Char Siew Zhai Wantan Mee

We've seen this place packed with people during the lunchtime and we wanted to check out the roasted meats and the wantan noodle in this shop.

We ordered our noodles separate and ordered portions of Roast Duck, Roast Pork and BBQ Pork.

The texture of the wantan noodle was not bad. It had a nice, slightly sweet, dark sauce flavour to it.
The Charsiew (BBQ Pork) was dry, tough even, and the Duck was overly soft and had not much flavour in the meat, though the sauce used to cover it was rather strong tasting. It was as if someone had just cooked the duck for way too long and all the essence had gone out of the flesh.

Of the three, the Siew Yoke(Roast Pork) was the nicest but by no means the best I have tried in PJ or KL. The other interesting thing was the guy with the Mohawk flipping the wantan noodles high into the air, backwards, forwards.. over his crazy mohawk, like some Apache, high on Cactus Peyote!

Char Siew Zhai Wantan Mee is located in Sea Park, opposite the Giant supermarket.

Funky Cars with your Fun Kee Wantan Mee?

We've been sports car shopping.. but they didn't have my color nor white leather bucket seats... so... ;P

Actually, we were here for lunch. Fun Kee has been around for 40 years and the furniture and flooring sure shows.

Old wooden chairs and a mix of wood and marble tables makes me feel like I've just stepped into an old coffee shop in Ipoh.. thank God no spit-buckets (yarks!)
You may also refer to this place as the 'day time wantan mee' as there is the other popular late night/wee hours wantan mee about 500m down the road which has always been a hit with the 'late night supper seekers' plus there is the 'after-party crowd' that is if they survive the police block further up.

The chili paste is not beancurd. They just put it in a beancurd bottle. Even though the paste is bright red (I wonder if it glows under UV??!), I like it because even if you use heaps of it, it doesn't have that weird bitter plasticky taste that some Hokkien Mee belacan chili paste has. It's spicy and tasty.

Between the two of us, we ate 3 kinds of noodles. The Charsiew wantan mee, the Cantonese-style Fried Beef Kwey Teow (Korn Chaw Ngau Hor Wat Tarn Ngau Yuk Hor Fun) and the Specialty/Trademark Noodles.

The Charsiew wantan mee was not the best I have had, but the noodles were super springy/has a bite(kinda like how ipoh stalls has it) and had a distinct old-school taste. How do I describe it? It's some sort of old chinese wine/lard taste that not all wantan noodles have. It's good. The Charsiew was so-so only. My advice is to order the lean cuts as the fat does not melt-in-your-mouth here.

The Ginger Beef Rice Noodles was super slippery and tender! I love the way you need to grab the beef twice (as it slips) because it is so smooth .. delicious. Much better than the Soo Kee(Imbi) as the slices are finer and the meat melts in your mouth.

Finally our favourite dish of the day, the specialty noodle. Greasy, Smoky with Wok Hei, I ate this last.. but ate it the quickest! It's like a cross between a Charsiew Noodle and a Singapore Noodle. Highly recommended.
Besides these dishes, the restaurant offers wantan noodles with different toppings (eg. braised pork with woodears, chicken feet etc etc), fried rice (apparently recommended by the owner) and the usual fried noodle selections (eg. Cantonese style fried egg noodles, hokkien mee, singapore mee etc etc)


Mr Lee says, "40 years.. not bad huh? My father, his father and his father's father started up this place. The place looks old, but the customers like it that way. We just touch up the stuff that's crumbly from time to time, but that's it. The rest stays."

He proudly points to the number plate on the wall. Apparently from his uncle residing in the US. He tells us to remind our friends to stop by for Makan, when they can.


Anyway, the next time you are out shopping for a sports car, don't forget to take a break and have your lunch here, ok? Oh and, consider yourselves, reminded.. ;)

Cumi: If you are lucky during lunch time, you might catch the grumpy fruit rojak man. Nothing special about the rojak.. however, if you prefer your rojak less sweet, this might be for you. the chopped roasted peanuts were crunchy and so was the prawn cracker. Fruits were too young though. It was quite large for 1 person (RM4) so best to share with others.

Check out this archaic fire extinguisher!

Hmmm.. still works! The pressure seems good! Old school quality - Made in England

Who else has eaten here?
Masak masak

Wantan Noodles:6/10
Beef Noodles:7/10
Specialty Noodles: 7.5/10
Chili paste:7/10
MSG levels: moderate

Add:
Fun Kee Restaurant,
No. 174-5, Jalan Sg Besi, 57100 KL.
Tel: 603 9221 1267

Bonda Lemang

We were driving around (yet again).. and got lost somewhere in the heart of Kampung Melayu Subang...

The nice thing about getting lost is that sometimes, you see some pretty interesting things.

Like this Bonda Lemang for example. It just popped out of no where..

We stopped to buy the nice, hot , steamy, fresh lemang from the Bonda.

I wanted to eat it on the spot because I was so hungry, but apparently, we were still looking for our lunch destination.. so, the lemang had to wait!

Ah.. finally we get to the location we are looking for.. Bandar Pinggiran Subang.. the funny thing about this area is that though it is called 'subang', it is under the Shah Alam Postcode.

We see Restoran Sin Seng Leh and park.

We heard that this place served up the spinach wantan noodle and we just had to try it.

We ordered one normal Charsiew Wantan Mee, (RM3.80 small)

...and one spinach Wantan Mee. (RM4.50 large)
The thing i liked most about the spinach wantan mee was the sauce that came it. The clear sauce was sweet and tasty. It makes a change from the black wantan mee sauce.

The spinach noodle did not disappoint. It was soft and springy whilst a little more starchy than the normal noodle. It tasted 'greener', so to speak.

When we had finished paying the bill, we saw Chua Soi Lek on the way out... (don't you think the resemblance is uncanny?!)

Add:

Restoran Sin Seng Leh (Yau Khan),

36, Jalan Pinggiran MU5/M,

Bandar Pinggiran Subang,

40150 Shah Alam,

Selangor

Food:6/10

MSG levels: moderate

Salt levels: moderate

A powerful place to be!

On my recent trip to Brunei, I nearly had a heart attack.

Yikes! Good thing that nice gentleman of an officer pointed it out to me - just under 6 months on my passport. Spotted just in time too.. in a couple of months I'll be travelling again!

Is this some new hobby ?

Empty-field-gazing.

No.. this is what you do (if you are clever) in the 2 hours they give you to come back for your passport.. Anyone who has to renew their passport at Terminal 2 (you will see the immigration sign just before terminal 3), Lapangan Terbang Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport (SAAS), Kampung Baru Subang, knows that there is nothing much to do, during the waiting time between submission of forms and collection of the renewed passport.

Not fun.



Too lazy to drive home to PJ, we decided to explore ye old subang airport area..

Wow.. boy were we glad we did!

What luck! We chanced upon the morning market...

We noticed that eventhoungh this area looked rural and kampung-ish and all... the people were pretty comfortable, in that each family seemed to own a minimum of 2 cars! This one we spotted own 3! Plus a makeshift garage as well.. how cool.



Anyway , introducing Kampung Baru Subang! Nice place to kill 2 hours!

And restoran KFD.. as in KFC's brother. lol.

What can we say... though the place was packed.. the duck and siew-yok was so so.

The charsiew did not hit the spot either...
The entire portion for two, costs us RM8.

We decided to explore the area some more....

A Burmese restaurant! Oh darn..we should have eaten here instead. The place looks clean and the aroma of something sweet, on the boil, is intoxicating.. we spoke to the nice, friendly owner and he told us that there is a huge Burmese population in Kampung Baru Subang..

Next time, we may come back to sample his cuizine!

Everywhere you turn, there is lush, gorgeous, fresh produce.


Eggs, straight from the farm. Introducing.. the WET MARKET.

The term wet market alludes to poor lighting, poor air circulation, floors that are always wet and slippery. Add the smell of fresh fish, herbs, freshcut poultry, and vegetables and viola.. you have a stinky, pulsating environment that any prissy city gal would steer clear of.
erm.. but not this one.. The Kampung Baru Subang market is airy and open.
It doesn't smell at all.

The wet market is a powerful place to be!


The aunty is yelling at me in an indecipherable language,and pointing at the weird sea creatures, scallops, mussels, squid, cuttlefish and fish heads.. the uncle is putting on a show for me and gesticulating wildly at me in cantonese " SHOT ME! SHOT ME!" .

What an exhibitionist.

A born performer. Madman. He cracked me up.

Obviously, no one speaks English here, so I had to communicate with my pathetic, broken cantonese and my girly charms.. harhar. When it came to telling me the price, they typed in the numbers on their calculator .. thinking I couldn't count in cantonese. What la these people... so action one.

I mean.. what do i look like..? a tourist? Pfft.

Uncle.. posing again. This man kills me. Honest.

A supermarket named HERO.


This is the JERING.

This next section is written in MALAY. Our indigenous language. Read on for the interpretation.

"Buah jering bernilai tinggi dalam perubatan tradisional terutama untuk mengubati batu karang. Ambil tiga biji buah jering, ditumbuk halus bersama sedikit halia sebelum direbus dengan lima gelas air. Bila mendidih, biarkan sejuk dan minum airnya secawan sehari.

Jering yang dikenali sebagai Pithecellobium jiringa dari segi saintifik dan berasal dari famili Leguninosae. Jering juga berkesan untuk merawat penyakit kencing manis. Bila memakan jering, kulitnya jangan dibuang sebaliknya direbus dengan air hingga mendidih. Bila sejuk minumlah secawan sehari pada setiap pagi.

Buahnya pula dimakan sebagai ulam tetapi jangan dibuang kulit airnya kerana bahagian itulah yang berkhasiat untuk mengubati penyakit kencing manis.

Selain daripada buah, kulit pokoknya turut dapat mengubati kencing manis. Caranya sama seperti menggunakan kulit buah jering iaitu merebusnya hingga mendidih dan diminum secawan sehari pada waktu pagi atau malam."

In other words, Jering is of the genus species Pithecellobium jiringa, of the family Leguninosae. This gorgeous little fruit is used in the treatment of GOUT. It is normally pounded then boiled. All the parts can be used for medicinal, healing properties.

The extract is good for gout, the skin is good for treating diabetes.


Needless to say, i bought a whole bundle. (The amount of meat we eat, we should be prepared for gout.. you think?!)



Some other interesting paraphernalia we saw, walking back to the car...

"Essentials for Robbing a bank in 5 minutes!" ;P

Pushing 2 hours. Almost time to go back to SAAS for my passport.
But not before a quick pit stop ... still dissatisfied with the duck.. we just had to try something else to placate our stomachs.

Man in the Stall! We want!

The stall is situated on the corner, at the top of the street where the morning market starts (there's no other way to describe it as there is no sign).

The wantan mee was pretty good. For RM3.50 .. it was affordable and tasted fresh and juicy. The noodles were done just the way we like it!
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Well, well, 2 hours wait for the passport was not such a bad thing after all.

If you are in the area, we strongly recommend you check Kampung Baru Subang out :)