Revisiting Hameediyah Multi Concept Dining

How did we get here? Probably craving for nasi kandar.

To the uninitiated, both plates look similar. Rice drenched with curries/sauces with colourful toppings. To the initiated, it probably also looks the same. 😂 We got a bunch of stuff that we did from the last visit - like fish roe, curried squid roe, cabbage, mutton korma.

Carrot susu here's not bad. Thicker than the one from Pudu Pasar Wanton Mee.

Ann Nasi Lemak, ICC Pudu, Kuala Lumpur

I've read about this stall from ICC Pudu (Jalan Kijang, Pudu Kuala Lumpur 55100) a few times before. Curiosity got the better of us since we have also never eaten at the occasionally mentioned ICC Pudu which we wanted to check out.

Nasi lemak's decent tasting. One can choose from the available dishes/toppings at the stall. Love the flavour infused curried pig skin which were springy and tender. Sambal's pretty rustic...everything appears hand processed, especially the generous chunks of chopped onions. There was also some coconut bits which might have been serunding? Appreciated the adequate flavouring in the rice. Don't mind coming back.

A few days later......

Quite surprised by the difference today in the rice. It was lumpier and the santan flavouring appeared to be thinner. For some reasons, that rice downgraded from 'not bad' to 'forgettable'. What's happening? Sambal petai's not bad in this plate - the minced pork that came with it reminded me of hae bee hiam. Not a fan of their rendang pork. There's a flavour in it that I couldn't put my finger to which I would have preferred not there.

This plate felt like a different experience from the last time. 🤔

Madam Kwan's, KLCC, Kuala Lumpur

Haven't eaten at Madam Kwan's for a very long time. The last time might have been that one at Mid Valley. This was us getting re-acquainted at KLCC (Lot 420 / 421 , Level 4, Suria KLCC, 50088 Kuala Lumpur).

Was looking forward to a robust and creamy teh tarik from them. It's adequately milky but not as kaw (😂) as I was imagining. The first description that came to mind was the description 'textbook teh tarik'. To be cautioned that you and I may have used different textbooks while schooling 😂. Didn't suck. In fact it passed muster. Drinkable.

What's really good was their petai fried rice. Calling it petai fried rice was a bit of a misnomer because what stood out apart from the stink beans was the deliciously umami and shrimpy sambal they used for the fry.

Pretty big portion too.

Green chilli on the side had a lot less heat than I thought. But it's kinda good with the fried rice.

This was our first nasi lemak from Madam Kwan's. Never had it before. Closest thing to it we've tried was the one from the defunct Grandma's. It's not a bad rendition but after the recent Together Nasi Lemak and having tried the likes of Village Park, I don't think I'll put this at the top of my list.

Otak otak's chunky and has bits of fish inside. I wanted to describe them as being similar to Muar otah but these didn't taste like those.

Didn't think much of their fruit rojak. I'm surprised that with so much sesame seeds and crush peanuts, very little of those flavours came through. No you tiao also. The fruit consisted of just sour crunchy mangoes and equally sour pineapples - unless one counted chunks of turnips and cucumber as fruits. Tau pok was dry and crunchy like biscuits.

Ice coffee's thick but not fragrant.

Liked their ice campur better than I thought I would. The shaven ice was topped with rose syrup and milk. So it's bandung-y.

Surprised to find a bunch of cashews and raisins in there.

Pudu Pasar Wanton Mee, Jalan Pasar Baharu, Kuala Lumpur

This stall (at the wet market, Jalan Pasar Baharu, Pudu, Kuala Lumpur 55100) is apparently pretty well known. Folks come over for their wanton mee and curry noodles and they only operate from 7.30pm in the evening. Not open on Sundays and Mondays.

Carrot and kedondong juice. The former is also known in these parts as buah long long or ambarella - a sour fruit with a flavour similar to guava but a lot more astringent. Some milk was snuck into the carrot juice and it's pretty pleasant.

We were here for their wanton mee and curry noodles. But we weren't kidding ourselves about the real reason. It's the char siew which we were after.

Deserves another shot even though the photos didn't do the char siew justice.

Wanton mee's okay tasting. Curry noodle's gravy was pretty lemak, had a bit of heat from the sambal and yet pretty drinkable through the richness in my opinion. YMMV though.

The name for the style of char siew served at Pudu Pasar Wanton Mee is 'glass char siew' or 玻璃叉烧. These type of char siew is not unique to this stall. They're named that way from the glazed and glossy surface on the exterior of the barbequed pork. Typically honey sweet with a smokiness from the burnt/caramelized bits. The char siew was served slightly warm which made the fatty layers inside melty. I'm ranking this in the same leagues as Char Siew Yoong. 

👍🏼

Together Nasi Lemak, Food Place @ Pavilion, Kuala Lumpur

Came across Together Nasi Lemak (Food Place, Lot 1.29.01 – Lot 1.29.04, Pavilion KL, 168 Jalan Bukit Bintang, 55100 Kuala Lumpur) from social media a couple of years back and have been curious about them. They have a few outposts around in KL. What they're known for is pork nasi lemak. Specifically one with pork belly berempah.

Fuck me the rice was spectacular! This was heart clogging santan infusion paired with adequate salting which resulted in a delicious lemak savouriness. Sambal's expectedly sweet and spicy with notes from onion and anchovies. Pork belly berempah tasted much like how it sounded. One can imagine the commonly found berempah flavouring on crisp pork belly instead of chicken. Pretty tasty and meaty.

This was dumpling season and there's currently a nasi lemak zhang which featured pork rendang and salted egg. Nice. 👍🏼 Not much of the coconut flavour coming through though because of the rendang, sambal and salted egg. 

Note that the stall is at Food Place and not Food Republic.

Revisiting Curry Craft

Back at Curry Craft. The bowl I got today was curry mutton bee tai bak/rat's tail noodles/老鼠粉 with extra mutton. The raft of beans has been replaced by eggplant with fish paste.

Bee hoon kuey teow soup from Uncle Beh Pork Noodle

Note to self: The soup rendition of pork noodles from Uncle Beh Pork Noodle was less intense and garlicky than the one from dry bowl. Gotta remember that. Still a pretty good eat though.

Nan Yang Dao (南洋岛), Tiong Bahru Plaza

Some stuff we had from Nan Yang Dao (#02-115 Tiong Bahru Plaza, 302 Tiong Bahru Road).

I had initially scoffed at the pat of butter with their butter coffee which I thought was kinda small.

Turned out to be pleasantly adequate. Not bad Hainanese coffee by the way.

Decent tasting egg tarts they have. I just wished the crust was bit more buttery and the custard a bit more eggy. Not of the same standards as those from Oriental Kopi if anyone was wondering.

Kolo mee wasn't bad per se but the sauce didn't taste like those we've previously had and there was something about the texture of noodles that was off. These just weren't as springy. If I had to describe, this bowl tasted like an imitator with leathery char siew jerky.

Mei Jing Sabah Sandakan Fried Pork Noodle (美景沙巴山打根炸肉面), Hong Lim Food Centre

Mei Jing Sabah Sandakan Fried Pork Noodle (#02-33 Hong Lim Food Centre, 531A Upper Cross Street) happened by way of recommendation. There was one thing that I wasn't sure of from my bowl of noodles and that was the sauce. I didn't know if that's the sauce that they used for all their noodles or did that come with the pork belly I added - which were pretty tender by the way. 

Anyway, that sauce grew on me as I ate. Love it with the pickled green chilli.

Not a fan of their fermented bean curd pork. It had plenty of flavour from the marinate but barely any crunch from the fried exterior. What bothered me also was that the meat was a little chewy. Noodle has a nice bite though.

I don't mind coming back but it won't be for the fried pork. 

108 The Nasi Lemak Shop, Tanjong Pagar Plaza

Noticed 108 The Nasi Lemak Shop previously when I was having Nanyang Fried Chicken Rice at Hong Lim Food Centre. Seems like they've relocated to Tanjong Pagar (#02-04, 1 Tanjong Pagar Plaza, tel : +65 8455 2458). Their nasi lemak is the Malaysian style that's been trending in the past half decade or so. 

Looked just like any other nasi lemak ayam berempah with that sweet onion-y and ikan bilis infused sambal. Oil management was...no good. The oil in fryer looked dark from all the frying and the batter on the chicken held on to more grease than is ideal.

Chicken's meaty and well marinated with turmeric.

Begerdil looked/tasted like it was potato puree than mashed potato.

Not impressed. I'd rather Oriental Kopi's or Uptown Nasi Lemak for Malaysian nasi lemak. Or Ponggol Nasi Lemak which I much rather prefer if we're bringing the local renditions into the picture.

Yujia Fried Pork Century Egg Dumpling Noodles, Boon Tiong Road

This stall is located in the same coffeeshop as Shiok Hokkien Mee. The noodles were similar to those from the defunct Sandankan Food and Ah Yen Traditional Fried Pork - Sandakan styled noodles from Sabah with fried pork that's been marinated with fermented bean curd. 

What differentiated Yujia from the other two stalls were their century egg dumplings. Kinda tiny and forgettable if you asked me. The sliver of century egg was puny. Not feeling for it. Pork's freshly fried and pretty good tasting. Flavour from the noodles were kinda pedestrian until I doused the chilli sauce in it.

Note to self: Noodles rock with the chilli sauce. Don't get those century egg dumpling from them.

Revisiting Oriental Kopi @ Bugis Junction

We've been wanting to come back to the local branch of Oriental Kopi. As far as we could tell, there wasn't much difference from their Malaysian counterparts.

Think I like their iced kopi better than the hot one. I get the impression that those iced ones seem to be more robust.

Wanted to have a go with their delicious chicken rice and the lime-y chilli here. Couldn't discern any difference between the one in Malaysia and this one so...as far as I was able to tell, they're both kinda equally good.

Dry mee siam's not bad. It has the same texture as their other bee hoon.

The other thing we wanted to try was their rojak. Underneath the blanket of crushed peanuts were cucumber, turnip, guava and pineapple. I'm not a fan of a couple of things. The rojak sauce wasn't great. And then there's the crunchy you tiao which were like biscuits rather than fried dough fritters.