Hee Lai Ton (Sheraton)

I don't go to Hee Lai Ton (aka Sheraton) Restaurant very often when I am back in KL, even though it is one of my favourite Chinese restaurants. It's mainly a proximity issue - it takes 10-15 minutes to drive to my other favourite Chinese restaurant Sin Kee, in Sri Gombak, and about 30-40 minutes to drive to Hee Lai Ton, in Seri Kembangan. Also, compared to Sin Kee, Hee Lai Ton is posher, and the food is better, but more expensive. Therefore, adding the fact that I am normally only in KL for a few weeks, I rarely get to dine at Hee Lai Ton more than once per trip home.

I don't think I've ever had anything at this restaurant that I didn't like - but I am pretty sure that I've only tried maybe 20% of their dishes. Like most normal Chinese restaurants in KL, there's no menu - if there is, it's either written on a board in Chinese characters and/or no one uses it anyway. My marginal grasp of spoken Mandarin and Cantonese and illiteracy in Chinese makes trying to order something new a little bit of challenge, but I have developed a simple solution. Now, when I am in the mood for something new, I just pick a course (i.e. pork, fish, tofu, vege, etc) and ask the waitstaff to recommend something. Then I wait until they name an unfamiliar dish that sounds good and then I quickly interject with "That! I want that!". You have to be quick though, otherwise you'll get into the whole, "No...the one you said before that....nope...before that...." Then, if you get lucky and get something you really like, the challenge is to try to remember what it was called. 

My visits are so rare and far in between that by the time I actually go, I would have been dreaming about a particular dish for days/weeks. So you'll have to forgive me if I tend to fall back on the familiar favourites - trying something new is too risky and just doesn't occur to you when there are specific desperate cravings to satisfy.

When I am not in the mood for novelty, there are always the tried and true. The restaurants in KL are so widespread (in suburbs with complicated routes/access) that unless it's in the neighbourhood or you're desperate for a feed in unfamiliar territory, I think it's rare for KL-ites to visit a restaurant that hasn't been recommended to them in some way. My point is, most people already know what dishes are good at a particular restaurant (whether by word of mouth, reputation, media reviews, etc), even if they are dining there for the first time. My father's business associate brought us to Hee Lai Ton and did all the ordering, and even though I don't remember what we had that first time, I am am pretty sure that when we went back ourselves, what we ordered was based on his recommendations. 

Below are the dishes that I had at Hee Lai Ton during my last trip home. They include two of my absolute favourite dishes, the 'Yan Lei Har' (Indonesian style prawns) and the 'Har Cheong Kuat' (Pork Ribs).

PS: They also do a good 'yee sang' during Chinese New Year, that my mom likes.

'Yan Lei Har' (Indonesian style prawns): For the record, I don't know if this is actually Indonesian, but that's what they call it. Once I tried to order it by asking for the 'curry prawn' dish and was corrected by the waitstaff. Succulent prawns in beautifully rich curry sauce, contrasted nicely with crispy/chewy slices of 'you char kway'.

Okay, I am pretty sure this was one of the "That one!" dishes I ordered. It looks like 'Choy Heong' tofu, but I know that wasn't what it was called. I dont remember it being particularly good or bad, so I guess it doesn't really matter. This style of tofu, with the meat sauce, is one of my favourites and Sin Kee does it quite well.

Har Cheong Kuat (Pork Ribs): 'Kuat' means bone or rib in Cantonese, but I don't know what 'Har Cheong' means. This is one of their signature dishes. These ribs are incredibly, incredibly tasty, juicy and tender. I cannot think/write about them without salivating. A lot of deep fried things have are tasty on the outside and kinda boring on the inside - not these ribs. The meat is deliciously flavoured right to the bone and the delightful, savoury, light crisp exterior is so tasty that it makes you want to lick it all over before actually eating it. Goes beautifully with the tangy chili dipping sauce.

Standard stir fried asparagus with garlic. Unlike in NZ, we don't seem to get the big fat asparaguses in Malaysia - they're all slim, young shoots like above.

Another 'specialty'. Mangoes are seasonal, relatively expensive and good ones are hard to come by. Most Chinese restaurants serve a fruit platter for 'dessert', which usually comprises of watermelon, honey dew and papaya slices. Hee Lai Ton also serves the usual fruit platter but has made mangoes their speciality. There are always boxes of mangoes stacked next to their 'bar'. Usually their mangoes are good, but on this particular occasion, the mangoes were somewhat bland and lacked the sweetness and sourness that, to me, together with the firmness of the flesh, is the definition of a good mango. 

Hee Lai Ton (Sheraton) Restaurant

No 12 Jalan Muhibbah 3

Taman Muhibbah

Seri Kembangan

43300 Selangor

Malaysia

Din Tai Fung

Originally from Taiwan, Din Tai Fung has branches all over the world and is immensely popular in KL and Singapore. It is one of my favourite, nicer, Chinese restaurants particularly when I feel like going to a comfortable, pleasant, modern place for a delicious, quick, simple, reasonably priced meal. Like Fong Lye, Din Tai Fung restaurants are well presented and look like they would be quite expensive to dine at, but are not. If I remember correctly, the average individual meal was priced at about S$10 or under RM20.

The two things that I always order at Din Tai Fung are the Xiao Long Bao (Steamed Pork Dumplings) and the Fried Rice with Pork Chop. If you've never had Xiao Long Bao before, you're in for a real treat. These dumplings are special because they are made to hold broth inside the dumplings. The explosion of flavour from the broth from the first time I bit into one of these delightful, delicious, juicy, succulent little packages, was unforgettable. These dumplings are normally dipped in (or topped with) a bit fresh ginger and vinegar, which contributes that bit of acidity to the full flavoured dumplings and sets off the party in your mouth. It was quite a task, trying to photograph an open dumpling to show you the broth within, while desperately inhibiting the natural urge to slurp it all up in one mouthful.

Besides the Xiao Long Bao, of course, the Fried Rice with Pork Chop is another one of their extremely popular dishes. I know you can get fried rice just about anywhere, but like my sweet and sour pork complaint, it's one of those things that is taken for granted because it's so common and easy to make that no one really makes an effort to perfect it - until Din Tai Fung. In my opinion, their simple, classic, unadulterated Fried Rice is close to perfection. Their famous Pork Chop, which you can also order on its own, is always seasoned and cooked perfectly, beautifully tender and very, very tasty. There's no special glaze or sauce to dress it up, and no need for it - the dish is exquisite in its simplicity.

This visit, I also ordered some stir fried vegetables (might have been spinach), which was fresh and clean tasting - not overly seasoned or drenched in sauce. The sight of the bright, green young, tender shoots has reminded me of another pet peeve of mine - when restaurants serve vegetables 'old' vegetables, i.e. vegetables that were harvested later in the growth cycle. 'Old' vegetables are often tough and bitter, which is why back home, normally only young shoots are used for cooking. I think I've been served 'old' vegetables here (in Dunedin) more times in eight years than I have ever been in all the years back home. The point I am trying to make is that the vegetables at Din Tai Fung were young and tender and very good to eat.

Finally, I also had a dish of fried prawns with a mayonnaise-base dressing (might have been called 'Salad Honey Prawns' or something like that). I don't remember it being particularly spectacular, but I think it was decent enough. Something in the back of my mind tells me that I thought it was a bit sweet and that the flavour required some complexity and depth. Still I ate it all, so it can't have been bad.

Oh I want some Fried Rice with Pork Chop now. Writing about Chinese food during Chinese New Year when you're away from home is just masochistic.

Raffles City Branch 
252 North Bridge Road

#B1-08/09/10 Raffles City Shopping Centre 
Singapore 179103 

Mid Valley The Gardens Branch 
Lot LG-207, The Gardens Mid Valley City, 
Lingkaran Syed Putra 
Kuala Lumpur 59200 
Malaysia

Choong Kee Kampar Claypot Rice

Claypot Chicken Rice with Chinese Sausage and Salted Fish

Claypot Chicken Rice has always been one of my favourite, often-craved dishes. The problem was, I could never reliably get it from any one place. Luckily, during the last trip home, my friend A told me about Choong Kee Kampar Claypot Rice. He has been a patron of the immensely popular original restaurant in Kampar (duh), Perak, his hometown, for many years and he assured me that their Claypot Chicken Rice is indeed, very good. He, however, could not attest to quality of the food at the new branch that they had established in Petaling Jaya - never having been there before. I wasn't about to drive to Kampar, so I had to trust that they brought their recipe for success to the PJ restaurant too (pun cringe intended).

I was very happy with this discovery. I don't know if it is as good as the outlet in Kampar but the Claypot Chicken Rice that I had at their PJ outlet was one of the, if not the, best that I've ever tasted. Most noticeably, the rice was absolutely perfectly cooked and came apart as loose whole grains, rather than the hard, burnt, clumpy rice that you usually get with this dish. The chicken pieces were moist, tender and beautifully flavoured, together with the rice. The interspersing mild sweetness of the tender slices of chinese sausage (lap cheong) and the sharp saltiness of the melted salted fish that topped the dish were the critical supporting components that added depth and variety to the flavours and textures of this scrumptious, hearty, intensely satisfying one-pot meal.

Stir Fried Lettuce (Yau Mak)

The Menu

Besides their speciality, they also offer special steamed soups which we did not try because I'm not really a soup fan, and a small variety of fresh stir-fried vegetables. We had the lettuce (yau mak) and the bean sprouts, which were both very tasty. They open at 12 noon and apparently the line forms very quickly. They close sometime in the afternoon and re-open again in the evening. They are also closed in the middle of the week, for one day (can't remember which), so please ring the number at the top of the menu in the photo (right) to check. You wouldn't want the agony of craving Claypot Chicken Rice and making your way there only to find that they're closed. It isn't exactly around the corner from where I live but the food is good enough that I would drive (or be driven ;)) across town and risk getting stuck in KL traffic to have it. It is definitely going to be one of my regular 'must have's during my annual visit home. Special thanks must go to A for the recommendation, which allowed me to finally succeed in my quest to properly satiate my claypot chicken rice craving - an endeavour with which, for many years, I have had no luck.

Bean Sprouts (Mung Beans)

Choong Kee Kampar Claypot Rice

No 80 Jalan SS22/25

Damansara Jaya

47400 Petaling Jaya

Selangor

Malaysia

Ayam Bing (sans the 'ayam')

Barbecue Pork (foreground) and Roast Pork (background)

'Chicken Rice' (Kai/Gai Fan in Cantonese; Kai/Gai = chicken; Fan = rice) is one of my absolute favourite and most craved 'dishes'. In many Chinese establishments, irrespective of the country, the chicken is only one of several main meats offered at 'Chicken Rice' stalls or restaurants. Sure, there are some that specialise in chicken only, but most also serve a medley of roast or barbecue meats. The Poached (Pak Caam Kai) or Roast Chicken (Siu Kai) is most commonly accompanied with Barbecue Pork (Char Siu) and Roast Pork (Siu Yok). Roast Duck (Siu Ngap) is a little harder to come by and Roast Goose (Siu Ngor) is a rare find, in Malaysia.

In my opinion, the success of this dish depends almost as much on the rice, as it does on the meats. If you've ever had really good, fragrant, beautifully flavoured, thinly oiled 'Chicken Rice' rice, you know that you'd be almost as happy eating just the rice with the cucumbers and the tasty sauce that is drizzled over the roast meats. It's just absolutely delicious and a critical component to the dish. 

Roast Pork (foreground) and Barbecue Pork (background)

As with most things in life, however, you can't get it all from one place. I love the rice and roast chicken from the Nasi Ayam Hainan stall in Medan Selera, Taman Melawati, but when I'm craving roast pork, I go to Ayam Bing (ayam = chicken, in Malay) at Sri Rampai. Bing's roast pork is so good that you shouldn't even bother going at lunch time because it's usually sold out by then. I like to get there by 11:00 am, but I am told that they open really early - maybe even before 10:00 am. 

The skin is always deliciously crispy and savoury and the ratio of lean meat to fat and crackling is always perfect. Occasionally, if you're unlucky, you might end up with some pieces that are mostly fat, but that has only happened to me once, and I've been patronising Ayam Bing for over a decade now. The lean portion of the meat is just firm enough - neither too soft, nor too hard/overdone. I only point this out because I had some disappointing roast pork at Crystal Jade Restaurant, Pavilion, a few weeks after that. I am not sure if it was because they picked meat that was too marbled, or they over tenderised it, but the supposed lean portion of the roast pork was far too soft, smooth and texturally similar to the fat portion and the skin was a little sturdier than it should have been. I was not impressed, particularly because if I'm going to pay about RM 30 for a few pieces of roast pork, then it should be nothing short of stellar.

The barbecue pork at Ayam Bing is also pretty tasty, but not outstanding. It is properly caramelised and has the correct smokey, sweet flavour, but is a little too lean and sliced a bit too thinly, and thus fails to deliver the big flavour hit that it could. Nevertheless, Ayam Bing ranks at the top two on my list for best roast pork (the other being Imbi Palace), but if you factor in price, then Ayam Bing wins hands down. I'd take excellent, simple, cheap stuff at a roadside stall over pretentious, polished versions of the same street food at posh restaurants any day.

Restoran Ayam Bing

2B Jalan 46/26

Taman Sri Rampai

Kuala Lumpur 53300

Malaysia

Hokkien Mee and Singapore Fried Bee Hoon

Sorry I was MIA last week. Had major issues with my internet connection, which were resolved only yesterday.

Hokkien Mee

My craving for Hokkien Mee began about a month or so before my trip back to KL. It got to the point where I was desperate enough to think that there was a possibility that I could get something that remotely resembled the real thing at HS South East Asian restaurant in Dunedin. It was awful, flat and watery (as was D's Beef Rendang). I barely touched it. I've been told that some of the other dishes there are decent, but I am not sure that I would brave another visit. 

Pictured above is what real Hokkien Mee (from Sin Kee Restaurant in Sri Gombak) looks like. I wanted to go straight to Sin Kee from the airport when I landed but Mom thought it was a little late. Still, it was one of the first things I ate since I've been home, I've had it twice already and I still want more! The luscious, fat, slippery noodles coated in tasty, thick dark sauce, littered with wilted choy sum, lean pork slices and lovely, crispy fried pork fat is just absolutely delicious and it is, without a doubt, my favourite stir-fried noodle dish!

Singapore Fried Bee Hoon

Sin Kee is usually the 'go to' restaurant for me whenever I want to enjoy some good Chinese food with family and friends. The Singapore Fried Bee Hoon (bee hoon is also know as rice vermicelli) is, I think, one of Mom's favourite noodle dishes. It is tasty and well-fried, i.e. the noodles are not too dry or too soggy. The startling saltiness of the dried shrimp, the sweetness of the chopped barbecue pork pieces, the fresh burst of juice from the mung beans, and the bite from the sliced chili give the dish a nice variety of textures and flavours.

You may expect a few more posts about food from Sin Kee in the coming weeks, among other things. The next time I visit, I will try to remember to get the address of the restaurant. 

Fong Lye

Taiwanese Deep Fried Chicken 

Sweet Potato Balls

I visited Fong Lye with my friends in November last year and though I remember enjoying the experience immensely, I can't remember the names of some of the dishes (luckily I took a photo of the receipt) or details about the flavours and textures of the food. There are many of these 'to-be-blogged' food photos tucked away in my numerous picture folders, but I have not found the time to write about all of them. The price for my procrastination is the decay of my memory of those meals. While I will still be able to share the pictures, I will probably not be able to include as detailed a description as I would prefer.

Pork Chop Rice set

At first glance, Fong Lye looked quite posh and expensive and sceptical ol' me (of course) was bracing myself for a disappointment. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised. Fong Lye actually offers scrumptious Taiwanese fare at decent prices, considering the ambience and location. The great thing about visiting a restaurant that you have never been to before with a big group of friends is that you can order a lot of different dishes and try a little of everything. As far as I can remember, everyone liked everything except for the beef slices in filo pastry and the 'Cheesy Pork Chop Rice', which were not bad but a little odd. I liked that all the dishes came with side dishes (stir fried green beans, soy sauce stewed boiled egg and some mayonnaise filled potato and corn hash brown type thing) and a soup. As if that wasn't enough, the rice that was served with each dish was topped with a little meat sauce!

Sweet and Sour Spare Ribs Rice set

We began with an assortment of starters. My favourite was the Taiwanese Deep Fried Chicken but a number of the others loved the Sweet Potato Balls. The chicken was tasty, crunchy and slightly peppery (I think). The balls, which to my surprise were actually crisp hollow shells, were sweet and a little chewy. The Pork Chop Rice set that I had ordered for myself was tasty enough, but not enough to keep me from coveting what my friends' had ordered. The Sweet and Sour Spare Ribs and the Claypot Sliced Beef in particular, were delicious.

Claypot Sliced Beef Rice set

Unfortunately, I didn't really get to try the Taiwanese Braised Beef Noodles, which is one of the more well known Taiwanese dishes. If memory serves me right, my friends said the broth was rich and the beef was tender.

Taiwanese Braised Beef Noodle set

I really liked dining at Fong Lye and will definitely be going back again when I can. The restaurant was elegant, yet comfortable and casual, making it an ideal place to catch up with old friends. More importantly, the food was tasty and well presented and the service was friendly and efficient.

PS: Thanks to T for lending me his iPhone to photograph the food and then sending the pictures to me.

Spare Ribs Rice set

Fong Lye Restaurant

Lot T-208, 3rd Floor

The Gardens, Mid Valley City

Lingkaran Syed Putra

59200 Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia

Food That I Miss

This one is for all of you who also miss food from back home. Here are some of my favourite foods.

Sweet and Sour Pork: I know, I know, the most common and cliched of Chinese dishes. I can hear all the complaints in my head. Being Chinese, a foodie and a self proclaimed critic, I should be more discerning right? I don't care, it's still one of my favourite things to have.

Yam Basket with Chicken and Prawns: One of my absolute favourite things to order when we go to my favourite Chinese restaurant. I've posted a picture of this before, but this is a much better picture of it.

Kangkung Belacan: OMG, drool with me. I miss this so much!!! I Googled it and the English name for this vegetable is Water Spinach. Belacan is shrimp paste and the vegetable is stir fried with it and chilli. It's the BEST. I don't know how to cook it. All I know is that it's so mouth-wateringly good. Just looking at the picture and thinking about it is making me salivate.

Prawns in Sweet Dark Soy Sauce: Ask B how good this is! It's served with a bed of mango salad that accompanies the prawns very well. I think it's the speciality of the restaurant that I frequent, my favourite restaurant for Chinese food back home, Sin Kee, where this, all the previous pictures in this post were taken.

Chili's Triple Play: Wings over Buffalo, Chicken Crispers and some random fried spring roll thing that I don't really like. I love the wings and the Chicken Crispers though. The wings are really sour and zesty and go very well with the subtly flavoured white dipping sauce that comes with it (I don't know what it is). The sauce sort of reduces the bite or the sourness of the chicken. Yum!

Chili's Chicken Crispers: The sauce that accompanies the Chicken Crispers is deliciously sweet and tangy. It's supposed to be honey mustard sauce but it sure ain't like any honey mustard sauce I've had anywhere else. The battered chicken is never dry and the batter is tasty and thick but not sickeningly so. It actually comes with fries but I always ask them to substitute the fries for mashed potatoes because they have the best mashed potatoes and sauce (sinfully rich and creamy!) that I've ever had anywhere.

Damn! The keyboard just shortcircuited from all the drool...