Ah Wah Hokkien Fried Mee

ah wah hokkien mee wok hei

No, this is not the famous Ahwa in Petaling Jaya. The Ahwa (without the h) is practically a legend in PJ, famed for their Hokkien mee topped with crunchy deep fried pork lard. It was a regular stomping ground of mine back when I was living in Kelana Jaya.

ah wah hokkien mee noodles

I wanted to go to Ahwa after reading cumidanciki and Christine‘s posts a couple of days back, but only 2 months after moving to a KL postcode, I completely lost my way and ended up spending almost 1 1/2 hours on the road before my friend told me that the Ah Wah she knows is at a different location – Restoran Millennium Eighty Six.

ah wah location

Look for the signage at upper right. Now, I must admit that I haven’t heard of this particular Ah Wah Hokkien Fried Mee (I know, it’s confusing, just think of one with a h and one without) before but my friend swears by the Hokkien mee – it is her family’s favorite haunt. Thus we decided to give it a try instead of compounding all the wasted time on the road.

ah wah hokkien mee cook

I must say that this one rivals Ah Wa in pure awesomeness. The Hokkien mee is cooked to perfection in a wok that imparts that elusive “wok hei” (literally “heat from the wok”) which caramelizes the sauce.

Ignition! They call it an obsession, but I think it’s kinda bitchin’, I think it’s kinda neat!

ah wah hokkien mee eat

Eating Hokkien mee is messy business. It’s not supposed to be healthy for you too, with all the strong flavored deep fried pork lard. However, that’s what makes it good – the robust aftertaste and squirt of oil when you bite into the deep fried pork lard is very agreeable to the palate if you like all things that goes oink.

ah wah hokkien mee

The Hokkien mee at Ah Wah is also filled with succulent pieces of prawn and meat and it tastes slightly sweet with the indescribable contrast of the soft noodles and the crunchy pork lard fusing together into a dish of pure gratification.

Shark Fin Noodle

shark fin noodle stall

This has gotta be one of the more decadent dishes you can afford to eat every day. Weighing in at a relatively easy-on-the-wallet price tag of RM 5.50, it’s practically a steal! This Shark Fin Noodles is located at Ming Tien food court, and I feel obliged to proclaim the goodness of this particular dish to all and sunder.

shark fin noodle owner

The Shark’s Fin Noodle stall serves up shark fin soup and shark fin noodles. Imagine noodles dumped into shark’s fin soup and you’ll have an idea about what this dish is all about. It’s almost criminal that most places do not serve this – it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that chucking some good ol’ noodles into leftover shark fin soup would make a tasty dish.

shark fin noodle setup

Granted, at the price you’re forking out (RM 5.50) you shouldn’t expect prime fin from a 3,000 kg shark inside your dish…my agaration tells me that there’s only a sliver (or two) of real shark fin inside the dish.

shark fin noodle

However, the texture is authentic enough, and the crab sticks and other miscellaneous ingredients coupled with the starchy and vinegar-ish soup fabricates a more-than-passable approximation of shark’s fins soup (with noodles).

shark fin noodles macro

I am actually quite intrigued about shark’s fin noodles. It’s almost a no-brainer to create something like this. Leftover soup? No worries! Just reheat and dump in some noodles for a meal. It’s the first time I’ve sampled this dish and it has already engendered a craving, nay, a hunger for shark fin noodles with a healthy dash of vinegar.

shark fin noodles ppc

It’s a bargain at RM 5.50!

shark fin noodles end

Ming Tien food court has a lot of great stalls and they open until 3 AM…perfect for washing down your alcohol with some solid food. πŸ˜‰

The man is in town

dabido meet

David was in town and an impromptu meet was scheduled at Starbucks in Centerpoint to celebrate the second (third?) coming of dabido. I haven’t actually met him in person before, but I’ve seen his comments everywhere (he’s like the greatest commenter of all time).

dabido me

This is David, better known as dabido. He hails from Perth, Australia and we have a couple of mutual friends.

dabido fa

This is the very elusive FA…she will be flying off to Singapore (again). I shall be in Bali, BTW.

dabido suanie

Suanie! I suspect the only reason we meet in Centerpoint is coz it’s close to her house. πŸ˜‰ I can’t complain though, it’s close to my place as well. Heh!

fa pose

FA with her patented pose…

fa fu

…and her other classic feature. πŸ˜‰

dabido balance

This is David teaching us the arcane magick of balancing a Frappuccino on his stomach.

Restoran Ikan Bakar Fend

ikan bakar fend

Restauran Ikan Bakar Fend is a very popular ikan bakar (BBQ fish) place at SS6 in Petaling Jaya. It’s my second time there – it’s always packed with the lunchtime crowd but for some strange reason the planets aligned and our entire floor in the office converged at the place at 12:30 pm, taking up approximately 8 tables.

ikan bakar bbq

The place has a very simple setup – the BBQ pit is located outside and churns out an impressive array of stingray, various fishes and assorted marine life for the rapid clientele turnover.

ikan bakar interior

Restauran Ikan Bakar Fend works on a trust system – you pick and choose what you want. You recite what you ate at the counter after the meal and they charge you accordingly. The place is remarkably clean for such a messy meal.

ikan bakar ulam

The place also serves ulam for a touch of authenticity.

ikan bakar mine

The meal comes in a set – there’s steamed rice and two sauces and you pick the type of fish you want to add on to it. I had ikan kembung (some kind of local fish) and ikan pari (stingray) as well as two different types of ulam.

ikan bakar ttl

TTL shows us how ulam is meant to be eaten. There are no complicated rituals or arcane incantations, just some dexterous finger action.

ulam folded

The stalk of the vegetable is supposed to be twisted and folded into a compact and neat bite-sized structure.

ulam dip

It is then dipped into sauce…

eating ulam

…and eaten. I still can’t do the folding thing right so I’m going to get TTL to fold it for me when I go again. πŸ˜‰

ikan bakar us

Restauran Ikan Bakar Fend is a great place to head to if you’re hankering for some ikan bakar. It’s a testament to the popularity of the place that they don’t require a proper signboard – the place uses a canvas signboard tied down with rope, and it’s been in operation for over a year!

google-ikan-bakar

It’s not very easy to find though so here’s Google Maps to the rescue!

La Gourmet House @ the Curve

la gourmet house

La Gourmet House is a Mediterranean restaurant located at the Curve. I was actually planning to go elsewhere but there was a heavy shower (not the golden type, the kind that rains on your parade) so we took refuge at the place. I haven’t heard of the establishment before but I reckon the “Buy 4 bottles of Tiger and get 1 free” promotion was quite alluring, so we decided to sit down for lunch.

la gourmet house montage

La Gourmet House claims European, Mediterranean and Spanish influences in the cuisine, creating a homely fusion of sorts. The interior seating arrangements are adorned with various Turkish (to my untrained and uncultured eye) fixtures and some of the tables have intricate designs. The al fresco dining area is thankfully protected from Mother Nature by a canopy system and is plumed with throw rugs.

la gourmet house beer

The beer is not the cheapest at the Curve (some places offer RM 32++ jugs) but it’s a pretty good deal at RM 48 for 5 bottles of local beer. The other beer they serve sounds German in origin and it’s priced at RM 22 per bottle, so I assume it’s an import. The ambiance of the place is great, very laid back and casual, with excellent service to boot.

anthonys sausage and pasta

I had their signature dish – Anthony’s Sausage and Pasta (RM 25.80). It’s a pasta dish with your choice of two (2) sausages, tossed with balsamic and olive oil, mozzarella cheese and walnut pesto. I chose Chorizo (a Spanish sausage) and the German bratwurst. The dish is served with sauce on the side – a mixture of mustard and something else my unrefined palate couldn’t identify.

anthony sausage and pasta

The pasta is done al dente and it absolutely delicious! Unfortunately, it was a little of the cold side when it got to our table. I wouldn’t discount the weather (it was raining) as a factor for the rapid cooling of the dish but it just didn’t taste as good as it would have, had it came out piping hot. The sausages are flavorful though, and I like the fact that you get to choose the types of sausage you want.

gourmet value meal

My girlfriend opted for their set lunch, dubbed “Gourmet Value Meals” at La Gourmet House. She had the Baked Seafood (RM 15.80), which comes with either juice or tea. The Baked Seafood dish is served on a bed of steamed rice (!), which I thought was quite unusual. We expected the entire dish to be baked e.g. topped with cheese before being baked in an oven.

baked seafood

There were a few premium ingredients in the dish – mussels, prawns, fish and other miscellaneous marine life, enough to justify the price…but it just didn’t taste quite right with steamed rice.

stuffed bell pepper

I also ordered an appetizer – the Stuffed Bell Pepper (RM 23.80) that is marked with a little chef’s hat indicating a house specialty. The starter further intrigued me by the “Subject to availability” tag line appended to it. It’s filled with aromatic chicken mortadella and served with the chef’s special sauce. There are two peppers – one red and one green, each sliced in half and stuffed.

bell peppers stuffed

Unfortunately, this appetizer (dessert?) came only after we finished our meal, and it was cold when it came to the table. I didn’t quite understand this, as we were the only ones there besides another family that just got seated. I imagine it might have tasted better had it been warm at least, but in its current condition; it just didn’t do the dish justice.

la gourmet house us

La Gourmet House at the Curve has a lot of potential, but it seems to be plagued by kitchen logistical glitches that manifests by cold dishes arriving at your table. The 4+1 beer promotion is also supposed to come with free tapas, which we didn’t get, and I didn’t realize until I looked at the bill today. I can’t attribute that to bad service (it was good, and quite attentive) so I really don’t know what’s going on there. I will go again for a second review a couple of months down the road and see how it goes. Cheers!

Total damage: RM 124.74 for two @ The House of Meals & Memories.

Kedai Makanan Nasi Ayam Ipoh – New Restaurant Ipoh Chicken Rice (Ipoh comes to PJ)

kedai ayam ipoh sign

Kedai Makanan Nasi Ayam Ipoh – New Restaurant Ipoh Chicken Rice lays claim to one of the longest eating establishment signboards I’ve seen in my life. It spans a good four lengths of shop houses and has the bold tagline “Ipoh come to PJ“.

kedai ayam ipoh careful

That’s not the end of the Engrish though – the stairs leading up to this fine eating establishment is also hand painted with the phrase “Please go up slowly” in red paint. I think they meant a lot of patrons have tripped on the stairs before. Careful is the word. πŸ˜‰

kedai ayam ipoh patrons

Kedai Makanan Nasi Ayam Ipoh is supposed to have really good Ipoh style chicken rice and our main liaison here, Lee, brought us to Petaling Jaya to check out the food over here. There are two entrances due to the large area and the place is packed with patrons – a testament to the food.

kedai ayam ipoh stall

The right side of the eating establishment is where the main chicken chopping action takes place. New Restaurant Ipoh Chicken Rice offers a huge amount of chicken products and the opening hours are from 10:30 AM to 10:45 PM.

kedai ayam ipoh chicken balls

New Restaurant Ipoh Chicken Rice has a standard bowl of chicken balls (no, not that kind) in soup served with chicken rice. There are about 4 chicken meat balls floating in the soup.

kedai ayam ipoh pork

We also had a side order of Sweet Sauce Pork (the three-layered pork from the pork belly) which tastes sweet and good. There is also a side dish of large bean sprouts which is standard in chicken rice meals in Ipoh, or so I heard.

kedai ayam ipoh chicken

This is the main dish itself – Ipoh Chicken. The chicken is kampong chicken (free range chicken) and it came on a huge platter with most of the chicken parts inside (including the liver).

kedai ayam ipoh chicken macro

Ipoh Chicken Rice tastes sweeter than the chicken rice I usually have back home – the essence of chicken seeps out slightly from the chicken to be soaked up by the bed of cucumbers at the bottom of the dish and the meat is tender and sweet, flavored by spring onions.

kedai ayam ipoh all

Kedai Makanan Nasi Ayam Ipoh has really good chicken rice – it comes highly recommended from me. It’s somewhere in Petaling Jaya (PJ) but since someone brought us along; I don’t know exactly where it is or how much the meal costs. It’s great chicken rice though.

Ipoh comes to PJ indeed…

P/S – My apologies – I have to rush out again, this really is a business trip. πŸ™

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