Klang Valley Food – Page 3 – Peter Tan

Steven’s Tea Garden At Mid Valley Megamall

This statue greeted diners and shoppers at Steven’s Tea Garden at the Mid Valley Megamall North Court. Garbed in the a white tee shirt, sarong over short pants and a towel across his shoulder, it was an attraction to children whose curiosity were piqued by its teh tarik making pose. Adults took photos with it and of it. This newly opened restaurant is an arm of the famous Steven’s Corner located at Pandan Indah. It serves a variety of mamak fare such as roti canai, mee goreng, nasi lemak and the ever popular teh tarik.

Expensive Char Siu Pau At The Gardens Mall

This is how expensive char siu pau look like.

Would you pay RM6 for these two char siu pau? These steamed buns usually cost about RM1.20 each at roadside stalls and slightly more at dim sum restaurants. Wuan and I had these two buns together with several other dishes for dinner at one of the restaurants at The Gardens Mall in Mid Valley City last weekend.

The bun was fluffy. In fact it was fluffier than most of the steamed buns that I have ever savoured. The filling was another story altogether. The barbecue pork filling was rather tasteless. It also did not exude the aroma one would expect from a good char siu pau.

For the premium that we paid, the location aside, I would have expected something that tasted as good, if not better, as those that I normally buy from the uncles selling them by the road side. On the contrary, we paid more than twice the price for two char siu pau that did not even taste than half as good as the cheaper ones.

The next time I have a craving for char siu pau I will satiate it with one from those roadside stalls. Thank you. There are two places where I usually buy char siu pau from around Kuala Lumpur. One is outside Guardian Pharmacy at Pandan Perdana. The other is Restoran Hock Leong Hin at Jalan Sungai Besi opposite Shell petrol station. The char siu pau from both places are the better tasting ones in Kuala Lumpur.

Otak-Otak Place At 1 Utama

Wuan and I had dinner yesterday at a restaurant called the Otak-Otak Place that just opened at the Lower Ground Floor in the New Wing of 1 Utama. This restaurant took up one of the lots where Giant Supermarket used to be. The menu has an extensive offerings of the delicious otak-otak prepared and served in many different ways.

Roti Jala with Curry Chicken.

There were the usual steamed otak-otak and grilled otak-otak. Otak-otak steamed in banana leaf is from Penang. Otak-otak wrapped in coconut leaf and grilled comes from Muar in Johor. Apart from the that, the menu proferred a mind-boggling list of otak-otak served as dumplings, fish cakes and even used as patty for burgers.

We were indeed spoilt for choice and had a difficult time deciding what we wanted to eat. After browsing the menu for a while and salivating in the process, we decided to tread on the well-beaten path and try out food that we were more familiar with.

Nasi Lemak Special.

Wuan was not very hungry and had Roti Jala with Curry Chicken (RM5.90). I stole a piece of the roti jala. The curry was fragrant. The aroma and taste was just what I like in chicken curry. There are not many places in the Klang Valley that offer this dish in the menu. This is one place that I will go back again whenever I have cravings for roti jala.

The fried chicken for the Nasi Lemak Special (RM9.90) that I ordered looked delicious in the menu. It was served in a two-tier stainless steel tiffin carrier that is common in many kitchens. One was filled with rice, two slices of cucumber and half a hard-boiled egg. The other had one piece of fried rempah chicken, one piece of grilled otak-otak and one portion of sambal ikan bilis. The chicken was well marinated and did not disappoint but the nasi lemak was a little bland for my liking.

Steamed Otak-Otak.

For the month of December, patrons who have the 1 Utama One Card will be presented with a complimentary piece of steamed otak-otak (RM3.00) with their orders. While we liked the otak-otak, we both agreed that it would have tasted better with daun kaduk. There was not a hint of this pungent leaf or its aroma. Somehow, steamed otak-otak without daun kaduk is just incomplete for the Northern Peranakan cuisine lovers in us.

The bill plus two glasses of iced honey lemon inclusive of 5% service charge totaled RM24.99. We will definitely return to try out more from the menu. Wuan wants to have a taste of the Nasi Briyani Dam. As for me, there are several other otak-otak dishes that I would love to sink my teeth into.