Siu Siu 小小饭店

An old friend Nee and his wife Linda was back from Melbourne. Benson organized a dinner for them and invited me along. The place he picked was Siu Siu Restaurant (小小饭店 - literally translated as Small Small) in Robson Heights, KL. 

Siu Siu's exact location is 15-11, Lorong Syed Putra Kiri. It is in the vicinity of Taman Seputeh. That part of KL is totally alien to me. If you have a GPS, you will have no problem getting there. My Garmin guided me without missing a turn.

That stretch of road was rather dark, probably because it was raining. The restaurant is just beside the road - perhaps too near it. But parking is not a problem. Opposite the road is a big vacant lot where you park for free.

The restaurant is a make-shift semi-permanent structure - more like a squatter set-up. It covers a big area with many tables generously spaced apart. It has basic washroom facilities, a hidden kitchen and an elevated cashier counter.

The char siew (叉烧) here is apparently renown. Benson had to order and reserve it in advance. It apparently is normally sold out by lunch time. For our dinner, they kept a plate for us. It certainly was good. It was rather sinful, with considerable amount of fat. The meat was very well roasted. It was tender and succulent and the taste was superb. Positively one of the better char siews I have tasted. I can see why it is so very popular.

Benson ordered an avalanche of crab dishes. The first was cooked kam heong (金香) style. The crabs were of good size. They were fresh and firm. The kam heong ingredients were aromatic. The taste was very pleasant.

Next was a claypot crab rice. This was very unique. The crabs were cooked in a pot of rice - much like the claypot chicken rice. This was my first time. The rice was delicious, although a little soggy. It would be better if it was not so wet and a little more fluffy. In any case, the rice was very popular around the table and everybody enjoyed it.

The 3rd crab dish was this peppered crab. By the time this dish appeared at the table, I was a little over-stuffed with crabs, and I did not touch it. So I am not able to say how it tasted. However, like the other 2 crab dishes, I believe the crab was very fresh.

The tofu was "home-made". It was fried and covered with a sauce of minced pork and long beans. Another unique dish and another first for me. However, the taste was not exceptional. 

Kai lan (芥蘭) was the choice of green.

The finale was this steamed patin. The fish was super fresh. I was very full at this stage of the dinner. Still I could not help digging into this beautiful fish. The belly was the best part. It was so very smooth and soft. With a fish this fresh, it was simply heavenly. 

In spite of its name, there is nothing small about this restaurant - not in size, not in menu selection and certainly not in taste. Perhaps Benson got a little carried away with the crabs. But we enjoyed the meal just the same. And he introduced me to one more makan place that I will definitely revisit.