Dae Jang Gum Korean Restaurant

This restaurant is named after a Korean television drama series. Dae Jang Geum (大長今) is a popular Korean TV series based on a true story of a woman physician in the Korean royal court who managed to cure the King of his many ailments with her cooking and medicine. The TV drama was apparently so popular that they have a theme park in Korea dedicated to it. 

Dae Jang Gum Korean BBQ Restaurant (the name is spelled slightly differently but the Chinese characters 大長今 are the same) is located on Jalan USJ 10/1F in the Tai-pan area of Subang Jaya. It is not far from and along the same road as the Public Bank in USJ 10. I googled "Dae Jang Geum Korean Restaurant" and apparently Dae Jang Geum is a very popular name for Korean restaurants throughout the world. They include 2 similarly named restaurants in Section 14, PJ and in Malacca. I have no idea if all these DJGs are related.

We were greeted by a large portrait Lee Young Ae (the Korean actress who played the leading role in the television drama) as we entered the restaurant in USJ 10. She continued to haunt us on the menu before we even ordered our food.

The restaurant is rather small. The shop lots on USJ 10/1F are not that big and wide. Still they managed to squeeze into 2 dining areas - a tatami sit-on-the-floor platform and some normal tables and chairs at the side. The furnishings appeared old and well-used. But the place was pleasant and comfortable.

We settled down, ignored Ms Lee and perused the menu. We ordered 2 meats to barbeque and 2 soup dishes to supplement. Then things began to quickly arrive on our table. They started with our eating utensils and sauces..

 

And the small appetizer dishes typical of Korean restaurants. I found it delightful picking up the delicious morsels before the main meal. The variety offered here was many.

And of course kimchi. No Korean food is complete without this.

Our first meat was the Sam Gyoub Sal or pork belly slices. They had substantial fat on them. Rather sinful but (what the heck) nice. The grilled outcome was soft, succulent and delicious. Delightful when wrapped in fresh salad and the sambal-like Korean sauce.

The Yang Nyum Gal Bi or marinated beef rib was not so tender. But equally delicious. The flavor was more pronounced because of the marinade. I tackled the rib bone, attempting to get the meat off it. But it was just too tough.

I found the Sam Gye Tang (chicken broth with ginseng) rather bland. It was a milky soup that did not taste very flavorful. I think we have to stop ordering this dish the next time we go to a Korean place. It is getting to be very boring.

In contrast, the Yuk Gye Jang (spicy soup with glass noodles, vegetable and rice) was too strong and spicy. Looked like we had the ying and yang of the soups. I did not particularly like the spiciness. But my wife seemed to enjoy it. 

Dessert was pieces of water melon and a bowl of sikhye. Sikhye is a sweet Korean drink brewed from barley malt powder (yeotkiereum) and rice. It was served cold. I found it very refreshing. Perhaps it is not so suitable as a dessert. On a hot thirsty day, it would be fantastic.

DJG is a typical Korean BBQ restaurant. It did not stand out from its counterparts that we have visited. Neither is it any less. Very honestly, I find most Korean restaurants to be about the same. It is like visit one and you have visited all. Perhaps my Korean taste buds are not yet that discerning.

Chyniis @ SStwo Mall

The SStwo Mall is perhaps the evidence of too many shopping complexes in PJ and Subang Jaya. In the recent months, a number of other new shopping centres have popped up in the area - Tropicana City, Giza Sunway, Empire Gallery and Chitta Mall. The SStwo opened some months ago along Jalan SS2/72. Till today it remains quiet and most times deserted. Majority of the shop-lots are still empty.

It does have a number of makan places of which, perhaps the most successful and well patronized is the Chyniis. The Chyniis is located right at the front entrance of the shopping mall. The external frontage is impressive and the internal decor even more so.

It is really quite a swanky place. The restaurant, like the mall, is pretty new. The furnishing is tastefully contemporary. They do not have red table clothes or gaudy lanterns and draperies. The decor is bright and comfortable, and a very refreshing departure from the traditional Chinese restaurant set-up.

The proprietors of the place are apparently related to the Green View in Section 19, PJ. We know Ah Lian from Green View. She is perhaps one of the proprietors of this new place. She was there to help us on the menu selection. 

Our first dish was the claypot mutton. It was kind of a stew, with some deep fried fu chuk (腐竹) over it. The meat was very nice and gamey. It was just at the right texture - not too soft. The sauce was thick and rich. For us, meat lovers, it was spot on.

Next was the "home-made" tofu with a pumpkin sauce. Pumpkin is getting popular in Chinese restaurants. I love its flavor and smooth texture. The tofu was lightly fried. Over it was some braised pumpkin and some deep fried rice noodles. The tofu was soft and the pumpkin creamy. Very nice indeed.

The deep fried chicken was served in a sweet and gingery sauce. Over the meat were some crispy deep fried ginger slices. The meat was delicious. It maintained its crispiness in spite of the sauce.

I found the smoked duck far too smokey. This was the first time I tasted anything smoked in a Chinese restaurant. Smoking food is not a normal Chinese preparation. I have eaten smoked fish and meat done the western way. Their smoked flavor is more subtle and I prefer it that way. The smoked duck here was rather overdone. And I think it overwhelmed the flavor of the meat.

The vege dish was pak choy (白菜) with yam. The first time I had this combination was in Richwell. And I thought it tasted better there. Perhaps it was because Richwell cooked it in a claypot. Or perhaps that was my very first experience of this dish.

Last was the crab. It was steamed with a generous amount of shredded ginger and thick egg white. The crab was very fresh. The meat was firm and delicious. They were good sized - just 2 crabs for the six of us and they were more than enough. I particularly like the top shell. They kept the "I-don't-want-to-know-what" inside the shell. After it was steamed, the "I-don't-want-to-know-what" was very nice and creamy. I didn't know that normally thrown away part of the crab can taste so good.

We had a pumpkin and yam paste for dessert. We already had the two in our meal. But heck, it tasted good when combined into a sweet brew.

Ah Lian served us each a small container of additional dessert. It was compliment of the house. It tasted very much like the normal jelly with a lime flavor. It was not fantastic - sweet and sourish. But it wasn't bad at all. She later asked us how we liked it and told us that it was made from fish scales. She said they were experimenting with the stuff and may offer it as a dessert in the restaurant. What an innovation.

Our meal at the Chyniis was very satisfying. It was a bit expensive but worthwhile. We enjoyed the innovation and refreshing cooking style. It was not to be our last visit there. Hardly a month later, we were back to celebrate a birthday.

Again, Ah Lian was there to help us on the selection. We decided not to order the same food and went for different dishes to sample the variety.

Our opening dish at this second meal was the salted egg deep fried pumpkin. The pumpkin was cut into strips like french fries. They were then covered with salted egg and deep fried with lots of curry leaves. The outcome was fabulous. Top marks for innovation.

 

It was followed by another innovative preparation. It was a combination of fish meat and fish skin cooked "hoong siew" (红烧) style in a clay pot. The fish skin was fresh and very unique. I had not eaten fresh fish skin like that before. It was thick and almost like sea cucumber (海参), only a little tougher. I liked the texture. But the fish meat was not entirely fresh. In the pot were some tofu, roast pork and different types of vegetables.

The green plate was a simple choy sum with garlic.

Then the supposedly braised pork ribs. But there were no ribs. Instead it was pork belly meat, with considerable amount of sinful fats. The meat was tenderly braised in soy and oyster sauces, with some blanched lettuce. I didn't mind not having the ribs for the belly meat was really very nice. The dish was served with some fried bread rolls. The bread rolls were hot and delicious. They broke up in layers, much like croissants.

I found the deep fried salted chicken marvelous. It was a mid-size ayam kampong (菜园鸡 or free range chicken), salted and then fried to a crisp. The meat was deliciously salty. It was a bit dry, but I didn't mind it at all. It was aromatic and flavorful. I really would like to learn to make this.

 

Finally it was the wine crab in a clay pot. The crab was cooked in Chinese rice wine with plenty of straw mushrooms, mok yee (木耳) and ginger. The crab was good size. The meat was fresh and firm. The wine soup was delicious and kept hot for a long time in the clay pot.

Dessert was simple - a refreshing plate of assorted fruits.

Our 2 experiences in Chyniis were refreshing. The dishes were not the normal Chinese stereo-types. The chefs were very innovative and had apparently put in a lot of thoughts into their cookings. The Chinese food business is so very competitive. It is for this reason that they constantly evolve. They cannot afford to stagnate. They need to innovate (like the smoked ducked, salted egg pumpkin fries and fish scale jelly) to stay ahead. I believe the Chyniis is a part of this competitive evolution.

Loong Foong at Paramount Garden

It was a family get together for no particular reason. Just a makan makan and to catch up. The place was selected by SP, and since it was my first time there I thought it would be a good subject for another blog posting. Loong Foong Seafood Restaurant is located at the cross junction between Jalan 20/13 and 20/14 in Paramount Gardens, PJ.

There are 2 Loong Foongs in Petaling Jaya. The other is in Taman Mayang beside the St. Ignatius Catholic church. I do not know if they are related. In any case, this Loong Foong appeared to have a makeover not too long ago. It has a large nice air conditioned dining hall and a equally large but more humble unconditioned area outside. I have passed by the place many times and noted that it was always very busily packed. That night was no exception.

The restaurant is apparently famous for its roast duck. They have a stall outside with 2 or 3 workers busily chopping up the birds. As I took their pictures, I saw quite a numbers of customers ordering and waiting to tar pau (打包 - take away) the ducks.

So the duck was naturally in our order. And it turn out to be very good. We had half a bird. It was freshly roasted and for this reason, the meat was soft and succulent. The skin was nice and crispy. The half bird was not much to go around the 7 of us. I was not sated and nearly ordered another half but resisted.

The duck stall also had some boxes of Chinese acar meant to be taken away. I am a great fan of this spicy pickled vegetable mixture, and could resist picking up a couple of boxes to eat there and take home. But sadly, it did not turn out to be nice. Chinese acar is flavored with generous sprinklings of grounded peanuts. The problem with this acar was that they pre-mixed this grounded nuts into the vegetables. And they became soft and soggy. The sauce was also not great.

This was an uniquely silly seafood dish. It was braised seafood in a pumpkin. In it were generous portions of fresh and dried scallops, fish maw, clams, sea cucumber, mushroom, etc. I do not know why they put everything into the pumpkin. The flavor of the seafood was quite ordinary. I do not mean that it did not taste good. Just that I did not think the pumpkin added any additional flavor to the dish. Also, I disliked the way they wrote the number 28 on the skin of the pumpkin with a whiteboard marker. Not that we would eat the skin of the pumpkin. But it was still food. To me, the possibility of marker ink permeating into the seafood was a real turn-off.

The yam ring (佛砵 or fatt put) was very ordinary. I cannot think of any thing good or bad to write about it. It had a number stir fried ingredients (chicken, prawn, mushroom, etc) and some crunchy cashew nuts in it.

This was the claypot tofu. It was the local tofu with an assortment of vegetables and some pork in a thick gravy. Again, it was ordinary. Nothing noteworthy. Another yawn.

The vege dish we had was a stir fried "chen long choy" (青龙菜). It is a new type of green that is popping up at restaurants recently. I quite liked the texture and enjoyed this simple dish.

The final dish was the steamed fish. It was a "leen fish" (鲶鱼). This is a fresh water fish that is becoming popular in restaurants. It is also expensive. The fish was split into 2 halves and steamed in a simple light soy sauce. I did not find it fantastic. There were too much fine bones and eating it was a chore.

The meal was mediocre. Except perhaps the roast duck, none of the other dishes had any wow factor. It was ok for a simple dinner but the cost was not that simple. At the end of it, Peter got up and quickly went to the cashier to pay the bill. We got a shock when we asked him about the damage. It was nearly RM350 for such a mediocrity. The fish was at an unreal RM120. We very strongly suspected that because Peter is mat-salleh (white), they had jacked up the price. Because of this, I do not think we will return. Good bye Loong Foong.