Wan Fatt Restaurant - Revisited

This is probably our favorite restaurant in Kajang at the moment. Almost everything they churn out is good and they keep innovating and adding new dishes too. See our previous post on this restaurant in 2009 and 2010 They've moved to a new premises now, not far from their old place. This location is easier to find - it's just behind the Maybank Kajang branch and located in the compound of a large Taoist temple there.

 

The fascade of new premises

 

We had a leisurely Sunday lunch here today. For a Chinese restaurant, they do a pretty tasty and satisfying fish head curry. You'll find plenty of brinjals, ladies finger, long beans and tomatoes in the curry. 

 

We tried a new dish - pork ribs with purple dragon fruit sauce. It needs more work though, maybe a touch more lemon piquancy. 

 

This was described as a 'midin' kerabu. We've only had midin or a type of fern shoots  in Kuching, Sarawak before. It had all the elements of a good kerabu - sweet and tangy, although we would have liked some chilli heat and more deep fried shallots. It's served cold which is great for an afternoon lunch. Give it a try.

 

Deep fried soft and smooth tofu served with broccoli.The tofu is topped with deep fried shrimp powder and drenched in a light salty soy sauce.   

Location : Bangunan Tin Hong See, Jalan Belakang, Off Jalan Mendaling, 43000 Kajang

Contact : 012 6566 553/0122469169

Facebook : Kedai Makanan Wan Fatt Kajang

pH Pastry House @ Lakefields, Sg Besi

I read about pH Pastry House in a recent issue of Time Out KL magazine and decided to see if it was as good as reported.

 

It was my first visit to the Lakefields area in Sg Besi and on arrival, I must say that I was impressed by the external fascade and lighting (we visited at dinner time).

 

A display counter showed off their selection of cakes and desserts. There were quite a few cheesecakes and tarts on display. We were impressed.

 

To begin, we selected a Starter - Honey Barbecued Short Ribs. The honey barbeque sauce was thick and tasty but the ribs were tough and contained too many chewy sinews. Some trimming of the meat would have elevated this dish.  

 

Our Main Course arrived next - Beef Wellington. The beef for this dish fared better - lean and juicy. The pastry was buttery and flaky but overall the dish needed more seasoning. The sides of mashed potato and boiled vegetables were rather flat and uninspiring.

 

Our Salad arrived after the Main Course. Perhaps the crab for the Soft Shell Crab Salad  took time to be deep fried first? When it arrived at the table, we were not sure if it was our order. It looked more like a main dish rather than a salad. Anyway, there were two large pieces of soft shell crab coated in a thick batter and deep fried until crispy and topped with a tomato salsa sauce. The salad (on the side) came with avocado, olives, lettuce, baby tomatoes and cream. A real mish-mash salad which didn't really work for us.  Perhaps it should be moved to the Main Course section and renamed Deep Fried Soft Shell crab with a side of salad?

 

Alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks are available. We picked a drink described as Passie (Passion Fruit). It arrived in a shocking blue color and had only a mild passion fruit flavor in it. Hmmmmm. 

 

There were more misses than hits thus far, so we were hoping the  dessert would fare better. We chose the Lady Royale (fancy name for a Blueberry Tart). It looked great, and tasted OK. But the crust was just too thick and hard. In fact it was so hard we just ate the topping and left the crust behind. For a place that calls itself a pastry house, this was disappointing.

   

The total damage was RM112.75.

Final verdict - mediocre. I don't think I'll be making another drive to Lakefields to eat here again.

Location : 1, Jalan Tasik Utama 3, Medan Niaga Tasik Damai (Lakefields), 57000 Sg Besi, KL

Contact : 03-90548339

My Kuali does it again - Penang Hokkien Prawn Mee

After the phenomenal success of My Kuali's Penang White Curry Noodles, we were waiting in anticipation for their follow-up Penang Hokkien Mee and Tom Yam. We managed to get our hands on the former:-

 

And here's the result (we added pork balls, some fresh prawns and a hard boiled egg). 

 

The verdict ? Absolutely brilliant! It gets the Penang Hokkien Mee flavor down exactly. In fact, it's so good, I would have this any day over any hawker version around the whole South Klang Valley area. My advice to enterprising hawkers out there; find a good location, set up a stall, get some fresh prawns, sliced pork, hard boiled eggs and dish this out. Customers will be queing up for it.

Well done to the guys at My Kuali. You're doing Penang and Malaysiaa proud. Keep it coming.

Available at Giant supermarkets and some morning markets for now.

Hajah Restaurant @ Sg. Ramal Luar

Here's one for all of you working or living around Sg Ramal, Sg Chua, Serdang or even Putrajaya. If you're looking for authentic and simple Malay food, look no further than Hajah Restaurant.

 

Don't be fooled by the dilapidated shack looks - the spread of good food here will be enough to entice you.

 

 At noon time, you can have rice with various lauk (dishes) and some fresh ulam (raw vegetables).  

 

 Make a bee-line for the fried kampung (free-range) chicken or...

 

....ikan bakar (grilled fish). 

Rice with pajeri nenas and lauk ayam kampung

Nice vegetable salad with peanut sauce a-la gado-gado

    

Don't forget the cecah for the ikan bakar. The fish goes well with the dark soy sauce with cili padi or sambal belacan. The latter is not for the faint hearted as it really packs a punch. Keep the tissues close at hand.

The damage for everything including 2 iced lime drinks was only RM13.00. Good food and good price too. Two thumbs up for Hajah Restaurant.

Location : Lot 9406, Jalan Persiaran Sg Chua, Sg Ramal Luar, 43000 Kajang, Selangor.

Taste Gallery @ Bandar Mahkota

Here is a place that was listed in a Top 10 list of places to eat in Bandar Mahkota by an online portal recently. We decided to give it a try and here's what we thought:-

 

Drinks - passion fruit green tea was OK. Iced coffee - OK also. They have Illy coffee too but we did not try it this time.

 

Chef's signature Assam Laksa was OK. We would have preferred chunkier pieces of fish and more sour laksa gravy. And more prawn paste. 

 

We couldn't try their signature charcoal bun burgers on the the day we visited as they had run out of buns! So we settled for a Soft Shell Crab burger in a ciabatta bun. The soft shell crab was nice and crispy and tasty but they killed it with too much mayonaisse. There is much to be said about moderation with sauces. The fries that accompanied the burger were perfect - chunky in size, crispy on the outside and soft inside.   

 

The damage - RM44.75.  

 

First impression was rather average but we're undecided about this place. Needs more exploring of the menu. Give it a try and tell us what you think. 

Location : No 22, Jalan Temenggung 19/9, Bandar Mahkota Cheras, 43200  Cheras, Selangor

Contact : 03-90118016