Koon Kee 冠记 @ Petaling Street

Humans are habitual beings, for example, if I go to Petaling Street, I tend to do 2 things, 1- eat Wan Tan Mee , 2 – tarpau a dumpling ( with everything in it :salted egg, chestnut, mushroom, fatty pork, mung beans)  for next day’s breakfast  .  ( and sometimes # 3- have the logan & melon drink).

We had a heavy ( and late) breakfast and the gang thought that we might even be able to last until dinner, but…a little bit past 12:30 and I started to show signs  of a malnutritioned person stranded on a deserted island ( kinda like Tom Hanks in Castaway minus the beard and Mr Wilson)  and since we were in Petaling Street, it was kinda natural that the itinerary for lunch would be Wan Tan mee at Koon Kee.

 

 I ordered char siu wan tan mee (wtm)  ( even looking at the picture as I am writing …my mouth salivate for that tasty and succulent char siu) ..the mee was finer than the normal noodles used in wtm, and it was springy- the gravy was a bit salty though, and I would prefer the wan tan with a bit more meat as what I got was more the ’skin’ rather than meat lorr..

 

Chunny had the char siu + kai si (chicken shreds) wtm. While waiting for our meal, AhPhengg had nipped down the corner to tarpau the logan +melon drink for us. Kun Kee seemed pretty cool about this, although they serve their own drink -chrysentimun or sugar cane or chinese tea

 AhPhenggg had the thung ku+ kai kiok ( mushroom + kaki ayam) wtm -which was one other option that I would have ordered as I love the chewy wrinkled stewed  phoenix feet ( nicer way of saying kaki ayam)

 

 Chunny performed a magic trick by turning  2 chopsticks into 3 – Voila…this is better than Copperfield !   (chopstick was broken while attempting to dislodge part of  the ayam’s kaki from AhPhengg’s plate – this is not an indication that the kaki was too tough, but rather – #1 they don’t make chopsticks like they used to #2 Chunny has hidden kung fu  for chopstick breaking # 3 global warming ( well, everything is related to global warming !!)

 

Location :

 

Opposite Hong Leong Bank at the busy Petaling street

 

NB: I don’t think they charged us for the damaged  chopstick

Precious Old China @ Petaling Street

After the colour burst from Central Market as well as feeling lighter after having my feet nibbled at the fish spa, it’s down to the main agenda of visiting Central Market – i.e. lunch at Precious Old China Restaurant and Bar.

 

Stepping into Precious, you can’t help but let your eyes wander and wanting to take in all the objects and images around you, the medicine cabinet, the vases, the cengal bar counter , the bright painting of the Chinese opera figures….

We were led to a two seater table, and I was grinning like humpty dumpty ( before his mishap) as I sat on the antique looking chair and admired the stained-glass decorative panels, later the sight was more than what was absorbed as we caught the whiff of cigarette smoke , lucky we hadn’t ordered, so we asked to be seated at the non-smoking area.

Let me briefly  run you through the menu :

Appertizers : Pie Tee ( top hat) , spring rolls, Lobak, Jiu Hu Char

Soup : Itik Tim, Ginseng Chicken

One dish meals include: Nasi lemak ( RM10.80), Nyonya laksa, Mee Sua, Nyoya belacan fried rice.

Chicken : Fried Chicken, Ayam Pong Teh, Cincalok chicken, Devil Chicken curry, Nyoya rendang chicken, Kapitan chicken

Duck, Beef

Seafood : fish Head curry, sweet & sour, Sambal tumis fish, Asam fish fillet

Squid : fried sotong, sambal tumis, sambal petai sotong

Prawn: Lemak nenas prawn, fried asam, butter prawn, sambal petai,

Vege ” baby kalian, pucuk paku, okra kerabu, nyoya chap char

Tofu, eggs etc.

The Jiu Hu Char (RM10.80) presented to us was very dainty, the sengkuang/ turnip shreds were very finely cut with generous chicken pieces, mushroom and cuttle fish, there were some lettuce and also side dish of  sambal. Step one, take 1 leaf of lettuce, fill lettuce leaf with Jiu Hu char, dabble generous amount of sambal, roll the lettuce and …YUMmmy..it was very delicious

 

The rendang chicken curry was.. …yummyyy…the gravy was rich and thick and fragrant and the chicken pieces are well marinated and tender…I almost felt like  licking  the plate but managed to maintain my composure…

 

The pucuk paku came with lotsa toppings : peanuts, prawns, lemongrass, onion, chili padi etc. This was good as well..all the condiments complimented each other and flavoured the dish very well indeed.

 

The interesting part of the furniture is each (almost_ of the tables and chairs differ from the other tables, there is no uniformity here, there are  even Victorian style chairs here, these are said to be the props used in the movie Anna and the King. Directly facing me was an altar with a pair of deities ( said to be from Vietnam), one was riding an elephant and the other a tiger.

 

One other interesting thngy is the ‘traditional door’ in the washroom.

 

While waiting for the bill to be settled, we wandered to the table at the opposites of the bar counter and there were numerous Southeby auction catalogues- art, jewellery etc  these catalogues are for sale, and according to the staff, proceeds goes to charity, the smaller books are RM5 and the large books are priced at RM10.

 http://www.oldchina.com.my/

Location map Precious Old China Restaurant and Bar and Old China Cafe

Restoran Chinatown Seng Kee@Petaling Street

As soon as we took a seat, a man came around to take our order for drinks .

For drinks, they have fresh juices, Chinese tea or cooling tea/ leong char . I opted for lime juice+sour plum and Chunny asked for Chinese tea. Come to think of it , I am getting really predictable in the drinks department, it has been a few repeats of lime+sour plums or ice kacangs- I must be more original lah, ok, will get a Guiness for next meal !

 After ordering our drinks, an auntie came and ask us what we would like for food. This is my first trip to Seng Kee, this eatery is famous for it’s claypot lou-shue-fern ( rat-tail noodles), so we must order that lah, also ordered the BBQ pork noodles and 6 pieces of yong tau foo.

 Indian uncle selling lottery came about, no takers. I don’t think I have ever  come close to getting the last 2 digit right, – so I sorta given up on this ‘investment’. Although a few years back, I did ask my colleague to get me a copy of  the ‘book of lucky numbers’ to see if I can make some money from my myriad of dreams every night.

Those of you that do not have a clue on what I am talking about, this little book has (almost) a number for everything, e.g. putting on lipstick – is 747, pisang goreng seller – 605,  linoleum – 922 . Linoleum also got one lah…so hor-liau lahhh !!

Back to food…

 The claypot noodles turns out to be a bit overated, it’s pretty ok  but maybe not as great as what I expect from the reviews that I read. The cooking style is ‘wet’ and one thing for sure, there’s a lot of stuff in the claypot, you get a lot of mince pot, prawns ( also an raw egg on top) and the serving is not small, for small eaters, I think 1 serving would be suffice for 2 persons. (RM8 / 1 serving).

 The BBQ pork noodle (RM9)  was a bit of a letdown, the noodles was too dry and has a  spongy texture, the BBQ pork was pretty good though, the fat layer and the lean layer blended nicely with a bit of chew. We put down a note to just order the BBQ next time sans noodles lah.

 

The nicest surprise was the Yong Tau Foo (RM0.90/ piece) ..this is the best dish out of the three, the fish paste is good, we ‘dissected’ the fried tofu but couldn’t find any fish paste in it, wonder was it intentional -anyway, the tofu taste great -crispy on the outside and soft and tofu-ey on the inside, so I didn’t mind missing the fish paste too much.

 

When walking out of Seng Kee, did a quick scan of the tables as we walk passed ( tables were set up on the kaki-lima as well) and nearly all of them have ordered claypot noodles.

 

Restaurant Chinatown Seng Kee 唐人街胜记

52, Jalan Sultan

50000 KL

Tel : 2072 5950