A few weeks ago we had the craving for roast duck, and there is no better place for roast duck than Loong Foong at Taman Paramount, so we headed there… just to discover that while the restaurant was open, the roast duck shop wasn’t.

Time for plan B – the classy looking Japanese Curry restaurant a few shops down the same row – Shokudo Japanese Curry Rice.

Shokudo at Taman Paramount

The restaurant is a blend of class and practicality. There are long wooden tables and benches for sharing, which exudes a bit of high school dining hall feel.

Ordering is done by heading to the counter, but they’re kind enough to serve the food to your table. Green tea and water refill is a DIY affair, which we didn’t mind.

tidbits to munch on before main meal

The menu consists of some two dozen dishes, including curry rice and appetizers. We tried aigamo rousuni (marinated duck breast, RM 8), hiyayako (cold beancurd, RM 4), koebi karaage (deep fried shrimps, RM 5), and kani salad (crab stick salad, RM 10).

The appetizers were generally pretty good and priced rather competitively, I can totally imagining chilling out with some Asahi & deep fried shimps.

prawns, pork, or beef curry rice

There are almost a dozen different curry rice to choose from. From chicken, pork fillet, prawn, vegetable, egg, and even cream croquette, all of which are priced between RM 13-15. For an additional RM 3, you also get a small salad, soup, and green tea, which is a pretty decent deal especially since the price is net.

After trying a few dishes, my favorite has to be their prawn curry rice. The seafood tasted fresh, juicy, and goes very well with creamy flavorful Japanese curry. The pork fillet is pretty decent, though I’d recommend Tonkatsu by Mai Mason over this version any day.

That being said, Shokudo is a pretty fine place for Japanese curry rice for any fan of this dish.

Address:
Shokudo
9, Jalan 20/13,
Taman Paramount,
Petaling Jaya Selangor
GPS: 3.106145, 101.625387
Tel: 03-7863-0922
Hours: lunch & dinner, closed on Monday

Those of you who have followed this blog or my Instagram/FB channels for a while know that I’m quite a big fan of Penang Curry Mee, whenever I see any place that claims to offer them, I’ll give it a try.

Curry Mee at Tong Fong restaurant, PJ Seapark

So when Haze pointed out to me that there’s this stall offering Penang Curry Mee at Tong Fong kopitiam at Seapark while we were buying battery for the car, it became the de facto lunch choice for that day.

Tong Fong kopitiam is situated right behind KFC at Seapark, other than the rather popular beef noodle, there weren’t many hawker stalls worth mentioning, until this one.

coagulated pork blood and raw cockles, the most important ingredients

To be perfectly honest, this stall does not offer 100% pure Penang Curry Mee. While having coagulated pork blood, cockles (two of the most important ingredients), cuttlefish, tofupok, and mint leaves, it lacks prawns, and comes with a few pieces of shredded chicken as well as some green beans. So in terms of ingredients, it was about 80% Penang, 20% KL, a bit of a mixed marriage.

there’s no prawns in this curry mee, but I’m not complaining

The good thing though is that it works, the broth was rather fragrant, and the sambal, while a tad on the oilier side, provided a pretty good kick. I can excuse the lack of prawn in this case.

If you can wake up before 9 am, Restaurant Okay’s version may still be a bit better, but this place serves till lunch, and I sure hope the stall stays.

Address:
Tong Fong restaurant
Jalan 21/17,
Seapark,
46300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.110142, 101.621673
Hours: breakfast and lunch

Not too many days ago I found myself at Seapark looking to go for some chicken rice at Hoe Fong, and sure enough it wasn’t open, so we headed for 2nd option – Tong Fong kopitiam at around the corner just behind KFC.

“James Bond” char kuih teow at Restaurant Tong Fong, Seapark

The kopitiam serves pretty good curry mee and beef noodle, but the bright yellow banner that says “James Bond Fried Kuey Teow” caught my attention. Another peek revealed that this self-proclaimed James Bond is at about Sean Connery’s age, so I ordered a plate for myself using my trusted Penang Hokkien, which he understood – litmus test passed!

decent prawn, big cockles, good “wok hei”, not a bad plate of char kuih teow

The ensuing plate of char kuih teow turned out to be more than decent. Good size prawn, juicy cockles, and kuih teow fried with some decent fire, it was pretty good. I only wished there’s a duck egg option and that maybe I should have ordered it a bit more spicy. But it did satisfy my cravings and more than made my stomach happy.

Address:
Tong Fong restaurant
Jalan 21/17,
Seapark,
46300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.110142, 101.621673
Hours: breakfast and lunch

A couple weeks ago I was invited to Mr. Wolf at Taman SEA to sample what they have to offer. Now first things first, Taman SEA is not SEAPARK. The former is right between Taman Megah and Damasara Jaya, while the latter is closer to Taman Paramount in PJ.

Slight difference, but getting from one side of LDP to the other can be quite an exercise in patience during rush hour, you don’t want that.

Getting to Mr. Wolf can be slightly tricky, as where you can see the restaurant isn’t where you can navigate to it. Follow the GPS and throw your logic aside, you will get there.

Mr Wolf at Taman SEA (not SEAPARK!)

To understand the type of cuisine served at Mr. Wolf is to understand the main man behind this restaurant – Chef Bryan Tan.

Chef Bryan served at the kitchen of Cilantro, crafted the menu at The Point KL, and had quite an extensive experience cooking in Australia prior embarking on his own restaurant at Mr. Wolf. The background certainly shows up in his cuisine, a play of modern cooking without the constraint of the taboo in using ingredients as well as cooking methods from both East & West. The dirty word for this is “fusion”, but Chef Bryan calls it modern cuisine.

I think the word fusion has an unfair and unfortunate reputation, without those who push the boundary of what is acceptable, culinary art will always look at the past and not the future. I applaud the courage of those who brave the new frontier.

While those chefs may not get everything 100% right, when they do, you stand a chance to taste something like never before.

jamon serrano benedict, big breakfast, streaky bacon benedict

Mr. Wolf has a cozy bar upstairs and a restaurant on the ground level, today we’re going to talk about the restaurant, which started serving brunch on Friday thru Sunday, so let’s start with a few brunch dishes.

There’s a few egg benedict dishes, and boy do they make it right. We tried two – Jamon serrano benedict (RM 28), came with cured Spanish ham (white pig), English muffins, poached eggs and mentaiko hollandaise, while the streaky bacon benedict (RM 22) basically has the same ingredients but substituting ham with bacon. The poached eggs were done right, and the mentaiko hollandaise sauce definitely works, either would make excellent breakfast with some coffee.

Mr. Wolf’s Pibig breakfast (RM 32) – with tonkatsu pull pork on toast, poached eggs, pork sausage, streaky bacon, roasted potatoes, grilled tomato and salad, hollandaise sauce is quite a meal and perfect for those with a bigger appetite. Here again, a touch of Japanese influence is found on the tonkatsu style pull pork, which gives it that bit of extra sophistication.

deep fried baby crabs & school prawns, tiger beer battered soft shell crab buns

Having a bar upstairs obviously means they have bar food that goes really well with cold beer.

The deep fried baby crabs, school prawns with chili lime dressing (RM 15) was something I wish comes in a bag like you’d get chips. The batter is light (ala tempura style), and the seafood crunchy and delicious. Sorta reminds me of those Thai baby crab snacks, but better.

Tiger Beer battered soft shell crab buns with kimchi mayo and caramelized onion (RM 12 per bun) was something of a surprise. The dish didn’t look particularly exciting, but it was like a mini burger that’s unlike any other. It’s basically just some really soft buns with really crispy and perfectly seasoned soft shell crab, I can’t come up with fancy descriptions, everyone loved it.

crispy skin salmon somen with mentaiko sauce, pan fried Hokkaido scallops

For seafood dishes, we tried the crispy skin salmon, edamame, somen and mentaiko sauce, seaweed and salmon roe (RM 34). Another dish taken from the inspiration across the continents and one laden with one of my favorite ingredients – mentaiko. It is rather rich and would suit those who loves strong tasting dishes.

Pan fried Hokkaido scallops (RM 42) came with cauliflower pureer, avruga puree, aojiso truffle dressing, French bean and quinoa. A combination that would satisfy any scallop lovers, and the truffle dressing does give it an additional edge.

sous vide pork loin, slow roasted chicken

Going slightly more conservatively, there’s the slow roasted chicken (RM 34), with tomato jam, black fungi and beanshoot salad, fried quinoa, grilled baby corn, curry leaf infused buttermilk sauce. The chicken (I suspect sous vide) was tender, and overall it felt like a really healthy dish. Other dish for your gym rat friends.

The sous vide pork loin (RM 32) with sautee mushroom, kimchi vegetable, soft boiled eggs, corriander jus, on the other hand, is almost but not entirely like a dry version of tau eu bak. I was looking for those fat layers, but I suppose it too is more fitting for those who likes to be a bit on the “healthier” side.

braised char siew pork belly, donuts

Our final main dish was the braised char siew pork belly (RM 34), with crispy pork hock, nahm prik, pickled papaya and cucumber salad. This was something that I found myself enjoying quite a bit, it tasted abit like a cross between dry bak kut teh & char siu, with a nice layer of glistering fat to boot. I found msyelf wanting to have some rice with these actually, it was good!

We concluded the night by having the nutella & salted caramel donut. I don’t see this in the menu but do ask about it from the good chef.

Over all Mr. Wolf easily beat my expectations on what they came up with. You don’t need to go to the likes of Bangsar, KL, or Mont Kiara for fancy modern food, Mr. Wolf has them right here in PJ, and for very reasonable prices as well.

Address:
Mr. Wolf
5, Jalan ss23/11, Taman Sea,
47400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.116975, 101.614549
Tel: 03-7886 1098
Hours: Brunch on Fridays & Weekends, Dinner daily

A couple weeks ago we were invited to a food review session that promises a good dosage of “Dong Po” (東坡肉) pork belly, and since that is one of my favorite dishes of all time, it was an easy decision to not miss this one.

Secret Garden Chinese Restaurant, PJ

The restaurant is Secret Garden at Taman Megah nearby Wolf Modern Dining and almost a walking distance from our previous home in PJ, but alas, this time around it was a bit of a drive, which was fine for some a porking promise.

The restaurant is stunning, with vertical garden, beautiful wooden long table, and tastefully use of empty space. I’m going to go on a limb here to say that it is most likely attributed to the fact that the founders include an interior designer, a fine art illustrator, and a mural artist.

When the surrounding is awesome, appetite also increases, kan?

crispy fried prawn cracker

Anyway, let’s get on the food.

For the review session, we got to sample quite a few dishes from the menu, starting with the appetizer – crispy fried prawn crackers. This is not your typical prawn cracker, but rather thin layer of pastry stuffed with plenty of prawn meat in between, best enjoyed with a dip of Thai chili sauce. I had white wine to go with this, but beer would make for excellent liquid to wash this down.

home style Taiwanese chicken soup w pickled pineapple & bitter melon

Any Chinese restaurant worth it’s salt should serve up a decent bowl of hot soup.

At Secret Garden, the choice was a simple and comforting home style Taiwanese chicken soup with pickled pineapple and bitter melon. I love myself a good bowl of soup, and this version checked the box as well as any with simple everyday ingredients done right.

steamed free range duckweed fed chicken w homemade sauce

Up next was steamed free range duckweed fed chicken with homemade sauce. You can taste the difference in duckweed fed chicken meat compared to the normal wet market/hypermarket variety, the meat is firmer and the skin springier. With the condiments it makes for a good meal by itself with a bowl of rice.

signature Taiwanese style “dong po” pork belly

Then came what I was here for – the signature Taiwanese “dong po” pork belly. I love this dish so much I actually remember where I had it the first two times – first at Chatterbox Bangsar Village, and then at Dengkil Seafood Restaurant.

If you love pork, you gotta try this dish named after the famous Chinese poet Su DongPo (蘇東坡) . The interpretation of this dish at Secret Garden is very, very good, and only made better when you have it with their super soft steamed bun. Can I get this combination for breakfast, please?

grouper fish head in yellow curry with fresh milk

Perhaps to demonstrate the range of dishes this kitchen is able to come up with, we had grouper fish head in yellow curry with fresh milk next.

If really spicy and rich Indian or even Nyonya style curry is your cup of tea, this may disappoint, but if you enjoy milder curry with all the necessary ingredients with a much gentler assault on your taste buds, then this yellow curry may fit the bill. I’m a Penang boy who loves me some really spicy curry fish head, so it was just a tad underwhelming for me.

pan fried fresh king prawn with soya sauce

Pan fried fresh king prawn with soya sauce was my favorite seafood dish of the day. Instead of the usual tiger prawns or “meng har”, this version uses fresh water king prawns, which has big and juicy prawn head to suckle on (human cholestorel isn’t from what you eat, right?). I liked it, and wished I had some rice to go with this.

(btw I’ve published a recipe to my version here, if you care to cook your own)

homemade organic black soya bean tofu in pumpkin gravy, & the hungry bunch

The last dish I got to try before we had to leave due to another appointment was the homemade organic black soya bean tofu in pumpkin gravy. I was told the tofu is made in-house, and it certainly tastes fresh as can be with the texture that’s almost like tofufar, it was nice, and pumpkin gravy certainly served as a good contrast to the salty and savory bits on top of the tofu.

our menu, and some live seafood for your picking too

Overall it was a more than satisfying dinner, and certainly an experience that is made unforgettable thanks to the beautiful dining area and excellent companions we had.

Secret Garden is current modelling the upper level and will be offering Private Dining. You give them a budget and number of pax, and the chef will come up with a menu from carefully chosen ingredients available. There’s currently no set price for Private Dining, I suppose the more you are willing to pay, the more exotic the dishes get.

Thank you Jessica for the invitation and for hosting us!

Address:
Secret Garden Chinese Restaurant
家園私房菜 
7 & 9, Jalan SS 23/15,
Taman Sea,
47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.116306, 101.612408
Tel: 03-7887 6999
Site: secretgarden.my

I love myself a good afternoon snack, and when it comes to that, sometimes the options can be quite limited. There’s always the rojak, hipster cafe, and mamak, but if you want good old fashion Chinese snacks, well, they aren’t just as common. So it was quite refreshing to see that a such a place sprung up at Seapark recently by the name of Restoran Yuen Ting.

Restoran Yuen Ting, PJ Seapark

Yuen Ting is a bit of a throw back when it comes to a new restaurant, they offer old fashion deep fried Chinese pastry such as yutiao, ham chim peng, and a couple different soya bean products like soya bean drink and tofufar.

a selection of deep fried goodness & soya bean products

While the selection isn’t particularly extensive, the quality of product and value offered was more than decent. I liked that the soya bean drink has a bit of a gingery tint in the syrup supplied, which gives it a bit of extra complexity.

The taufoofar here is has a really smooth texture, a hallmark of any good taufoofar. Like the soya bean drinks, you can choose to have it with dark or normal sugar syrup, I almost always go for the dark version and did not make it an exception this time.

ham chim peng, soya drink, tofufar

Overall, I’d not hesitant to return for a good & comfortable afternoon snack. While there’s no air conditioning, fancy decoration, or even IKEA sofa, this place hold its own among the newer establishments in PJ, and it is one that I believe will stand up to the test of time better than others.

Address:
Yuen Ting Restaurant
Jalan 21/17,
Seapark,
46300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS：3.109909, 101.621816 

Those who’s been following this space for a while should know that I’m a huge fan of curry mee, but usually for me though, curry mee is the Penang version that comes with pork blood, prawns, santan broth, and those sambal with a charred note.

Curry Mee stall at Sun Fatt Kee, Seapark

However, being a food enthusiast with an open mind, I am always up to trying anything that is good, even tho certain dish may share the same name and hence, somehow has an unfair prejudice attached to it, from a cultural-location superiority complex basis.

Anyway, what I am trying to say is, there’s also awesome non-Penang curry mee. Especially this version at Sun Fatt Kee kopitiam, PJ Seapark.

The curry mee stall at this kopitiam has been serving up (according to many) the best curry mee this side of KL.

A bowl of this curry mee comes with your choice of noodle, perfectly prepared shredded chicken, tofu pok, long beans, bean sprouts, sambal, lime, and possibly the best cockles in any curry mee you’d find, from anywhere, and I don’t use the word “best” lightly.

curry mee with perfect cockles

Yes, a bowl cost RM 7, and yes, the portion isn’t big at all, but I’ll be damned if I don’t go over and order me another one pretty soon.

And this time I’ll make sure I get them with extra cockles!

I usually favors Penang style curry mee, but can’t say no to this one

The same kopitiam has one of the better nasi lemak at night, and opposite it there’s the Soo Kee Ipoh kueh teow soup during the day time.

Address:
Jalan 21/11b,
46300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.109920, 101.622301

Chee Cheong Fun is a dish that’s found in many places in Klang Valley. However, most versions here are of central region, where the sweet sauce is watery, or that they are served with curry, and most of the time, together with yong tau foo, which admittedly I’m also a fan of.

chee cheong fun stall at Restoran O&S

However, being from Penang, my favorite version of chee cheong fun is still the version served up north on the Pearl of the Orient – a version that’s ultra simple – just the rice noodle roll with sweet, thick, dark sauce that’s not entirely unlike rojak sauce, and then topped with sesame and fried shallots with a side of sambal. (edit: of course it’s also with prawn paste, this was something I failed to mention)

I also like mine still rolled instead of unwrapped (the usual way of serving)

While you get them readily on Penang island, my go to in Klang Valley is the little stall at Restoran O&S at Taman Paramount in Petaling Jaya.

For RM 2.60, I get my serving of proper chee cheong fun that hits all the spots. The sauce is thick & flavorful with a hint of peanut butter (perhaps?) and not overly sweet at the same time. The chee cheong fun itself too is soft and smooth as it should.

The restaurant gets busy over weekends, be prepared to share tables.

Penang style chee cheong fun at O&S, rolled

Address:
Restaurant O&S
Jalan 20/14, Seapark,
Petaling Jaya
GPS: 3.107713, 101.624919
Hours: breakfast & brunch

When I was growing up in Penang, I remember there was a period of time where we’d head go grandm’s over the weekends and more often than not, having Hokkien Char for breakfast at the old shack right outside Weld Quay. That was how I developed a taste for this particular dish.

Ai Jiak Penang Food, PJ Seapark

Hokkien Char (福建炒) simply meant Hokkien style fried noodle in Penang. While sharing almost similar name as Hokkien Mee in KL, the two dishes are quite different from each other.

While KL’s favorite comes with thick, fat noodle drench in very dark sauce, Penang’s style is quite a lot lighter and usually done with yellow noodle and meehun. Additionally, the Hokkien Char sambal is often a lot hotter and less mushy.

Back to Ai Jiak Penang Food restaurant.

I’ve actually heard about this place when it was situated in the old location at the Chung Ling Alumni Association in Jalan Utara, KL (fun fact, I am from the same school), the restaurant has since moved to Seapark, directly opposite Public Bank.

The restaurant offers a few Penang classic dishes to go with rice, such as asam fish head, curry chicken, pineapple curry prawns, pork trotter vinegar, sambal petai prawns, and so forth.

Additionally, they also offer single serving dishes such as asam laksa, chee cheong fun, herbal chicken meesuah,  and what I came here for – Hokkien char!

Penang style “Hokkien Char”

So is their Hokkien Char any good?

The answer is a resounding yes! To be perfectly honest, if you didn’t grow up having Hokkien Char, it may not be a dish that speaks to you, but if you love spicy sambal and a dish of fried noodle that’s not overly strong or starchy, you may want to give this a try.

Address:
Ai Jiak Penang Food
9, Jalan 21/12, Sea Park,
46300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS:
Tel: +6 011 2778 8428

Following the blog post on Abanico at Kota Kemuning, I was reminded that actually there was another iberico experience a few months ago back when we were in this “Recovery MCO” period when case number of Covid-19 was in the teens daily.. remember that feeling of hope before it all came crashing down again? Seemed like a long time ago isn’t it?

Anyway, the restaurant I want to talk about is Habanna Charbroiled Steakhouse at Taman Paramount, PJ.

Habanna at Taman Paramount, PJ

The unassuming restaurant is just a stone’s throw away from Loong Foong (great roast duck) and Shokudo Japanese curry. It’s been around for a while and for whatever reason, took me this long to finally paid a visit, and I’m glad I did finally give it a try.

The minimally decorated restaurant has an ambiance that matches its asking price. The menu has a healthy selection of burger, pork, chicken, beef, lamb, pasta, and even a few seafood entrees priced from just below RM 20 to around RM 30-50 range (see menu below).

Since porky “steakhouse” are hard to come by, we decided to check out their pork belly, and there’re two to choose from at Habanna if you’re into this fatty cut of pork. Unsurprisingly, we chose both.

Iberico Black Mama “IBM”

The two different pork belly entrees are Iberico Black Mama “IBM” (RM 33.90), and the cheaper Charbroiled Apple Belly “CAB” (RM 20.90). Both are essentially the same dish with a side of salad, some potato wedges, and apple dipping sauce, however, IBM uses the famed Iberico pork, while CAB is made from local pork belly.

As it turned out, both dishes were rather good to eat, the meat were grilled perfectly and had very good texture, they were also seasoned just right. Also as expected, the Iberico pork does carry a better texture due to it’s superior marbling (fat layers between meat) as compared to local pork.

Charbroiled Apple Belly “CAB”

The verdict is predictable, but when factor in prices, makes for slightly tougher decision. Iberico is some 60% more expensive but arguably maybe 30-40% tastier? A bit of a diminishing returns. That being said, the value offers at Habanna is an excellent one, and I should be back to try their other offerings.

Address:
Habanna Charbroil Steakhouse
No.23, Jalan 20/13,
Paramount Garden,
46300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.106153, 101.624798
Tel:  018 227 7369