Famous Hakka Poon Choi at Lee Hong Kee Sg Buloh By Best Restaurant To Eat

This year, somehow there were a lot of restaurant offering this special Hakka Poon Choi Dish. We had an opportunity to feast on this unique dish from a famous restaurant in Sg Buloh which is Restoran Lee Hong Kee located at 3, 5, 7 & 9, Jalan Kati GU 18/G, Kampung Baru Sungai Buloh, 40160 Sungai Buloh.

It is a bit of challenge to find this place, but once you are given the right direction, it should not be a problem. Together with some of my old buddies and family, we headed towards this restaurant. I have known this place for sometime but never really getting to go there to try this dish as it needs at least 10 or more person to finish this dish. So, this time around, we manage to find sufficient number to give it a go.

 Poon Chooi or some called it treasure pot is a combination of more than 13 different type of dishes into it. In a nutshell, for those who have not tried this dish. It is like having a 13 course dinner serve in a pot. Eating it for the first time is a real experience by itself.

Eating Poon Chooi, you start off with the top layer, which is the so-called dried dishes first. Our first attack is on the abalone. The abalone was poached and sautéed with a simple sauce to preserve the natural taste. It was succulent and firm.

Next, we have the fresh scallop served in the bird nest (fried beehoon) lookalike. Once that is done with, the next attack was the poached tiger prawns with white wine which retain the full flavour of the prawn.

After the prawns, the next attack was on the steam kampong chicken. The chicken meat was tender and contains the sweet taste of the succulent chicken meat.

As you move the pot around the next visible dish was the roast duck. Here, we find the roast duck lacking the crisp skin that would have made it ideal. Moreover the meat was quite tough, you have to use your finger to try to tear off the meat.

Round the next bend was the Fried Nam Yue Pork ribs (a little too dry and hard for me) and this was followed by the braised meatball and fish cake cut into long strips.

As we uncovered the following layer, which is the wet (braised) layer, we could see the braised chicken feet and this was followed by the Pork Trotter with chest nut, Braised Siew Yok.

We could also see the braised tau kan, terrapin fin and oysters too. I find this layer, with all the sauces infused at the bottom was a tad salty, you really cannot enjoy the dishes without any rice to go with it. But, if you order the rice, you would not be able to finish all the food in the pot.

Overall it was quite an experience eating this dish for the first time but frankly speaking at RM580.00 ++, you might want to think twice since it might have been better to order it as individual dishes and you can choose which one you like better rather than all serve in a pot, and you probably would have enjoyed it much better too.

Our other Poon Choi review

Poon Choi 2017 Halal Chinese New Year Set Menu At Tung Yuen

Delicious Home Cooked Meal at Frenz Café Plaza Damas Sri Hartamas by Best Restaurant To Eat

These days, there are a lot of claims by restaurant of home cooked dishes. But what exactly does home cooked meals implies i.e. it is really home cooked like cook at home and so forth. To me, home cooked meals are prepared using the same method as you will have cooked it at home. Most important is the use of choice fresh and quality condiments to whip up this dish using passed down recipes.

I had the opportunity to have a dining experience of home cooked meal at the Frenz café located at G-0-1, Plaza Damas, Jalan Sri Hartamas 1. The promise of authentic home cooked food salivate my appetite.

Frenz café is a no frill café serving some of the simple one course meals like Ginger Fried Rice, Pan Mee and etc. But, for tonight we will be savouring their special dishes.

We started off ordering some of their special drinks/juices. For me, I like to try something challenging drink i.e. Celery with Bitter Gourd – what a combination. It turns out to be very refreshing and soothing to my throat. The bitterness taste lingers on, which is good for my throat especially when there was some early sign of a sore throat coming around.

The main dish was the Curry Fish Head. The fish head chosen to be cooked in this Malaysian Favourite Curry dish is the Garoupa Fish Head. I fancied this fish head as it has a very firm, smooth and slippery skin which is ideal for curry style cooking.

The curry fish head was cooked without using any santan, which of course is much healthier to be eaten especially for those who have to watch their diet and still carving for this special dish. You will have no worries of the extra calories and so forth. But, for me this have made the dish a little bland as it is not that creamy and does not have that after taste which makes it very fulfilling. Nevertheless for me, it was compensated with the freshness of the fish head.

The chef had also added in generous amount of fresh vegetables like cabbages, ladies fingers, brinjal and etc. This makes it a complete dish in all.

Next, on our main course is the Nyonya Chicken. When the dish arrived, it looks like a very simple dish but upon tasting it, you are instantly jolted by the strong taste of the perfect balance use of the condiments to cook this dish.

It was also very fragrant smell of the serai and bunga kantan. You can’t help, calling a second helping of the white rice to go with it.

For our douse of vegetable, we had the Stir Fried Hong Kong Kai Lan with Beef. I really love Kai Lan cooked in this style as it retains the flavourful and crunchiness of the Kai Lan. With the add-on beef slices, which the chef uses, it was just the right balance, as the meats was well marinated and retain the tenderness of the meat.

Beef slices are a very delicate meat to be served in Chinese meals. The skill of the chef to prepare and cook beefs depends on his experience to ensure whether you will be served a tough meat or a nice tender and juicy meat. Well done dish by the Chef.

The next dish is Chicken with Salted Egg Yolk. The chicken was first fried in a batter and then cooked in the salted egg yolk sauce, which was very well coated into the chicken.

Finally, we had a not in the menu dish – a chef creation and indeed a very simple dish. It is the Steamed Brinjal with Dried Shrimp.

When it was served to us, it looks very tantalizing and simple. Upon tasting the brinjal, the smooth texture and sweetness of the brinjal blended very well with the light soya sauce and the dried shrimp still retain the crunch and flavours. This is another comfort dish for a second helping of white rice.

The final dish to be tasted for tonight is one of the Frenz signature one dish meal i.e. the Fried Ginger Rice. This dish used to be a must dish for ladies in confinement – i.e. as ginger has the properties to relieve wind in the bodies. I was a little surprise that Frenz serves this dish as there aren’t many places is able to serve this dish.

This dish is the special creation of one of the partner mother and was cooked exactly that way. The ginger was perfectly infused into the fried rice. Don’t get me wrong that the taste of ginger will be very strong here, in fact, it just had a tinge of ginger for each spoonful and not too overwhelming. If you love ginger, this might be a good choice for you.

Fine Chinese Cuisine Dinner at Royal Flush Restaurant Ara Damansara By Best Restaurant To Eat

These days Chinese dining is more of experience rather than just filling up the tummy with nice and delicious food. One such place is the Royal Flush which is located at Central Piazza, Oasis Square Ara Damansara, No 2 Jalan PJU 1A/7A, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia.

The Oasis Square is a new place to be seen at i.e. new happening place. There are many upmarket restaurants that have been set up in this place. The court yard is filled with many water features and a walk around this area is very relaxing with the sound of water fountain along the way especially after a tiring and stressful day the office. Taking a brisk walk around this Piazza in the early evening can be rejuvenating your senses.

The façade of the Royal Flush does stand out prominently at the entrance of the Square. The Chinese Palace based décor and impressive theme really gives you a feeling on what to expect from this restaurant. The large huge red door is very prominent and reminiscent of the door of the Forbidden City although it was much smaller in comparison.

 The décor and furniture arrangement was classical Chinese theme.

 As it was still Chinese New Year, our first dish was the Royal Flush Yee Sang with Salmon. The supervisor that serves our table introduce each ingredient with good wishes i.e. from the salmon fish as “Nin Nin Yau Yue”, the red packet as “Hong Wan Thong Tau” and so forth, it was quite amusing and fun way to start off our dinner.

 I always find the Yee Sang these days serves at restaurant are overwhelmed with crackers. It becomes more of a crackers meal rather than a Lou Sang dish. I usually do not order this dish unless it is with business associates for the “Yee Tau”.

 Next on the course is the Double Boiled Top Shell With Ginseng Root. There are many ingredients put into this soup, i.e. Kampong Chicken, Dried Scallop and etc. The Top shell that was accompanied are cut into thinly slice and it was also very chewy and a perfect substitute match to the soup although abalone slice would have made it a perfect combination. 

 We were expecting a very strong ginseng taste as most ginseng soup especially those from Korean restaurant had a strong and herbal taste. To our surprise, the taste of ginseng (American ginseng) is quite mild and coupled with the Kampong Chicken, slurping the warm and tasty soup was a good kick-start for the night.

The next dish is the Steamed Kampong Chicken with Dried Scallop. I find this dish a little disappointing as the whole steamed chicken is laden with the dried scallop sauce and it made the chicken very gooey and starch like. So, you can’t really taste the original sweet taste of steam chicken.

I preferred Steamed Chicken by itself or served with superior soya sauce. This method of cooking also ensured that the meat stays succulent, juicy and firm.

Our next course is the Steamed Dragon Garoupa Fish With Superior Soya Sauce. This is a live fish and you can really taste the freshness and the smooth texture of the garoupa. You can’t get any fresher than this.

The sweetness of the fish was accented by the light soy sauce dressing topped with a generous amount of parsley and chopped spring onions.

Next is the Fried Prawns with Butter Sauce. There are many variations of Butter Prawns that I have eaten but in Royal Flush, the prawns are first fried and are coated with the butter sauce topping rather than actually cooking the prawns in the sauce.

Taste wise, it was a little too bland. The sauce was not strongly infused into the meat and did not do any justice to the big prawn that was served.

Next on the table was the Sea Cucumber Seasonal Vegetable With Abalone Sauce. The chef had added in the fish maw and oyster into this dish. It was a good combination as the oyster was very well blended with the fish maw which was soft with the sauce heavily infused into it and the sea cucumber which was firm and springy. You get the best of the both world.

The use of broccoli was a right choice as it was able to soak up the abalone sauce and made a perfect change from too much of meat dishes before this.

The last main course for the night was the Lotus Leaf Waxed Meat Rice. It was the Royal Flush version of “Lap Mei Fan”. Personally I prefer “Lap Mei Fan prepared using plain white rice (the oil and flavours will be infused into the white rice making the rice extremely flavourful), but here we were served with the version of a mixture of Glutinous rice and white rice.

As with glutinous rice, somehow the flavours of the waxed meat did not penetrate or blended in very well and again like the prawns the wax meat are served separately and henceforth you find it a little more drier than if you would have cooked with the rice.

To end our evening, we were presented the Mango Cream with Sago and the popular “Kwai Fah Ko”, a dish which have herbs and wolfberries infused into the layers of clear brown gelatine. It was not too sweet and was a nice finale to our sumptuous dinner.

The mango cream was a nice finale for a hearty meal as it carries a light sourish taste – good to assist in the digestion.

Although the cost for the dinner was on the high side, nevertheless the entire experience of dining at Royal Flush makes it fulfilling to our every senses i.e sight, feel, taste and etc.