[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

Chinatown 茨厂街 @ Petaling Street Kuala Lumpur

When in the past, you've only heard your mom reminiscing about this 茨厂街 (pronounced as 'chew cheong gai' in Cantonese), there's only one option...time to pay this place a visit! A few years back, my bro, sis and myself (siblings team) made a day trip to this place so this time round, we made sure we are able to stay a few nights there to explore more of that area.

Sis booked us rooms at Geo Hotel, which is just round the corner after exiting from the Pasar Seni LRT. Location was convenient as Petaling Street is just about 5 minutes walk away.

landmark of Petaling Street

For breakfast, you could opt for Hon Kee Porridge 汉记靓粥. This establishment has been around since our parents' time. Lots of tourists could be seen enjoying the smooth cantonese porridge from this stall. If the stall has no seats, just cross the road to the opposite side (near the bank) as those seats there are provisioned for this shop as well.

Hon Kee Porridge @ Petaling Street

Our usual orders would be mixed pork parts porridge (猪什粥) and fish porridge (生鱼粥). Place your orders and be seated. The staff will bring over when it is ready. The fried dough fritters or 'you zhar kwai' (油条) was nicely fried and crispy.

猪什粥 (chu chap juk)

生鱼粥 (sang yu juk)

If you don't fancy porridge, would you like to have some wanton noodles from Koon Kee? This is one of the famous and established stalls in Petaling Street, though lately many had commented about declining standards. Personally, I haven't tried Koon Kee.

Koon Kee

Take a stroll to nearby areas to check out other breakfast options. Perhaps some bak kut teh? If not, then there's also the Tang City Foodcourt to check out as well.

bak kut teh stall

There's also a stall selling dim sum if you like those. Be awed by the size of big pau. When we say big pau, we meant it. I found the siew mai a tad too tough for my liking but perhaps that also meant that it had packed more meat into it?

assorted dim sums

charcoal skin big bao, shang yuk bao, char siew bao

For decent local kopi, I prefer the one at Tang City Foodcourt over the one at 'Cha Wong' (茶王). The kopi at Cha Wong has a higher acidic sharper taste that's more tea-like than kopi-like.

Oooh, because it was Lunar New Year, we chanced upon a lion dance performance at the Guan Di Temple (关帝庙). So lucky of us!

lively lion dance

As you walk along, you will also encounter old hawkers who has been setting up stall at Petaling Street since their younger days. For example, the pancake uncle and the muah chee aunty.

pancake uncle

muah chee aunty

The coconut pancake retails for RM1 per piece and the muah chee is RM5 per box. Prefer the original muah chee as opposed to the multi-flavoured muah chee.

deft hands

years had gone by

Of course, when in Petaling Street, you will be looking for Sei Ngan Zai (四眼仔) or 'four eyed boy' roast duck stall. Hmm, but it is operated by two ladies wor and none of them wear spectacles. Why is it called Sei Ngan Zai? Half a duck for RM28 and one for RM56. Bought half to bring home and it was rather yummy.

Sei Ngan Zai Roast Duck

ate the roast duck with maggi mee

For the young and hip, there's also cafes around this area. The nearest would be Toast & Co. which exists inside the Grocer's Inn, a backpackers' hostel, or Coffee Amo and also Merchants Lane.

If you like old school bakes, there's the well established Fung Wong Biscuit (Confectionary). It was closed for a while and now it has reopened its doors. I do like their bakes especially the salted egg yolk pastry.

Fung Wong Biscuit

If you're thirsty from all the walking, there's Air Mata Kucing (Cat's Tears or Cat Eye Water?) or Kim's Soya Bean shop.

air mata kucing or ling chee kang

Read about previous visit to Petaling Street here.

Hon Kee Famous Porridge 汉记靓粥 @ Petaling Street, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Located at Jalan Hang Lekir, within Chinatown or 茨厂街. An old establishment that has been around since 1949. Various signages are hung near the stall front, and that serve as menu as well as advertisement of who's who that had tried its porridge.There's a picture of Mr Chua Lam (蔡澜), a renowned food critic. This porridge brand has even made it to Lot 10 Hutong in Guangzhou!

Hon Kee Porridge stall front

order here

So, my sis did the ordering while we relax and sat at the table outside of Hong Leong bank, behind the Mata Kuching stall. This was our second breakfast stop for our Petaling Street walkabout, with the first one being Lai Foong Beef Noodles at Jalan Tun H.S Lee.

table for three

mixed parts pork porridge 猪什粥  with a plate of raw fish (grass carp, we think)

The stall helper will bring the porridge to your table. The practice here is cash on delivery.

smooth, pipimg hot porridge with crispy intestine (@RM6)

fresh raw fish slices (@RM10)

There were only two sizes of raw fish that day, large or extra large. But I'd gladly put down RM10 for this plate of beauty.

Since clean comfortable washroom is of top concern (well, at least to me!), I opted to enjoy the fish by dipping it into the hot porridge. Fresh and mildly sweet.

Porridge was smooth and has very clean flavour. Tasted like it was simply salted. Hence, a dash or two of soy sauce is essential. The crispy intestine was enjoyable as well as the other thinly slices parts such as tongue and meat. Maybe because porridge flavour itself was non-heavy nor was it full-bodied, then that allowed the flavour of the raw fish slices to shine through.

Kedai Kopi Lai Foong 丽丰茶冰室 @ Petaling Street, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Located at Jalan Tun H.S Lee, near Petaling Street 茨厂街 or KL's Chinatown.

cross the street to the coffeeshop

Lots of old eats around this area and Lai Foong Beef Noodles is one of them. Rained in the morning so weather was gloomy and the train ride to the KL station was so cold. Brr...

Lai Foong coffeeshop has been around for about 59 years now. Can't say if the things in it was/is the original but it looked pretty retro. A quaint old school coffeeshop.

as though time had stood still

older coffee shops usually have large mirrors with wordings on them and Lai Foong is no exception

breakfast time, before 10am

Main purpose here, was to try the beef noodles as it has attained a reputation as one of the must-eats in Petaling Street.

busy preparing the orders

beefy goodies, kept fresh in iced water

Not sure what's the recommended, so ordered a 'lai fun' noodles beef soup with everything inside.

Lai Foong Beef Noodles soup (@RM8)

'lai fun' (in Cantonese) looked like thick bee hoon and chewy like laksa noodles

Beef broth was light, tinged with sweetness but with a slight gamey beefy smell. Liked the preserved vegetables inside the soup for its salty sourish tang. Double slices of everything, such as meat, tendon, tripe, omasum (牛百頁) and beef balls.

Outstanding item, were the beef balls. Very dense, and as the Chinese likes to say, "bouncing off the teeth". The lean meat was thankfully, not too lean nor was it stringy. It was meaty, with a tiny bit of tendon. However, the tendon was not as soft as would've preferred. The tripe and omasum were winners with its super soft texture that had absorbed the light flavour of the broth. Quite yummy.

a bowl of comfort, on a cold day

As the flavours of the meat was pretty mild, most of the time it needed that dip in the chili sauce. Shared the rather big bowl with my bro, and we left satisfied.