Thus, I naturally *cough*demanded*cough* gently persuaded my folks that we should drive all the way to Overseas Union Garden for dinner just so I could satisfy my curiosity about the wings. Heheh.

Sun Kam Kee is located in a lesser known part of Overseas Union Garden, probably one where only locals go to. It’s at the end of a long row of shophouses that have seen better years and you should most probably dress down to feel comfortable and fit in. There weren’t many people when we arrived around 8pm; just a few tables occupied here and there and it remained that way as long as we were there. Since there were only 3 of us, we ordered the following dishes to try :

(Stir fried vege with garlic)

This was pretty much normal fare that you can get at any self-respecting dai chow place.

(Japanese tofu with minced meat aka tip pan tofu)

Again, this is a normal dish with gravy that goes well with rice.

(What we came here for – salted egg chicken wings!)

And how did the piece de resistance fare? It was okay, in my opinion. The chicken was nicely fried – crispy without being burnt or undercooked. Personally I felt that the salted egg taste was not enough for me (yes, I really enjoy my salted egg dishes) and the bits of salted egg were few and far between. It also could have done with a wee bit more of the curry leaves and chili padi to give it an added kick to the tastebuds. Overall, not bad, but not outstanding.

The meal above for 3 pax inclusive of rice and chinese tea came up to MYR 51.70 (roughly about MYR 17.00 per head which is a bit pricey compared to other dai chow places). I understand from comments on A Lil’ Fat Monkey’s blogpost that each pair of salted egg chicken wings cost MYR 7.00.

Would I go back again for the salted egg chicken wings? Probably not because it wasn’t exceptionally stand-out memorable for me and because it’s quite far away from where I stay. Might be worth a one-time visit for the experience though.

Restaurant Sun Kam Kee
1, Jalan Hujan Emas 8
Taman Overseas Union
58200 Kuala Lumpur

Read other blogger reviews here :
A Lil’ Fat Monkey

Note : Photos in this blogpost taken with my Panasonic Lumix TZ7.

My ex-colleagues and I have this tradition that we’ve been faithfully keeping for the past 7 years. Every Chinese New Year, we will have our own version of a ‘reunion dinner‘ – that all important meal when family members near and far all attend. In this version, all of us ex-colleagues make it a point to attend the reunion meal and as the years went by and each of us slowly left the ex-company one by one (there’s only one person left there now, haha), it became important that we must attend this yearly traditional meal of ours. This year, we had our reunion meal early (in the 2nd week of January) since one of our group members came back from Hong Kong on business matters.

This year, we decided to hold our reunion at Zuan Yuan after seeing some pictures of yummy food from local floggers (“food bloggers”). Also, as Zuan Yuan is pork free, it also met our need to search for a halal restaurant. Zuan Yuan is tucked away at the Ground Floor corridor between One World Hotel and One Utama Shopping Centre. It’s a reasonably convenient location since you can choose to park in either the shopping mall’s carpark or the hotel’s carpark (it’s all joined up anyway).

I quite like the atmosphere and setting of Zuan Yuan. It’s quiet and refined and elegant, unlike your usual noisy average Chinese restaurant. But as far as restaurants go, Zuan Yuan is on the small side and caters to smaller parties – I saw they had a number of tables that would accommodate 4 pax or less.

Although Zuan Yuan’s yee sang promotion only starts from 21 January 2011 onwards (we were there about a week too early), we asked if they could accommodate our request for a half portion of yee sang and they kindly obliged. We were not the only ones to make that request though – the night that we went there were private functions going on in the rooms and they too had yee sang. The yee sang at Zuan Yuan was very fresh and crispy and one of the better hotel yee sangs I have had.

After our yee sang starter, it was on to the main course! We opted not to take the Chinese New Year set menu and decided to order from the ala carte menu instead. Our method of ordering was based on picking whichever dishes had a chef’s recommendation logo next to it.

First up was roast duck – or rather, half a roast duck. Zuan Yuan’s version of roast duck is deliciously tender and the skin crispy without the fat that you normally find elsewhere. I would like to come back again to try their variation of Peking duck.

Stir fried fish fillet in orange mandarin sauce. We all agreed that this dish was not very spectacular as we could not taste the orange mandarin sauce thus relegating this dish to obscurity that night.

While the fish was unmemorable, everyone liked this chicken dish with ginger slices. I personally thought it tasted similar to marmite chicken, but in a more refined way and the ginger slices added a little something different to set it apart.

We also had “ma po” tofu as one of the dishes and Zuan Yuan’s version looks deceptively mild and non-spicy when presented but manages to pack quite a kick. Pretty good, I’d say, though not in the vein of your usual Chinese “tai chow” restaurant.

We were good boys and girls and had our veggies in the form of this broccoli dish. Love the way the greens are simply presented in their natural state, without artifice!

Lastly, we finished off a good meal and conversation with dessert. I opted for the guilingao as it is cooling for the body. Zuan Yuan’s version comes with mango cubes and I did quite like the contrast between the sweet mango and the slightly bitter jelly.

For halal Chinese food with simple presentation and a refined setting, Zuan Yuan is the place to go to.

Zuan Yuan Chinese Restaurant
Lobby Floor, One World Hotel
First Avenue
Bandar Utama City Centre
47800 Petaling Jaya
Selangor Darul Ehsan
Tel : +60 3-7681 1159
Pork free.

Read other blogger reviews here :
Cumi dan Ciki
FatBoyBakes
Lyrical Lemongrass
the Nomad Gourmand

Reason? For the yummy food and local coffee. In fact, we would never have known about this place if not for my godparents, who first brought us here during one of our visits in 2009. Apparently this place is popular with the local folks, because invariably we are the only outstation car parked in the area and it’s not easy to get a table. Plus, the food sells out pretty quickly too, so try to get there before 11am if you don’t want to be disappointed.

Delicious and authentic Ipoh white coffee that cannot be found in KL and definitely does not taste like those pre-mixed coffees that claim to be Ipoh white coffee.

Home style yam cake, one of the best I’ve ever tasted!

Chee cheong fun is not one of my favorite foods, but I’m assured that it was good. They tend to serve it a little differently here, with long green beans and green chillies in addition to the usual sweet sauce and chili sauce.

I don’t know what this is actually called. I call it my favorite pancake (not a technically accurate term) and I’m just drooling thinking about it now! This is the best pancake I’ve had in my life – the size is not too small or big, it is perfectly crispy without being burnt and the batter used to make this pancake is beyond perfect.

The lor mai fun was a tad smaller than I’d have liked it to be because it was yummy. In the background, you can see a small sauce dish of curry which adds to the uniqueness just like the chee cheong fun.

Kedai Kopi Sun Yuan Loong
Medan Bendahara 2
Taman Taiping
31650 Ipoh
Malaysia

First up was the ubiquitous Yee Sang that is present at nearly every meal during Chinese New Year. For the uninitiated, yee sang is a salad-type dish that is served with a number of sauces and usually with raw fish (salmon). The best part about eating yee sang is the part just before you eat, when everyone gathers around to “loh hei” or toss the salad while reciting auspicious sayings. As you can see, it can get a wee bit chaotic and messy!

There was also the usual seafood sharksfin soup as the second course. Even though some time has passed since then, I remember that Yook Tho Hin’s version was not too starchy and pretty delicious too!

My fellow bloggers were raving away about the fried prawns with salted egg but being allergic to most types of seafood that comes with a shell, I could only watch them tuck into those gargantuan prawns (look at the size of ‘em!) and drool.

Luckily for me, there were other dishes that I enjoyed tremendously. Like the baked herbal chicken. The chicken was so tender and soft it literally fell off the bone and while I personally would have enjoyed a stronger herbal taste, this dish got the thumbs up from me.

We also had two vegetable dishes, braised vegetable and tofu and the vegetarian dish of vegetables and mushrooms but after the tofu dish, my camera ran out of battery!

We were very full after all that good food, but there was still dessert to come – the usual tinned fruit in syrup and fried pastries – plus a special surprise of a birthday cake for me. =)

For all of the food we feasted on above, we paid about MYR32.00 per head (8 pax x MYR32.00 = MYR256.00). Considering that we were then still within the 15 days of Chinese New Year (when most Chinese restaurants tend to inflate their prices), I found the prices to be reasonable, especially for such good food. The company, of course, was excellent, as always.

The restaurant is fully air-conditioned on both levels, but it would be wise to call ahead and reserve your places on weekends as space is limited.

Yook Tho Hin (PJ) Restaurant
No.13, Jalan SS21/37
Damansara Utama
Petaling Jaya
Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
Tel : +60 3-7729 6534
Note : The restaurant is located at the same row as HSBC in Damansara Uptown.

Read other blogger reviews here :
Connie
Paris Beaverbanks
Peteformation