I’ve been meaning to check out this Singaporean restaurant ever since they opened up an outlet in Sunway Pyramid. It serves food from the Fujian Province, specifically Heng Hwa cuisine, and I am a proud member of said clan. I’ve even been to China, although not to that part.
I thought it’ll be something like what my grandma would serve up when I was a kid.
I was slightly mistaken in that regard. PUTIEN is a higher end restaurant that serves up quite artistic plates. Obviously, emphasis has been placed on presentation, something which is lacking in a lot of Chinese restaurants. Even better, the food is actually really good!
Iced Abalone (RM 37 per pax)
Whole abalone for RM 30 per piece? Count me in! I haven’t seen that kind of prices since I went to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah (which has a lot of cheap seafood). This is one of the appetizers we ordered, it’s an entire piece of abalone served on top of ice. You have to slice it yourself and it looks a little like a certain bit of female anatomy but it’s delicious!
The latter, I mean. 
It’s surprisingly flavorful, with notes of chilli and other spices with the tender abalone.
Bamboo Herbal Prawn (RM 12.50)
This is the other appetizer we ordered. This is a hot dish with a large prawn sticking out of a bamboo tube. The broth is awesome – deliciously prawn-y, with lots of Chinese wine.
PUTIEN Loh Mee (RM 21.50)
This is their flagship dish and my better half ordered it. I can’t say I was very happy with the results. It didn’t taste really good, it was a bit of a disappointment to be honest. The noodles were rather bland and I just felt the entire dish was very blah, especially when compared to the other house specialty.
Fried Heng Hwa Bee Hoon (RM 21.50)
This is one of the dishes which they are famous for. The signature dish of PUTIEN is made with the only sundried vermicelli milled by hand in Putien. This artisanal product is cooked in a broth of pork bones and old hens. You can really taste the difference in the rice vermicelli, the texture is so different from others – it plays tricks on your palate with its curly, twisty and firm springiness and it absorbs the pork bones and old hens broth so well that I don’t have any other superlative to describe it except maybe legendary!
Hot Yam Paste with Gingko Nuts (RM 6.50)
We first ordered Pumpkin Cream with Ice Cream (RM 11.50) but the waitress told us that they couldn’t serve it coz their pumpkins were not up to standard. I thought that was really good quality control so we switched to another dessert which didn’t have pumpkin as one of the ingredients which turned out to be this. It was smaller than I expected and probably not as good as a cold dessert but it was all they had.
We both had quite an enjoyable meal at PUTIEN. There are actually set meals with their flagship dishes for RM 104.50 for 2 pax but we could only choose one main. I ordered a la carte coz I wanted to try more than one main and I’m glad I did that coz the Fried Heng Hwa Bee Hoon was so spectacular while the PUTIEN Loh Mee was so disappointing. The bill for the two of us came up to RM 144.84 inclusive of drinks and the wonderful pickled papaya they serve as an amuse-bouche.
PUTIEN
LG1.45 Sunway Pyramid Shopping Mall
No. 3, Jalan PJS 11/15, Bandar Sunway
46150 Petaling Jaya
I love this restaurant at One-U. Their service is very good and the food is different from others. Will go again.
Yeah, the food is pretty good! 🙂
I like the setting and service too, it’s fine (or at least finer) dining with nice presentation for traditional Chinese Heng Hua food.
I would have ordered the loh mee too if I’d been there, thank god you tell us it’s not nice.. The noodles look a bit bland too from the picture, but soup looks thick and flavourful though, with the clams and prawns inside..
Yeah, the Heng Hwa Bee Hoon is the delicious one! 🙂
I was quite disappointed by their signature Loh Mee…but the Bee Hoon more than made up for it. The rice vermicelli is surprisingly flavorful! They use pork bones and old hens for the broth.
I thought it would be very pricey when I say the abalone. Certainly worth the price
Indeed! 🙂
It’s not too expensive and the food is good!
When you wrote “The latter, I mean. smirk” I am sure you meant that it was the abalone that was delicious and not that certain bit of female anatomy. But in your sentencing, what “latter” refers what is not very clear but seems to refer to that certain bit of female anatomy. Hmmmm.
Oh right! I meant the former. 🙂
I got confused, I was writing this late at night. I don’t mind either though. Haha.
The Heng Hwa bee hoon sure does not look anything like what we have here and I guess it’s nothing like your grandma’s either but then again, the Fuzhou stuff here differs from what they have in Sitiawan too…and also in China. Some things lost or gained in transition and translation perhaps…but those who have tried say Sibu’s better – dunno if that is a biased comment or not…but I sure would like to believe it is indeed so. LOL!!!
Yeah, I think Sibu people made do with what they had! 🙂
This is the stuff that’s handmade, supposedly the only rice vermicelli made by hand nowadays. It must be expensive to source it and Sibu doesn’t take to expense well, at least for the mass market. RM 21.50 per plate/serving wouldn’t fly back home.
The prawn!! That’s the one I want badly … slurp… and the soup in there too!
Hmmm..let me check where in SG this restaurant located.
It’s a delicious soup! 🙂
I like how they added a lot of Chinese wine to it. However, I much preferred the abalone. Good thing we ordered two mains coz the Loh Mee was awful and the Bee Hoon awesome.
PUTIEN has a lot of branches in Singapore.
I have been to the outlet in One Utama but did not remember seeing the abalone on the menu and they did not serve the yam paste like this last time. I would like to try the abalone. The yam paste too because it looks pretty. What is the taste of the abalone?
Yee Ling looks so cute in the photo.
The abalone was awesome! 🙂
It’s one of their signature dishes – iced abalone on ice. It has been on their menu for quite a long time apparently. It’s paired up with their lunch sets too, not the RM 104.50 one for 2 pax, it’s the one for 4 pax if I recall correctly. It’s a must-order, something different that tastes really good, slightly chewy with lots of flavor.
Thanks Mun!
I am eyeing your abalone. Lol.
It’s a very nice piece of abalone! 🙂
Most places overcook it and it becomes rubbery, but this is just nice.
looks pretty cool. bamboo prawns and iced abalone. price seems reasonable.
Yeah, it’s a reasonably priced restaurant which serves higher end Chinese cuisine. 🙂
It’s quite good too, and if you order from the sets you can get it for RM 50 per pax instead of the RM 70 per pax we paid. You only get to choose one main instead of 2 though.