Roast Pork, Happy Garden, Kuchai Road Kuala Lumpur

Located in this really old run down shop next to the famous 4 faced Buddha in Happy Garden, is this really popular roast pork stall. (never realized there was one as this shop looks really run down.)
It is advised to get to this place before lunch. If you're late, there will be no tables and most of the time, their famous roast pork (烧肉)will be sold out.
After hearing about their so called fame, I decided that I had to go see for myself. My first time, I got there at about 12.30pm. Crowd was already there and I could not get a table inside, therefore had to settle for one outside that was barely in the shade.
Damn, this shop is old. Windows missing, pipes leaking, walls that need some paint work done and floors that require a whole month of scrubbing.
No wonder comes to take orders other than this pretty friendly Chinese lady that sells drinks. Walked over to the stall and placed my order. Char Siew (叉烧), Roast pork (烧肉)  and Roast Chicken.
The food took forever to come. Place was not exactly crowded, wonder what took so long. When it finally came, I was hungry. First impressions. Roast pork looked OK but the char siew, I had my doubts. Too red for my liking. Red meaning they used coloring on the meat making them look too red on the surface. Not good. Here we go again, sigh.

This looks pretty nice. Taste wise not bad but nothing to really shout about either.

Now check out the red borders of each slice of meat. That is coloring. Char Siew should be BBQ-ed for color, aroma and taste.

Another photo of the coloring to emphasize my point!

The roast pork although cut not as thinly as other places which is good, is actually on the average in terms of taste, aroma and texture. Yes, if you compare to some other places around this area, I will agree that this one is one of the better ones. Crispy skin but does not have that melt in your mouth experience. I reckon that the soya sauce should be kept separate and not poured on the roast pork. Soya sauce will cover the taste of the meat and often get the crispy skin soggy even before it reaches your table. Roast pork is normally already on the salty side therefore you do not need to drown it with soya sauce unless you have something to hide..Smirk!!
The BBQ pork....hmm...not good. I hate going to places where they have colored char siew. Reason why it's called char siew is before you BBQ the damn meat. OUT!!!!
Roast chicken..very very normal. Any other decent chicken rice stall can do this.

Overall. = Dirty restaurant which mean hygiene is of concern though I've not gotten a tummy ache yet and Yes I do have a pretty strong stomach. Food wise, they ain't cheap. For two persons, this will cost you about RM20+ excluding drinks.

Roast Pork = 1.5 (because they were not cut into paper thin slices)

Char Siew = 0

Roast Chicken = 1 (if you can't get this right then you had better shut it down)

WIR - Hmm..I will come back but maybe just stick to the roast pork and nothing else.

Typica Coffee, Shaw Parade, Pudu

Hidden in the dodgy part of town is this tiny and cosy specialty coffee place. It sits on the side of a run down old mall, Shaw Parade in Pudu. Decided to give this a try after hearing a bit from some mates. Surprisingly the place was rather packed on a Sunday afternoon. Matured, white collar looking folks in there, enjoying their coffee while reading a book or a group of them chatting with the owners about coffee. Amazing.

Looks like lab apparatus. Coffee making equipment.

The coffee here ain't cheap. If I remember correctly, the cheapest brew is for about RM25. You choose the type of beans, they'll serve the beans out in a plate for you to smell, play with and maybe eat them I guess. (My apologies..I have no idea) Then they take the beans back and grind them. The whole process of brewing this coffee actually takes a while. It's done in a bunch of flasks that looks like lab equipment. The owner of this place, I reckon, takes pride in brewing the coffee. She will stand guard, smell it, stir it until it's al dente, then pour the freshly brewed coffee into a "Typica" cup. No milk is given and no sugar to be seen. Did not want to ask for it as I already observed the people in this place. Everyone had theirs black. Not wanting to be outdone, had mine black too. It better taste good for RM25+ a pop.

It was actually pretty nice. The coffee aroma was not the same as the usual Nescafe I have every morning. It was actually pretty soothing. (They should make perfume smell this way) The taste? Slightly acidic, good after taste that was not bitter after all. It sort of confused my palette but as it streamed down my untrained throat, it left me wanting more. Pretty much orgasmic to me. LOL.

Well, for coffee lovers out there, you should give this place a try. Pretty expensive though but I reckon you will not be hanging around this side of town too much.

Will I return = YES only if I have the spare cash to burn on expensive coffee.

Points = 2.5

(0.5 was deducted as they did not have much to eat there. The cheese cake I ordered was just too normal to even bother to write about and it was way way to expensive for such a small slice.)

Pork Place, IOI Boulevard, Puchong

I chanced upon this place called Pork Place in Puchong recently. (getting stuck on the highway gets you looking at things more I guess. LOL) Located on a discreet side of IOI Boulevard is this cosy little restaurant. Named after the only produce they have. You guessed right. PORK!
I actually quite like the decor of the place. Good ambience, cleanly decorated without overdoing it like some places you go to. Decorated with some pretty cute pictures of pigs makes this place not too serious though this interior decoration is also seen in other "pig" specialty restaurants in town. They also have this part of the restaurant that is a dedicated butcher selling, yes, yes, pork. I guess they pride themselves with the pigs they sell especially with the various certifications stuck on the glass windows.

Anyway, let's get down to the food. Menu is not extensive which sometimes is a good thing. (I do not enjoy restaurants with a 20 page menu as most of the times, the food's all terrible. Nothing stands out) I believe that a good restaurant does not need to sell too many things but sell things that you're good at.

My order of the day is their house special which is the Pork Knuckle (RM 40 for a half portion) and the Sausage platter (RM26) plus two tiger beers (RM 13 per bottle).  I must say that the waiter was pretty helpful and polite. (Bonus point)

Wait time was 10-15 minutes and both dishes came out. Small portions for that price. Good thing I was not really hungry.

First dish, the pork knuckles. Presentation wise - the usual with most places that serve this dish. Only thing is that the meat was cut into bite size portions. (Maybe it was due to it being a half portion). Nice fresh salad on the side with mashed potato and gravy.
First taste. The pork skin was crispy but did not have much taste to it. It did have a burnt taste to it. Not too good. The meat initially tasted pretty good. Nice flavour, not too salty but as you take a few more bites, the disappointment creeps in. Somehow the meat had this very strong "pig" taste. It was just a little too overwhelming. The chef must have skipped a step or two preparing this as I am very very particular with this. Pork being pigs must be done the right way in order to eliminate or minimize their natural smell. If this isn't done correctly, it spoils the dish. Sigh!

Points = 0.5

Second dish, the sausage platter. Two pieces of fat sausages. One Bratwurst and the other one I cannot remember. Again, some salad and mashed potato.
I must say that the sausages are nothing to shout about. I can get these stuff at a local deli. Cheaper and maybe tastier. At least if it's cheap, I cannot really complain, right?

Points = 0.5

I left this place a tad disappointed. I liked the ambience, the attentive service but the food was not impressive at all. Did not bother with dessert in order not to dig a deeper hole for them.

Overall = 0.5 out of 5 including the bonus for the service.

WIR (will I return) = Maybe if they improve on their cooking skill but at this moment I won't. Oh, before I forget, I will return to try if I don't have to pay!