kajangfood: Ex Oldman, Restaurant Happy

To write or not to write, to share or not to share - the million dollar question we always ask. To be honest, I am reluctant to share this place as it is ‘damn good’ and I don’t want to end up waiting when I go there once he become famous, but.......what the heck!

Famous Oldman (retired)

Farewell Oldman, welcome Youngman and I am indeed happy to blog about Happy Restaurant - it’s kept me happy for the last month or so since they appeared on my food radar.

Located at the parking lot of Pasar Kajang where the Oldman Restaurant used to be, it is now renamed as Happy Restaurant and run by a young tattooed Chef and his Cantonese/Mandarin speaking and ever-smiling wife. Nice couple they are.

I was a bit skeptical when this new guy appeared about 2 weeks after Oldman Uncle decided to retire. He told us his son’s friend will be taking over after a quick renovation. Now I have been a faithful customer for the last 3 weeks or so and I have to admit, I am kinda addicted to this place, swearing to come back again next weekend!

'Youngman' Chef

Today’s dinner even inspired me to get back to my blogging, so here it goes - Kajang’s new secret food hideout @Pasar Kajang parking lot - Restoran Happy.

Husband wife team with a child in tow, the wife greets you with a big smile (every time without fail), she even remembers what you had there the last time and ever willing to recommend something new for us to try. Although a Myanmarese, she speaks Mandarin and Cantonese fluently and some Bahasa too.

What have we tried so far and recommendations: at the top of the list will be the simple fried Talapia topped with lots of fried garlic-chili-api mix - superb, will make your crave for more! Well executed for a very simple fried fish but full of flavour from the garlic-chili api sauce.This is a must have. (FYI: There is a guy under a tree in Sg. Way who does this style of frying Ikan Kembung for lunch, laced with similar garlic sauce - very famous - behind Cycle & Carriage, 200m from new Krishna Curry House - Federal Highway)

Fried Talapia with garlic-chili-padi topping

Next, pork ribs cooked with lots of onion and tomato plus some samsu (rice wine) - as normal as it look, has a fantastic aroma/flavour to it (reminds me of really good claypot musang from the good old days) - its a very 'old school' way of cooking with fantastic results.

The Bitter Gourd and Salted Egg came as the biggest surprise - we were expecting the normal stir fried green bitter gourd, but was completely surprised when it was served as deep fried and looked much different from our expectation - it was very tasty and strangely, not bitter! Makes a good appetizer.

Retro-tasting Pork Ribs with onion-tomato & samsu

I also have to mention the pork ribs (or even fried chicken) topped with crushed peanuts sauce we had - very tasty and flavourful.

We had eggplant/brinjal with salted fish and this was also a winner - flavourful but a little oily (he admitted, he forgot to drain the eggplant after frying it - give him the benefit of the doubt this time - still new).

Fried Bitter Gourd in Salted egg

Other dishes we tried here were kangkong in claypot - not sure why the claypot but just average stir fried kangkong. It was ok, little different. The curry sea-food claypot of parwns/sotong/fish was very tasty, worth a try too. There is also a dry fish head curry - garupa fish with some vege - also tasty and worth the try.

What was amazing, my kaki makan friends all kept telling me, this place is like an addiction, we keep wanting to go back there week after week for his cooking! Must be good. He is open from about 10am in the morning to about 3pm after lunch, then a break till 5.30pm, then to 9.00pm. Youngman has taste and can dish out some awesome dishes, tell us what you think. Keep up the good work Chef Youngman!

GPS Location 2.990527, 101.793127
Address: 824, Jalan Changkat, 43000 Kajang, Selangor
(Pasar Kajang Car Park area)

(more photos to whet your appetite below)