Quickie : Mee Rebus Ramli

This shop that is currently situated in Tasek and has a branch opposite Jubilee Park in Ipoh town holds really nostalgic value for me. You see, I used to visit a wooden stall in Kampung Tawas beside the pasar (market) for this addictive mee rebus (literally blanched noodles, but it was actually noodles in thick sweet potato gravy with spices). The humble stall was manned by a young man (a Malay guy) with his second man (a Singh). That was at least 15 years ago. The owner has since grown his business from a humble start to where he is now. So Malaysians, have faith in yourself, no matter what business you are in. What's important is your wholeheartedness and determination.The soup was thick and creamy. You can taste the fragrance of sweet potato with meat stock and spices. And the combination with noodles and fritters were heavenly. But that was last time. Sad to say that the last 2 times I visited both the Tasek and town establishment, I found the quality of soup overwhelmed with the taste of chili sauce. I wished you had tried the original noodles to know how good it was. Now, my only hope is that the owner will realise of his mistake before it is too late.

Quickie : Pork Noodle off Jalan Raja Chulan

I love to have hot clear soup early in the morning to warm my stomach. And whenever I am around Jalan Raja Chulan area, I would definitely come by to this shop that is situated one lane behind Wisma Boustead. If you are going there during lunch hour, you won't be able to miss it. There will be lots of people in the shop and some waiting for seats. So you know how famous this place is among the office workers.What's good? Fresh meat, sweet soup, generous amount of meats and veges. Usually when you go for pork noodle, they only serve standard few strands of choy sum (sawi in Malay, or Chinese mustard green in English). But this shop includes iceberg cabbage as well. In addition, every bowl comes with a spoonful of fried garlic and shallots that enhances the fragrance and sweetness of the soup.
Sometimes, if you are not feeling good, try having something warm and soupy. The warmth in your stomach helps alleviate your mood. It works for me :)

Kung Fu Pan Meen

I saw the photos in Boolicious page and I can't forget the voluptious looking pan meen. It looks so enticing that I kept going back to that page long after it has been replaced with many other updates. And the day that Ben has the mood to explore, I took up the chance and led him to this place. The result? No regrets.

Location: 28 Jalan Sri Sentosa 9A, Off Old Klang Road, K.L. (u'll need a map)
Rating: Good

Review
As usual, while waiting for our orders to come, I will take whatever they offer on the table. I love the fact that they gave us the freedom to choose how sour we want for our noodles. There are cut limes kept in a container for you to squeeze to your heart's content.The sambal belacan (prawn paste chili sauce) is fragrant and thick. Ben ordered a dry thin pan meen (hand made noodles). The portion is quite small, but the noodles looks good. The noodles are springy and the owner is quite generous with the toppings of anchovies, vege and minced meat.When my kung fu pan meen came, it looked quite normal. The portion is again small.But when all ingredients (including chili and lime) were mixed togather. Just look at how shiny and inviting the noodle look.I never liked thick noodles, but I would make an exception for this. The noodles are slightly springy and you can still taste the original noodles taste despite all the seasonings.

The hungry wolves that we are, we decided to order 2 additional side dishes. The first one is the original pandan chicken. Pandan refers to screwpine leaves and it is famous for its fragrance and health value. Anyway, nothing healthy about this dish. The deboned meat is thick yet tender. The taste is slightly sweet and fragrant. One piece is nice. More than 1 may be a bit too tiring for the jaws.The second one is my favourite. Otak-otak (literally brain in malay) here is really something. Normal otak-otak are made of fish meat with spices. But the otak-otak here is made of fish, squid and prawn meat. So you san imagine how sweet and fragrant the otak-otak is. The additional spices only add to the fragrant combination. I can't stop scooping one spoonful after another. It's good to eat when it is still hot, or it will turn slightly fishy when it is cold.Not an easy place to find, but worth revisiting. Something different yet familiar.

Heun Kee Claypot Chicken Rice

We kept saying must try out this shop every time we passes by, but we just never did. I guess we are very much creatures of habit. Once we have found a good place, we would keep going back. This has reduce our chances to venture into something new. But we finally decided it is time to try out this place. What attracts me there is the traditional way of preparing "Nga Pou Gai Fan" (claypot chicken rice), as in they cook using charcoal fire.

Say whatever you want, it may be difficult to control the fire when cooking with charcoal, but if you have learnt to manage it, food cooked using charcoal gives an additional aroma to the food.Location : Jalan Yew, Pudu, Kuala Lumpur

Rating : Good

Review
The ingredients looked pretty simple. Some marinated chicken, raw rice, some Chinese sausage, salted fish and sauces to taste.

Our pot of rice came and I got curious. See they set the salted fish aside in a smaller sauce dish. Are they testing us? "If you fail to move the dish, you can't eat this!" (ahaha... just my brain malfunctioning and dreaming those words out. The rice is fragrant enough. And best of all, when mixing and dishing them out, we notice that they do not stick to the pot. Hey... this is really some cooking skill. All I can say is that the rice is fluffy and fragrant. The chicken is tender and the whole mixture is simply aromatic.

In addition to claypot chicken rice, they also offer soups and other side dishes. There are watercress soup and pork stomach soup. We ordered watercress as it has cooling function. Just to balance out with the food that is heaty in nature.

And just to make sure we had a balanced diet of meat and vege, we ordered scaled siu bak choy (or westerners call it bok choy) with oyster sauce. We didn't expect much from this dish, but it turn out to be quite good. The sauce is sweet and salty. The vege is crunchy and crisp. Amazingly that I enjoy vege.

Finally just to top it off, we had Chinese tea to wash down our food. It feels real good when the warmth travel down from your mouth through your throat into your stomach. What a peaceful closure to a hearty meal..Say if you are interested to try this place, you don't have to limit yourself to our choices as blow. They also offer fried seafood beancurd and fried chicken wings that are supposed to be famous. It is just that our stomach couldn't hold so much.