Ipoh Lou Wong

We arrived at Ipoh, on the way back from Sungai Petani, at about 5.30 pm on the 6th day of CNY. Our first stop was Funny Mountain for our favorite tau fu fah. That sated, we decided to take an early dinner and walked one street away to the famous Lou Wong ngah choy kai (老黄芽菜雞). Lou Wong is located on Jalan Yau Tet Shin, off Jalan Ekran (formerly known as Jalan Yang Kalsom). It is in the Ipoh Gerbang Malam area, where a pasar malam is staged on Jalan Dato Tahwil Azhar every night of the week.

This area in Ipoh is popular for ngah choy kai (芽菜雞). Besides Lou Wong, there is Onn Kee next door and another Onn Kee (I don't know if they are of the same management) across the road. There are also several shops selling salted chicken, which I will come back next time to try and to blog.

Lou Wong was a massive hive of activity - almost to the point of chaos. The place was packed to the brim. Many were standing around waiting for tables. The restaurant spilled to the street - 2 rows deep of tables. It is hard to imagine a restaurant doing such roaring business at 5.30pm. It was definitely to late for lunch and too early for dinner. What were the people there for?

 

I did not know if the large crowd was because of the CNY holiday season. Or is it like this everyday? I asked one of the waiters. He said it was the CNY crowd. He claimed on a normal day it is so quiet, you could hear a fly. I have no idea if he was serious.

We ordered the usual chicken, innards, ngah choy (taugeh), some fish and meat balls, rice and soup hor fun (河粉). The food arrived soon enough and spoke well for the efficiency of the place in spite of the crowd and the seemingly chaotic situation.

  

The chicken was rather ordinary. I did not find it that fantastically good. The meat was rather soft and did not have the firm texture of good chicken meat. It was OK for a hungry stomach but if you want good pak cham kai (白切雞), I don't think this is the place to come to.

 

The innards were likewise ordinary. But then, how extraordinary can innards ever be?

The ngah choy (芽菜) or taugeh were good. They were short and stubby. And very fresh too. 

The fish and meat balls came in a soup. We did not order very many. Again, they were just ordinary.

 

Some of us had rice for the meal. They only served ordinary white rice. No chicken rice. A chicken rice place not selling chicken rice. What a disappointment. I had soup hor fun. And I was glad I did. It was good. The hor fun was so soft and smooth. It certainly lived up to Ipoh's reputation for good sar hor fun (沙河粉).

 

I have heard so much about Lou Wong. There were a couple of ngah choy kai (芽菜雞) places in PJ that took on similar names. I do not know if they are related or just trying to ride on the name. One of them may still be around in SS2. 

 

The experience at Lou Wong was not great. I felt Ipoh Lou Wong was over-rated. Perhaps the quality was diluted because of the large CNY patronage. I had tasted similar ngah choy kai in other shops in Ipoh, KL and PJ. Ipoh Lou Wong was certainly not the best.

Kanna Curry House

Whenever I have a craving for Indian banana leaf, I head to Kanna Curry House. I first experienced Kanna about 3 years ago and since then, banana leaf means Kanna for me.

Kanna is tucked at a corner of Section 17 in PJ, on Jalan 17/45. It is quiet and secluded, and yet it is in a busy part of PJ. It is on an elevated land opposite the Nanking Court Vegetarian Restaurant in Section 19, in the vicinity of Green View and Lisa de Inn. To get there, drive along Jalan Universiti from the International Islamic University towards the Rothmans roundabout. At the roundabout, take the 3 o'clock turn into Jalan Harapan. Drive towards the end of Jalan Harapan, ignoring the busy left turn to SS2. At the end of Jalan Harapan, turn right and immediately right again into a side road, which is Jalan 17/45.

Kanna offers 3 dining environments. They have an air conditioned area which I found to be rather stuffy.

 

An non air cond area.

And an outdoor garden area which is my preference. The garden is very pleasant. It is shaded by trees and overlooks the busy Jalan Harapan to SS2 junction. It is a nice eating here, kind of an elevated seclusion in the midst of busy PJ.

Kanna serves nice curries - chicken, mutton, fish, sotong, shrimps, etc. I normally go there for lunch and find the food very fresh.

 

They also have fried stuffs, which they do per your order. You pick your fish, chicken, crab, etc...

 

And they fry it there and then.

I had the usual banana leaf with all the veges and plenty of papadam. I also had a fried chicken drumstick, a piece of fried tenggiri (mackerel) and we shared a plate of masala mutton. The chicken and the fish were very good and very fresh. The fried tenggiri was so fresh that it broke in flakes. I found the rasam (a spicy sour soup) very nice and refreshing, with a good oomph. And the deep fried salted chillis were wonderful. They went so well with the meal. The gravy - dhall and chicken curry flavoured a very delicious meal.

 

At the end of the meal, it is an Indian tradition that you indicate your satisfaction by the manner you fold your banana leaf. If you enjoy the meal, you fold the leaf towards you. If you dislike it, you fold it away. My leaf was folded accordingly so...

  

Banana leaf lunches are always so heavy. After such a meal, oxygen deprivation in your brain sets in and the next indulgence should be a good afternoon nap. Unfortunately I did not have that luxury that day.

Home cook challenge

Three guys and a gal took up a challenge to cook a meal for their parents, uncles and aunts. There was some reluctance at the beginning but with some persuasions and money on the table, they got moving. The guys were KG, and brothers BW and BE. WY was the only rose. They age from 22 to just 17.

Four amateurs cooking for 11 people for the first time. That seemed like a daunting idea. Would it be a case of too many cooks? I could see some quiet serious discussions amongst them. And they finally appeared to have their plans, the menu and their roles defined. It was apparently agreed that each of them would be responsible to cook one or two dishes.

On the morning of the meal, I understand they were at 1U for the marketing. They wanted to do everything from scratch - no canned stuffs, no tar pow, no pre-prepared off the shelves. I was not around during the cooking so I cannot write too much about it. But I do have a couple of pictures of the process.

I promised to blog the meal but was soon apprehensive. I wasn't sure what I would write if the meal did not turn out right. I mean... they would probably cook their hearts out. And they read my blog. How would I write an honest review without hurting some young feelings. But my fear turned out unwarranted. They did cook up a storm.

The meal was served in courses. I was impressed. The first was a mushroom soup, made from fresh mushrooms. BE, the youngest, did the soup. It was good. We enjoyed the smooth texture and the flavour was adequate. The soup was served with home baked garlic bread. Superb.

 

  

Then the salad was served. It was cauliflower and broccoli in mayonnaise dressing with some ham. WY made the salad. Delicious.

The chicken was grilled by BW. It was marinated with mustard and some other things I do not remember. It looked great - nice golden brown. It was done just right, not too dry and the meat was tender and succulent. It tasted very good.

 

KG made the pasta. It was spaghetti bolognese. It was with minced chicken instead of beef. The sauce was made from scratch - no canned or bottled spaghetti sauce or puree. It was very good but I found the minced chicken rather coarse. I would had preferred beef.

Red wine was served with the meal. Complete.

BE at 17 is quite accomplished at pastries. I have tasted his cheese and chocolate cakes and they were very good. For dessert, he made a lemon yogurt cake, topped with blueberry jam and served with a vanilla strawberry ice cream. The cake was slightly dry but the combination with the jam and ice cream overcame the small hitch. It was good.

It was great meal. Compliments to the chefs. I couldn't cook like this when I was their age. I still can't.

Mega roti canai

My wife and I chanced into the Warung at the Mid Valley Megamall when we were looking for her sister who did not have a mobile phone on her. In a place like the Mid Valley, she was like the proverbial needle. How did we get by in the days before mobile phones? We decided to rest our feet and settled down for a teh tarik at the Warung. And while we were at it, we also decided to share a roti canai. The roti canai was so very good. We loved it and ordered another piece.

That was about 3 months ago - before I started this blog. I told my wife that we needed to go back to the Warung, to take some pictures and to blog their roti canai. Last weekend, we made the trip.

The Warung is located on the 1st floor of the Mid Valley Megamall. It is tucked at a corner, away from the hustle and bustle of the shopping complex, near the exit towards Northpoint outside the FOS (Factory Outlet Store) and the Rotiboy outlets. It is like any typical Malay warung selling various kuehs, rice, soto, mee, mee-hoon, nasi lemak, drinks, etc. It has simple kampung tables, stools and benches that are not meant to be overly comfortable.

We ordered 2 teh tariks - kurang manis,  2 packets of nasi lemak bungkus and of course, 2 roti canai. The teh tarik came in glasses. It was not sweet - just as we had ordered.

 

The nasi lemak bungus were charmingly kampung.  It was not too big and had the usual sambal, egg, kacang and nice crispy ikan bilis. Very good.

The roti canai was the raison d'etre for our presence in Mid Valley, and it did not disappoint us. The roti was good - just like how it was several months back. It was crispy on the outside and nice and soft inside. It was indeed very well made. The roti normally comes with dhall. On that day, they did not have the dhall. The curry they provided as alternative was just as good.

 

They do not make the roti there. We saw no such activity at the Warung. I believe they were made elsewhere and re-heated when we ordered them. They would have tasted even better when freshly made. I wonder where they get their supply.

 

I guess it is a little overboard to drive to Mid Valley just for the roti canai like we did. But if you are there, and your feet are tired and you would like some peace and quiet from the maddening shopping crowd, I would recommend the Warung - not just for the roti canai but for everything that you don't normally get in a mega shopping centre.

Ever Green View

I have known Green View since it was a single shop-lot restaurant many years ago. It was then a humble non air conditioned Chinese restaurant that served good and reasonably priced seafood. It grew with its popularity, and today it has joined the big-timers. It now has 3 shop lots, double-storied up and down, most of it air conditioned, and a modern make-over.

 

However, the original humble non air conditioned part of the restaurant is retained with almost the same decor and furniture. A considerable number of their customers still use this old section of the restaurant. Some even prefer the tables on the shop front walkway in spite of the spanking interior. The reason is perhaps that the restaurant is very noisy. The place lacks some curtains or drapes or some soft furnishing to absorb the noise. When the place is full, you can hardly hear your own voice. I personally like to dine open air on a small plot of land across the road that they used to set up some tables. But the open air dining is gone. It could be the local authorities did not approve.

The signature of this restaurant is their fresh prawn noodles or san har mein (生蝦麺). It was excellent. Almost every table ordered it. It had big tiger prawns split in halves, cooked in a delightful gravy of egg and I-don't-know-what and poured over freshly fried crispy noodles. The quantity of prawns in the plate depends on the number of diners. They make sure every person has at least half a prawn. In the past they used fresh water udang galah, which was more head than meat. Now, the tiger prawns were much more worthwhile.

The fried rice was also good. It was fried with bits of char siew, shrimps, long beans and lots of deep fried small ikan bilis. You feel the crisp as you munch on the tasty rice.

The deep fried pork knuckle was a major disappointment. To start with, the skin was not crispy. It was immersed in a light gravy which made it even more soggy. The meat was rather bland and after a couple of mouthfuls, I had enough.

 

The la-la fried "kam heong" (金香) style was quite ordinary. The flavour was a bit too heavy for my liking.

We had an unique vege combination - pumpkin and asparagus fried with prawns. My first time. Not a fantastic dish. The pumpkin did not taste like it at all. And asparagus is not one of my favourites.

The crispy kai lan (芥蘭) was another of my first time experience. It was good. They cut the leaves of the kai lan into tiny strips and deep fried till crispy. They then stir fried normal kai lan and mixed in the crispy leaves. Ingeniously tasty. I almost forgot to take a picture of this crispy kai lan. By the time I got to it, the plate was half gone...

 

The deep fried squid was crunchy and rather sweet. It was not bad. More of a side dish to go with beers.

The steamed crab was the last dish. By the time it arrived, I was pretty full. I still had some of it. The crab was steamed in egg white that form a thin layer of chawan mushi at the base. There was a generous sprinkling of ginger - perhaps not quite necessary. I found the meat rather soft. It was fresh but it did not have the firmness of good crab meat. I noticed from the bill that the crab was from Indonesia. Perhaps the local crab would had been better.

 

It was a heavy meal. But I still found room for some dessert. It was a cheese cake with blue berry topping, baked by my 17 year old nephew. It was good considering that it was made by a guy of that young age.

(Ever) Green View is located in PJ Section 19 on Jalan 19/3. It is off the Rothmans round-about on Jalan Universiti and is opposite the Lisa de Inn. I like the place and go back every now and again, mainly for the san har mein.

Ma... I am still hungry!

It was my first time at Restoran Ma Ma's and would probably be my last. The restaurant boasts of home style Penang nyonya cooking - presumably like Mum's as its name suggests. But...

The restaurant is located on Jalan SS22/25 in Damansara Jaya, near the Atria Shopping Centre in PJ.

Seven of us were there for dinner a few days before CNY. I was quite open minded and had no expectation at all on what they had to offer. I was quite impressed with the decor and ambiance of the place. It was typically Chinese with some nyonya paintings and artifacts, and a good feel of the coming festivities.

 

There was a small crowd. The table next to us was a big group. From the chatter and laughter, I could gather that they were familiar with the proprietor. A lady came and took our order. We ordered 6 dishes and the lady told us that we had enough and suggested small servings for all the dishes. After taking our order, she got herself immersed in the group beside us.

The first dish was the nyonya yee sang (娘惹鱼生). It was quite good. The ingredients were unlike those of the ordinary yee sang. It had the fragrant of lemon grass, bunga kantan and plenty of mint leaves. The sauce was also quite different. I quite enjoyed it. But the serving was rather small.

The inchi kabin was next. The serving was totally insufficient for the 7 of us. There was hardly a piece of the chicken for each of us. The chicken looked over-fried and except for the crispy exterior, there was nothing good about the dish. The chicken meat was rather tasteless. I think it had not been adequately marinated.

The perut ikan was pathetic. It came in a small bowl. Serving for 7! In it was a mess of unrecognizable mushy vegetable and pieces of soggy, what appeared to be fish bladder. The taste was odd. I do not think any of us liked it. In spite of the small bowl, there was plenty left over. I do not know how they could even consider serving that in a restaurant.

 

Next was the fish head curry in a claypot. It was OK. Not exceptional. It had the usual tau fu pok (豆腐薄), brinjal, long beans, okra, etc.

The spring row was good but in such small portion. There was only 2 rows for the seven of us. How meager can it get. Each of us had just a mouthful.

 

The four angled bean or kacang botol was stir fried in sambal and small pieces of shrimps. It was not bad. But the serving is again small.

Then we waited... and waited... for the last dish. That almost did not come. And when it appeared, it was not what we ordered. We asked for sambal petai minus prawns. We had specifically told the lady that we did not want prawn in our petai. Up to the end of the meal, there was no sign the sambal petai. We asked a waiter and he had no clue what we wanted. He was probably a foreigner who did not understand us. The lady who took our order was too engrossed in the next table to be distracted. The shortfall was finally made known to another waitress. And when the sambal petai finally arrived, it had prawns in it. The dish was sent back to the kitchen. A few minutes later, the same dish reappeared, with the prawns removed. I did not enjoy the petai because by then my rice plate was empty. How can one enjoy sambal petai without rice?

 

Dessert was bubur gandum and pulut hitam. They were so very ordinary, there is nothing to write about.

The meal was so wanting. The taste of some of the dishes was really not that bad. But they come in so very small portions. There was not enough to get to enjoy the dishes. I do not understand why they cannot ensure there is sufficient for every diner in the table.

I came out of the restaurant still feeling somewhat hungry.