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.