I had expected the restaurant to specialize in mutton and lamb - serving exotic dishes of my favorite meat. But it was actually a steamboat place and lamb was just one of the ingredients that you can order for your steamboat.
The one thing that struck us as we settled down into our table was the eating utensils. The bowls, plates, spoons and chopsticks were neatly wrapped in plastics.
We later found out from our bill that we had to pay to use these utensils. They charge one ringgit per pax for use of the "mess kits". Fancy having to pay to use the bowls, plates, spoons and chopsticks in a restaurant! I wondered how they would expect us to eat if we had refused to pay. I also wondered if we would be allowed to bring our own. I later asked the boss lady why we needed to pay. She said they out-sourced the cleaning of their utensils. So? Wasn't washing plates and bowls part and parcel of running a restaurant - out-sourced or otherwise? What a lame reason! She also said the utensils were sterilized. Yeah right!
Aside from this small irritant, the steamboat they offered was really very good. We were given a choice of herbal soup, hot spicy soup, or a combination of both. The spicy soup looked very red and hot in the adjacent table. None of us fancied that and we opted for the herbal.
The soup was so very very delicious. It was very sweet and aromatic, even without the meat and other steamboat ingredients in it. I could just drink the soup by itself and be very happy with it. It had various types of herbals and spices. I would not even try to identify these herbals and spices - there were plenty. And there was even a large piece of ginseng. That was the quality of the soup. But we had to pay for it. The soup alone was RM20. Perhaps it was another irritant - having to pay for the soup in a steamboat joint. But given the quality of it, I really did not mind.
We then ordered our steamboat ingredients. We marked them in a order list at the table. All the ingredients turned up fresh and appetizing. The meats were most appealing. We had mutton (but of course), beef and pork. Looking back at the pictures now, I really cannot tell which was what. They all looked so good.
We also had meat balls, tofu, mushrooms and vegetables. All very fresh...
... making a rich potpourri.
Oh yes, the noodles. I have to make a particular mention about their noodles. They were hand made and fresh (not dried) and they tasted awesome when boiled in the rich soup. The noodles were very smooth, yet the texture was springy and so very nice in the mouth. To me, this noodle is a must when you are there.
Besides the steamboat, the restaurant offered very limited other dishes. The plates of fried rice we ordered turned out to be very pleasant.
The meal we had in Xiao Fei Yang was no ordinary steamboat. The richness of the soup and the freshness of all the ingredients made it a real quality meal. The restaurant is very worthwhile. Never mind the irritating RM1 you pay for the bowls and the plates. I recommend you go there for the good quality steamboats.
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