2019 Road Trip to Malaysia Clocking Mileage in Johor - Melaka - Seremban 3 Days 2 Nights Part 3 aka Detour to Seremban

Continuing from previous tale, on Day 2 in Melaka, we decided to have breakfast in Seremban. Drove out of Melaka and randomly picked Pasar Besar Seremban as our breakfast destination.

to the market!

Its main market was razed by fire in 2017. Read about it here. And the food stalls had moved to outside of the market.

walk past these stalls

Seremban Beef Noodles

The hawker stalls were arranged over a large area with about 3 main sections and each have their own coffee stall.

uncle looking at us

kopi

Seremban Beef Noodles - Tendon Soup @RM14

Seremban Beef Noodles - 牛肉面 @RM9

Ordered our food and the stall assistant would bring it over to the table. Got a shock when we paid for the beef noodles. Only 2 items and it costs us RM23. Wow.

Hiong Kee Mee Hoon Sotong 雄记鱿鱼米粉 @ RM4.50

As Hiong Kee Mee Hoon Sotong appeared as one of the must try in Seremban, we got two plates to share. It was really affordable at RM4.50 per plate but it tasted more like braised pork bee hoon. Hmm, rather normal.

I went and picked out some yong tau foo 酿豆腐 for my Singaporean friends to try. This stall somewhere in the middle of the place,was manned by a lady and her adult son. She's probably in her sixties and was super friendly. Picked out some beancurd, brinjal (I love these fried brinjals stuffed with fish paste) and the aunty advised me to get the mushroom balls. Only RM2.50 for 5 pieces, so ok! Also got a plate of deep fried pork belly in fermented beancurd 腐乳炸肉 (nam yee pork).

yong tau foo selections

腐乳炸肉 (fermented beancurd deep fried pork belly slices)

My goodness, all of those yong tau foo and the plate of meat costs less than RM10 in total. Well done! The yong tau foo was on point with homemade fish and pork paste stuffings. The deep fried pork belly was good except that it was cold. But hey, still enjoyable.

breakfast is served!

After breakfast, we walked around Seremban Gateway which I had no idea it existed till we stopped there to go to the washroom.

After loitering for about an hour or less, it was time for lunch. Actually, I was still stuffed from breakfast.

Bak Kut Teh

Yes, we decided to get bak kut teh for lunch since we didn't get to eat it in Johor. It was only 1130am when we stopped for lunch.

shop interior

The 火爆肉 reminds me of a certain bkt shop in Singapore which also originates from Seremban

let's get some cold drinks to quench thirst

Guess how many items we ordered. There were 4 of us, and we had 3 items. On hindsight, it meant that we ate almost one pot on our own. What!

bak kut teh @RM14 (single pax serving)

Claypot Chicken Rice @RM14

Yellow Wine Chicken 黄酒鸡 @RM14

I liked the huang jiu ji (yellow wine chicken) for its unique and comforting flavours. The claypot chicken rice was good as the chicken meat was well marinated and tender. The bak kut teh soup was decent but not as strong as I'd like it to be.

The staff at the shop appeared to be mostly Vietnamese.

Anyone wants to guess what we did after lunch?

Yup, we went to get more food. Seremban is famous for Seremban siew bao so we went to find some to da bao back to Melaka.

Siew Pow Master

coconut tart

siew pow

baking the goods

There was a small queue formed when we arrived at Siew Pow Master. The siew pow is smallish and the bakers were busy sorting the trays, the baked goods and the boss was busy taking orders from the guests.

The siew pow is priced at RM1.70 per piece which was about SGD0.60. Because the siew pow was just taken out of the oven, it was still warm so I had to take a bite in the car.

siew pow (still warm)

lovely char siew

First time trying Siew Pow Masters and loving it! Especially when it was just freshly baked. Yums!

I seriously thought we would be going back to Melaka by then, but Hence, Tracy and Ivan had other plans. They said, "Let's go A&W!" I was like, whyyyy? For dessert, they said. But no, this was at the height of the long queues when Jewel first opened its doors to the public. The queues were wild back then!

how was this a dessert?

cheers~

Wanted to get a small root beer float but the girl at the counter said that the price difference between large and small was just RM0.50. Darn! And so, the sweet drink got upgraded to large. Ugh, that is why I am fat.

Pasar Besar Seremban

Address: Jalan Tuanku Munawir, Bandar Seremban, 70000 Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia
Business Hours: Daily 7am to 12pm

118 Bak Kut Teh

Address: No.92, Jalan S2 D32, City Centre, 70300 Seremban (City)
Website: https://www.facebook.com/118bakkutteh/
Contact: +60 11-3382 4338
Business Hours: 
Tues - Wed: 1030am to 11pm
Thurs - Sun: 10am to 11pm
Closed on Mon

Siew Pow Master

Address: 368, Jalan Seng Meng Lee, Taman Unian, 70200 Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia
Website: https://siewpowmaster.business.site/?utm_source=gmb&utm_medium=referral
Contact: +60-6-763-2409
Business Hours:
Mon to Sat: 8am to 630pm
Closed on Sun

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.