The Malaysian Food Review

We decided to take it easy and have some common dishes at night, after our exciting adventure at Lawan Kuda. We are always told, Ipoh has the best bean sprout chicken and kuey teow. So we decided to try it out for dinner. The famous Lou Wong in Ipoh has already exported this dish to KL with multiple branches around Klang Valley. Being the anti-favourites, we decided to try out Onn Kee instead.

Where is it?
It is located in downtown Ipoh. Ask for directions if you are totally clueless. Every respectable Ipoh citizen will know where it is. It is located in what is a bean sprout chicken triangle.

What is it?
Bean sprout chicken is a dish made famous in Ipoh. The bean sprouts are cooked in boiling water till just cooked. Served in a sauce of soy sauce, seseame oil, garnished with chilli, spring onions and deep fried onion.
The chicken is bak-zham-wat-kai style or white smooth chicken. It is also cooked in boiling water till just cooked to preserve the natural taste and juice of the chicken meat. It is served with soy sauce, seseame oil, and spring onion.
Kuey teoy soup goes best with this combination. Ipoh’s kuey teow is the smoothest around. Served in a clear soup, it is a great alternative to rice.

How was it?
1. Bean Sprouts (8/10)
The bean sprouts were almost twice as fat as those you’d find over in KL but somewhat shorter as well. It was crunchy and not overly oily at all.

2. Chicken (7.5/10)
The chicken was juicy, and the sauce was light and complemented it really well. It was served hot as the chicken was scored with boiling water before being brought to each table. The chilli paste complemented
the chicken well. But I personally would have liked some ginger paste, but apparently only shops in KL served chicken with ginger paste.

3. Kuey Teow Soup / Hor Fun (6.5/10)
The kuey teow was the smoothest ever. But it was to be expected when you are having this in Ipoh.

4. Pork and Fish ball (5/10)
This was perhaps the most dissapointing of all dishes. When restaurants diverse their menu to attract a wider crowd, the quality of their food suffers. Being a dished pushed to all tables, i was expecting it to be better. It was nothing more than mediocre. The shop at Jalan Gasing PJ definitely serves better pork ball.

How Much was it?
The whole feast came up to about RM12.00 per person. Minus the Pork and fish ball soup, it was definitely worth it.

Will you return?
Definitely. Make your way there the next time you go to Ipoh.

Pork Porridge ? Old Town, Petaling Jaya

G-jap-jok (???) or pork porridge is a traditional Chinese delicacy. There is a good one in Old Town Petaling Jaya. The place doesn?t have a name, so I?ll provide an address: Pusat Penjaja Seksyen 1/12 Selara Jati, Petaling Jaya.
This porridge stall started out in the 1960s at the Old Town bus station, and was run by 2 brothers. They then shifted to their current location during the 80s. These days, the stall is managed by the younger brother along with his wife and son.

The main ingredients of the porridge include pig intestines, tongues, blood cubes, elbows and stomachs. I would say the most important ingredients are the fried intestines and boiled tongues, not just for the great taste, but also from the pleasure you get just from munching on them. The porridge stock is smooth and tasty as well, beautifully cooked with steamed fish slices. Cost is RM2.30 per bowl.

Besides porridge, the stall also offers a salted vegetable soup that is cooked with pig intestines and other ingredients. This soup goes brilliantly with white rice, and costs RM2.50 per bowl.

If you?re not a big fan of pig intestines, the gingery hard boiled chicken, which costs RM2.50, is not a bad choice either.

As tasty as the food is, it is also very economical to have a meal there. I will rate the place 8.5/10.

This Chicken Rice is very well known, perhaps because this restaurant has been around for a very long time. My paragraph on service later will give you an idea of how long this place has been around, but first, let me tell you about the chicken rice. I would rate the chicken rice here as slightly above average.?

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The chicken itself is quite tasty but it is in no way filling. Even after eating a drumstick I often walk over to the Chee Cheong Fun stall and order some more food from there. Please note that they only have roast chicken available here.

The rice is better than the chicken, but cannot touch the rice at Nam Heong. It has a nice flavour and texture, and I would have considered it to be very good had I not eaten the Nam Heong chicken rice.

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The chilli is just basic chicken rice chilli. The same stuff you get everywhere else, and the soup is just boring old soup.

This place is quite clean, but can get pretty hot. I would not recommend it unless you don?t mind feeling a bit sticky.

Okay now on to the service. The ?waiters? at Restoran Seng Nam are at least 60 years old, and they are MOODY. Well most of them at least. To order food, you have to call out your order to one of the 5 or 6 bald Chinese men who walk past your table every minute or so, and don?t expect any form of acknowledgement from them that they have heard your order, or any change in their facial expressions. Just sit and pray and hope that your food will arrive. But 95% of the time, the food will arrive. Also, make sure you know what you want, because indecisiveness could lead to a telling off.

Price ? around RM5 per person

Rating ? 7/10