May N Mike’s Restaurant

This is a departure from our usual South Klang Valley posts. Gd and myself decided we had to go back to our roots – Malayalee roots to be precise. Our search for good Malayalee cuisine would take us to Petaling Jaya this time. Gd had been to May N Mike's many times before but it was the first time for me. My expectations were pretty high as Gd had previously given it the thumbs-up (possibly the best Malayalee restaurant around?) and getting a thumbs-up from Gd for Indian food is quite rare. We can thank our Mum for setting pretty high standards for Indian food, to the extent that most Indian restaurants fail to meet our expectations.

Here's how we sampled the food – we got a plate of rice each, picked a few vegetables of our choice.

Then grab some meat or fish on a small plate – we had the fish puttu and

chicken varuval (dry curry ) which I think is not what it's called in Malayalam - my bad.

Make sure you take some dry spicy powder (chamandi poddi) and ginger pickle (inji pulli) from the counter.

You can have some rassam (spicy soup) and curd too if you like. Then sit back and enjoy ……

May Miranda is a true "pakka" Malayalee and it shows in her cooking. There's something very homey and down to earth in her cooking, so much so that we want to call her Aunty May ! You will notice that most vegetable dishes have grated coconut in it – typical of Malayalee cuisine. On the day we were there however, they did not have the signature Malayalee mixed vegetable dish called aviyal. So that alone is cause enough for a return visit (very soon) to Aunty May's.


Be warned however that food is more pricey than your average banana leaf joint. Expect to pay about RM15 per pax with drinks or more if you tend to load you plate with too many things!


Location :  357C, Jalan 5/57, Petaling Gardens, 46000 Petaling Jaya.
Contact : 03-77701050.

Old Man Restaurant

Firstly, let me clarify that this post is not about the Old Man Restaurant which used to be on the Kajangfood Top 10 list of best restaurants. This is actually the original Old Man Restaurant which has been around for over 30 years. I think has been handed down from father (the real old man) to son.

This is not a fancy restaurant with fancy dishes. They stick to the tried and tested and the food is pretty consistent and good. We tend to go here quite often but with no single outstanding dish to differentiate from other restaurants, it's more a place we go when we want some simple home-style food.

Top on the list of our favorite dishes here is the cheong cheng style steamed tilapia fish. A spicy and tangy sauce tops the perfectly steamed fish.

The sweet sour pork comes with chunky pieces of pork, cucumber, tomato, onions and pineapple. Crispy outside and juicy inside with good balance of sweet, sour and salty. Thumbs up.Perhaps one of the best versions in Kajang even.

A good choice for a taufoo (soy bean curd) dish here is the Japanese taufoo on hot plate which can be served with minced meat or with small prawns.

Brinjals with minced meat is simple and tasty.

Green vegetables are served with garlic, oyster sauce or sambal belacan and usually arrive crispy and crunchy.

Other good dishes here include their noodles (Cantonese style or Hokkien style), fried spring roll and pai kuat wong (King's spare ribs).

The lady boss (her husband is the cook) is a nurse by day. She speaks very good English and is usually able to suggest some good dishes. She will also adjust the order according to the number of persons so there is no wastage.

Location : Gerai Makan Tepi Medan Letak Kereta, Pasar Kajang, Off Jalan Bukit, Kajang.
Open from about 6.00 p.m. to about 10.30 p.m. and closed on Wednesdays. Ample parking.



 

Kedai Makanan dan Minuman Zuan Kee

I'm still amused with restaurants that insist on calling themselves Kedai Makanan dan Minuman (literally Eating and Drinking Shop). In fact, "Eating Shops" are quite common in the Southern part of the country especially Johor Bahru. I've spotted a few in Singapore too. Poor English lah……

This is a long overdue post and our apologies to a reader, Catherine who suggested this place about a year ago. It was on our radar but we never got around to visiting the place until now.

We asked for suggestions from the friendly waiter and he obliged with a few house specialties. First up was steamed tilapia in a spicy chilli sauce (cheong cheng). The sauce was thick and dark and to be honest, looked threatening. Fortunately it was not as fiery as it had threatened to be and turned out to be pretty tasty. Thumbs up.

The crispy salt baked chicken was next and this got the thumbs up from none other than my mother in law who is quite picky about chicken dishes. Crispy outside but moist and tender inside. Very good.

The 'special' taufoo - fried pieces of soy beancurd and fish paste (?) served with a topping of mayonnaise. I'm no fan of mayonnaise and I think this dish would have been OK without the mayo.

The honey pork belly was sinful…..and good ! Lots of fat, lots of taste.

The four vegetable (sei tai tin wong) was tasty but lacking spiciness in the sambal. Overall, it was a pretty good introduction to this restaurant and we'll definitely be back to try more dishes in future.

Location: No 1 Jalan 1/3, Seksyen 1, Bandar Teknologi Kajang, Semenyih, 43500 Selangor
Contact : 0122019118

Hometown Hot Soup Restaurant

It was pretty late on a Saturday evening (about 8.30 p.m) when we ventured to Hometown to try their hot pepper soup. Howetown is owned by the same people who operate Restoran Kee V in Sungai Chua and they have 2 popular outlets in that area. The outlet we visited is located along Jalan Semenyih, near the Billion shopping centre.

A look at their glossy menu suggested that these guys may be looking to franchise their successful food business? The crowd at this outlet seemed to indicate that they had a winning formula too. We ordered and were amazed at the speed that the food was served – we had not even finished washing the tea cups !

 We had to try the hot pepper soup with various pork innards. It was pretty decent but not particularly outstanding. It could have done with more pepper.

The fa diu kai or claypot chicken with rice wine was good. There was lots of sauce to go with the rice.

We ordered their special taufoo (bean curd). A fried block of taufoo was topped with what looked like minced meat but turned out to be chopped radish (?). This was decent enough.

The green vegetable was nice and crunchy.

Overall it was a decent enough meal, but not exciting enough to warrant a return visit. Unless of course we were dead-hungry and need a place where the food is served before you can warm the seat…….

Sahara Tent at Alamanda, Putrajaya

It was Chinese New Year season as Ros and I were celebrating our wedding anniversary recently. We were pretty much sick of Chinese food so I gave Ros a choice of Western, Japanese or Middle Eastern. She chose the latter - but the 'Middle Eastern' places around Kajang are generally pretty basic and functional, not exactly conducive for a special celebration. So we decided to venture a little further to Putrajaya.

Located within the Alamanda shopping complex in Putrajaya is Sahara Tent, an award winning Middle Eastern restaurant which gained fame in Malaysia at its flagship outlet located at the Fortuna Hotel, off Jalan Sultan Ismail, Kuala Lumpur. The entire area was later turned into Ain Arabia or Arab Quarter by DBKL. Sahara Tent's flagship outlet recently moved out to the main Jalan Sultan Ismail thoroughfare, near the old Finnegan's pub. In terms of décor, Sahara Tent @ Alamanda scores very high – fabrics and tapestries decorate the walls, Arabian carpets and artifacts are strewn around the outlet and even the lighting uses Arabian colored glass light fittings. Several group dining areas resemble a desert tent – very appropriate for a restaurant that takes its name from a desert tent. Service too was great – I think the wait staff were mainly Filipino and spoke pretty good English – a real plus point in this day and age of foreign workers.

We ordered the Meze Platter. Now I had ordered the same item at their flagship outlet in KL and the six items were served on several small platters – hummus, murtabel, chef's special eggplant, tabouleh, fattoush and waraq-enab. Here, the items were served on a single platter – but I should say, with sufficient portions to be shared by two. No complaints in that sense.

The hummus or mashed chickpea with olive oil was smooth and creamy with a tinge of bitterness. Scooped up with some bread, this is a dish synonymous with Middle eastern food for me. Murtabel on the other hand is mashed eggplant. I could not identify the seasoning but it was served with olive oil an olive on top. We liked the hummus better.

Tabbouleh is one of the 2 salads served on the platter and is a salad served with bulgur (a type of wheat). It has a slight bitter taste which may have come from parsley in the salad and sourness from lemon. Fattoush is the other salad on the platter. This had diced cucumber, tomato, onion and crispy bread pieces in a tangy salad dressing. Very appetizing.

Another inclusion on the platter was described as Chef's Special. From what I could make out, it was grilled eggplant with onion and chilli, tomato and capsicum. It had a tangy taste as well, and we both liked this. There were also two pieces of vine wrapped rice parcel (or waraq-enab). Vine leaves are a little bitter, so be warned.

 

For our main, we had the Chicken Briyani – nice long grained rice full of flavor topped with a moist and tender piece of chicken. Excellent in terms of taste. The accompanying tomato gravy was bland and tasteless – strictly for those who must moisten their rice with some gravy !

To complete the meal, we ordered some sweet dessert - baklava. This was supposed to be freshly made with crispy and crumbly pastry and sweet syrup. Here it was pre-made and refrigerated so the filo pastry had gone hard. My advice - avoid ordering this.

Overall, the food was pretty good (excluding the dessert), ambiance was great and prices were moderate. We'll return to explore the menu further.

Location : Sahara Tent Restaurant at the Ground Floor of Alamanda, Putrajaya located near the fountain area on the outside of the complex.

New bak kut teh stall near the Kajang market car park

We visited the new (1 week old only) bak kut teh stall near the Kajang market car park (where 7 Wonders used to be). We understand that the cook (he is either Burmese or Vietnamese) used to work at the "Longkang" place. The look and taste is quite similar to Longkang's BKT and we were pretty satisfied. Certainly worth another visit.

Look out for a full review soon. Happy Chinese New Year to everyone. Happy eating in the Year of the Rabbit !

Min Kee Restaurant, Revisited 2011 (CLOSED)

UPDATE AS AT JUNE 2014 - CLOSED.
Chef Loo has decided to call it quits. It was good while it lasted. Will live in our memories. Yum.
 
It's been more than a year since we first posted about Min Kee and we are glad to report after a recent visit thatChef Loo is still producing top class food. A testament to the quality of their food is the popularity of this establishment with many local market traders. Most market traders are particular about freshness of produce and 'clean' taste of the food. Min Kee scores pretty high on both counts. On most visits here, we've seen various market traders having their dinner here and also celebrating special occasions. During our last visit, we met a family of traders from the Kajang wet market who had brought their own terrapin to be cooked by Chef Loo. The wafting aroma of the terrapin cooked in a claypot with ginger (and some rice wine?) was enticing enough for us to enquire with the operator about the dish. A pity that terrapin is not easily available in Broga these days.

In our last post, we did not include their signature dish (which requires prior booking). The braised eight treasure duck alone is worth the 20 odd kilometer drive from Kajang to Broga. The duck is cooked until tender and almost melts in the mouth.

 Stuffed with nuts (lotus and gingko), mushrooms, carrots and some other nutritious goodies, the stuffings add more depth of flavor to the dish. I ended up literally licking off all the goodness from the bones! Highly recommended and still a steal at RM48 for a bird.

Another must have that we did write about previously is the crispy butter fried tilapia. The fish is filleted, sliced and deep fried with butter. Lip smacking and finger lickingly good to the last bone.

The braised pork dishes here tend to be good. We had the char yoke the last time and this time we had the pork and yam. The pork was melt in your mouth tender and had well absorbed the five spice flavored sauce. Thumbs up.

Green vegetables are grown around Broga so you can be assured of fresh and crunchy vegetables here. The yau mak was cooked with fermented bean curd (and some intensely hot chilli padi). Thumbs up, but be warned about the chilli padi!

The fern shoots (pakis) cooked with sambal belacan packed a punch too. I guess they like their vegetables with a kick here ? I found it very good actually.

It was a very satisfying visit to Min Kee and we can confirm that this is a place that will remain on our Top 10 list for some time to come. Do give it a try, but make sure you call in advance and book the braised duck.

Location : Lot 2788, Kg Baru Broga, Pekan Broga, 71750 Lenggeng, Negri Sembilan (it's a few kilometers after the Nottingham University campus)
Contact : 016-381 8038