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Down at Sunway Mas Commercial Center in PJ… I was brought by Elaine to eat at Restoran 88, according to her, the prices are very affordable here. So we decided to give it a try although usually when Elaine say its cheap we doubt it because her taste are very high!

But Elaine was right, its prices are alright for Chinese dishes in PJ… we ordered a steamed talapia fish “cheong ching” style which is basically covered with a thick sauce after steaming. The steam talapia cost RM12.00 which is quite ok. The fish is fresh and the sauce is not bad, appetizing and not too strong.

Next is RM8.00 for a plate of tofu, its fried tofu covered with minced pork on top. The minced pork are plenty the tofu, it’s superbly small in size and you get 8 of them! According to Elaine, the portion have shrunk a lot since the last she came, everyone trying to cut cost? Damn fuel prices…

Their salted fish pork cake looks pretty good on the menu, so I thought we gave it a try, RM8.00 as well for 8 pieces but the size is more acceptable for this one. You don’t really eat chunks and pieces of salted fish but the moment you take a bite, you get a nice hint of salted fish fragrant.

We stopped our orders here (we also want to cut cost!), because they offered free soup to their customers and that particular day its old cucumber soup. But the waitress, then told us they are having a promotion now, RM3.00 for the vegetables of the day! So how can we resist? ;).

Overall we are happy with our meals, taste is good and price is acceptable :).

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GPS: N3 07.194 E101 36.000

Big Tree Sg Way… this is one of my favourite for a fast and simple home cooked style lunch… big fried style that is, few simple dishes with rice! The best thing they have here are their fried kembong fish! If you are ever in Sg Way, say front the main street from Federal Highway, turn right before the police station and you will see this attap place surrounding a big tree with durian stalls around it on your left. Inside housed 2 eateries, a good pan mee stall and a big fried (direct translation from Cantonese la, hehe).

Their kembong fish (Mackerel) are always big and fresh, it is deep fried, then covered with minced garlic and chili padi with a light soya sauce. The fish is crisped so usually not too much worry on bones and it goes very well with rice.If you don’t fancy kembong they have a various other type of salt water fish choices but the only difference is its a whole lot cheaper and the fish size are small. So if you have a big crowd, there may need to serve 2-3 fishes but good thing is when there is only 2-3 persons, you can sit order the fish :).

The other regular dish here are their hakka stewed pork which are basically pork, marinated then deep fried before being stewed with black fungus and other sauces, this is a traditional Hakka dish ;). They also have a variety of other home cooked style dishes and you can also order other big fried thing like a certain dish on rice or noodles.

I discovered a new dish here, its “tau foo mun chap” which means tofu mix braised. The tofu (which in my opinion is super soft) is braised with a mix of prawns, pork, pork intestines, etc. Quite a nice dish. Our order of 9 kembong fishes, hakka stewed pork, tofu mix braised and 2 regular fried vegetables’ bill comes up to RM99.00 for 9 persons including rice and drinks.

The only thing is, if you want to come here, be prepared to be smoked! I usually smell like fried noodles after I makan here :P.

GPS: N3 05.219 E101 37.401

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My good friend Boon is backed from Japan on ‘vacation’ again… hehe… he probably by now is more Japanese than Malaysian anyway, so let’s consider him back for vacation. Anyhow, he wanted to try dry bak kut teh and suggested that we go for dinner. I wanted to take him to Soon Seng behind Klang parade which I fancy the dry version pretty much but unfortunately its closed!

Anyhow, after consulting the local worm, Soh Cicak, we decided to go to Taman Sg Rasau and I chance upon Fong Keow which used to be a corner shop but have now transformed into a 3 shops BKT place! They also serve a variety of dishes besides BKT, talk about diversification! The corner unit doesn’t change much from the old place but the 2 new unit is very nicely renovated and decorated! Doesn’t look like a BKT place at all!

Besides BKT, they have like fried prawns which goes for RM21 per plate, herbal steamed chicken, seafood tofu, etc. Since there are only 5 of us… we ordered the normal BKT for 3 pax, added some straw mushrooms. Side order is a plate of vegetables and the seafood tofu. All these came up to RM58.00, oh ya, thanks Boon for buying!

The BKT here is alright, a lot of mushrooms and I like the fact they added some greens in the BKT too. The seafood tofu is quite tasty but a little oily, oh well, fried stuff. We brought our own tea, thanks to our tea expert Soh Cicak whom contributed good tea for us :D.

GPS: N3 03.361 E101 28.468

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By chance, we passed by this house along Jalan Tengkera at night and decided to check it out. Outside the house is a stall selling putu piring! If I am not wrong, this is usually sold by Indian mostly and the Malay have their own version known as Kueh Tutu. Its actually a steam rice flour with palm sugar (gula melaka) in it, serve on grated coconut.

As the kids are watching a Million Stars Taiwanese singing contest on TV, the parents are at the door manning the stall. For 70 cents a piece, you get fresh and steaming hot putu piring serving right up to you. Its better to eat it hot, so we wasted no time and had it as soon as we reach the truck. Its very good combination, the sweet palm sugar with the salted and rich grated coconut, yummy!

The stall also sells other stuff like curry powder, home made kaya and of course, Melaka’s famous palm sugar!

GPS: N2 12.062 E102 14.351

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Many people may not even notice it as they past… but along Jalan Bunga Raya, there is an old cendol shop that serve very old fashion rojak and icy cold drinks for ages. This place is known as Min Chong Hygienic Ice Cafe, hehe.. what a name!

Anyhow, for most locals, this used to be their childhood cendol place as the street used to be the main shopping area when it comes to festive or school opening times (just like how Jalan TAR used to be for KL folks). I read from a blog that ice shaver they used, have been around since 1928!

From the outside, you don’t see any signboard and as we were passing it at 11am plus, the uncle and aunty just started to open their doors. The shop maintains most of its fittings and furniture as it is, really giving you an old Melaka feel. They still have the bottled coke here, but we got fooled, the uncle told us its brand new and Melaka still has it, he even showed me the receipts from F&N to prove it, hehe… really friend I must say!

This rustic place serve up some old fashion rojak, basically a mix of fruits and some vegetables with tau pok in shrimp and chili paste. The taste is different from the Penang style, its salty and spicy. There are a list of cold icy drinks to choose from, the cendol is pretty good, I like it.

I guess time have forgotten such places and people nowadays have too much choices to places like coffee bean, shopping malls, fast food, etc. Much of this old cultural food places have been forgotten. However, over here, they still serve it the same old style, maintaining the shop this way as well. I would really encourage visitors to try things like cendol and pat poh ice here, the authentic way!

The aunty and uncle are really friendly, especially the uncle who is very sporting, kept asking me to get my camera ready as he is about to shave the ice, hehe.

GPS: N2 11.843 E102 15.063

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