Honkee porridge

We chanced upon this porridge place quite by accident. My wife just had a dental procedure and we were looking for some soft food for dinner. We were actually heading towards Guo Lou Choy when we saw this green shop offering porridge and decided to divert. I did not have my camera to take any pictures that evening. But because we were quite impressed with the food, we returned for breakfast on a later date and this posting was the outcome of that.

 

Honkee Porridge is located on Jalan SS21/1A in Uptown, PJ. It is walking distant from Guo Lou Choy on a roll of shops at the outer edge of PJ Uptown, only a few shops from TM Point.

 

Because of its name, I initially thought the shop had its origin in Hong Kong. As it turned out, it is very much a Malaysian establishment. It has its roots from a lady who had a porridge stall in Petaling Street in KL. Like other humble beginnings featured in my blog (Sisters' Curry Mee and Guo Lou Choy) her porridge stall of 60 years grew and there are now Honkee porridge restaurants not only in Uptown, but also in Lot 10, Bandar Puteri Puchong and Taipan USJ.

She was in the shop that morning when we had our breakfast. Surrounded by grand children, I don't imagine she now needs to bother about cooking porridge for her customers any more.

She must had made a name for herself in porridge making, evidenced by newspapers reviews and pictures of culinary dignitaries on the wall of her shop.

Her fresh fish porridge (鱼生粥) is apparently very popular. Slices of raw fish was served with a piping hot bowl of plain porridge with some ginger and spring onions. The fish stirred into the porridge would be cooked just right. It tasted great - tender and fresh. The porridge was smooth and flavorful. Very delicious indeed.

Another popular item is the pork innards porridge (chu chap chok - 猪杂粥). As the name suggests, it was porridge with the various parts of the pig - liver, tongue, heart and I don't know what else. The ingredient that I liked best was the deep fried pork intestine which tasted so crispy and good in the porridge. 

The place also serve other non-porridge goodies. Like the nasi lemak that was really quite tasty in spite of its appearance. The rice was lemak-ly fragrant. It was served with some dry sambal that tasted very nice. A bowl of rather dilute chicken curry was served separately. Combined, it was a plate of good nasi lemak.

The chee cheong fun (猪肠粉) was rather ordinary. We opted to have it in curry sauce, which perhaps was a mistake. The curry, most likely the same as that in the nasi lemak, was rather watery. 

They also have various types of fried stuff. They have a small stall at the front where you can make your selection.

The yew char kueh (油炸鬼) is a must if you are having the porridge, for it taste so very nice dipped into it. I seriously do not think rice porridge would be complete without some YCK to dip in.

Other fried goodies that we had included the spring roll (春卷) and radish cake (萝卜糕)...

.. the prawn cake (虾饼)...

... and finally the hum chim paeng (咸煎饼) which was very nice as a dessert.

We enjoyed Honkee. I was pleased with their menu variety. The porridge is definitely worthwhile and you do not need to be ill or dentally incapacitated to go there for a nice bowl.

CNY Feasts

The feasts started with the Reunion at SP's place. It was a very traditional meal. SP, wife Mei and son KG had spent a couple of days preparing it. Both KJ and KG were back from down-under this CNY. So it was great food and a greater reunion.

The pak cham kai (白切雞) is a must for any festivity. It was a delicious free range ayam kampung (菜园鸡).

The seafood pot (海鲜煲) probably costed an arm or leg. It had all the expensive ingredients in it - abalone, sea cucumber (海參), fish maw and mushrooms. But for the reunion, nothing is too expensive.

This is a dish of large prawns stirred fried with asparagus in a semi-spicy sauce.

 

The ever popular crab rolls. Available only once a year.

This was kwai fa conpoy (桂花乾瑤柱). It was dried scallops (conpoy 乾瑤柱) stirred fried in eggs and some vegetables. Normally it is prepared with shark fins, but conpoy was used instead. It was eaten wrapped in salad leaves.

The pork ribs may looked a little over done because it was left it the oven for a short while after grilling. But it was delicious. The meat was very tender and the semi-spicy sauce permeated deep into the meat.

This was Hongkong choy sum (菜心) topped with conpoy (乾瑤柱).

Soup was lotus root.

After a short rest from the heavy meal, we dove into the desserts; which was home-made far sang wu (花生糊 - peanut paste) .....

Chinese pancake. It looked a little different because SP opted to pan fry rather than deep fry it.

And a lovely grape flan that Crystal made specially for our reunion.

Next day, it was a simple family traditional breakfast and lunch. It was fried daikon cake (蘿蔔糕) which was very nice dipped in a home-made chili sauce.

The traditional CNY vegetarian dish.

 

And some delicious crispy fried pork ribs.

Then we were off on a torturous 7 hours drive to Sungei Petani. The traffic on the North South Highway was unbelievable. There were 3 massive jams along the way. What used to be a 4-hour drive turned up nearly twice as long.

On the second day of CNY, it was steamboat at the in-laws. The meal was a very festive affair. There were 30 people, young and old, spanning 3 generations. There were 2 tables and 2 steamboats - with enough food for a small army. The mood was high-spirited and convivial. Some were eating on their feet. Some shuttled between tables. Everybody enjoyed themselves.

Food-wise, I let these pictures do the talking....

The feasts continue....

Gong Xi Fa Cai

恭 喜 发 财 

Makan Makan Makan

 

F4 Fish Head

We had a call from my wife's sister one Saturday suggesting dinner in Subang Jaya. We drove to her place and then followed in separate cars to USJ2. We drove pass some factories, workshops and warehouses, on a really bad bumpy road; made a right turn and we were in front of a big makan place that I would never imagine would be.

The place was F4 Fish Head Restaurant. It is located in the industrial area of Subang Jaya - along an unnamed road off Jalan Subang 4 in USJ2. The GPS co-ordinates are N3 02.805 E101 35.774. I have to provide the co-ordinates because it is hidden in the USJ2 industrial area and is not so easy to find.

The place was as huge as a factory. It probably was one. It had the setting not of a restaurant but that of a factory - the lights, the fans, the ceiling and the floor. And it was very well patronized. The place could easily accommodate a hundred tables. That evening we arrived not long after 6, and the place was already jammed. We just managed to find a table at one corner of the place.

The place claimed to serve Chan Sow Lin fish head - written in Chinese on the wall. It is a claim made by numerous fish head places in the Klang Valley. Whether or not there was any authenticity in this claim, I really could not tell. I still believe the real Chan Sow Lin fish head is here.

As my brother-in-law ordered the food, I walked around with my camera taking pictures for this blog. Soon after our first sips of the Chinese tea, the food began to appear. I was a little awed how the kitchen coped with the huge crowd, coming out with food so soon after we arrived. I guessed that was the only factory in that whole building now, churning out dishes after dishes like a manufacturing plant.

Our first dish was the gu lou yuk (咕噜肉 - sweet & sour pork). This dish was ordered for Fei Fei, the youngest member of our dining group that evening. The deep fried meat was crunchy but that was the only good point I could find in this dish. The sauce and other condiments were rather ordinary. Not a great dish.

The deep fried sotong (squid) was good. It was fried in a batter with some curry leaves. The squid was fresh and succulent and not over done. It tasted delicious.

The curry fish head to me was a disappointment. The pieces of fish head, though fresh, was quite devoid of meat; more of bones. The curry was pale and did not have the faintest aroma of curry. If this was the type of fish head they serve here, that Chan Sow Lin claim was baloney.

Our vege dish was lo hon jai (羅漢菜). It was good. The cooking was simple. The ingredients were fresh. I liked it.

The serving of the sambal prawn was rather small. I wished it was bigger because it was good. The dish had some long beans and okra (ladies finger) in it. The sambal was very aromatic. The prawns were cooked just right. It was juicy and also not over-done.

The final dish was the steamed tilapia in minced ginger. The fish was very fresh. It was probably swimming when we ordered it. Poor fish, giving up its life because of us. The chef perhaps used an overdose of minced ginger, but I didn't mind it. The freshness of the fish compensated for any shortcoming. Any fish that fresh cannot be wrong.

All in all, it was a good meal. The F4 factory was nothing fanciful. It was good for a simple meal. My brother-in-law rushed to pay the bill and I had no idea if the damage was just as simple.