Dengkil's little secrets

Are you willing to drive  50 km for a good makan? I mean, a really good one. If you are, there is a small rustic restaurant in Dengkil that may delight you.

Dengkil is a small town in southern part of Selangor, not far from Cyberjaya. The name of the shop is Sinki (成记海鲜饭店), a modest small town makan place. We went there for an early lunch one Saturday. It took us about 40 minutes from PJ, driving along the LDP, passing Puchong towards Cyberjaya. From Cyberjaya, it was just a short 10 minutes away.

It is located at No.96, Jalan Besar in Dengkil town. I will not attempt to provide any directions here. I would be writing too much. Jalan Besar is clearly shown on Google Maps. Following Google's direction is perhaps the best way to get there. I also have a very rudimentary map (at the back of their business card) which may be of a little help. It is really not that difficult to find.

The place is, like I mentioned, modest. It is a typical small town Chinese place. It cannot be more rustic than this...

But it has distinguished testimonials. On the walls of the food shop are pictures of some well known visitors - among them were Chua Soi Lek, Koh Tsu Koon, Chan Kong Choy and Michael Chong.

We had a fish, deep fried and topped with a really delicious sauce. The fish was very fresh and very well fried. The greatness was really in the sauce. It was absolutely delicious on the fish. I could taste soy paste, chili, garlic and ginger in it. What made it so great is probably proprietary that I would never find out.

The deep fried udang galah was superb. Udang galah is a fresh water prawn with a massive head. I don't normally consider it a good eating prawn because it does not have a lot of meat. A lot of the head is inedible. But the udang galah in Sinki was so very well fried that you could actually eat the complete head. It was crispy and every morsel of it was deliciously palatable. The fried prawn was cooked in a nice sauce. To me, Sinki's deep fried udang galah is a must-try.

Next was the sayur paku - a popular Malaysian green. It was plainly fried and its freshness made it a very enjoyable dish.

Our final dish was a pak cham choy yuen kai (白切菜园鸡). It was another enjoyable dish. Just look at my picture and you can perhaps see the firm texture of the chicken meat and how good it was. It was served with a oil-based garlic sauce. Dip the meat in, and every morsel was delicious.

It was a great meal. We were unanimous that our drive to Dengkil's little secret was absolutely worth the while. Apparently Sinki has 6 signature dishes. The fish, udang galah and the chicken were three of them. We will be there again for the other three.


Oh yes... There is another little secret in Dengkil. It is the Hainanese pau (包). I will tell you about them after our next visit.

Alor let down

Two of our daughter's net pals were in town. One was from Perth and the other Manila. They specifically asked to be brought to Jalan Alor to experience the makan there, which they had read so much about. It was just as well, for it had been donkey years since I last ate in Jalan Alor. Armed with my camera, we picked the 2 girls from their hotel and arrived at Bukit Bintang early in the evening.

Jalan Alor sure has changed. I remembered the place as having some makan shops and stalls, which were not so many. Now they are beyond recognition. The number of eateries have mushroomed. The place seems a lot more alive. The makan places are gaily decorated with visuals of the foods they offer.

We walked the length of the short street. It was festive but rather disorderly. We had to tread through parked and moving vehicles, food stalls, tables and chairs, and hordes of waiters with menus in hand trying to entice us.

We finally found a decent place, outside a small hotel. It was open air dining which suited us very fine. We were attended to by a foreign waiter (expected) who took our orders for anything and everything. What he did not have, he would summon via his phone from another stall. Our guests were visibly excited about the meal. But we were in for a major disappointment.

We asked for a plate of fried noodles - koay teow to be specific. This was what we got. I do not know if it was char koay teow Penang style or fried noodles Hokkein style. There was see hum (cockles 鲜蚶), but no eggs. It was mushy and did not taste quite good.

The hor chien (oyster omelete - 蚵煎) was ridiculous. I have never seen hor chien prepared this way. It was kind of flour and egg fried into pancakes, with some oyster smacked on it. It was weird both in taste and appearance. Totally unacceptable.

The rojak was a disgrace. It was just some pieces of cucumber, pineapple, mangkuang (jicama), and sour mango mixed in a tasteless liquidly sauce. Unimaginative.

The sotong kangkong was OK. Not bad. The sauce was good and there was lots of grounded peanuts.

The satay looked odd. The chicken was reddish. I do not know what marinade they used, but they looked like they had been dyed. I had one stick, and that was enough. It was not good for a second.

The kung pao (宫保) frog legs was perhaps the best dish of the evening. The meat was so very succulent and tender. The sauce was good. I have not had frogs for a long time and it really tasted very good.

The barbecued chicken wings quite ordinary. I found it a bit too sweet and didn't quite like it.

The small pot of bak kut teh was also ordinary. The soup had no oomph. But I guess it had a lot to do with expectations. Our last BKT experience was in Klang. I guess we cannot have it the same. Still I think it could be much better.

Finally we had a plate of KL Hokkein mee (福建面). What street dining is KL is complete without the famous fat noodles? It did not disappoint us. The noodles was good. There was lots of chu yaw char (猪油渣). The taste was so typically KL. I enjoyed it.

Dessert was ABC (air batu campuk) which was not too bad. It was a great heap of shaved ice with the normal red beans, cendol, jelly, peanuts, etc....

And leng chi kang (清补凉) which was just ordinary.

All in all, the meal was a let down. Jalan Alor is like the mecca of Malaysian street foods for visiting tourists. There are so much hype in the Internet and tourism promos about the goodness of Jalan Alor foods. Perhaps we selected the wrong shop. Except for 1 or 2 dishes, what we ate that evening certainly did not reflect what the country has to offer. From our experience, Jalan Alor is definitely not the typical Malaysian street food.

But there is a saving grace. Located between Jalan Alor and Jalan Bukit Bintang, on Lorong Bukit Bintang, is a yew char kueh (油炸鬼) stall. The stall does a roaring business on freshly fried YCK, hum chim peang (咸煎饼) and other associated delicacies.

The YCK was awesome. It was crispy and tasted so very good. One of the best YCK I have savored. The next time you are in Bukit Bintang or Jalan Alor, I would highly recommend that you grab a couple of them

They had perhaps made our drive to and from Jalan Alor a little more worthwhile.

My (Thai) Elephant

We were in this little Thai restaurant for dinner one weekend. The place was recommended by my brother who wanted us to be there early for fear of a long wait for a table. Sure enough, arriving shortly after 7 pm, the place was already packed, but we were lucky to get a table after only a short wait.

The place we went to was My Elephant in Section 17 PJ. It is located at the bottom of a block of flats at Happy Mansion in Jalan 17/13. It is incidentally in the same vicinity as Choon Yien char siew place which I had blogged earlier.

The place was small and humble but nicely furnished with soft lights that offer a very cozy dining environment. I was pleasantly surprised to find such a fine little place in the rather old apartment block.

The menu was distinctly Thai. The dishes had Thai names but were clearly translated in English. Their website provides a full list of their servings.

The drinks arrived first. There were 2 refreshing drinks that merit my mention. One was a Pandan Cooler. It was a simple iced drink  made with our local popular pandan leaves. A most unique drink which I had never tried before. The other was KraChiap Cooler, also an iced drink from Thai roselle. Both were very refreshing.

We started our dinner with a "teaser" - an 'myElephant Platter'. It had an assortment of fresh and fried Thai popiah, fish cake, prawn wanton and one other kind. The platter was pleasant and I enjoyed it.

Next was 'Gaeng Keow Wan' - green curry chicken. It was rich and thick - obviously with a generous amount of santan (coconut milk). It wasn't too spicy and was delicious. The serving was not very big, but you don't need a lot of it to enjoy its rich flavor with rice.

The 'Snow Fish' was baked in salt with basil leaves, lemon grass and other herbs and spices stuffed in its belly. Surprisingly, it was not too salty. The skin of the fish was sliced off revealing a beautifully baked fish that tasted very fresh and yummy.

The seafood tom yam soup was rather spicy for me. It looked very appetizing, topped with some coriander and fresh basil leaves. It had very strong flavors. Tom yam lovers will definitely love this soup.

Next was 'Gai Phad Grapow' - a minced chicken dish cooked in "Thai holy basil". It was a generous portion of minced chicken cooked with various diced vegetables and herbs. It was rather spicy but tasted good.

For greens, we had the 'Jungle Vegetable of the Day', which happened to be sayor paku. Paku is a popular local vege. It was fried with sambal, and looked and tasted great.

And of course, the rice which I have to mention. It was a mixture of jasmine (Hom Malee in Thai) and brown rice. It was fabulous. The mixture was really done right. Like the pandan cooler, this was another first timer for me.

This Thai meal was very sumptuous indeed. The dishes we ordered would generally be too much for 5 people. But we cleaned up the lot.

Our dinner ended at about 9.30 pm. As we walked out, I was astonished to find a large number of people outside still waiting for their tables. The popularity of this little Thai place bear testimony to the good food they dish out.

I am generally no big fan of Thai cuisines. I find Thai cooking too spicy and strong. I would normally only opt for Thai if I am devoid of ideas on what to eat.  However My Elephant would perhaps make me want to make exceptions.

Kemaman comes to PJ

You do not have to drive all the way to Terengganu to get some nice east coast makan. Tucked in a corner at the end of a row of shops on Jalan SS21/60 in Uptown, Damansara Utama PJ, is a small cafe known as Kopitiam Kemaman. The place serves a nasi dagang that we have gone back for, over and over again.

The place is just next to the Uptown police station, separated by a small lane. It is small and cozy. And like a lot of makan places nowadays, they have 2 sections - cool (air conditioned) and warm,  the later for their smoking customers.

As their name indicates, they serve east coast food. And they are pretty good at that. Their signature has to be their nasi dagang. I saw a lot of their customers going for that. For good reasons, because their nasi dagang is quite authentic and good. The rice is aromatic and of a nice texture. It comes with a generous portion of tuna fish, some nice curry and pieces of keropok. They got the combination just right. But the portion is rather small. If you are a good eater, one may not be enough.

Their nasi lemak looked rather.... sparse and basic. That was partly because at that serving, our daughter opted to have it without sambal. You have a choice of rendangs - chicken, mutton or beef. The rice is quite aromatic and lemak. Tastes good.

The keropok lekor is another reason to want to go back there. Freshly fried to crispy golden brown and served piping hot, it is so very good. They serve it with a chili sauce but I prefer to eat it without any garnish. And it is very addictive - you want to go on and on. Like the nasi dagang, one serving may not be enough.

Beside the Terengganu fares, the cafe also serves some not so east-coastal cooking. You could get a bowl of curry noodles, laksa and even prawn noodles. Their prawn noodle looks kinda messy. The soup taste OK but it is not the same. There is not enough fried shallots and flavouring to give it the oomph. I would rather stick with their east coast specialties.

Like all kopitiams, they also serve the usual toasts, half-boiled eggs and beverages.

All in all, this is not a bad place to have a simple meal. In spite of being in busy busy Uptown, this place is really quite laid-back. Perhaps it is the Terengganu vibe. It is definitely worth a visit.