Hawker centre, ss2 PJ.

My last visit to Malaysia may have only been 9 months ago, but still long enough for me to miss the food here, especially the hawker fare. So, on one of the first nights of this trip, I paid a visit to the hawker centre in SS2, also known as Wai Sik Kai (greedy street). Could not decide what to eat, so ordered a bit of everything ... well, more than just a "bit". But as it was cheap and the value of the sterling had appreciated against the ringgit over the last few months, I thought I'd indulge in this little feast pictured below.

I have no idea as to the name of the stalls we bought from, so as a guide, the first picture here is a grill fish (ikan bakar) vendor. All the food was bought at or around his stall.



This sambal fried pea in pods (or directly translated from Chinese, four angled peas ) were average, from the said grill fish stall. The sauce lacked sweetness and the peas were not crunchy fresh. But as he made this as a special request ( these peas are normally only used as a side garnish ), he is excused!


This char siu in Chicken Rice was also average. Char siu tasted very generic, but can't really expect too much for rm4!


Kam Heong lala from a neighbouring grill fish seller was quite good. You can always tell where was not enough of it to go round!


Pineapple fried rice from the thai food stall was also ok only! A bit too sweet and soggy, but I am happy with the amount of ingredients in it, especially the large prawns.


Prawn noodles were the best! IT was as good as any I have ever tasted and I look forward to having this again when I get the chance to go there again.


Razor clams in belacan from the same grill fish seller has a lovely tasting spicy sauce, but somehow, I felt there were more shells than actual meat!


This wat tan hor is not even worth mentioning! Rather below average.


After the meal we had a walk around the pasar malam and had some cempedak goreng ( jackfruit fritter) from this fella!


Overall a very satisfying evening's dining!

Restaurant Greenview, Section 19, PJ

Can't believe its time for another visit to Malaysia already! I haven't even finished blogging about my last one yet! Thanks to Air Asia, travelling to KL from the UK has been made a lot more affordable this year. Even though I am from Manchester, it is still worth the trouble of driving 4 hours to London, paying to park the car for the duration of the holiday. Ok.. I have not actually flown with Air Asia before, but I am really hoping I wont regret the experience. More to come in the coming days!


This is a restaurant known to many PJ residents for its seafood. Located just off the roundabout where the factories of the Rothmans and Sin Chew Jit Poh factories .... hmm.. dunno if these places still exist today.

Always seem to be crowded on a Saturday night but we got there quite late and managed to get a table quickly.

Despite specialising in seafood, they do do a really good roast suckling pig. This half piglet came to around rm70.


I have no idea what this is called! It was made with a deep fried battered yam basket with stir fried chicken, mushrooms, cashews and veg inside it. Looks nicer than it taste, unfortunately. Not bad, just not outstanding.



Their fried ho fun with white fish slices was very good. Gravy was smooth and thick and yummy! I was not able to re-create this at home!



And this is their trademark dish - Sang Har Meen - or prawn fried noodles. Really rich tasting gravy with lage fresh prawns cooked just right. Noodles were fried to just the right level of crispiness too.


Soor, I got no prices for this visit as I did not pay for it. Anyway, I am sure I will be going there again in the next couple of weeks, so I will make a not of the prices this time.

Mini food crawl with some floggers

Back in November last year, when I was in Malaysia, I met up with veteran bloggers Teckiee, WMW and Preciouspea. As my visit was brief, there was no time to gather more people together but we had a good time and they introduced me to a couple of places I have never been and ate food I have never eaten before.

First off was this place in SS2, PJ. Not far from the LRT station near Sea Port school. It was a hawker street not unlike the one at section 17, but seemed cleaner and had more stalls.

Preciouspea had this bowl of rice porridge (congee). The most loaded congee I have ever encountered! I wish I had more stomach, then I would have tried this dish too, as well as the one I was having!


Then we had a bowl of some vegetarian dumplings. Looked like dim sum or yong tau foo, but it was very different. I dont really know how to describe this, except that it was different from anything I have ever tasted before, not in a bad, nor good way.. if you understand what I mean. Anyway, its very cheap and if you know and can get to this place, you have got to try for yourself to make up your mind about it.


My dish was a humble plate of Economy noodles. It was neither mee nor meehoon. Something in between. It was cooked with shredded vegetables and had a dollop of green chilli sauce on the side. It had a very home-cooked taste to it, which was a refreshing change to the msg-laden food you tend to get from hawkers.


After that, we moved on to Taman Tun Dr Ismail. I remember this area well and used to frequent it when it was a new town back in the 1980s. It has not changed very much apart from some of the gloss of from the area seem to be missing and it is not as clean as it used to be.

We went to a "famous" satay outlet called Satay Kajang Haji Samuri. It's the first time I have seen satay being cooked from a kitchen at the back of a shop, rather than in front, outside a shop. Looks like a sanitised version of you traditional grotty satay stall.


When they served the peanut sauce, the chilli was in a separate bowl. I think more satay sellers should do this as it allows you to adjust the spiciness of your peanut sauce.


We then had a plate consisting of perut (stomach / beef tripe ) satay on the top row pictured and chicken satay. I am really no expert judge in satay, but these taste as nice as all the satay I had on my recent visits. No less, no better. However, it was the first time I ever had stomach satay. I would love to have this again the next time I visit as I am a big fan of offal.



And so that rounded off the night. Thanks teckiee, wmw, preciouspea for the company and the food.

Robert's Chow Kuey Teow, Restoran Say Huat, Section 17, PJ

More bits from Section 17, as that is where I grew up and stay, everytime I visil Malaysia. This one is supposed to be "famous" and he actually has a newspaper cutting reviewing his ckt pinned to the side of his stall. Just a quick blog this week as I am back into my busy routine now.




Located in Restoran Say Huat, this has been around for a few years now and I have always bought from him everytime I visited. This particular meal was actually tar-pau'ed as I find that restaurant really hot and stuffy to eat in, hence maybe the noodles may look abit limp in the picture. As for the ckt, I think this is probably the best in Section 17. Not exactly exceptional within Klang Valley and I wouldn't exactly recommend anyone to drive miles just to savour it. However, if you are in the area, it is definitely worth trying. Has all the essential ingredients, including a few large prawns and chinese sausage slices, which you would not find at any food court in the shopping malls.

Restoran Lucky, Section 17, PJ

I dont think I have uploaded so many blogs in a month before, but that's the advantage of being on holiday, relaxed and thousands of miles away from the hustle and bustle of work. Plus eating loads as well, providing me with plenty of blogging materials! Manchester seems such a long way away at the moment. I dont even want to think that, in less than a week, I would be waking up at 7am again and getting ready to cycle into work in the cold and dark English morning at temperatures well below 10 degrees centigrade!

We went to this place because of its convenience as its just a short walk from my parents place. I have been here before in the past and have always thought that their prices were more than reasonable and tasted above average. Not much have changed!

At first sight, the condition of the place was rather off putting. Look at the state of the chairs..... In the past, I have even had a cat brushing up againt my leg while dining here. Not something I am used to! However, when the food arrived, all was forgiven!




This sweet and sour pork dish tasted just right, not too sweet nor sour. The veg were crispy and so was the battered pork. Too many restaurants drown this dish with sauce, causing the meat to go soggy very quickly, but they seem to have used just the right amount.




This kai lan fried with garlic was just ok. I thought they overcooked it slightly and therfore was a bit on the greasy or soggy side. Maybe it was their way of masking the lack of freshness of the veg.




This steamed pak so kung, however, was the highlight of the evening. We saw them net this fish out of the tank, so it could not be any fresher. It was steamed just right and the sauce was just right too! No "fishiness" in the taste at all and the texture was smooth and juicy and slghtly springy. The only complaint was that there wasn't enough of it! Still, at rm23 for the fish, how can I complain?? I have had fish costing 5 times as much, not tasting half as nice as this!





I would highly recommend this place to anyone whether you are on a budget or not. I am sure I am not the only person who rate their food highly. Opposite this place is Restoran Wah Cheong, who also do "tai chow" seafood, but Lucky always seem to have teice as many customers.

Restoran Jackson, Section 17, PJ

Just like the old days, dining in section 17! This was meal was at Restoran Jackson. I have never been here before but was made aware of it by Ling239 when I visited her blog.





So obvioulsy, I had to try the Sang Har Meen! We told the propreitor that we heard of him from the net and he seemed rather flatterd and I think because of this he gave me an absolutely huge prawn! This single serving cost only rm8! For someone whose tastebuds have been numbed by bland westernised Asian food, this could have been the blandest dish in the country, but it tasted great to me!


Some of the other dishes from the stalls in the restoran tasted great too, but I suspect that, to most Malaysians, this fried mee from the Chow Kuey Teow stall only tasted average.


Ditto for this fish ball noodle soup. The fishballs were rather unique though .... not really ball shaped, but had a homemade flatshaped feel and taste to it.


I am looking forward to much much more culinary delights in the days to come!