[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

Makan Makan Jalan Jalan (Part 2) @ Petaling Street 茨厂街 Malaysia

During the daytime, one could visit Hon Kee for a bowl of simple porridge, or Koon Kee for its famed wanton noodles. Koon Kee (冠记云吞面) has two outlets in Petaling Street. One at its original place where it has the whole entire coffeeshop for itself, and another stall at the Tang City Food Court. When we were at foodcourt, we shared a table with an uncle (stranger) who was having Koon Kee wanton mee. When we sat debating about whether we should be trying the noodles, the uncle shared that the taste of Koon Kee wanton is not as what it's used to be. Oooh.... He said the taste of food at Jalan Imbi is better but congested with tourist.

If you prefer to eat light, there's dim sum along the way.


Or, simply stroll into Fung Wong Bakery for its spongy kaya roll, baked fresh daily. It's a nostalgic taste and best paired with hot tea or coffee. I love their chashiu puff and my sis liked the egg tarts. My mom said the wife biscuit also pretty good.

puffs and tarts

young boss preparing the kaya rolls

bought for the family

kaya roll

For a better coffeeshop ambiance where it is of a lesser 'street' kind of experience, one could venture a little further to Lai Foong Coffeeshop for beef noodles. Read more about first visit here.

Lai Foong, seen from Petaling Street

The coffeeshop is huge and it takes the whole entire ground floor of the building. If the main dining area is full, just go to the next unit where it is separated but still operated by the same owners. The beef stall now has two helpers (foreign talent that knows a smattering of dialects inclusive Cantonese) and one could order through them although their regulars still prefer to talk to the chef.

Recently, there's IG posting of lala (clam) bee hoon from this coffeeshop but they weren't open for CNY, so couldn't try.

char kway teow

pork noodles soup

My sis had the char kway teow and it was pretty good with the plump bean sprouts. Mom's pork noodles soup had small intestines beside the usual meatball, minced meat, pig liver and slices of lean meat. But, Kajang's pork noodles broth still trumps!

Beef Noodles (mixed parts) - RM10

They do not have 'lai fun' (similar to laksa noodles) for the beef noodles but am not sure if they're not selling that noodles anymore or ran out of it or no stock for CNY. Either way, I had it with hor fun (flat noodles) and they gave a mountain of noodles in it.

close up view

As per last year, the parts were all good and nicely tender. Broth a little weak, still tasty nonetheless. Can be shared amongst two pax.

For dinner, one must eat the Claypot Chicken Rice with Grilled Fish. Just head towards the bookstore / Bee Cheng Hiang street around 6+ in the evening and let the staff know the number of pax in your group. They will allocate the seat or open up a new table where necessary. This is basically roadside stall eating along the five-foot walkway of other shops (which had closed for the day).

calamansi with sour plum

Expect to wait for about half hour at the least. Weekdays sees lesser people but still pretty busy.

claypot chicken rice (medium) - feed 4 adults

There is a a set meal that has a soup, vegetable, a claypot and a plate of vegetables. We did ala-carte so didn't have soup. Claypot comes in 3 sizes; small, medium or large. We got a medium and the four of us were full by the end of it. The vegetable plate is a simple bean sprouts stir-fried with siu bak choi. For grilled fish, we chose tilapia instead of the stingray. For sauce, we had spicy assam sauce.

look at that beauty

assam grilled fish

That's all for Petaling Street for Year 2018! Have fun and enjoy the food!

To get there, simply take the MRT to Pasar Seni. Upon alighting head towards Central Market but turn right towards Petaling Street. Happy Exploring!

If you enjoy cafe, there's Merchant Lane. For the hip and happening, you could visit ChoCha.

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.

Hon Kee Porridge 汉记靓粥

crispy intestines and other porky parts

Interestingly, we found a Dong Teh Mun Market in Petaling Street. A distant cousin of Dongdaemun, South Korea?

Dongdaemun?

Stay tuned for Part 2, for better eats in Petaling Street.

Read more about previous experience at Petaling Street here.

Jalan Petaling 茨厂街美食 Famous Malaysian Food Street @ MyVillage Serangoon Gardens

The shop's name is quite a mouthful but hey, since it has Malaysian chefs cooking up street food, let's give it a try! Located at MyVillage Serangoon Gardens, level 2.

茨厂街 must-eats are chee cheong fun (steamed rice roll) that's paired with yong tau foo (tofu stuffed with minced meat), claypot lou shee fun (claypot bee tai mak with a raw egg in it), claypot chicken rice paired with ikan bakar (grilled fish) and so much more! Read about some of it here.

entrance

There's a couple of menus available; individual eats, or communal dining (zhichar) styled, or special menu of seafood hotpot. Seafood hotpot like this? A smaller version from its sister restaurant.

individual meal menu

So what did we try? Let's see the varieties sampled with Jennifer, Ivan, Alvin, Hence and Tracy.

curry chee cheong fun with yong tau foo @$6.80

pork trotters bee hoon @$8.80

The chee cheong fun was smooth and the curry complemented it well. And, how Malaysians like their local chee cheong fun? With yong tau foo, of course! The yong tau foo gave it some variety to avoid being too monotonous. The pork trotters were forgettable though.

Now, for the taste test. The KL hokkien mee. Ooh, don't forget the sambal which one have to take albeit self-service styled.

KL Seafood Hokkien Mee @$8.80

Happy to report that the hokkien mee came laden with lard bits at the bottom. So toss it up a bit before eating! The wok-hei was subtle but it kept us happy. Slurpiliciously good. The colour of the soy sauce was right. KL hokkien mee must be dark dark then nice.

round noodles? oh yes!

But of course, my preference of good tasty KL dark hokkien mee will always be the pork slices version with cabbage, chicken gizzard, crispy lard bits and fried with enough wok-hei.

Yong Tau Foo platter (own mix) @$1 per piece

Soy Sauce Chicken @$16 (small)

Another favourite of ours, was the delectable soy sauce chicken with its smooth gelatinous skin. The 滑滑 (wat wat in Cantonese) feels~. The marinade was good and strongly flavoured. Order this to satisfy meaty cravings.

All in all, we had a good meal and the service staff was friendly and has good knowledge of shop's namesake 茨厂街 (KL Chinatown).

Wishing you a happy meal at Petaling Street!

Jalan Petaling 茨厂街美食 Famouse Malaysian Food Street

Address: 1 Maju Ave, 556679 Singapore
Contact: 6509 9872

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JalanPetalingFamousMalaysianStreetFood/