Po Meat

   
I was never a big fan of these sort of braised meat but this was quite good - super tender fatty meat well flavoured by the dark caramelised gravy. Steamed buns were also included for us to mop up the sauce.

     

Blanched Bok Choy in Herbal Soup

   
The vegetable dish was very light on the tastebuds and I like the addition of wolfberries in the gravy / soup as it lent its sweetness to the dish.

     

Steamed Fish in Soy Sauce with Ginger and Wood Ear Fungus

   
Very fresh, firm fish. The inclusion of wood ear fungus was unique but I much prefer parsley instead =P The soy sauce based sauce was a little oily though.

     

Glutinous Rice with Chinese Preserved Sausage

   
Perfectly steamed glutinous rice with lots of preserved Chinese sausages and liver. Yummy but I wonder why they served it in such a big dish.

     

Mini Longevity Buns

   
Soft mini buns with warm lotus paste filling - what more can I say about buns?

    

Iced Sea Coconut and Longan 

   
Sweet syrupy dessert with lots of bouncy longans and sea coconut. I like that there are bits of ice in the dessert which makes it so satisfyingly chilled.
 
No matter what others say, I still think Moon Palace is really good and will definitely return for special occasions.
 
 
PawPoints: 4 Paws
Pawket: Cheese
         
       
Moon Palace Restaurant
1st Floor, Tower 2 @PFCC
Bandar Puteri Puchong
Tel: 03 8063 8122
Daily: 11am - 11pm

Lucky Sichuan Cuisine @ Kota Damansara, PJ

After my awesome meal at Empress of Sichuan in London, I have been craving for some spicy Sichuan food back here in KL. There are many Sichuan restaurants in Imbi but the area looks dodgy so I have not been there to try any food. My dream is to one day dine at Si Chuan Dou Hua at Park Royal Hotel but as it is quite expensive, I'll have to make do with a cheaper version from Lucky Sichuan Cuisine Restaurant at Kota Damansara.

Shop Front

Stir Fried Rape (RM 12)

No, that's not a typo. No, I'm not illiterate. No, I know what it is its real meaning. That was what was written in the menu and being bananas, we had to wait for Maggot-chan's boyfriend to help us translate. We decided to order it anyway just because of the name =P It was a good thing we did too because it was the only non-spicy dish we had and the vegetable disappeared in mere seconds. But truth be told, it was a pretty average dish and we would not have gobbled it up if not for the spiciness of the other dishes =.=

Ma Po Beancurd - Extra Spicy (RM 12)

Ma Po Tofu is my favourite dish but those in other restaurants can't even touch this by a km-long stick if they tried, spiciness-wise. I didn't expect it to be so spicy and actually it's not. The main problem with this dish was its tongue-numbing effect which renders you unable to eat anything spicy for a while. There was also this weird pungent taste that I dislike which I suspect contributed to the tongue-numbness. I didn't touch it at all after the first bite but Maggot-chan liked it a lot.

Yu Shiang Shredded Pork (RM 15)

This is one of my favourites as its spiciness was bearable and the tender pork is well flavoured with the scallion-chilli combo.

Stir-Fried Chicken with Hot Chilli (RM 28)

The bomb O.O When it arrived at our table, everyone literally stopped eating to stare at this mountain of deep fried chillies. The popcorn chicken were all buried underneath this heap of spicy hell. This dish was the most addictive for everyone although the crispy yet succulent chicken was spicy just through skin contact with the chillies. Can't remember if we ordered spicy or extra spicy but it was such a waste that I didn't eat more as my tongue was still numb from the wretched tofu > . < Not good for those who dislike oily food as you can feel the oil squirting out when you bite into the popcorn chicken...

Spicy and Sour Soup (RM 12)

They were very generous with the soup which had tons of ingredients such as tofu, wood ear fungus, ginger and scallions. The soup was very sour and spicy and definitely opened up our appetites for the other spicy dishes. The portion above was sufficient to feed 6 of us and some had more than a bowl.

Griddle Cooked Chicken with Pepper (RM 38 - Medium)

This chicken dish was quite pungent and spicy with the numerous dried chillies and lots of spicy sauce at the bottom of the heated pan. It was tasty although I felt the high price tag was not really justifiable. Another favourite of Maggot-chan.

Remains of the popcorn chicken

This was the aftermath of the Stir-Fried Chicken with Hot Chilli. We resorted to clearing out the "landfill" in the end and dug out as many bobs of chicken as possible.

Oh well, I found out my spiciness tolerance level was not as high as I thought it is. I guess this is as authentic as you can get since the staff seem to only be able to speak Mandarin with a China accent and judging from the typos in the menu (Stir Fried Rape above, The Potato Burns the Beef and Fine Fried Colon are some notable examples), the team probably came from Sichuan province. Anyhow, I'll definitely return to try the other less spicy dishes such as Stir-Fried Chicken Dices in Hot Chilli, Deep Fried Spicy Prawn, Stir Fried String Beans and Griddle Cooked Bullfrog in Spicy Sauce. And we'll definitely order Stir-Fried Chicken with Hot Chilli again =D

PawPoints: 4 Paws
Pawket: Tomato


Lucky Sichuan Cuisine

19 Jalan PJU 5/12
Kota Damansara
Tel: 03 6140 7755
Daily: 11am - 3pm, 5.30pm - 11pm