Malaysia Food

Location: N03 08.9680 E101 39.6580 Damansara Heights, Kuala Lumpur, WP

Getting there: Near Damansara Town Center (DTS) or commonly called Pusat Bandar Damansara. It is the shop row behind Hock Lee Supermarket, off Jalan Batai.

Meal: Lunch

Fried Pan Mee prepare kung fu chow is unusual I must say. I was pretty dazzled at the concept. Lots of points for creativity.

Rating:

Food: 6/10
Service: 6/10
Value: 6/10

Remarks: Just next door is a famous won ton mee stall within Shangrila Restaurant.

Won ton mee next door

Location: N03 08.9409 E101 41.8783 Alt 131 ft Kuala Lumpur, WP

Getting there: Near St John church and Telekom Museum. Near Little India.

Meal: Lunch

In the middle of old KL, in a cozy spot with traffic jam literally right in front especially at peak hours and a little pedestrian alley just beside is a yong tou foo shop with really good yong tou foo. The place caters mainly for lunch crowd and maybe brunch and tea as well.

Service is semi self service. They will help you find a seat, help you make some orders, but everything else is on your own. They are pretty efficient is indicating that you should vacate your seat. However, they could do a better job vacating your seat if they took payment at your table. Service is extremely fast, tick your requirements and before you can finish telling a joke, the food is served. And it is hot.

The gravy, which is taste very much like miso is very addictive. Chillies were very fresh and fillings were quite nice too. I did not fancy the fishballs and sui kao. The clear soup that came with the fishball is a MSG (mono sodium glutamate) soup. I thought that they would go well in the miso gravy.

Rating:

Food: 6/10
Service: 7/10
Value: 6/10

Remarks: Open during lunch, caters mainly to lunch crowd and difficult to find seat during lunch time. Atmosphere is hurried and self pay at counter. Eat and go kind of place unless you go after lunch hour.

Location: N03 09.1670 E101 41.8780 Kuala Lumpur, WP

Getting there: From Standard Chartered Jalan Ampang, cross the bridge over the river, go in through a small lane to Medan Bonus (Bunus) Food Center. Stall is signless end lot with an odd triangle shape, in front of Medan Bonus Tenaga National Office.

Meal: Dinner

There used to be 2 Indian stalls right in front of Medan Bonus Tenaga National Office. I decided to drop by for a good masala tosai. The place seems to be different compared to years ago where the Medan is literally an open space. I remember having masala tosai with my cousin and mother under the cover of a flysheet on a rainy day. The food was so affordable those days, even when I was a student that when they charged me for the first time, I asked if the drink was included in the price. Now, a row of food court is built, mainly occupied my muslim traders leaving negligible space for these Indians to serve their delicious tosai. All they have is an off triangle shaped lot, with no chairs and no signboard. I do not know which of the 2 tosai stall remained, but I recall both being equally delicious.

Maybe my taste buds changed or the ingredients changed; it does not seem as delicious as before. I had a large chunk of cinnamon and a whole star anise in my masala and all in my first few bites and a few bits as I continued. The masala was quite dry, not quite as moist as I recalled and tosai not as fragrant as before. However, the flavours of spices were stronger and not as salty as before. I has a second helping, this time, there was less bits of cinnamon and star anise.

It is still a good value meal. Maybe the lack of the competitor next door (literally) had made them a little lax.

Rating:

Food 6/10
Service 5/10
Value 9/10

Remarks: Difficult to get a GPS lock on the location because of narrow view of the sky; took me a while to get 3 satellites to triangulate with an accuracy of 14 meters.

Location: N03 08.7080 E101 41.8030 Alt 228 ft Kuala Lumpur, WP

Getting there: It is at the intersection of 2 busy bus routes. Near Petaling Street, Kotaraya and Central Market.

Meal: Lunch

Imagine a restaurant at the intersection of 2 busy bus routes with busses and cars roaring just a few feet outside separated only by a crowded and narrow (3 feet) walkway. Vacant tables are hard to find and service was… well… if it existed, unfriendly. I stood at the beef noodle stall for about a minute before anyone could spare me some attention. There were 4 people there doing their own things, often shouting across the restaurant but they were too busy to take orders. The tables are old and had aged white marble tops. At least I think they used to be white marbles. However, they were too narrow for comfort.

After a long wait, they forgot my order and had to confirm my order by shouting across and I responded with sign language, namely a nod.

I ordered a “lai fun” dry noodles and it came in 2 bowls. A large bowl with “lai fun” and sauce and the other with beef and broth.

Having “lai fun” was a mistake as it was too starchy for the sauce. Would have been better with “kwei teow”. The “lai fun” was dry and unappetising. The broth on the other hand was very good. It had preserved vegetables that added piquancy to the mixture. A hint of lard added a whole new dimension to the flavour, giving it a silky texture. That made up for the horrible dry “lai fun”.

Rating:

Food 7/10
Service 2/10
Value 6/10

Remarks: Rather hot and noisy place. The chilli paste taste fermented and smells like and old sock.