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.)

Sanuki Udon, Taman Bukit Desa

Located on the hills of Taman Desa is a pretty much undiscovered Japanese eatery. I would not call it a restaurant as it's really an eatery. Owned by Fuji-san (the dude that also owns the yakiniku place in Taman Desa. http://darthko-foodcritic.blogspot.com/2011/08/yakiniku-taman-desa-kuala-lumpur.html), this was his first adventure into the world of F & B. 
Anyway, it turns out to be very Japanese and on week nights, this place is filled to the brim with Japanese expatriates. The udon here is made fresh everyday and you can buy them back and cook them yourself. I love the way this guy maintains freshness and quality of his food. Everything is done with discipline and order thus serving food with consistent quality all the time.
The menu isn't huge which is good I reckon. (Huge menus most of the time mean only one thing. Jack of all trades and master of none.) Other than udon, they also serve some side dishes such as karaage (fried chicken cutlets), edamame, salad etc. In the evenings, they will have yakitori. (chicken skewers) Chicken arse lovers will love this place as they serve yakitori bishop's nose. LOL!
I normally order the house special. You can either have it hot or cold but I always have the hot one. I should remind myself to try the cold one next time. The house special comes with just udon and poached egg. (no oil, which is good) Add a little chilli in it, mix it up and it's actually a very refreshing bowl of udon. Well if you want it spicier add more chilli. I was told that the idea for this house special came from the boss trying our local Chilli Pan Mee. It does make sense as it basically is the same except you don't have too much other stuff in it such as anchovies and minced pork.

This time I also tried the Udon in soup (cold). The weather's here too hot so cold noodles for lunch is always a good idea. The soup is very much like the ones that you eat with soba. Noodles are fresh and has a very good texture. 

Slurp the udon out and add a little wasabi to it to give it a more interesting taste.

Udon is pretty much a healthier choice compared to our local food. Once in a while, it's a good change to our oily diet. Price wise, I would say it's pretty decent here. Freshly made udon for RM5 a bowl, not bad but not cheap either considering you don't get anything else in it.


Points - 3 (0.5 is given due to the cleanliness and service)

Decanter, Damansara Heights, Kuala Lumpur

Decanter in Damansara Heights used to be a cool hangout for me as it was hidden between houses in this so called "rich" area of Kuala Lumpur. It was always a good place to have a good lunch, coffee maybe a couple of beers and not likely to be disturbed or bump into anyone you know. I like that.
Decanter is not a wine place, mind you. It is styled more like an old English pub. Don't know where the name decanter came from. It is a cosy old fashioned kinda pub/restaurant which serves pretty ok food, which mainly has a mixture of local and western fare.
On this particular day, I was in the mood for some ox tail. Ordered the Oxtail soup and also the Oxtail stew. (Yeah yeah I know. Over dose of ox??) Also got the Chicken Chop.

One thing about Ox tail soup is that you can't really get good ones anymore. Not many places have this anymore. (Don't know why?) Or just that the chef's do not know how to do this? Well, the oxtail soup here is not too bad. Not as thick as I want it to be but taste wise, it's passable. Not enough ox tail in it though making it a little too watery for my liking but nevertheless the taste was there.

Next came the Oxtail stew. Damn! This thing was hot....took a long time to cool down in order to consume it without burning my tongue. This stew just had too much pepper in it. The pepper totally overkilled the stew, over powering any other taste available. (I am sure this will be good in a cold winter night) It was not disappointing though, before the pepper numbed my tongue. It was not very salty, just nice and the stew being a stew was thick. Dip the bread into it and it was awesome, before the pepper started working. After a few scoops, it all went downhill as I was struggling with the pepper.

The chicken chop came and it looked good. Very "Ketchuppy" and good serving with vegetables. Taste wise, normal chicken chop with ketchup and HP sauce. I reckon I can do better with my own recipe on this. The thing with chicken chop, the recipe works with both chicken and pork. Good thing was the serving was pretty big and you won't go home hungry.


Decanter is still the old place hidden in the hills of Damansara Heights. (I refuse to call it Bukit Damansara. Why change those damn names when it already sounded pretty cool, beats me!!) The decor in this place is old, maybe it's time to do some minor renovations and change those ugly table cloth.
Service is still pretty acceptable. One thing is that it is good place to have lunch or happy hour away from the noise and traffic of Mont Kiara and Hartamas.


Points - 2 

Jin Man Fishball Noodles, Taman Taynton View, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur

I never knew there was a place in Cheras called Taman Taynton View, sounds very "white" for a very "beng" suburb. Anyway, this place is right opposite the highway from Leisure Mall and there's only like one row of shops there. Hidden here is the famous fish ball noodles of Jin Man.
Got here at 2pm and it was still pretty full. Business is good for the fish people. First thing I noticed is that this place is pretty clean. The floors are not the usual oily and slippery ones, neither were they sticky from years of grease. Good point! Thumbs up for cleanliness.
Old dude came over and we ordered. One bowl of kueh teow mee dry noodles and another one just mee with soup plus a bowl of fish maw and their famous fish cake. (one thing about Chinese shops like these is that service is always pretty fast.)

Good serving of kueh teow and mee combination. They're not too wet nor too dry. Pretty nicely done. Good.

Fish Balls! Yummy! Soups a bit too light but damn the fish balls were pretty damn good. Bouncy, fresh and not artificial like the ones you get at those bloody food courts. Good!

Fish Mall. Very normal stuff as I reckon that the soup's just a tad too light.

Check out the freshly cut chilli! Fresh chilli and soy sauce goes well with those balls.

I was surprised. This coffee shop's kopi-o ice is pretty damn good. Tastes just like the ones you get at the old Hainanese coffee shops. Good!

Well, the fish cake never came. They forgot about it and we had to tell them that it did not come, only did she deduct it out of our bill. (If we had not noticed it then we would have paid for it. Careless, overlooked or honesty? hmm..I'll just give them a benefit of a doubt on this.


Overall, the food is pretty good. Not very expensive, typical coffee shop prices ranging from RM4 - RM 6.50. Sad that I did not get to try their famous fish cake. I will be back.


Points - 2.5 (0.5 deducted for not getting my fish cake LOL)

Lorong Seratus Tahun, Scott's Gardens, Old Klang Road, Kuala Lumpur

Scott's Gardens on Old Klang Road looks like the odd place out in this crappy and dodgy part of town. Brand new shopping mall smacked in the middle of Old Klang Road that has nothing interesting other than Ah Beng watching. So I guess OKR is also changing finally after years of being in the slums. Scott's Gardens is home to Tesco and quite a few F&B outlets namely the crappy Overtime, Tom Dick & Harry's, another crappy one called Mongkok, a bakery called Bloom but will gloom soon and finally this one grandly named kopitiam called Lorong Seratus Tahun (One Hundred Years Lane).


I've been told by some aunties that the food at this place is not bad and that you should try the 22.90 Char Kueh Teow. Huh! Are you &^%#$# MAD? Anyway headed down with the folks, boss and maid in tow, we decided to try our luck.


The place seems packed. Good sign. (maybe not) Our orders were the curry noodles, nasi lemak, chee cheong fun in prawn paste, rojak, mango "crepes" (cannot remember what it's called) and another curry chicken nyonya rice.


Firstly, I apologize for the low quality photos as I was ill prepared for this. Photos taken using my crappy old dying iphone.

The only thing that tasted OK is the chee cheong fun in prawn paste. A little too light on the prawn paste for my liking but it was actually not too bad. 

Now this is the ARMAGEDDON of the "historical" Lorong Seratus Tahun. Just when it landed on my table, it just did not seem right. Picked up a spoon and scooped the soup. Bloody hell! It was so diluted, it looked like colored plain water. No need to try to know that THIS IS SHIT! STRIKE OUT! YOU'RE OUT!

The Penang Rojak was not too bad though after the horror we had with the curry noodles.  But I can get this from any pasar malam for half the price and be happier.

Nasi Lemak? Just like any other nasi lemak you get from the Kopi Tiams sprouting all over town. Nothing special and nothing interesting.

Nyonya rice? Check out the rice. Looks like a ball of over cooked rice. Sambal was not good, chicken was nothing special (Don't even want to remember what it tasted like!) and the lobak...it should be called Lo Chicken. Lobak without the bak (pork) is not LoBak! Don't try to bullshit us!

Mango crepes! Bad combination, Never order this nonsense again!

We came to the conclusion that water was added into the curry soup. It was just too diluted, too damn watery to be called curry and no sane minded cook can churn out crap like that. We reckoned that maybe the business was too good that day, they ran low on their curry so they decided just to top it up with water and maybe they'll get away with it. NONSENSE! You're a fucking restaurant, you serve food, you serve Penang food...have a little pride please! At least taste your food. If it cannot pass your own bloody tongue, don't serve it to us! (Mum said maybe it was the foreign workers but I said no. The blame is on the bosses of the place that do not train and monitor their own businesses.)


Anyway, this is one place I will not go back. They said maybe you should try our famous RM22.90 Char Kueh Teow! RM22.90 and get a couple of big prawns? No bloody way! If I wanted big prawns, I'll just go to a seafood restaurant and get fresher seafood right?


Another one bites the dust!

Chinese "Fondue", Lok Lok, Chinatown, Jalan Sultan, Kuala Lumpur

One thing Malaysians love is their "Lok Lok" or what I call the Chinese Fondue. Selections of everything imaginable is served. Pick up a skewer and dip it into the bowling pot of water, cook it just the way you like it and eat it with the sauce given. Your choice, your style, your preference. Satay sauce, chilli sauce or sweet sauce. Nowadays, they even have a grill section or Yakitori style. Looks like competition is stiff.

If you happen to be in Chinatown, head over to Jalan Sultan and try this stall. (right in front of KK Mart)

Huge tiger prawns to be grilled to your liking.

Lok Lok is not cheap anymore, and just a few skewers could set you back by RM20 these days but hell..where else in the world are you going to get this stuff?

Grilled Fish, Petaling Street, Chinatown Kuala Lumpur

One thing about KL's Chinatown aka Petaling Street is the variety of food you find here. Forget about the cheap imitation stuff and don't bother about the Banglas that irritate the crap out of you. It's the food here.


This time I will show you a hidden gem here which is the Grilled fish. Hidden in the walk way beside Hong Leong bank is this old dirty looking stall that only sells grilled fish. They grill all kinds of fish but the favorite one will always be sting ray. Go up and order your food. Pay up, sometimes you're given a number and come back in about 20 minutes. 


The usual order is the stingray and cuttle fish (sotong). Small serving for one with rice cost RM9. Cheap isn't it. These old folks make an honest living. (LOL!)

I had to post this pic as the message is very polite. (the one in Chinese)

This old place has maintained its standard and quality over the years. It is spicy but the combination of the spices in this case makes it the more interesting to your taste buds. Their seafood is fresh and does not have the occasional bits of sand in it. Although this is called grilled fish but they don't technically grill it. They wrap the seafood in foil and chuck in on the charcoal grill. More like baking it right? Does it matter? As long as it tastes good right? (none of the bull shit banana leaf stuff you find in other places)


It is a recommended place and do come here when you're in Chinatown. This is one of those old stalls that will not be around in the next 10 years. Better try it, remember it before it's gone forever.


Points - 2.5 (dirty place with the occasional rat running pass you. LOL)

Ficelle, Taman Danau Desa, Kuala Lumpur - French Bakery

This is a very interesting place. A French themed bakery in the middle of crappy Taman Danau Desa. Nicely decorated corner lot place with tables outside under the cool shade of some old trees that have not been cut down yet. A bit of class in a somehow middle class Ah Beng suburb.
Was here for a quick lunch and I was surprised that they actually served Japanese Curry Rice here. ( I reckon they are like those French themed restaurants in Japan, where they try really hard to emulate the French in everything they do.) Ordered the Japanese Curry Karaage Rice (Chicken) and mushroom soup. Not cheap. The rice is like RM 12.90. It better be good.

The mushroom soup here is actually pretty good. Although the serving's a bit too small, the soup has a variety of mushrooms in it. Tastes a lot like a creamy wild mushroom soup. Sprinkled with some minced parsley on top and a little pepper, this soup is tummy warming and delicious. There must be at least four types of mushrooms in it. Button mushrooms, a Porcini looking one, white mushrooms and brown ones.
Good. 
Points - 2

The Japanese curry rice came and Boy! was I disappointed. It is really small. There were only 4 pieces of chicken "nuggets". Come on, it's 12 bucks. Fill me up ok! Points taken away.
They used pretty good quality rice for this and it was cooked right. Not too hard and not too soft. The curry on the other hand was very very normal. It tasted like the ones you get at any Japanese convenient store. Those packed curry - cooked in 5 minutes mini boxes. The limited fried chicken nuggets were not too bad but then the curry was nothing to shout about. Typical Japanese curry which is never spicy, more on the sweet side with a little curry spices in the mix. 


Points - 0.5 for the rice


Will I come back again? I might. Just to try the rest of the stuff they have and maybe to look cool sitting here, having a mocha and playing my ipad.