The Malaysian Food Review

A standard bowl of Prawn Mee here comes with small shrimp, half a hard-boiled egg, and lots of fried onions, which is great. Despite the soup tasting really good, I can’t help but be a little disappointed that there were no boiled pork slices or kangkung. Most, well actually, all other prawn mees I’ve had come with pork slices. The chilli paste was decent, but nothing to shout about. At RM3.50, there’s simply not much bang for your buck.

The cool thing about this stall though, is that it allows you to customize your Prawn Mee. This is where it gets exciting. Fidel Gastro ordered his with pai kuat (pork ribs) which cost him RM6.50. SekSun had his with pig intestines, which came to RM5.00. Being the designated reviewer, I couldn’t be outdone. So having wolfed down a standard Prawn Mee, I ordered a second bowl, this time with pig intestines AND pig tail. The cost? RM8.00. The most I have ever paid for a bowl of Prawn Mee. Beat THAT.

Unfortunately, I didn’t feel pig intestines and pig tail were suitable ingredients in Prawn Mee. The taste was a bit funny. Maybe it just took some getting used to. But I would definitely recommend it with pork ribs, as it looked a good fit.

All in all, this is one of the better Prawn Mees I’ve had, mainly because of the soup and the customizability. Unfortunately I can’t give it a high rating because the standard bowl doesn’t come with pork slices, veggies or fresh prawns, which I have had elsewhere. So it’s not my personal favourite. However, if you’re adventurous and don’t mind forking out a few extra dollars for special ingredients, this place comes highly recommended.

A word of advice, having 2 bowls of Prawn Mee for lunch is not a smart thing to do, particularly if you’re playing futsal a couple of hours later. I won’t be forgetting those stomach cramps anytime soon.

Following up on the previous Char Kuey Teow review from PJ Old Town. Let me bring you to Penang where most people may already know this Penang cuisine is famous for its road side hawker foods. We bring you to another Char Kuey Teow stall at Lorong Selamat, Penang. As you can see, this is no ordinary Char Kuey Teow stall. For a whopping RM7.50 it is the most expensive Char Kuey Teow I have eaten at a road side stall.

NOTE: This hawker stall does not serve the dish to your table, it is self service! You will have to line up to get your dish, which is pretty ridiculous for a hawker stall in Malaysia.

Knowing the queues in advance, we decided to pay an early visit to the Char Kuey Teow aunty. We were third in line but the assistants were just preparing the wok to be heated up by hot burning charcoal [picture below].We were also able to witness the fresh cockles delivered by a motorcyclist to this stall. I believe it is done daily, because only a bag was delivered.

The chef aunty started at 11.30am sharp while one of the assistant took the order and the other assistant counted the exact amount of the prawns, cockles and lap cheong (Chinese sausage) for each plate. As you can see from the picture, the aunty was well prepared with goggle, apron, chef hat and also a pair of original Crocs sandals to make her comfortable standing there for the rest of the afternoon.

After lining up for 15mins, we finally got our food. The food looks and smell great with the big mouth watering prawn. After we sat down, the waiter asked us “how many bowls of ice kacang?” We didn’t know why he only offered the ice kacang because he could offer other drinks as well but we guessed that they have the highest margin from ice kacang.

Tasting

The Judging

Once there, make your way to the Char Kuey Teow stall and order from the nice friendly auntie. Then take a seat and wait for you food. You should bring a newspaper or magazine if you're alone and don't go with friends you dislike cos it will be quite a wait. The reason is that the cook only fries a maximum of 2 PLATES each time. This is the best quality control technique for frying Kuey Teow and is the key to why the Char Kuey Teow is so good.

Sek Sun and I ordered Kuey Teow Mee, mine with chilli, his without. And Bottomless Pit ordered just Mee. Yes its true, he ordered Char Kuey Teow without the Kuey Teow, he's one of a kind.

As you can see it is a beautiful plate of Kuey Teow. The ingredients were all perfectly blended together. I think most Char Kuey Teows are guilty of giving too little beansprout and Gau Choi, this one have just the right amount. Taking a taste I realised why I used to love it so much. The flavour is just right, and it is not oily at all. There were no evidence of pork lard used, but I may be wrong. When we finished the plate, we could see that there were not much oil left on the plate, unlike some other CKT where you could still see the red liquid on the plate.

Eating the Char Kuey Teow makes me get the feeling that the cook is really passionate about his work as he sweats it all out to make sure that every plate of his Char Kuey Teow tasted like his best plate, like an artist at work I would put him in the same class as Da Vinci, Beethoven, Zinedine Zidane and Borat.

I was tempted to order a 2nd plate but decided agaisnt it, worrying that overeating will spoil my liking for it.

Final Verdict (Poor/Fair/Good/Very Good/Excellent/Outstanding):
Taste: Outstanding
Ambience: Very Good (Bottomless Pit liked the Old School Kopitiam style of the place)
Price: RM3.00 (small) RM3.50 (big) / Reasonable
Rating: 9.5/10

Overall, a very satisfying breakfast indeed. I should point out that the place only opens in the morning till lunch time. By 1pm or so they would have sold out. For Char Kuey Teow fans out there, this is a MUST TRY!

Before I go, here is a sneak preview of Bottomless Pit as he was leaving the Kopitiam, notice the resemblence to a famous cartoon character?

Ok folks, time for me to make like a banana and split. Till the next review.

By now most of you would've heard the shocking news of the passing of one of television's most memorable personalities. Yes, the Crocodile Hunter is dead - floored (or should I say, sunk) by a Stingray barb. He's entertained us, educated us, and made us all sound like idiots when we tried to imitate his catchphrases. So I felt compelled to pay tribute to this great man..... by having stingray for lunch.

This mission took me to Jalan Bellamy, the home of 3 famous Ikan Bakar (Grilled/Barbecued Fish) stalls. Jalan Bellamy is located somewhere behind the Istana Negara.

Ikan Bakar Ramli Yusuf was my stall of choice, as it usually is. I'm not sure why I always pick this stall, but I'm guessing it's because it's always the nearest to my parking spot. All 3 are supposed to be good anyway.

For some reason, there weren't as many people as there usually were. Having caught sight of my delicious prey, I quickly grabbed 2 plates of stingray and made for the table, while my lunch partners brought along catfish (ikan keli), shad (ikan terubuk), and a whole squid (sotong) for company.

I attacked the stingray (ikan pari) immediately. In my opinion, stingray was born for ikan bakar. It's a beeeyooooootiful fish, scaleless, with soft and chewy flesh, and its skin when burnt is very tasty. Another plus point is that the stingray's bone is a flat sheet down the middle of the fish, so it's really easy to separate the flesh from it. Some people even consume the crunchy bone altogether. Crikey!

Ok, no more Steve Irwin catchphrases, I promise.

Next up, the catfish (ikan keli). This delicious freshwater fish is easy to eat and extremely soft and tasty.

One thing to note about this fish is that it has plenty of fat. It may gross you out a bit, but don't worry, because it's Omega-3 fat and is actually good for your heart.

This is one of my must-have fishes. It's good even without any sauces.

The shad (ikan terubuk) is not one I would normally pick. It's immensely popular with Malays, who argue that it possesses a very unique flavour. Personally, I prefer chucking it to the starving cats lurking underneath my table. It's not that it ISN'T tasty, the problem is that it's deathly annoying to eat. Terubuk is scaly and chock-full of tiny bones. You need patience for this, and you NEED to eat it with your hands. I won't recommend it otherwise.

Normally, I prefer my squid fried in a crunchy, golden-brown batter, but my resistance crumbled when I saw this little beauty.

This magnificent squid cost us a bomb, but it was well worth it. It was already fresh and tasty, but dipping it into the superb sour chilli sauce made it even better.

The only question is - would you pay RM20 for it? We certainly didn't hesitate.

All in all, I think this place rates very highly among other ikan bakar outlets in KL and PJ. There's a good variety of fish and other seafood, and they all taste great with or without the chilli sauces. Prices are reasonable as well, each fish costs about RM5 or 6, with the exception of the squid which can escalate depending on the size. The only problem I have is that it can be quite difficult to get a seat (or a parking spot) during lunchtime.

Next time i'm there I'll review the scad (ikan cencaru), red tilapia, mackerel (ikan kembong), and cockles (kerang) if they're available.

Steve, this one was for you, mate. Yer a bleedin' legend. Take it easy, and we'll catch ya later.

The place is Hj. Samuri and it is situated in the Damansara Uptown area (behind Maybank, same row as the now defunct Fajar Shopping Centre). This place serves a good variety of Satay including: Chicken, Beef, Lamb, Rabbit, Venison, Fish, Chicken Liver and Beef Tripe. I ordered a few sticks of chicken and lamb and also one serving of Nasi Impit. Within 5 minutes, my food was brought to me. The kuah and chilli is seperated so you can play chef and adjust the level of spicyness to suit your own taste.

The Chicken tasted good as usual, there's something about the way these dudes marinate the chicken, it tastes so much better than the usual satay you get at kopitiams or mamaks. The lamb tasted pretty good too, tender and juicy. I'm not a big fan of beef satay, it's just too hard to chew. The kuah compliments the satay well, and its rare to see someone not scooping for a second bowl. However, this place can sometimes be quite inconsistent. A few of my satays were burnt to black almost entirely as you can see from the picture below.

After having the satay, if there is still room in your stomach, remember to try the ABC Teringin. It is a solid bowl of Ice Kacang and is the perfect icing on the cake after a scrumptious meal of Satay.

I'd try out the other types of satays (fish sounds interesting) if MFR would furnish me with some budget. As of now, we, the reviewers have to fork out our own money... the horror. Mr. Boss I hope you're reading this.

Final Verdict:

*Look out for the antique typewriter on the counter as you pay for your food.

That's it for now, will be back with more from my trip to Penang. Until then, SEE YOU LATER ALLIGATOR!