Was the fat on the duck plate from the duck, or separated from the coconut you think? I had a rendang-flavored southern Thai goat curry yesterday and it’s amazing how the choice of meat changes the dish. Also intrigued that the menu has duck and beef but no lamb, which I have been told in the past is the “traditional” meat.
(Also interesting for my goat rendang-ish dish yesterday was that it was served with paratha, which worked really well – I’ve only ever eaten these preps with rice.)
Blue pea flower rice is trending everywhere except the US I think!
I’ve pencilled this in for one of the mornings next week.
This morning we intended to take it easy, as we have a wedding reception to attend this evening.
I had my usual coffee related Goldilocks tour of the neighborhood while my husband grumbled at my antics. Walked into a trendy looking place called Timothy which then turned out to be cashless, so walked out again. Walked into an even trendier looking place called Kleptokrat but they didn’t open until 11am (which was only in 12 min but I didn’t want to wait around and they didn’t even offer to let us sit down to wait). Walked into a place called Lilibet but their coffee menu looked meh. Finally went into a place called Box KL (34D & 34E, Jalan Hang Lekiu, Kuala Lumpur City Centre, 50050 Kuala Lumpur) which accepted cash and was really good. MYR 24 for 2 flat whites. And they crafted a seahorse in the foam on top of mine!
Tomorrow we need to go and check out Restoran Nasi Ayam Kam Kee which is on the same street to see whose chicken rice is better. Nam Heong are clearly milking their Michelin bib gourmand status, with little flags stuck into each main dish reminding you of it!
The highlight for me was the choy sum with shallot oil - the vegetable flavour was so good and the steaming and seasoning just perfect. I had the char siu meal. I know it is sacrilege to say so but I prefer my char siu lean and this was quite fatty. But I enjoyed the meal anyway.
Char siu bao was served warm and had a good filling to pastry ratio.
I didn’t try the egg tart but my husband felt the filling to pastry ratio was too low. Pastry looked flaky.
The egg sponge was great. Still warm from the oven (I asked for one from the tray that had just been baked rather than the ones that were already in cellophane at the front). Really light, airy and not too sweet.
You don’t like milky tea? I tend to adjust to local customs and drink my coffee and sometimes even tea with milk when I’m in Asia. But I never do at home…
Well, if I’m having Chinese dim sum, even sweet items, I sort of expect to have unsweetened green tea or jasmine tea. I think I’m still getting used to the idea of Malaysian teh tarik.
Coffee as well, I’d prefer to drink black or something like a cortado or flat white instead of Hainanese coffee. But I do like Vietnamese iced coffee with a small amount of condensed milk.
Oh yeah you’re so right: milky tea with dim sum… Not me!
Coffee same for me. At home I only drink espresso but out in the wild I will sometimes order a flat white, cortado, espresso machiato or even but rarely a cappuccino.
The server made a mistake on your order - she should have pointed you to the Chinese Tea section of their menu, instead of the Drinks section, which serves coffeeshop/kopitiam kind of drinks:
When I was there with a couple of KL friends back in Sep, I wanted the Malaysian-style of tea, whilst one of my friends wanted Chinese tea - you can see my friend’s pot of tea & mug in the background, whilst my Malaysian tea (with milk and sugar) was in the foreground:
Fung Wong offers Malaysian coffeeshop/kopitiam beverages because it’s not a genuine yum cha spot in the first place, but a Cantonese baked goods shop. The present 3rd-generation owners had wanted to broaden their offerings and introduced steamed dim sum items. So, their offerings is a hodge-podge of items which traditionally do not appear together in one eatery.
The lady at the Fung Wong counter didn’t even show me the menu you have posted the photo of above! Thanks for sharing - next time I’m in there I will pull it up on my phone to order.
I was actually in Fung Wong a couple of hours ago with a friend but they were sold out of egg tarts and egg sponge, so we left without getting anything.
Yesterday evening we attended a wedding reception which was held at Khan’s Indian Cuisine (No.8, Level 1, The Sphere No.1, Avenue 1, Jalan Kerinchi, Bangsar South, 59000 Kuala Lumpur). It was a buffet dinner for around 200 guests. Because it was a family wedding situation, I couldn’t really take photos or even eat properly as had to socialise with a lot of guests. The buffet selection was extensive, catering to any and all dietary requirements. And the restaurant is huge.
We got home after 1 am, so by the time we got up it was pretty late. Stopped in to Box KL to get a flat white. Well made by the barista but just the standard flat white, no fancy seahorse art on top this morning.
Then walked to Lai Foong hoping to get some wantan mee. The whole place was really busy. A friendly man at the front counter said I could just order from any stall and then find a table to eat at. I looked around and could see lots of different choices but no wantan mee options. I went back to the man and he said the wantan mee stall doesn’t open on a Sunday. Went across the street to try our luck at Sin Kiew Yee Shin Kee Beef Noodles but there were around 50 people waiting to get in. So we found ourselves back at Nam Heong - we got seated straight away. This time we got:
The dry char siu noodles came with a few slices of pickled green chilli and some bean sprouts. I really like these noodles, which had a springy and al dented texture. Food came quickly and service was brisk but responsive.
We were meeting an Australian friend in the afternoon. We thought REXKL would be a good place to meet up. But it turned out to be a little too cool for school for us. It was super busy. There was an interesting looking ramen place but it only had bar seating and was completely packed and was next to the ladies toilets. I needed to use the toilet and couldn’t even figure out how to lock the toilet stall door. So this place was like hipster central but the loos were appalling - puddles of water on the floor, sketchy loo roll situation and doors that didn’t lock. I don’t know if this was meant to be part of the vibe but it certainly didn’t appeal to me. Some quick scoping of the surrounding area and we landed in the distinctly uncool Mona Lisa Kitchen and Bar (78, 2, Jalan Sultan, 50000 Kuala Lumpur). What sold this place to us was it was not heaving with customers, had a decent but not over the top level of air conditioning, had cocktails which were cheaper than REXKL and had a clean bathroom with doors that locked and well-stocked with loo roll. I guess this is what you call living a middle-aged life.
My friend and I both had Palomas (tequila, agave, grapefruit soda) and we had a bottle of San Pellegrino to stay adequately hydrated. Husband had a virgin yuzu mojito which was too sweet so he used the San Pellegrino to dilute it to his taste.
The service was good. We were able to linger there for a couple of hours and chat. A couple at the table next to us had ordered food and we watched as a selection of pretty OTT dishes were brought to their table, including a couple of scallops on the half shell, each one topped with a slice of black truffle and a small amount of caviar, a pizza covered with large prawns and a huge steak. The decor was a bit cheesy, but by the end we were sort of appreciative - the restaurant is located in an old Chinese townhouse. You can just about make out the Chinese characters in the plasterwork above the Mona Lisa painting:
After the cocktails, needed some caffeine so headed to Yew Yew (63-D, Ground Floor, Bangunan Ka Yin, Jalan Sultan, 50000 Kuala Lumpur), a tiny cafe which looked promising.
A Christmas tree with a star on top and snow falling around!
Man, I have been really impressed with the KL coffee scene. More so because I haven’t come across Starbucks or any other big corporate chains so far. But plenty of smaller coffee places with very nice coffee and amazing coffee art skills.
I mentioned above that Fung Wong Biscuit had sold out of egg tarts and sponge cakes when we dropped in today. But I came across two men running an apam balik cart on my way back to the hotel. There were two different kinds, a smaller folded coconut one (RM 1.20) and a larger two layer peanut one with chopped peanuts and sugar in the middle (RM 1.80). I got one of each. Served warm in a piece of paper. Fluffy, not too sweet. Didn’t take photos as it was too crowded and then hands were full juggling the two different servings.
Unlike my hotel which will slap you with a big fine if they catch any trace of durian in the guest rooms, this hotel in the city centre seemed to be positively durian-friendly! The de King boutique hotel in KLCC. With a D King (Durian King) stand right at the entrance.
I thought these were just some random durian parked outside a stall that hadn’t opened, but then realised that people probably wouldn’t leave durian just lying around like this. Later when the stall was open, the stall holder was cutting it up and it was jackfruit - doh!
Back to 8055 Coffee this morning. A bit of a blip - the lady at the counter said they didn’t have milk but could offer oat or coconut milk instead. I said, OK, I’ll have oat milk and then she was going to charge me RM 4 extra for the oat milk. When I tried to explain that I shouldn’t have to pay extra because they don’t have cows milk, she just couldn’t understand what the problem was. So I said I’ll just have an americano instead. Anyway, that blip was soon assuaged by the fact that they had some ikan bilis donuts in their pastry display this morning. They warmed it up nicely in a little toaster oven on the counter. It was so good - perfect texture on the sweet bready part of the donut, and a spicy, salty, fishy filling. A work of genius.
Confession: before the coffee we stopped into Restoran Santa Chapati House for a quick bite - masala dosa for my husband, roti canai for me. Forgot to take photos. Served on plates instead of banana leaves. Sambar and chutney with the dosa, served in little side bowls (a plus, because our previous dosa attempt at the banana leaf place had no side bowls so the dosa became soggy very quickly). My roti canai came with a little side bowl of a different dal made of whole mung beans.
Hmmm…on examining this photo more closely I now see they have goat and goat keema on the menu. Might need to try that out sometime. So much to try, so little time left in KL!
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