Sate Kajang Haji Samuri @ Kajang , Selangor Malaysia

The most famous food that one can find in my hometown Kajang, is satay. Delicious grilled meat skewers that taste of spices and sweetness, dunked in a spicy bowl of aromatic peanut sauce. Satay and Kajang is almost like a synonym. According to wiki, Kajang is also informally known as "Satay Town". And when you want to eat satay Kajang, one would usually head to these two places; Haji Samuri or Restoran Malaysia.

Sate Kajang Haji Samuri is located at Bangunan Dato’ Nazir, which used to be Kajang's old public library. Parking could be problematic at times with limited lots. Self-order at the counter and make payment. It feels like a fast-food joint nowadays. However, they do deliver the food to your table.

for large groups

In the olden days, you order satay and a bunch of meat skewers are delivered on a plate to your table and you eat what you want. At the end of it, the seller will come and count the sticks and charge in accordance. The uneaten ones are then taken back to re-grill and served to other customers. Thankfully, this was no longer practiced since aeons ago.

ayam (chicken), perut (cow's stomach) and daging (beef) satay

peanut sauce with a dollop of sambal

ketupat (rice) and timun (cucumber)

Though the satay nowadays is not as good as 20 years ago, the ones that we recently had at Haji Samuri was still tasty and flavourful. A major grouse would be that they do not seem to have sugarcane water on every visit. Satay and sugarcane goes hand-in-hand! Must haves!

closer view of beef satay

If you are ever in town to try Kajang Satay, you must must order the 'perut'. That's cow stomach (tripe) satay. First had it when I was a kid, and it tasted like cheese. Really. Of course now, it doesn't taste like cheese but is still as splendid. Yums!

perut satay (right)

Chicken satay here comes with a bit of skin, which is just the way I liked it. The beef was a tad tough. Also tried the fish satay and it turned out to be fine. Sweetish and not mushy. But give me tender juicy chicken satay that's not miniscule, plus some perut and I'm happy.

Chicken, fish, beef and tripe satay are RM0.80 per stick. Chicken gizzard and liver at RM0.70 per stick. For an adult male, expect to eat between 20 to 25 sticks, while adult females can usually do at least 12 sticks. A jug of drinks here are costly though at RM17 per jug. The orange drink was nice.

grilling yummy satay

West Co'z Cafe @ Yew Tee Point

Located at Level 1 of Yew Tee Point @ Choa Chu Kang North 6. Yew Tee Point is very near the Yew Tee MRT. Where's Yew Tee? All the way towards the north-west area of Singapore, next to Choa Chu Kang. This place serves halal zhichar (煮炒).

menu

interior

Service was patchy, but earnest. Patience is welcomed.

Signature dish? Ok, let's try one

Ordered some mains to share. Food arrived fairly quickly.

Curry Fish Head @$20+

had to dig quite a bit to find the fish

stir fried kangkong @$9+

bittergourd omelette @$8+

Ordered all small portions for the dishes.

saucy dinner

The curry fish head sauce was thick, tasty, lemak and quite spicy. However, the fish was abit of a letdown as its flesh not as firm as anticipated.

The best dish, was actually the stir-fried kangkong. Thumbs up for this plate of well-fried vegetable.

Drinks prices varies between $1.50+ to $2.50+, and a plate of white rice goes for a dollar each.

Total cost was $60 inclusive of drinks, and enough food to feed 4 to 5 pax.

Restoran Ayza @ Kajang

The small town of Kajang, Selangor, is known for being a satay town. Of course, more recently, Kajang is also in the limelight for politics.

About its food, apart from satay, there are other things to eat. Usually, if we're in the mood for prata (or roti canai as the locals calls it), Restoran Ayza is one place that we'll visit. It's located near Metropoint Kajang.

For drinks, one would usually order teh tarik (pulled tea), nescafe tarik (pulled nescafe) or teh limau ais (ice lime tea). Nescafe tarik here cost RM2.

teh tarik

view from our table

My mom likes her rava thosai. Crispy thin sour dough, eaten with a myriad of sauces.

rava thosai with dhal, chutney and curry

For myself, I'd take the roti telur bawang (prata with egg and onions). Best eaten while its hot, with fish and chicken curries.

roti telur bawang (@RM2.70 per piece)

For something more substantial, there's maggi mee goreng (fried instant noodles) and rojak mee (rojak noodles). The rojak has a sweet peanut sauce, and ingredients included fried beancurd and fried dough, julienned cucumbers and turnip, with hardboiled egg.

maggi mee goreng

rojak mee

For the meatatarians, there's fried chicken @RM3.80 per piece.

2 pieces of fried chicken to share

If you're eating rice, the style here is they'll scoop the rice for you and then, self-service with the dishes. White rice with fried chicken and one vege will cost about RM5.50.

Here, one pays after they've eaten.

J's @ Purvis Street, Bugis

Located at 7 Purvis Street, which is at the street full of shops opposite of Bugis Junction, near NLB. This restaurant serves halal latin american food, mostly mexican food. It has vegetarian menu too. Its dinner opening time is 630pm, so if you're there earlier than that timing, then you'll have to wait outside.

Was told that lamb shank is one of their best-seller, so ordered one to try.

braised lamb shank with heirloom vegetables @$32++

Lamb was tender and enjoyable. Quite filling, with the mash potatoes and mushrooms.

colleague's 'catch of the day' (cod fish @30++)

Didn't try the fish but colleague said it was yummy. Waited quite a while for the fish though. Paella was the fastest amongst the mains to arrive, followed by lamb shank and lastly the cod fish.

For desserts, we had churros and flourless chocolate cake with ice-cream. Churros was good but, just two sticks?? Where got enough! The flourless cake tasted better with the gelato.

churros with banana and mangoes @$10++

bochas negras (flourless chocolate cake with choco gelato) @12++

Iced water is available. The restaurant is not that big, so the tables are placed pretty near each other. Service was friendly and approachable.

There's a section of the menu catering to vegetarian. A few appetisers and main courses.

Price is slightly on the high side.

Lek Lim Nonya Cake Confectionery @ Bedok North

Located at Blk 84, Bedok North Street 4. It's just right next to Blk 85 (Fengshan Market and Food Centre). If travelling from the far west, one option is to take the MRT till Bedok station. Then walk towards Bedok Central bus stop and take #222. Alight opposite of Blk 85.

Lek Lim is a traditional nonya kueh shop that was founded in the late '80s and has been in its current location for 32 years. It is also halal certified.

32 years, same location

humble family business that believes delicious kueh can bring joy to anyone who tastes them

Fast forward to current; the baton has now been passed to the third-generation of the family, Gavan.

Gavan, sharing the history of Lek Lim

Gavan has shared that throughout the years, the recipe for the kuehs had seen some tweaking, in particularly to cater to the healthier crowd. Which means that currently they're using less coconut, and no eggs.

delectable ang ku kuehs

pulut inti, lovely ambons

popiah, curry puffs

fried yam cake

However, in a surprising twist, it is the fried items that's the current crowd favourite (!?).

As this was an invited session, we got to try our hands on some kueh makings. Nothing too complicated. It's more like kueh assembling rather than kueh making. It's absolutely beginner-proofed!

Ang Ku Kueh Session

pre-prepped ingredients: kueh fillings (peanut, green bean and coconut) and ang ku kueh skins

The only tools that one need for this; a plastic mould and deft hands. Ok, maybe the deft hands belonged to Gavan and the other masters in the shop. But we had fun, and the steps are really simple.


Steps:

1. Wash hands and wipe dry
2. Pinch a good amount of skin flour. The amount to pinch depends on the size of the filling
3. Roll gently to form a ball, before flattening it out
4. Make a gentle depression in the middle of the flattened skin
5. Place the filling into the depressed area
6. Roll up the skin and form a ball
7. Dip it into dry flour and roll abit
8. Dip it a second time and place the flour-ed surface into the mould
9. Press down gently (not too much, otherwise the flour ball might get stuck in the mould)
10. Knock the kueh out of the mould

rolling and rolling

red (sifu's version), black and green are the novices' version

off to the steamer, to sauna for about 25 minutes~

ready-to-sell version looks like this

If you think ang ku kueh session was simple, then the how to wrap pulut inti session would be a piece of...err.. kueh? =P


Pulut Inti Session

banana leaves, the inti (coconut filling) and the pulut

Steps:

1. Take one piece of banana leaf
2. Place one square piece of pulut onto the leaf
3. Pinch some coconut fillings
4. Wrap: Fold the leaf into half (vertical half), then tuck in one end downwards. For the other end, cross the leaf edge and tuck in downwards

tucking in progress

ta-dah~

Amah was the one that showed us how to fold the pulut inti, so I asked her how did I fare. She said, "Passed. 100%." Keke.

To appreciate the handmade tradition of Lek Lim Nonya Cake Confectionary, let's take a glimpse at how the experts do it.

lots and lots of ku chai

busy chopping, fillings for ku chai kueh

delicious savoury fillings (imagine the amount of work that had gone into this)

experts making soon kuehs

waiting to enter the steamer

moulding the peng kueh

almost ready

handmade kueh

Here's a look at completed products (sans packaging):

ang ku kuehs (boys and girls version)

 

ondeh-ondeh sans coconut coating

kueh bengka (tapioca kueh)

customers mulling over which kuehs to buy

One can't help but to feel a little more appreciative of the work that has gone through for these handmade goodies.

at home with colourful kuehs

just needa re-steam prior to eating

yummy soon kueh

fragrantly light ku chai kueh

peng kueh

For the savoury types, Lek Lim's Ku Chai (菇菜) kueh (@$0.70 per piece), has become my personal favourite. Had it right off the steamer, and its skin was super thin. In fact, I think it has the best skin! If you like the fragrance of ku chai, then this kueh will not disappoint. It gave an overall light taste. If you want this, better be there before 4pm as the kueh may be sold out by then!

In terms of stronger flavour and texture, the Soon (筍) kueh's (@$0.70 per piece) filling was the best amongst the three savouries. A multitude of ingredients including mushrooms, turnip, bamboo shoots and dried shrimps. Also liked that it wasn't overly peppery!

Lek Lim has an online presence, and one can order and have it delivered right up to the doorstep (delivery charges applies). How convenient is that!

Special thanks to Gavan and family (especially the elders!), for giving us a chance to take a peek into the traditional nonya kueh making processes. While I have not eaten enough kuehs to be able to compare between handmade and factory-made versions, I do know that I've enjoyed most of Lek Lim Nonya Cake Confectionery's especially the ku chai kueh, ambon and the green and black ku kueh (with coconut and green bean fillings respectively).

Do remember to drop by and try some of these delectable kuehs when you're around the neighbourhood.

Lek Lim Nonya Cake Confectionery

Location: Blk 84, Bedok North Street 4, #01-21, Singapore 460084
Tel: 64490815     Fax: 64424958
Email: enquiry@kuehkueh.com.sg
Website: www.kuehkueh.com.sg
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LekLimNonyaCake