[Kuala Lumpur] Let's Go Gai Gai @ 茨厂街 Petaling Street Chinatown [Part 1]

We're back at Petaling Street for a short staycation with entire fam! We stayed at 5 Elements Hotel which is right smack in the heart of Chinatown. Basic amenities, basic level of cleanliness with friendly frontdesk staff. The toilet came equipped with bidet if that's of interest to you.

view from the hotel lobby

Because we were there during the weekends, we could hear the bass/music thumping from presumably the nearby bars in our room at night.

hotel lobby

instant coffee, tea, bottled water

closet, safe, hair dryer

bathroom things

Interesting observation during our stay at this hotel. Toilet roll supplied at max is one per room per day if it was near to depleted. By the next day of our stay, the hotel had run out of bath gel and advised us to use the soap instead. Hmm.

Hotel breakfast was minimal. There's carbs like nasi lemak rice, and fried bee hoon. White bread is available too. The usual condiments for nasi lemak like fried egg, anchovies with peanuts, sambal and cucumber slices.

Western fare included sausages, baked beans, hash brown and snacks like fried cuttlefish balls. 

hotel breakfast

Cereals, milk, watermelon slices were available too.

The 5 Elements Hotel

Address: Chinatown, 243, Jalan Sultan, City Centre, 50000 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Website: http://www.the5elementshotel.com.my/

Right next to the hotel, a few steps away is the Fung Wong Biscuit shop/cafe.

signage

It is airconditioned inside for the tired travelers to rest and have a cup of coffee. Granted it is not the only coffee place around, but this shop hints at certain nostalgia due to their long history for their bakes. We used to buy their kaya roll cakes from the original shop whenever we visited Petaling Street.

Now, this new shop is modernized and cafe-like with simple snacks like dim sums on top of their daily bakes. 

choose your bakes 

I ended up with a cup of iced coffee as we'd be doing early dinner shortly. The sliced rolls or the baked siew bao price was around MYR4.50 each, and biscuits such as the hup tao sou (walnut biscuit) was around MYR3 per piece.

iced kopi

Iced kopi was not too acidic and I liked that the milk wasn't too overpowering either. Around RM5 after tax if not wrong.

Fung Wong Biscuit

Address: 85, Jalan Sultan, City Centre, 50000 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Website: http://www.fungwong.my/

Contact: +60320728888

Business Hours:

Daily: 8:30 am–10 pm

Passed by some interesting shops on our way to dinner. Like the 'Original Beckham' that made us did a double take. Apparently its instagram states that "鲍师傅 Original Beckham, with over 20 years of experience originating from China and specializes in chicken floss pastry and walnut cookies."

DurianBB looks like a durian cafe/dessert shop.

it must've been hot in there

For dinner, we headed to places that are really near the hotel so that our elderly parents need not walk too far.

As per previous visit, the old lady boss was at the shopfront, so we greeted her and she enthusiastically asked if we were having dinner there. Haha, yes we are.

Family of 5 adults, we ordered two noodles, an egg dish, a vegetable plate and a meat dish to share. The portion size for noodles is either for 1 pax or 2 pax. So we ordered for 2 pax.

 原汁鸳鸯 Ying Yong with original sauce (Cantonese fried noodles) @MYR30

福建面 Hokkien Fried Noodle @MYR30

Stir fry vegetables @MYR30

Tomato Eggs @MYR15

Lemon Chicken @MYR30

Overall taste was ok and the portions were still generous this time round for the noodles dishes. Fried chicken was nicer (not dry) as compared to past year, although lemon sauce is not my favourite. 

Westlake Restaurant

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

Contact: +60320723350

Business Hours:

Daily: 11 am–2:30 pm, 5 pm–1 am

Mixue half-half ice-cream for dessert

Pohang Seafood and Butchery @ Aperia Mall

Heard about this place from Hence and Tracy, and finally, we managed to get together for a dinner at Aperia Mall to try some Korean sashimi. Thank you Tiara for making the reservations!

shopfront

I think we're having one of these for dinner

looks good

Was given the non-BBQ table, which was ok since we were there to try out the sashimi and other cooked food. Dinner was with Ivan, Kris, Alvin, Tiara, CK, Tracy and Hence. For the eight of us, the group decided on the (L) Flat Fish and Tuna Set @$390++ which was indicated for 4 pax. Supposed to have live octopus included in this but it was out of stock, so the staff said it will be replaced with something else.

table setting

banchans

juk (porridge)

The side dishes were quickly brought out as soon as we placed our order. We started with a small bowl of juk. It was served mildly warm. So best to eat soonest. The porridge had some good flavours albeit mild, and it was rather soothing.

There was one abalone to be shared, so we had a bite each. Hmm, abalone sashimi was rather crunchy.

fresh abalone

Staff informed that the sliced boiled octopus was the replacement for the 'live' ones. Hmm, same same but different. Hehe.

sliced octopus 문어

The porridge was quickly devoured and we munched on banchans while awaiting for more food to arrive. My favourite was the kimchi. Nicely fermented and tangy. 

kimchi

Banchans are refillable, so just need to inform the staff and they will kindly refill it for you.

salmon sashimi

cheese corn

salad

We chatted and tried the various sides that came together with the set. There was one dish that caught my eye because of its unique look.

can you guess what this is?

It was like a bowl with coloured iced shavings piled ontop of it. Was thinking, if that would taste spicy or what sort of flavours... Ahh, it turned out to be cold noodles with shredded vegetables in it. The frozen feeling of this dish somehow reminded me of the meal I had with Wendy ages ago in Insadong.

mixed it all up and enjoy the icy sensation

Other things that we ate included pancake. It wasn't a big slice but I wasn't a fan of it. The insides of the pancake was rather mushy and it was a tad more sour than expected.

pancake profile view

We had small fried fishies too. Not too sure what type of fish these were. Soft flesh and need to be careful with its bones.

fried small fish

Let's get to the main course, shall we. The flatfish sashimi was an all white dish (mostly). The chewiness of the meat depended on which part it was sliced from. First piece that I had was rather chewy but the subsequent ones (the leaner ones) were rather enjoyable. 

Flat fish sashimi 광어

I had mine with the sesame dip. Could also wrap the fish up in lettuce or seaweed for more variety in texture.

let's wrap it up

close up view

There was a small bowl of peppery mussels soup too but I forgot to take photo of it.

assorted tempura of prawns and pumpkin

Tuna sashimi was looking so incredibly enticing! I was in awe with it. It tasted as good as it looked! Fatty mouthfeel, and each bite was to be savoured slowly.

Tuna Sashimi 

Towards the end of the meal, staff would bring out the soup made with the fish bones and one could opt to top-up some money to add ramen sari (plain noodles) to the soup.

pot of soup

sliding the noodles in

there it goes

There's rice too served in a small hot stone pot. Carbs to end the meal!

colourful bibimbap

mix well and enjoy!

Happy to celebrate Ivan's birthday with the foodie gang! May you enjoy more success, more travels and more good food!

Pohang Seafood and Butchery 

Address: 12 Kallang Avenue, #02-10, Aperia Mall, Singapore 339511

Website: https://www.facebook.com/Pohang.Seafood.Butchery/

Contact: 9010 4781

Business Hours: 

Daily 11:45 am–3 pm, 5:30–10:20 pm

3 Meals A Day 一日三餐 Korean Family Restaurant @ 12 Chun Tin Road

Was introduced to this restaurant by Tracy and Hence , my travel and dining buddies. They liked the food and we made arrangements to lunch there. Do make your reservations as the lunch queue tends to be loooong...

The place is conveniently located just right across the road after exiting from Beauty World MRT station. There are other Korean restaurants nearby too, like Oven Baked and KIM BBQ.

The service staff would frequently enquire if you are ready to order. Once you do, they'd bring over the serving plates, water bottle and water cups. Liked that they'll inform us on how to enjoy the dish, if they sensed that we are not quite that familiar.

Started with a plate of raw halibut in spicy seasoned salad. This was my first time trying. Only available in medium or large sizes. The medium sized was good for 4 pax as a starter. Tasty and beware of the green chilies, as it hits you where it'll hurt. Hahaa, a good kind of hurt and for a short while. Shioks!

Halibut Hoimuchim @$35 (M)

make a seaweed wrap

The halibut fish was sliced in strips and had a lovely slight bouncy texture. Not bouncy like squid and not mushy like salmon. Just something that's in between. The dish was tasty, well seasoned with standout flavours of spicy, sweet and garlicky plus a myriad of textural combination. Yums and whets the appetite for more.

water to put out the heat

For this meal, we ordered street snacks. No...not topokki 떡볶이 and not eomuk 어묵. Instead we ordered a small plate of sundae 순대 and gimbap. If for sundae, and you're thinking of ice-cream, that's not it! Sundae (or soondae) is steamed intestine stuffed with pig's blood, glutinous rice and glass noodles. An acquired taste and happy to report that the version at 3 Meals A Day is a non-funky version. Expect chewy texture. F.or taste, there's some salt given to enhance. I'd recommend to add some these into soup/stew for a more flavourful bite.

Sundae 순대 @$10

flavoured salt

We chose egg kimbap. Wow, this kimbap was huge! Hahaa, am used to the skinnier version so this came as a surprise. In terms of taste, this was somewhat lacking as the flavours were really gentle.

Egg kimbap 계란김밥 @$10

Let's take a look at the banchan 반찬 (side-dishes) served here. There was fresh kimchi (김치), fish cake (어묵볶음), seasoned bean sprouts (숙주나물), anchovies (멸치볶음), braised potato (감자조림) and macaroni with mayonaise.

side dishes 반찬

Hence asked, "Are you going to stop us from over-ordering today?"

Me, "Not today."

Now, let's do some serious eating shall we? 

A bowl of stew/soup is a must here and the tofu stew did not disappoint. Smallish in terms of size but big in terms of flavours. Enjoyment intensified after a few glasses of alcohol.

Soondubu jjigae 순두부찌개 @$12

건배

Fried Chicken Half/Half @$35

Yangnyum Chicken 양념치킨 (2nd Half)

Beef Bulgogi @$13

Samgyopsal (grilled pork belly) 삼겹살 @$15

Warm tummies and warmer hearts when good food is enjoyed with friends. But, we couldn't leave without trying their Jjukgumi Bokkeum (small octopus stir-fry). Why? Because the table next to us had it and it looked good. So, we ordered.

Quite a big pan of fiery red stuff with shiny blobs sticking out. Pardon my Huawei for the intense yellow tone.

Jjukgumi Bokkeum 쭈꾸비볶음 @$30

such a big baby!

You can cut the octopus into smaller pieces but it was tender enough to be bitten off. Beware of splurting sauces and don't wear white when you eat this. Amazing texture and very very likeable. Sauce was spicier than the salad, so get ready that cold water bottle at the side. The jjukgumi bokkeum is a definitely must-try here.

Thank you Tracy, Hence and Ivan for being the best travel buddies and makan-buddies! Till our next adventure, take care.

Expect to spend about $55 per pax for a meal with drinks here. 

3 Meals A Day 一日三餐

Address: 12 Chun Tin Road Singapore 599599

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

Contact: 6463 2346

Business Hours:

Tue – Sun:12.00 – 15.30; 18.00 – 23.00

Closed on Monday