Chicken Chop @ Yut Kee

Brunch with Ian's close friends. Kean Choon and wife, Mee Sun (funny couple lol) recommended a shop which serves chicken chop. They then launched into this High Definition description of the Roti Babi that Yut Kee serves. The rest of us flooded the back seats with saliva.

The shop has been opened since 1928 (Ah Ma must be around 1 year old then?) (!!). They serve authentic Hainanese fare and the shops just brings you back in time with its dark wooden furniture and tiled floors.

Be warned that queues are long especially when the sun approaches its highest point in the sky. We had to wait for 15minutes before being able to get ourselves a table. But fret not because your order will be taken while you are in queue which ensures that your food is served as soon as you are seated.

With so much time to kill, we took advantage of the KL Tower view :p

Rule number one of makan spots hunting is to look out for a full house. Never can go wrong. Well unless there's only one restaurant for miles la.

Hail the vintage Hainanese recipe of the chicken chop.

The presentation is so simple yet the taste rendered all that unnecessary. Chicken chop dipped in flour batter and fried till brown. What I love is their generous serving of dark brown gravy. It is a bit watery but nevertheless the roast potatoes, onions and mixed peas thrown carelessly around the chop is enough to please me. It's the complete home made meal. (No doubt Mom's tasted better ;p)

They also serve pork chops, served the same style but maybe that will be for another day ;)

Then our sacred Roti Babi.

Deep fried bread stuffed with pork meat, onions and spices. I find that after the chicken chop, I couldn't enjoy this very much. Probably an overload of meat just doesn't cut it. But maybe if I was just a little hungry then I would appreciate it more.... That might just be the perfect excuse to get back to Yut Kee again.

A dash of Lea & Perrin's worchestershire sauce on the Roti Babi can make even the most devout of Muslims drool ;)

And finally Toasted Bread with Kaya and Buter.

I kinda like these. Not entirely sure what makes this toast so interesting. Maybe I am just a fan of toasts. The kaya isn't that impressive, both taste and texture wise. Though I did bought back a bottle of them hehe. Nothing beats home made kaya mah.

^^

Tuck into meaty chops at Yut Kee
35, Jalan Dang Wangi,
50100 Kuala Lumpur.
Contact number: 03-2698 8108
Closes every Monday.

Fong Lye Taiwanese Fare

I badly wanted to bring Ming Chi Chi and Ian to try out durian pork ribs at Aunties Ssam place but for some reason when we tried looking for the restaurant, we could not seem to find it! At first I blamed my poor sense of directions (though I can recognize parts of the road). I googled for the phone number on my phone and tried calling their number.

"Nombor yang anda dail telah ditamatkan perkhidmatannya." wtf? So sad.... wanted to bring Mom and Dad here to try their durian pork ribs.... oh well... sigh.

So Ian drove us over to this Taiwanese Restaurant that he frequents whenever he is in KL.

So! The place was already pretty full once we got there. Lucky for us, we only need to wait for around 5 minutes. Ian said that the branch in Jalan Imbi has a slightly shorter wait as compared to the branch in Mid Valley. You could sometimes wait up to half an hour.

The menu is not exactly extensive but we had Ian to order some of his favorites. First we were served with condiments - great start to tickle our taste buds. Ok, as I did not memorize the names of the dishes, I'm just going to try my best to describe them and call them whatever I want. Lol.

Left is this curious dish - reminds me of Thai salad. A mixture of onions, bittergourd (which is pleasantly not bitter at all), strips of black fungus in a slightly sour, spicy sauce. I loved it! Then on the right is the deep fried salted prawn.

Fong Lye has the cutest teapot girl.

Full moon faces lol.

First main dish - Stir fried chopped choy sum with minced pork, some tofu and spring onions. Loved this one too. But I think I am just a huge fan of anything fibrous.

Then we had the stir fried beef strips with colored sliced capsicums and onions. Flavorful to the last bite. Loved the 'zhap' from the beef fried with onions. I can't find anything wrong with this dish. Nomnomnomnom.

Then comes the mother of all seafood claypots.

There is a long list of seafood ingredients in this one monstrous pot. Flower crabs, lala, fish, prawns (like, huge), crabsticks, generous amount of cabbages...

Some may already have flown to cloud nine with the amount of seafood. Though I must say the seafood broth is really good, I can't say the same for the seafood. The crabmeat and prawns must have been cooked for a really long time. They have a dry, flaky texture and not fresh juicy ones. I think Fong Lye should just cook the crabs, remove the crabmeats and continue to boil the broth with the crab shells. Then patrons can enjoy the soft crabmeat and have awesome seafood at the same time ;)

Then my favorite...

3-variety Supreme Diced Chicken / Sam Pui Kai (ok, I didn't randomly name it like this, googled the dish and got this name lol). It's like this sweet-sour chicken in dark soy sauce but with the addition of basil leaves totally transformed the essence of the dish. 1 word. Awesomazing.

I am really pleased dining here. Service is impeccable, fast and professional. The waiters/waitresses are quick on their feet and changes your plates to a clean one, friendly... tons of times better than our dining experience at Dragon-i the night before. The waitresses practically glare at you when you're slow with the ordering, banging cutleries and bowls on the table... horror.

Fish cakes that all of us sayang want to eat lol.

Complimentary sour plum lime juice to cleanse the palate when we were done.

Bill came to around RM171 (including service taxes) for the four of us. Considering the services, the prices aren't exorbitant at all. Wouldn't hesitate to come here again. Surprisingly though, I have read bad reviews about the branch in Mid Valley. Maybe that's one place to avoid then.


MCC were laughing her head off when she saw this lol. My hands were on my tummy to show satisfaction alright ;)

Fong Lye Taiwanese Restaurant is at
No. 94, Jalan Imbi,
55100 Kuala Lumpur.

Chiak Taiping Lang

Min Chi Chi was down in KL with Sien Yee and Ping CC brought us to Restoran Taiping Lang in Puchong. Never actually heard of the shop before, but when I mentioned this restaurant to Stanley, his eyes bulged and he excitedly told me that the restaurant was also featured in 8TV's Ho Chak and also Astro's Axian.

It was a near-miss place to dine that night as we were all in 101 Mall and most of the restaurants were almost closed as it was nearly 10pm.

Whoops. Truncated R.

I must say, the unexpected near-miss turns out to be pretty close to the bull's eye.

Interior is very homely. Quirky ornaments perched on some equally quirky furniture. Love the place and ambience. Crowd is getting thinner by the time and on a busy day I think the single shoplot can seat up to 60-70 people?

Antique clocks on the walls, even a miniature tiger dance costume.

RTL alternates 3 different types of menu every 2 days. Each set is enough for 2 people to dine. Ping CC finally decided on this Set A, and a few other side dishes ;) I got excited looking at the menus available. Some of my favorites, no doubt!

Oh, btw, I never knew that Taiping offers almost the same dishes as SP/Penang!

Come on out!

Kali Kay (chicken curry)
Gravy is thick and tastes pretty authentic too. Potatoes boiled soft, chicken also kinda tender. But couldn't get too excited over this one because kali kay is not one of my favorites -_-

Bak Kian (fried pork sausage nonya style).
Love this one to bits! Minced pork, and a few other key ingredients like yam bean stuffed into thin beancurd skin (I might be wrong here) and deep fried, taken with chili sauce. Syok. Tua Yee used to make killer bak kian (or we call it lor bak) but not anymore :(

Behind the heaven-sent bak kian is the Achat Hu (fried fish pickled with ginger and turmeric). The fish has to take the back seat, behind the bak kian because it lacks the oomph. I think the chef has added a tad too much vinegar into the fish, making it too sour to taste. In fact, this Achat Hu reminds me of the same dish made in Little Penang Cafe. That's too bad la, because I think if the sourness is reduced, this can take the passenger seat beside the bak kian too.

Side dish of Chai-Por Nooi (omelette with preserved radish)
This omelette we typically have it with our Teochew porridge. But the omelette is disappointingly just an omelette. Not chai-por nooi. Chai-por nooi should have more of those preserved radish that adds the crunch in your porridge.

Kiam Chai Buey (salty mixed vegetable stew)
Normally we cook kiam chai buey to settle all leftovers (especially after one of those huge dinners/steamboats that has siu yoke) in a not-so-simple stew. TPL nailed it heheheh. Best, without being too salty. Finished to the last drop.

Bee Ba Special (Belly Pork stewed with special soy sauce) - though I would call it Tau Yu Bak.
Apologies for the out of focus picture lol. Didn't know it would turn out like this otherwise I would have taken another one. But you get the picture la. Oily and greasy fatty belly pork in soy sauce. This is my favorite pick! Pork belly is tender, the stew is cukup bi. This is one more dish I would love to try cooking. Sien Yee said that it's pretty easy to make this, belly pork, boiled in water and mix with a few different types of soy sauce.

The set also comes with soup of the day (which was old cucumber that day). Soup is also good, according to my preference la at least. Oh we also ordered another side dish of Hu Pau (rofl why la they call it liddis) which is actually otak-otak or steamed fish mousse according to the Taiping Langs. No complains either with the otak-otak. Beats BibiChik hands down!

Nom nom nom.

And finally my gross-looking drink hehehehe. It's just because of the flash la but this is just the Leng-Kak-Chee Leong Fun. Min Chi Chi said it looks like frog eggs Lol.

Stuff your face in Restoran Taiping Lang at
No. 19-01, Jalan Kenari 18B,
Bandar Puchong Jaya,
47100 Puchong,
Selangor.

I already siap siap tell Stanley that if he plans to go there, he must make sure to invite me skali lol. Great food, I can try the other stuff on the menu :D

Nah. See menu.

Soupy Rivals

Blogging marathon!

I will try to clear as many blog posts as soon as possible, have everything clear and simple - starting with this DIY soup Ah Ma always makes. We call it the 'Pak Ki Hong Tong'.

Again, the usual housewifey routine, got up early on a Sunday morning, drove over to the morning market and attempted to order chicken bones in Cantonese rofl. Like a pup trying to communicate with a hissing cat -.-

Also made a less than successful 'claypot' fried rice with kimchi lol. Please don't ask why it's called claypot.

With sawi, carrot cubes, chicken cubes and egg.

The soup tastes good after cooking in the pot for a few hours (my honest opinion on my own mediocre cooking), if only I had some of those geng geng then I think can rival Ah Ma's ;)

Hot Broth and Cold Jellies

Right. My posts are all jumbled up but let's just start wherever I dug the photos out first shall we?

A quick post as I am not feeling very well, haven't been getting enough sleep these few days and looking like a witch day by day.

Early morning went for a swim with a few other lifeguards in KL and after some intense debate on where to replace our burnt calories, we decided to go to a char siew fan place. Due to our utmost good fortune, the place was closed and Lye Siong recommended a fish head noodle stall that he usually frequent in USJ.

Wasn't easy to find the place! Tucked way inside a nest of residential flats, this is a gem yet to be found.

First we ordered Crispy Fish Fillet.

My god! It's an absolute heaven! The fish fillets (or golden snapper) are fried to a golden perfection, crispy on the outside minus the overwhelming batter, and oh so soft fillet on the inside. Unfortunately, the only dip that Mr Mak the owner can provide is some ketchup in packets. Now, if only I can swap those helpless chili packets with spicy Thai chili sauce. Huar.

I think I can settle two large plates of these.

Then the fish noodles. I did not get the fish head because I am completely hopeless with that part of the fish. So it's just vermicelli and fish fillets.

Hmm... not bad, not bad from the looks of it. The fish fillets are essentially the crispy ones we had for appetizer. The broth is the milky sort (to be frank, I only experience milky soup broth here in KL. Never encountered those up North. Well, none that I can think of) and has tomato cutlets tofu and the occasional vegetable.

There is this other option of noodles which is the seafood noodles that Kevin and Lye Siong ordered. I tried it and Lye Siong also verified that he prefers the milky broth so I decided not to post that one up :p

The seafood noodles has practically every sort of seafood species you can think of. Cuttlefish, lala, squid, fish balls, prawns, you name it.

For sure I would come again just for the crispy fish fillets but I damn sure will need directions there lol.

As it was a darn freaking hot day, LS once again rose up to the occasion and brought us to this shop for desserts.

Snowflake offers Taiwanese desserts, namely jellies and is somewhere near iNTi college (sorry, can't remember which ones are the small i or capital. Don't know, don't care). It's situated on the first floor of a row of shophouses. The place is already packed when we went in around 2pm. Thanks to Snowflake's air-conditioning lol.

We had a lot of fun picking out flavors from the wide range of desserts. We first tried the Sea Amber Jelly, which is like the month's special or something.

The sea coconut jelly reminds me of the bitter tea sort of jelly that Inn Jie used to make rofl. Eh but it's good nevertheless. With it comes the bubble tea pearl and shaved ice underneath.

Then the Snowflake Bestseller.

Grass Jelly + Grass Jelly Ice + Taroballs + Creamer

I liked the grass jelly on the Bestseller but I think the taroballs are gross. I can't quite describe what they taste like but it's definitely not fresh taro. I think they kinda mix taro with loads of flour and most definitely added some coloring with it too.

I did mention the creamer right.

Worth for the grass jelly, nothing more, nothing less.

Last one (I really should go to bed): Another one of the grass jelly series, Green Bean + Lotus Seed + Pearl

Least favorite lol. The green bean does add texture to the grass jelly and shaved ice but with the addition of the lotus seeds, it all seems a bit too much. I love the Sea Amber the most, though I'm not entirely sure if it's only available on that month, or permanently.

All these Taiwanese food really make me miss Taiwan... Look forward to a restaurant blog post I shall come out with soon enough! ;) - as soon as I can find time...


Find Que Up at
Subang Perdana Court 2,
UEP Subang Jaya.

and

Snowflake at
No.61A, First Floor,
Jalan SS15/8A,
47500 Subang Jaya,
Selangor.

And off to bed I go :)