Mobile Lok Lok, Puchong Opposite IOI.

When it comes to Lok Lok (steam boat) Fatman always comes to mind nowadays. There must be this industrialist whom thought what happened to all this lok lok that was around in the 70's. I remember seeing this stalls in front of cinemas and before the movie starts, my dad will take me to this lok lok stalls and 'makan'. As the lok lok comes in skewers, it doesn't fill up a person unless he/she eats l0ts of it. Hence it was a light meal. However in the 80's and 90's I don't remenber seeing any stalls selling lok lok anymore. It was a dying business.
This person must have come up with the idea to revive it at the turn of the century. Well I rememner only Fatman was the one I can see frequently around a few years back. I have to give it to the person whom thought of reviving an old product and giving it a new outlook. With hawkers not being allowed to peddle their fare at any permanent location next the the streets by the local councils, mobility is the key now. Hence you see many hawkers use mini lorries to speddle their trade.
There is this place at Puchong, opposite IOI mall that have a large number of lok lok stalls set up every night. Initially it started with only one vehicle and slowly many more decided to stop there to peddle their trade. Now I counted almost 10 stalled there inlcuding a someone selling bubble tea. Judging from the crowd they draw everynight business must be good. I frequent this place often during late at night when you feel you need something light to eat. When ever I go I always wonder how long these traders will get to sell at this place. It is located next this hugh contruction site which is almost completed. I guess its going to be a office mall of some sort. I am thinking that once this place is completed these hawkers will not be allowed to sell there anymore.

Nyonya Mee goreng, Bandar Puteri Puchong.

One of the better place to have Nyonya Mee goreng was in Subang Jaya SS15. I not found a place that could actually rival it until now. Well almost. I only tried this stall in Puteri Mart because I saw many people buying from it. So if many people eat must be good. So decide to give it a try. It was not too spicy or soggy or dry. Just the right balance as how I like it. Although its not something that I drive miles and miles for me to eat it but I sure have it again.

The Cendol Man, USJ 20.

There is this cendol man stationed at USJ20 next to the field. What s intersting about this mobile stall is that it has a stove and cooks mee goreng. Not the best cendol or rojak around but he makes it up by serving fast. I not tried the mee goreng before but judging from the customers he has it must be of some reasonable standard. Will blog about it when I tried it next time.

Mak Jah, Bukit Jelutong Shah Alam.

I was given a treat at this place by one of my boss. I heard about this place very often over the blogs. However since I was not that hungry, I only ordered the ox tail soup with rice. Surprisingly this simple soup goes very well with rice. The spices were not too overpowering or to spicy for my liking. Its definately well balanced. Also had some scramble eggs to go with.
I didn't get the opportunity to try the rest but I will return to try the rest. Till later........

Always on my mind...

As from my previous post on the quality of food in the Klang Valley these days. You're Always on My mind....I am posting two of my favourite versions of a song from different eras to prove a point. Which one do you like best?

The original...




The remake...

Gao Ren Guan, Puchong.

I haven't been posting often lately. Sort of gotten fed up with all the eateries around my place. Gone are the places where you can get good food nowadays. I guess capitalism had creep into the art of serving good food nowadays. Capitalism in the form of marketing. Marketing the environment and ambience of the restaurant to be exact whilst serving mediore food at small portions. Haven't anyone noticed lately that most of the chinese food that come from humble beginings had been turned into a multi ringgit making enterprise? There is no more honor in serving good food just make your place look good and the rest will follow. Has the Malaysian Boleh spirit creep in to this industry as well? Never mind the surroundings if its next to the drain...I want my original char kuey teow done by the road side!!! At least it taste better.

Was at this place for dinner. Looked like they had a fare number of customers judging from the crowd. Anyway it was a typical "upgrade" form of chinese traditional servings that had gone thru a cosmetic change. Even the waitress there 'pushed' us to order more as the portions were small she admitted. The price we had to pay for the proprieter's expensive rental? Ah well, I seriously considering boycotting all these 'upgrade' and 'upclassed' mamak, kopitiams and traditional restaurants if these were to continue.

Agefuku, Taipan Subang Jaya.

We actually wanted to go to this place for the much talked about Japanese buffet. We made a mistake for not calling ahead and booking for a table. When we arrived the place so packed with customers. The floor space of this place was not that big but it was cleverly arranged to maximise the space. Until I walked into the place I didn't know that on the ground floor is actually a Japanese fast food joint and the buffet is upstairs.
Since no space for buffet, had to eat the fast food downstairs. As I not too familiar with names of Japanese food, I can only remember bento and rice burgers. It was a bit pricey for a fastfoods but then again Japanese food is never cheap in KL. The fastfood was kind of avaerage. Nothing to shout about. Except for the meat it pretty much tasteless. I don't think I recommend it to anyone. But next time I be back, with reservations of course, for the buffet.

Tak Fok. Bandar Puteri Puchong, Revisited.

Ampang Yong Tau Foo, USJ.

When I was a kid, I remember that my parents use to take me to Ampang for Yong Tau Foo. Bearin mind in the 70s the journey from PJ to Ampang was not short trip like now. Situated north of KL and with small truck roads, a journey there can sometime take up to an hour. Back then I use to remember having yong tau foo in a small flimsy looking shack. As for the food well if you are so far away and you make an effort to go there, it must be good right?
Coming back to the present, I think this franchising (or some other form of it) thing had gone a bit too far as far as traditional food is concern. I guess everyone is jumping into the band wagon to make money (eg. like the sudden mushrooming of Kopitiam in recent years). Well without central control over the quality and taste of the food, one shouldn't expect too much from these branches that serve "fastfood" now. The mass production of yong tau foo and generic taste of it had made this Ampang yong tau foo had degraded the very point of traditional fares such as these, not to mention that the yong tau foo taste the same from one branch to another.
Another point to ponder is the lost of the finer touches that the original proprieter had which he directly knew the feedback from the customers. I guess like everything else in this country, it will mushroom initially and when reality bites over time only the strong will survive.

O'Viet Vietnamnese, Sunway Pyramid.

Vietnamese food is something that I seldom have. Not because I don't enjoy it but just that its not so readily available everywhere and it found mostly in the malls. Somehow I seem to like many of the servings as they seem to taste pretty healthy to me. I guess its what you order. O'Viet is loacted at one of the floors at the Pyramid skating ring. Was browing thru the menu and the only few things that look familiar to me. The Vietnamese style coffee and the Summer/paper rolls were among them. Also ordered the vegetable with seafood noodle and the combo platter.
The coffee was a dissapointment. I remember that at previous places the coffee done this way is comes very thick. I guess this place is not so generous on the coffee powder.
The combo platter comes with fried lamb, chicken and prawns sprinkled with fried peanuts. I especially enjoyed the taste of fired chicken with the peanuts. The summer rolls were ok. Nice and plain without any bad after taste.
The seafood noodles was definately the highlight. As there was only two of us, I didn't order many things and the food here also don't come in large portions. The combo which they is meant for 2-3 people is actually mean for 1 person (maybe only me).
Dinner at this place turned out to be average. Nothing really much to look forward for a next visit. I guess I may not be coming back.....

Bak kut teh, Bukit Raja Klang.

In Klang, there is two wonders of the world, the seafood and Bak Kut Teh (and necessarily in that order). If the BKT in Klang is not good they will not stay in business for long. One of the theory that they teach in management school is to enhance your core competencies so that you can deliver an excellent product to your customers. What better example is that the BKT in Klang. All BKT shops in Klang only sells BKT or the latest variation of it the dry BKT nothing else. They are so good in selling just one product that they had improvised and improved on it multifold over that not other place in the Klang Valley can duplicate their core competency. Whilst only selling one core product, the BKT business can control cost in storage and have economics of scale in buying raw products from their supplier. With less cost, profits margin increases if they can sell the same quantity as before. Its big business selling BKT and no wonder almost everyone is opening it everywhere else in the Klang Valley.
As for me to have the best BKT, I will always head towards the course if it.... Klang of course.