Purple Taste: Makan Makan Jalan Jalan @ Petaling Street 茨厂街 Malaysia

Did a staycation in Petaling Street (茨厂街) over this CNY period. Stayed at Hotel Geo (3 star) for 4 days 3 nights. It's pretty close to the Pasar Seni MRT, hence one could venture to nearby KLCC or Pavilion too! Central Market is within 5 minutes walking distance, as with Petaling Street.

MRT ride to Pasar Seni

Hotel Geo (Triple room)

Hotel check-in was 3pm. The room cleanliness need vast improvement as the floor was still dusty and the mini-fridge was sitting in a dusty cupboard. Heck, we even found empty wrappers of previous occupants instant noodles in one of the cupboards...

Due to heavy rain, we spent first day having fast food for late lunch. The only food outlet connected to Hotel Geo is Texas Chicken. For CNY, they were having the Spicy Szechuan flavour. Pretty good, as far as fast food goes...

Texas Chicken

Ventured out to KLCC and chanced upon Lion Dance performance. Just nice for CNY!

During CNY period, lots of foreign workers had their off-days as well and KLCC seemed to be the spot for them to hangout. The mall was very crowded.

There was such a thing as 'premium' toilet in KLCC for one of the level. Its entry fee was RM2. Tried it and can't say the experience was good. The toilet was crowded and yes, there was an attendant located in the toilet and there were moisturizers for the hand after washing. But that's about it. I didn't loiter in the toilet to use the hand cream. The toilets at other levels do not have entrance fee.

KLCC night view

water fountain show

The water show was of Bollywood themed in the initial before playing Celine Dion's 'My Heart Will Go On'.

In the mall, there's Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tarts going for RM14.90 for 3 selected flavours. That's less than SGD2 per piece.

For breakfast, we ventured to Tang City Food Court but my favourite beef noodles stall Kew Yee was closed for CNY. Had to make do with prawn noodles soup was the lam meen was sold out too. For CNY, expect food prices at foodcourts and hawker centres to be up-priced by about RM0.50 to RM1 per bowl.

prawn noodles soup @RM7.50

After breakfast, it was a stroll along Petaling Street to suss out stuffs to buy.

Petaling Street

Apparently, there's a Family Mart and of course, we went in to take a look. More like, we went in to enjoy the air-conditioning. Prices for a matcha latte or coffee were exorbitant. Korean products in this Japanese convenience store was too pricey. For example, a packet of 330ml banana milk drink (Bingrae) costs RM5.80?! Good thing was, there's soft-serve in-store and the flavours were cheesecake and matcha. So interesting, so I tried the cheesecake flavour.

Cheesecake and Matcha soft-serve from Family Mart @$M2.90 per cone

Walk along the alleys and you'll come across the famous vendors for soya bean and also muah chee. Often times, one would see a queue at the Kim Soya Bean stall. The soya bean stall is now at the third generation. On weekdays, you'll likely encounter the second generation and on festive periods, you'll see the younger ones manning the stall. The beancurd (tau foo far) is delicious too with its smooth as baby skin texture and fragrance of soy bean when taken warm.

queue for Kim Soya Bean

The most disappointing lunch went to the Kim Lian Kee Hokkien Mee 金莲记福建面. We tried in the afternoon for lunch, and ordered the famed black hokkien mee and a ying yong 鸳鸯 (mix of fried beehoon and hor fun, cantonese style).

Kim Lian Kee Hokkien Mee 金莲记福建面 (Medium @RM23)

The hokkien mee looked decent but once you pick it up with a chopstick, one sort of knows that the noodle was not braised enough. The noodles were dry and not separated. Ingredients wise, there were pork slices, cabbage that tasted a tad raw, pig liver and lardo. The main chef was around but unfortunately, he did not fry our plate. It was done by his foreign talent assistant.

al-dente lukewarm noodles

The ying-yong was more well-fried and tasted as per expectation. The small squids were pretty unique.

ying yong 鸳鸯 (small @RM11)

Kim Lian Kee had two outlets within Petaling Street. One with the old sign-board next to the porridge shop, while another is larger with upstairs air-conditioned seating. We were at the older (original?) shop but seated opposite at the bank area. The hygiene at this area was dubious and used plates were left on the table or chairs by previous diners. The afternoon crew seemed lethargic and we saw a plate of side-dish that looked like fried spring roll, and they asked us if we ordered it. We said we didn't and the staff just left the dish on an empty table. What?

Left unsatisfied, we bought some snacks from Fung Wong Bakery. The piglet siew bao (猪子包) was nicely sweetish savoury. Best eaten when it is still warm from the oven. RM2.50 per piece. Goes well with a cup of hot unsweetened tea.

piglet siew bao (猪子包) @RM2.50

Other breakfast option in Petaling Stret, include the famed Hon Kee porridge 汉记靓粥 or Koon Kee wanton noodles. If you venture abit further, then one could enjoy the laksa and chee cheong fun.

Hon Kee Porridge is of Cantonese style and thus, the porridge was silky smooth. However, the porridge lacked 'depth' in its flavour and hence, add a bit of the soy sauce to 'lift' the taste. Lots of ingredients in the porridge and our favourite was the crispy fried intestines.