[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

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.