[Travel] What I ate at Petaling Street (Chinatown) during Lunar New Year Part 2

If you're in the mood for some airconditioned comfort without having to elbow to elbow with other strangers, then Waaron Kuus might be a good choice to rest the tired feets after a full day of walking around. 

Lunch

Waaron Kuus

entrance

We were there for a late lunch at 330pm and effectively, missed out on the Set Lunch promo where one could get a main course + drink + dessert for RM17.90++.

interior

The place gives cafe vibes and is pretty spacious. Staff is friendly. We ordered a couple of things to share and this place serves local favourites like toasted bread with soft boiled eggs, roti canai, nasi lemak. char kway teow etc.

Nanyang Teh (hot milk tea) @RM5.50+

Nanyang Kopi C (cold) @RM7.50+

I got myself something slightly more interesting to drink - Coconut Gula Melaka Coffee.

Coconut Gula Melaka Coffee @RM8.80+

My drink would likely to receive a grade E for being overly sweet. Had to ask the staff to add more ice to it to dilute and it was still sweet even after letting all the ice melt.

Nasi Lemak with Ayam Rendang @RM16.80+

Nasi Lemak with Lemongrass Chicken @RM16.80+

The chicken were well marinated and flavourful. However, the generous portion of rice was served lukewarm or somewhat room temperature, and hence, less enjoyable. Sambal was fragrant with shrimps and onion taste and not spicy. 

Char Kuey Teow @RM16.80

My dad loves the char kuey teow. Served piping hot, moist and delicious. Prawns though huge were overcooked and a bit tough for elderly folks. Noodles were great.

Sarang Burung with chicken curry @RM7.90+

charred and tasty

curry chicken with potatoes

There was some confusion over the sarang burong which translates to bird nest. It is a variant of roti canai but the dough would be shaped like a ring in the center, there should be egg(s). When it was first served to our table, there were 2 pieces of plain roti so we looked at the staff and before we can enquire, she sort of knew what was the issue and asked if I wanted egg for this. I said yes.. because sarang burong dish is expected to have eggs otherwise, it's just plain roti canai and the menu didn't indicate that we need to specify it with eggs. (One could google and see how a sarang burong roti canai looks like and it surely does come with eggs!) Anyway, she sent the roti back to the kitchen and when it came back out, it became one piece with one egg. Hmmm, pretty disappointing I must say.

Cucur Udang (prawn fritters - 2 pieces) @RM7.80+

Liked that the prawn fritters didn't skimp on the prawn but overall, it felt like the fritters had been sitting out for a while.

Expect to spend about RM25 per pax for food and drink. 

Address: 84, Jalan Petaling, City Centre, 50000 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Contact: +60102202767

Business Hours: 

Daily - 8am to 8pm

Dinner

Hong Kee Claypot Chicken Rice 鴻记 & Portuguese Grilled Fish

queue to order first

claypot chicken rice and portuguese grilled fish

menu

Don't go inside to chope seats unless you want to get a scolding from the staff. Simply queue up outside and staff will hand you a menu for you to think think and to place your order first. Then when you reach to the front of the queue, someone will guide you to your table. I think we queued for about 20 minutes.

interior

Previous visits saw us being seated outside at the walkway (alfresco) of another shop that has closed for the day. This time round, we were led to the main shop and this section has air conditioning.

Claypot chicken rice seemed to have a shorter cooking time when compared to the grill fish as the fish only arrives like 25 minutes after the rice was served.

RM30 (large)

Remember to mix well otherwise, one might get chunks of salted fish in one mouthful!

beansprouts for healthy balance 

The blanched vegetables consist mainly of beansprouts with only a handful of leafy greens. It tasted like blanched vegetables, so one can eat alot of this with the salted fish in the claypot rice.

grilled Tilapia (with added petai) @RM55

yummy

smooth flesh

The best thing was the grilled fish. Well cooked and the decision to add RM5 of petai was a good one. More vegetable, better no? We enjoyed the fish a lot. Did you know that the tilapia cost the same as seabass?

Our meal costs RM104 in total as we had 2 cans of coke as well. These fed 4 adults comfortably.

Address: 83, Jalan Sultan, City Centre, 50000 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Contact: +601136612838

Business Hours: 

Closed on Wed.

Thur - Tues: 5pm to 1130pm

[Travel] What I ate at Petaling Street during Lunar New Year - Part 1

Last visited in 2018, so let's go gai-gai and rekindle the Petaling Street experience! Here's what we had for Day 1.

Breakfast

Tang City Food Court

There were only dim sum, Myanmar food kiosk, fish paste noodles, prawn noodles, roasted meat rice, economic rice available when we visited in the morning.

No prize for guessing which was my choice. The coffeeshop staff are quick to come by to get your drinks order first. I ordered a kopi-gao but it tasted pretty much like regular ones.

kopi gao

One can order at the stall and they will send over the food when it is ready. Pay when food/drinks is served. Not sure how the food stall people know where to find the person who ordered but somehow they can.

bak kut teh for single pax

Bak Kut Teh @RM22

pork belly, pork balls, stomach, small intestines, pork ribs, enoki mushrooms, lettuce and tao pok

The bak kut teh was the herbal type and not too overpowering. I liked it. I think my brother had a shock for his order of 3 small plates of dim sum, and the lor mai kai. One small plate of dim sum (3 pieces) costs RM8, so one siew mai was like RM2.70. Taste wise, I tried the fried fish ball, and it was nice. The lor mai kai was good too.

A bowl of ban mian costs RM10 but it was a big bowl as compared to the dim sum.

What would you have ordered amongst the 3 options; dim sum, noodles or bak kut teh?

Dinner

Westlake Restaurant

This place is conveniently located near our hotel. We were there for dinner. Although it was a weekday evening, the vicinity was packed with tourists. 

menu

This is a zichar (煮炒) place and we were in the mood for some noodles. Specifically, the black black hokkien noodles. Hehe!

For noodles/rice dishes, the menu indicated the pricing for small and large portion. There was no in-between like medium. Large was equivalent to 2 pax portion (according to the staff) but I beg to differ. And it seemed like we were required to order the large portion. Ok, not a problem but I suppose if you're dining solo, then they probably won't ask you to order the large (I hope!).

普洱 (pu-er)

The food was served in just under 10 minutes after we ordered. Was pretty impressed by this actually.

Hokkien Fried Noodle (福建面) @RM28

sambal for the noodles

Their rendition of the hokkien noodles was pretty good. Well cooked and tasty. Adequate ingredients such as small shrimps, meat slices, cabbage, some sotong and there's lard crisps in there as well.

Furong Egg

stir fried lettuce with fermented beancurd (腐乳)

Hong Tu Noodles @RM30

looks like wanton noodles

To me, the Hong Tu noodles is like a distant cousin of lor mee. Has plenty of thickened sauce and to be eaten with vinegar. Speaking of which, we reminded the staff that they forgot to provide the vinegar, so out came an entire bottle of it! Hahaha. 

I ordered this dish as it was one of the noodles that I had eaten when I was young.

black vinegar

Obviously we didn't use the entire bottle...we poured out some into a small bowl.

must eat with vinegar

Onion Chicken

The onion rings were the best that I have ever eaten so far. Strongly seasoned, flavourful and crispy on the outerside and sweet on its inside. But, the chicken chunks were rather over-fried.

Overall, we spent RM152 in total for our party of 5 adults, which worked out to about RM30+ per pax.

Address: 40, Jalan Sultan, City Centre, 50000 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Business Hours: 

Daily: 11 am–2:30 pm, 5 pm–1 am

Contact: +60320723350

[Jeju] Is it lunch time? @ Seogwipo Chinatown 서귀포 차이나타운

I was satisfied with our first cuppa in the morning at Youdong Coffee. Nevertheless, the rest of the party were in the mood for something savoury next. Time check, 10+am, so we're still at the brunch hour! Went to a restaurant nearby the previous night's dinner place (CheonJitGol) and discovered that the name of the shop is called Seogwipo Chinatown. 

shop front

interior

The restaurant was empty when we reached since it was not quite lunch time yet. While we were there, only one other table was occupied later on.

Staff was not in the mood for conversations, so we kept our interaction minimal. She took our orders of cold noodles, jjangmyeon and a side of tangsuyuk.

kimchi

tangsuyuk 탕수육 @₩18000

I think the version of tangsuyuk here was quite good. It is the non-glutinous flour batter kind of version so one gets a nice clean taste of the batter and meat without the extra chewiness. Meat was lean but not dried out. So nice as a savoury snack. The sauce was not too overpowering and not too sweet.

yummy deep fried pork

The noodles as expected, came in hearty portions.

cold noodles

jjampong 자장면 @₩6000

The meal at this place was rather inexpensive and I think 2 pax could share a bowl of noodles with a side of tangsuyuk.

Too bad they don't have menbosha (멘보샤) in their menu. And no, this wasn't our lunch place. It was just a pre-sightseeing snack.

Seogwipo Chinatown 서귀포 차이나타운

Address: 4 Jungang-ro 47beon-gil, Seogwipo-si, Jeju-do, South Korea

Contact: +82647322525

Business Hours: Daily (24 hours)

[Melbourne 2022] Supper Inn 宵夜店 @ Chinatown Melbourne

Hence, Tracy and Ivan says this place brings back memories. It is an establishment that has been around since, well, almost forever and thankfully, we manage to get a table in this restaurant on a Tuesday evening, for our late dinner.

Supper Inn

The place was certainly bustling. The place was pretty packed with diners enjoying their dinner with a bottle of wine.

menu

jasmine tea

We placed our orders for congee, and a few other dishes. The congee was lovely and only AUD12 per bowl. We shared amongst the 4 of us. Good flavours, and with adequate ingredients.

century egg pork congee

 

yummy smooth Cantonese porridge

The appetizers were good too. Deep fried food with congee? That's a power combo right there! The salt and pepper squid was lovely as the squid was tender and the batter pretty flavourful plus not that greasy.

Salt & Pepper Squid

baby octopus and jellyfish

On the other hand, if you like chewy, then go for the baby octopus dish. Not sure what was the actual name of the dish but I preferred the smooth and thick jellyfish over the chewy octopus. The sauce was soy sauce based.

prawn hor fun with egg

The prawn hor fun was basically wat dan hor (flat rice noodles in egg gravy) (滑蛋河). The prawns were of a good size, bright and firm. The eggs were awesome as well. Overall, tasty but the rice noodles could've enjoyed more time on the wok for more of that smokey flavours.

stir fried beef in black bean sauce

The Stir Fried Beef in Black Bean Sauce was lips-smacking good too! Strong flavours and the beef was nicely tender. Addictive and can't stop eating even when stomach space is full. Just don't look at the oil on the plate after you've done eating.

Overall, the food was tasty and staff was efficient. Expect to spend about AUD35 per pax.

Supper Inn

Address: Level 1/15 Celestial Ave, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia

Website: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Supper-Inn/153690991329647

Contact: +61 3 9663 4759

Business Hours:

Daily: 5:30pm–2:30am