Hainan Tea Garden @ Cheras

Air-conditioned kopitiams (cafes) seemed to have sprouted like mushrooms in my hometown. There's Old Town, Hailam Kopitiam and Paparich in Kajang alone! My dad likes these places so I've visited those with him, and the most recent one, Hainan Tea Garden at a shopping mall in Cheras.

glossy menu with nice pictures

interior

Fill in the order chit and press a device on the table and a service staff will come and attend to you.

press and wait

My dad ordered chicken rice, brother wants a chicken hor fun, mom is having chicken chop while sis wants a chicken cutlet. Note that you can actually request for the chicken parts. Dad and bro wanted steamed chicken drumstick. For me, I wasn't feeling hungry, so just ordered toasted bread with kaya and butter with a cup of coffee.

Chicken rice was pretty normal but the chili sauce was quite good. Had some problems with the hor fun order though. At first, after waiting for 10 minutes, the service staff informed us that they ran out of steamed chicken drumstick. So we changed that to roasted chicken drumstick. Then, after another 5 minutes, another service crew came over and told us that they ran out of hor fun. Whoa! So finally, my bro had wanton noodles soup with roasted chicken drumstick instead.

chicken chop

chicken cutlet

The chicken cutlet was ok, with tender meat but it lacked flavour. The chicken chop fared a little better in flavour but its meat was tougher. The black pepper sauce for chicken cutlet was rather lumpy. Too much flour?

toasted bread with kaya and butter (@RM3.50++)

The coffee that I had costs as much as the toasted bread. Hahaa. The bread was nice although stingy on that slab of butter and the kaya was spread a little too thin.

Total cost of the meal inclusive of drinks came up to RM79 for 5 pax. Good idea to check the bill before payment because we were initially charged for chicken hor fun and chicken wanton noodles. Likely a genuine mistake as the order were changed a couple of times due to the kitchen running out of certain ingredients.

Kedai Makanan Wan Fatt @ Mendaling Street, Kajang

Located at the back of Jalan Mendaling, near the temple. Usually packed during the evenings. So go early, like around 6pm to get a table.

We ordered the black black hokkien mee, yuen yong (wet hor fun with deep fried beehoon), paku (ferns) vegetables, and fried chicken wings (normal style or you can opt for butter or salted egg style).

black black hokkien mee

yuen yong (鸳鸯)

The noodles, we ordered for 2 pax portions each and it can feed a family of 5 comfortably. The hokkien mee was very tasty (with enough wok fire taste) and laden with fried lard. The hor fun was doused in sauce and the crispy deep fried bee hoon disappeared/integrated within the sauce. Yummy.

paku vegetables with small anchovies

deep fried chicken wings

The vegetables was interesting. First time having ferns. Usual vegetable options are sweet potato leaves, kai lan, broccoli etc. The ferns were crunchy and yet, tender at the same time. Like eating young shoots. Suitable to be eaten with hot steamed rice because it was quite salty.

The deep fried chicken wings were quite simple tasting. Marinated with tumeric, salt and coated with flour or something similar tasting to KFC powder and deep fried. Just like what homecooked food of the early days (古早味) would've tasted like. Thought they would've special chili sauce for the wings but was given regular chili sauce instead. Hmm. Those watery kind of chili sauce would've been ideal.

According to my parents, this makan place is quite popular. Yup, can see from the bustling crowd at the time of our visit. It gets busier closer to 7pm.

The noodles (2 pax portions) goes for RM11, while the chicken wings and vegetables were around RM15 each.

Siaw Kah Spicy Soup (萧家辣汤) @ Sungai Chua, Kajang

My dad had always wanted to try this restaurant, so by chance, we went there for dinner as the original place that we wanted to visit looked packed and it was raining cats and dogs that evening.

The menu has limited items but I guessed most people are here for the spicy soup. So, ordered one pot meant for 2 pax (@RM10++ per pax). Also ordered claypot tofu, fried kang kong, and 炸肉 (zha bak in Hokkien, literally meant deep fried pork but its really pork cooked with black fungus in soy sauce).

tofu, fried kang kong and zha bak (behind)

spicy soup (chicken and pig innards)

The star attraction should be the spicy soup (restaurant's namesake), but I found it pretty ordinary. Just lots of peppery taste. A claypot meant for 2 pax, gives about a small bowl of soup for 4-5 people.

garlic and chili padies dip for the soupy stuffs

zha bak

Instead, the most tasty dish was the zha bak. Flavourful and big chunks of meat. Goes along well with steamed white rice. Oily dish, but worth the calories. Loved the black fungus too.

The waitresses are not the friendliest people here but they are functional. For tea refills, it is self-service.

hot water dispenser is located near the kitchen

The meal costs about RM70++ and fed a family of 5.

In Singapore, there is a stall in Yew Tee's food court (the one at the basement of Yew Tee Point) that sells 辣汤. Similar peppery soup but with slightly different ingredients. The foodcourt stall's version has golden mushrooms, no intestines (replaced with pig's stomach) and deep fried beancurd skin.

Crystal Jade Dining In @ Vivocity

Located at Level 1 of Vivocity. Walked in on a weekday lunch, and managed to get a seat within a minute. Shared a long table with others. Came for their dim sum. Ordered a pot of tea to go along with the meal.

table setting

Peanuts is already on the table, and it costs $3++. So, if you don't want it, do let the service staff know. But I guess most customers don't mind munching it. The wasabi flavoured nuts was the best of the lot.

dreamy looking cup of tea...

Ordered the meat platter (2 types of meat @$20++); roasted duck and pork. The rest of the dim sum arrives in succession, one after the other within minutes except for the siew mai and char siew buns which took longer to arrive.

table (full) of dim sum items

The carrot cake (3 pieces) looked pretty and tasted good. But I find that the texture was a bit too soft.

carrot cake (萝卜糕)

Next, was the 'Mushroom with Goose Liver Sauce Dumpling'. Was feeling adventurous, so ordered this. Was thinking more along the lines of xiao long bao (小笼包) that type but this was proven to be untrue when the dish arrived. Turns out, to be looking more like a har gao skin those type.

mushroom with goose liver sauce dumpling

shrooms and more shrooms!

It's actually quite 'dry', and can't really tell what sauce it uses because there weren't really any sauce. So that was quite a misnomer. Has loads of mushrooms though. This is one dumpling that I won't order again.

The meat platter was next.

roasted pork and duck

star dish; roasted pork with crackling skin and tender meat

The roasted pork tasted as good as it looked. Crispy crackling skin (can still hear the crunch), with soft tender meat. Dab a bit of mustard sauce, yums!

duck skin

thin layer of skin

The duck was alright, depending on which part of the meat that you get. As long as it's not the bone part, the meat was quite tender and the skin fairly crispy. But nothing compares to the roasted pork.

The deep fried prawn roll with mango came out looking different from expectation. Thought it would be more like popiah kind of skin, but instead, it was a softer kind of skin and coated with lots of sesame seeds.

deep fried prawn roll with mango

To fill up the tummy, we had the char siew buns. Soft fluffy pillowy white buns steaming hot with sweet lean pork fillings. What is there not to like?

steamed char siew buns

lean char siew filling (蜜汁叉烧包)

Lastly, was the siew mai. Packed with minced meat and prawns. The siew mai here is likeable but come to think of it, the price of one single piece of siew mai is about $1.20++ each. Wow.

makes a pretty picture, yes?

stuffed to the max, just like our stomachs...

Although we ordered just 5 dim sum items, and one meat platter, it was very very filling meal! Total bill came up to about $56 and fed 2 ladies.

Afresco Gusto @ ION Orchard

Located at Level 1 of ION Orchard. Went there during pre-dinner hours. Was hot and humid that day, so ordered some soda to cool down. At first, wanted to drink cider but they don't have any that day. Bummer.

Peachy Go (grenadine syrup, peach syrup, a cherry and limone gelato)

Quench Me (elderflower, cucumber, limone gelato and not sure what else)

The "Quench Me" (had a sip), was sweet and quite refreshing. My "Peachy Go" tasted more like cherries. Also ordered a Caesar Salad (with additional salmon, so supplement another $6++) and Mozzarella Balls to munch. The menu doesn't have fries, otherwise, would've ordered that instead.

top: Caesar Salad with salmon, bottom: Mozzarella Balls

Liked the colourful caesar salad. The salad leaves were fresh and nicely chilled. The shredded (or rather minced?) hard boiled eggs here seemed more for decorative purpose as it was too finely shredded to leave any impact on the tastebud.

closer view

Smoked salmon wasn't too salty, so that was nice. But, they should just do away with the soggy croutons.

Mozzarella Balls with tomato sauce dip

The Mozzarella Balls were enjoyable. Eat it with the dip, as the sweet and sour taste of the tomatoes gives a welcome contrast to the heaviness of the cheese and oil (deep fried). Perhaps this dish is more suited if one is drinking alcohol. Got quite 'jelak' towards the last few balls...

cheesy goodness with a dash of tomato sauce

Prices are on the higher side, and our total bill came up to about $69 for 3 pax.