Goon Wah 冠華 @Kuchai Lama –Part Deux

Before writing this, I was counting how many times  I have  been to Goon Wah since that first visit, ok, 5 . and they were all with different groups of people , and this is the problem, as these are different group of people, you ( meaning ME) end up ordering the same dishes , since the dishes are the ‘chew phai choy’ ( speciality) , not that I am complaining, I never tire of the claypot lou shue fen ( rat tail noodles) . So, this time, NO fish head, NO lou shue fen and NO kau yoke… life is soooo tough….. ( You can read about my earlier visit here )

We decided to try out the Kong Nam Noodles (江南麵 ) , ohh..where have you been all my life oh..Kong Nam noodles..this was really yummy noodles. On top of the crispy noodles, you get lotsa stuff including  : Chinese cabbage, baby corn, sweet peas, black mushroom, black fungus, button mushroom, sotong, prawns, slices of meat, century egg, pig intestine, carrots…. The noodles taste good when crispy or when soften by the gravy, they weren’t  soft or  soggy. The gravy wasn’t overly starchy which was the way I like the gravy to be. Yummylicious. Considering the ingredients.I think the price of RM9 / plate  is justified ..

 

Also ordered a side dish of stir fried kailan shoots. the kailan were soft and yet crunchy, I detect the taste of oyster sauce,  there were no other ingredients except the fried shallots for garnishing, very simple and yet, taste so good. (RM8)

 

 We also ordered  Seng Kwong Horfun ( 星光粿粉) – translated to mean, starlight koayteow. The noodle arrived with an uncooked egg yolk  in it’s middle. Probably this looks like the sun / star breaking from the darkclouds hence the name ? I dunno, my guess only. This is not a  colourful looking dish it just look like one big blob of very tanned koay teow, but during the process of mixing  / covering up the egg under the noodles , there were onions ( whole lot of it) and pork slices ( cut very generously) plus chue yau char ( fried lard), ahh..the joy of biting into a piece of chue yau char as it oozes the fat..HHMMmmmm..sinful… I find the noodles slightly sweet-ish, i rate this as average. (RM7)

 

Out of  the 5 tables around my table ( that I managed to crane my neck so far to kaypor), all of them had as a minimum, fish head noodles and claypot lou shue fen on the tables.

Goon Wah has a variety of  noodles dishes on the menu- which calls for more visits in the future.  I will be backkkkkk

 

Operating hours : 9:30 am – 3:30 pm, off on Sat and Sunday

Address

Goon Wah Restaurant 冠華自助餐宴服务 ( tel : 7982 0048 / 0722)

G13 Jalan 3/115C, Block KP 2,

Taman Kuchai Jaya

Off Jalan Kuchai Lama

58200 KL

 

Woo Pin Fish Head Noodles 湖濱鱼头米粉@ Taman Desa

My first bowl of fish head noodles was back in Penang years ago, that crowded, smokey kopitiam at Komtar , I think it was called Wen Hua or something like that, wonder if it’s still there, and after that, fish head noodles is added into my list of ‘things I will most possibly order’, the noodles, the chunks of fried fish..yummm

Been to Woo Pin a few times and tell you a secret…what I like most about Woo Pin is not the fish head noodles. but the fu-churk barley drink.Woo Pin must be the envy of any eatery, it’s crowded most of the time, people throng here during  breakfast  and later,  the lunch crowd will gather.

A young girl ( she reminds me of  Ella from SHE ( the Taiwanese girl band), the Woo Pin version) took our order, …she was assuming that we know what they have on that menu and looked displeased that she had to tell us what they serve, I added to her displeasure when I changed my mind after placing the order..how bad of me…

The menu include :

Fish head (Fried version)  noodles 炸鱼头米粉

Fish head ( poached version) noodles 生鱼米粉

Fish paste noodles 鱼滑米粉

@ RM6.50/ bowl ( small)

For noodles, you have a choice of mee-hoon  or yee mien 伊面 . You can also order the fish head or the fish paste, without the noodles.

The drinks arrived first, and hmm…this Fu-churk barley  drink never disappoint lah..the soft fu -churk  and it’s rich distinctive taste,  the barley and gingko nuts

 

The noodles came after about 15 minutes wait, not too bad considering I have had experiences of waiting for 45 minutes for my order to arrive. The fish head noodles had 3 big pieces of fish  (although not all are meaty pieces) , it came topped with coriander leaves, spring onions, fried onions. And looks very inviting. The fish tasted very fresh.( tried the poached version before, but I didn’t enjoy it too much as I do not know how to appreciate those ‘gummy’stuff / cartilages on the poached fish.)

 

My first choice was  the fish head  rather than fish paste, but since I hadn’t tried the fish paste, thought I will give it a go ( hence changing my mind in my order and hence making Ms Ella-look-alike displeased) . I find the fish paste a bit ‘tough’ , I forgot to count, but I think there were 4 or 5 pieces of the fish paste in my bowl. The bee hoon and the soup complimented each other (the soup was a bit too sour-ish for me though)

Referring to an article from The Star Metro  ( 20^th Jan 2008), the fish stock is made with dried anchovies and the soup is given an extra kick with rice wine to remove the fishy smell. The type of fish used is the ‘soong’ fish. The meehoon used is the handmade variety which is said to give a better bite. The fish paste is made from fresh tenggiri ( mackerel)

 Operating hours : 7.30am – 2.30pm (closed alternate Mondays)

NB: At night , the steamboat takes over.

 

 Woo Pin Fish Head Noodles @ Ho A One Seafood Steamboat Restaurant

 

A37, Plaza Danau 2, Jalan 109F, Taman Danau Desa.

 for enquiries : 012-201 3148

Fish Head Noodles et al – Goon Wah @ Kuchai Lama

Wikipedia Lim had been raving about Goon Wah for ages and ages, saying that this is among one of  the best fish head noodles in town, with that sort of recommendation, this was like Rukun Negara  . On top of that , it was a double-thumbs-up -and-toes-too sorta review from  the food  bloggers. But there is a snag, Goon Wah only operates on weekdays and only up to 3 pm ( means not for dinner lah) , so it’s not so easy to come this way from the office, but the silver lining is, wait for a public holiday that falls on a weekday looooohhh

 We reached G.Wah at about 11:30am on the Monday-post-merdeka holiday, and the place was packed, packed and packed, but we were quite lucky that there was an empty table for two so, we didn’t have to wait at all , but we see loads of people standing/waiting  around tables with  occupants that  are still devouring  their meals.

 We ordered the infamous XO fish head noodles and the claypot rat tail noodles 老鼠粉.they have a large list of different noodles including Melaka nyoya noodles, fried tung-hoon, moonlight hor fun 月光河 ( dunno what this is) , etc, the big plates are RM10 and the small portions RM7. There are also a variety of dishes to choose from ( can’t name any as we didn’t ask what the serve) For drinks- they have sweet potato in sugar syrup, ABC, tea, herbal drinks etc .

 The ice kacang ( no, I didn’t order this, although I did ordered the lime+sour plum drink- falling back into the soooo  predictable in the drinks department) was gigantic, and seemed to be really popular and we saw most of the tables around us had this perched on the table too.

 

While waiting, you can hear the waitresses warning ‘panas, panas’ as they ferry the XO fish head to the tables. The noodles / food  are meant to be shared as the will bring small bowls and plates to the table . And when the XO noodles arrived at our table, first reaction- wah, so big bowl ah.., no wonder Wikipedia Lim warned  that the noodles comes in portion not meant for one.

The soup is not clear although it’s not added with milk, I think this is because they have added yam to the soup (?), and the taste..YUMMMMY..i hereby proclaim thee -‘ the mother of all fish head noodles’. I especially like it because the soup is not sourish like most of the fish head noodles. There were generous amount of fish head pieces  in each pot. For fish head noodles lovers- you should not miss this !

The claypot rat-tail noodles sizzled it’s way to our table, … after blending the dark-glob on top with the noodles, there were no ‘leftover gravy’ the amount of gravy just seemed to be measured perfectly for that pot of noodles  and it wasn’t oily  and WHAADDAATHINK..   it was soooo very the good one, I tell you !! there were crunchy bits of fried lard+ dried prawns +dunno what else and it was sooooo very the good one, I tell you. ( Honestly, I love this more than the fish head noodles.)

 Actually, that was all we ordered and it was a reallllllyy happy and fulfilling meal that makes you smack your lips and rub your tummy and grin like a Cheshire cat… anyway, that’s not the end of my story as  the following day, I managed to convinced my colleagues that there is this place that the food is so good that  that people do not mind to be seated next to a ‘coffin shop’ ( Beside GW is a kedai keranda).

We ordered the fish head noodles + claypot rat tail noodles ( still taste soo very the good one ( the second time around) , I tell you ) and added an extra dish -  kou-yoke ( pork +yam) 扣肉

 

The kou yoke was…ahh..i dunno what to say lahh…So very the good one, I tell you… This dish came  with 5 steamed buns, you ‘un-lipat’ the bun, place the pork + yam between the fold …bite into the well seasoned tender pork and the yam that melts in your mouth and HHMMMMMMMMMMM ……so very the good one, I tell you…..

 GW occupies 2 shop lot , one is air-conned, the other no-conned, altho tables are set up on the kaki lima, including the kaki lima one door away ( none of the tables were set up in front of the coffin shop though )

Operating hours : 9:30 am – 3:30 pm, off on Sat and Sunday.

 Location map and address  :

Goon Wah Restaurant 冠華自助餐宴服务 ( tel : 7982 0048 / 0722)

 

If you turn in from Jalan Klang Lama to Kuchai Lama, at the traffic light junction where  you see Shell and Esso, turn right. GW is the row of shoplot on your right, if you can’t find a parking space by the road side, turn into the residential area on your left, you should be able to find a parking space.