KL Food Trip: Stingray Curry Mee

I don’t know how Noid searches out these places, but she manages to find new ones every time we visit. Tucked away in a nondescript coffee shop called Hai Keng Restaurant is a humble hawker stall that serves up a mean bowl of curry mee. Singaporeans will more likely call it laksa, but it’s slightly different from the usual laksa lemak made famous by 328 Katong Laksa.

The gravy is a thin curry that isn’t too lemak, i.e. with only a smidge of coconut milk for richness. It’s a bit of a hybrid as they add lime juice just before serving, so this is sour, spicy and slightly rich all at once. You can choose from laifun, which is thick rice noodles typically used in assam laksa, or yellow wheat noodles normally used in traditional KL curry mee. I liked how schizophrenic it tasted to me, as the mint leaves, lime juice and laifun lulled  my mind into thinking that it’s more like assam laksa. Then the hint of coconut milk and squishy taupok (tofu puffs) reminded me that it’s quite like Singaporean laksa too. But what set it aside was the stingray accompaniment. It came as a thick, succulent slab that added juicy seafood flavour to the whole concoction. The clams were decent too, but just couldn’t compete with the stingray.

DC had yellow noodles with roast pork topping in addition to the stingray. Even though the roast pork skin was a bit soft, the flavour of the pork was very decent and goes much better with the curry mee and stingray. Order this combination if you’re in doubt. My one criticism of this place is that while they’d arranged my clams artfully in the bowl, they forgot to add long beans to mine. I only realised belatedly that I had been somewhat shortchanged. No matter, the beansprouts in mine were fresh and crunchy.

While you’re at Hai Keng Restaurant, be sure to order the kopi. The strong local brew is thick and heady with a rich aroma, probably because the coffee beans are roasted with butter. Either that or they add a dab of butter with the condensed milk. The standard hot version and the iced versions are equally good.

Fu Shou Lou Nonya Seafood Curry Mee
Hai Keng Restaurant – near to Digital Mall
Jalan 14/20 (Seksyen 14), Petaling Jaya,
Selangor 46100, Malaysia

[GPS Coordinates: 03 06 629 N, 101 38 117 E]

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KL Food Trip: Fatty Crab

It being my birthday weekend, Noid tried to fatten me up as much as possible. She took us to Restoran Fatty Crab, a bit of an institution for the crustacean. We were told to turn up earlier or face a long wait as the place doesn’t take reservations. We were lucky enough to turn up just in time to grab the last good table there – good being far away from the sinks and the satay grilling area. All tables were covered by the same kind of maroon table cloth so threadbare there were plenty of holes in each. After each table was done, they wrapped up all the discarded shells in the cloth and whisked it off, laying a fresh holey one for the next set of customers.

No matter, we were here for the food and started off with a small serving of four chicken wings. They were nicely marinated and generously portioned – see how we got a bonus drumlet? It was just enough to whet the appetite.

We had mixed views of the other appetiser of century egg. While DC really liked the soft texture of the centres, I didn’t fancy the slight whiff of ammonia. DC was quite pleased to take the last piece that Noid found a bit too rich.

Next came the fried rice, which was masterfully made. Each grain was firm and separate from the other. There was a nice crunch from lightly cooked long bean and carrot bits. But the best part was the crab roe fried into the rice. I liked how it lightly seasoned so that you could enjoy it with the other dishes. It complemented rather than clamour for attention against the piece de resistance.

Ah yes, the crab! We ordered smaller crabs for sweeter meat. My first piece was a bit off, but the second piece was beautifully fresh and sweet. Even the meat within the spindly legs were worth my while. The sauce itself is quite different from the regular chilli sauce. Here, it’s more sweet and sour with pronounced chilli spiciness. It’s the slow burn type that doesn’t hit till you’ve dug in to at least half your crab piece and your nose starts watering from the heat. The sauce is especially good with the fried rice. DC walloped loads of it, but Noid found it a bit too spicy to eat that way.

We were shocked to be told that the place doesn’t do any kind of vegetables. My jaw fairly dropped with surprise. This is the first place I’ve ever been in that simply doesn’t do vegetables. We went for the prawns instead. These were marinated and then fried in just their shells. They were fat, juicy and fresh – very good.

This place is great for hardcore crab fans who are happy just eating from the limited range this place has. I like how it’s straightforward and no-nonsense. Not only do they provide de rigueur nutcrackers, they also put out mallets for the tougher shells to crack. A great touch for those who would leave no crab crevice untouched.

Restoran Fatty Crab
No 2, Jln SS 24/13 , Taman Megah, Petaling Jaya,
47301 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tel: +60-3-7804-5758

KL Food Trip: Fierce Curry House

DC wanted to indulge me on my birthday and took me to KL not just to see Noid and Cheese, but also to eat. We got rituals like going on pilgrimage to Klang out of the way quickly, and on the day of my birthday, we found ourselves at Fierce Curry House. I’d first heard of Fierce Curry House on Facebook when it ran its tight T-shirt promotion: the first few men who showed up in tight V-neck shirts and carrying a man bag would get free biryani. What a great stunt that even I heard of it down south in Singapore. When a friend posted a picture of the lobster biryani, we were sold. That’s how we found ourselves off the main Bangsar drag in front of a slightly shabby stretch of shophouses. It looks like a typical non-airconned place from the outside, with a large steamer stack full of biryanis and a large thosai/roti canai griddle in the front. Venture inside, however, and there’s a fairly spacious airconditioned area, complete with a crazy number of exhaust fans on the walls.

We weren’t here to ogle the walls, but the large steamer full of lobster biryani that we’d pre-ordered. They’ve a poster that quite helpfully tells you to order a day in advance.

The biryani was set over solid fuel camp stoves to keep it warm…

… and sealed the biryani pot with dough to keep the moisture and flavour in. We were so excited we couldn’t wait for the latecomers and asked them to go ahead with the unveiling. It was such a spectacle that other tables started taking pictures of our biryani too!

At first, we wondered where the lobster, was…

… and pretty much sighed with relief when each half emerged after a spot of digging with the tongs.

One of the sweet servers gamely held up the whole thing for a nice photo op before whisking it to the kitchen. We almost yelled after her, “where are you going with my lobster?!” before realising that they needed to chop it up for us first.

In the mean time, we contented ourselves with taking pictures of the fragrant rice and accompanying gravies and raitas.

Then the lobster made its comeback and we happily dug in.

The verdict? The lobster itself was a tad overrated. While of a decent size, there isn’t a great deal of meat in one lobster to go with the easily six servings of rice in the pot. The meat itself was rather mushy, showing that it’s most likely frozen lobster. But the rice itself was a revelation. It was proper basmati rice that was beautifully fluffy and infused with the scent of cardamom and most strongly of lobster. Cooking it dum style sealed in all the goodness and allowed the lobster flavour to permeate. It was just as well that the lobster meat wasn’t that great. Still, for RM240, it’s expensive even by Singapore standards.

Other dishes included the highly rated deep-fried bitter gourd. It was very nicely crisp and intensely bitter – they made it with the proper kind of bitter gourd, the deep green and prettily frilled baby ones.

We heard good things about the lamb dishes and ordered a lamb masala to complement the lobster. It was wonderfully tender and with nicely melded spices – excellent with the biryani rice or a thosai on the side.

Fierce Curry House is a nice place to check out for the spectacle of a proper biryani. They use decent quality ingredients (especially if you consider frozen lobster decent quality), but is of course pricier because you’re paying for the brand, the Bangsar location and the aircon room. I’d go again because exchange rate is much in my favour!

Fierce Curry House
16 Jalan Kemuja, Bangsar Utama, Kuala Lumpur, MY.
Tel: +6019-383-0945 / +603-2202-3456

Starting the year by looking backwards: 2012 in review

WordPress sent me this report and I’m greatly surprised that there are so many viewers from all over the world reading this blog. Thank you all for the encouragement. I’ll do my best to blog more this year!

Here’s an excerpt:

4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 23,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 5 Film Festivals

Click here to see the complete report.