Loi Fatt Restaurant, Cheras

Last month we visited Loi Fatt Baru and promised to return and do a review of the other Loi Fatt, operated by the former's brother. Loi Fatt is actually the original restaurant and we were keen to learn if they were any better than the 'baru' place next door.

Strangely, the owner and chef was also on hand during our visit to take our order and make recommendations (just like the other place earlier). It was supposed to be a celebration for Ros' birthday and we wanted to have some crabs. Unfortunately we were told that they did not get their supply of crabs, so we were left crab-less! He did however recommend the steamed tilapia fish in a Nyonya style.

We were pleasantly surprised to find the dish loaded with vegetables like brinjals, ladies fingers, tomatoes, long beans and onions. It would have made an excellent one-dish meal. Considering that there were only 5 of us, they did give us a rather large fish and we found it difficult to finish the fish. The gravy was tasty but lacked the spiciness and sourness typical of a good Nyonya dish. RM35.00 for this dish.

The chef advised that they had fresh water prawns and suggested their speciality – prawns prepared in 2 styles. But we were not in the mood for too much prawns again so we opted for sang har meen. A type of sang meen was used which absorbed the prawn gravy very well. Some of the medium sized prawns had roe, which added another taste dimension and a pinkish tinge to the gravy. It was a pretty good dish but not quite as good as the Jalan Silang or Jalan Imbi sang har meen. RM60.00 for this dish with 4 medium sized prawns.

The chef suggested the Hakka char yoke for the meat dish. This was pre-cooked and reached or table pretty fast. It was a little starchy and was not really memorable. My mother in-law makes a better version.

The special taufoo with fish was very good. Crispy on the outside and soft and moist inside. It came with a tangy chilli sauce but was good enough to eat on it's own.

For our vegetable dish, we had sweet potato leaves with fermented bean-curd. There was not much fermented bean gravy in the dish. It was OK only.

Overall, we felt that the Baru's cooking and execution was slightly better than this place. But don't take our word for it. Try it yourselves and let us know what you think.

Location : 168, 9^th Mile Kg Baru Cheras, Kajang
Contact : 03-90758035