Trip #1 Kuala Lumpur

Trip #1 - Kuala Lumpur

There is one thing I really enjoy doing when travelling...that is to eat. Being a preacher and when I get opportunities to go places while at "work", it will be an enjoyable one. Food is culture. Often times to eat and enjoy what has been served is to discover people and life even more.

So here is my first attempt here at food/travel blogging. Destination...Kuala Lumpur..From here on, my blog will still have spiritual stuff but it will have logs of my travels and especially eating adventures too !

This trip to KL was more for a meeting and since we had time, we decided to lengthen our stay in KL so we can chill and explore somemore. In past trips to KL, we would often stay at hotels that have a shopping mall below and has variety of easy transport means if we want to go into KL city or beyond. However this time around, we were booked into a homestay situated along Old Klang Road. Old Klang Road is just 5-8 minutes drives from Midvalley and its surroundings would be established areas like Taman Desa, Taman Yarl, OUG and more. Suppose to be foodie haven as the area has a huge ethnic Chinese population.

Good thing to have here is a car and a local guide. We had a car and the only local guide was google. We found out soon enough even with a car...driving in KL can be really challenging and life threatening too but that's what adventures are build on. I suppose you can rely on taxis, and ride sharing apps.

So what did we eat ? Here's a highlight of one experience that was super yummy. Kuala Lumpur chinese cooking styles have a strong Cantonese influence. Johor Bahru is where I am from, is mainly Teochew and Hainanese. I soon found out the difference.

We actually wanted to go for the Cendol and Rojak at Taman Yarl near Overseas Union Heights Condo, but we were too early. The boss has not open shop yet. So we detoured back to Overseas Union Garden and specifically a Street called "Jalan Sepadu". The main dish we were after was "Fried Pan Mee or hand made noodles". We eventually found Restoran Yong Hua. 

We ordered three main things that we could not resist.

Dish #1 Was the Wantan Mee or as KL folks like to call it Wantan MEEN. You see the wantan mee in JB has different variations. Ones with tomato sauce (pontian), the black sauced ones and the "white ones". I prefer the white ones as it does not have that sweet black sauce but coated with pork fat oil. The one we had at Yong Hua, is wet with black sauce. Actually it was tasty, the noodles were -QQ not mushy which was delightful. But I think in JB the highlight in wantan noodles is the noodles. Here the highlight is the Char Siew or barbequed pork slices given. Thick cuts of juicy and sweet charred pork slices that you just want more off. 

On to Dish #2 The Roast Pork and Chicken Rice.  This was a great choice. The white chicken were juicy and has that olden time taste that we often call how our kampung or grannies used to do. The roast pork was a tad salty but generous in size and fat. It was so good we ordered an extra serving of roast pork to sample somemore. 

And finally Dish #3 which is the dish that brought us here in the first place. The Fried Pan Mee.  In JB we only get the chilli pan mee, soup pan mee or the kan low (dry) pan mee. My wife was adamant we try this. She said when in KL, must always eat the pan mee. OK loh. So we came and tried. What's special about it is that its fried the KL Hokkien Noodles kind of way. Thick black sweet sauce with pork fat oil. The noodles unlike typical hokkien noodles were more QQ (al-dente). A familiar but really yummy taste. Two thumbs up to this dish. Would come back to this restaurant in the future I hope. Why ? because driving in KL is really crazy. Let someone do the driving than that may be best.

Just something additional that's worth mentioning is the scrumptious breakfast at Kanna Curry House, at 109, Jalan Gasing in Seksyen 10, PJ. Now food is subjective to everyone's taste preferences but this place brings back memories for my wife and me.

Bible College of Malaysia's campus is just a few steps away from this small row of shops. BCM was where for nearly 4-6 years my wife and I spent sometime sitting for our ICI/Global University Theology exams. Often times in for lunch or during breaks this was where we would go.

During this trip to KL, we decided to waze our way through the traffic to Jalan Gasing for breakfast. In past experiences at Kanna's we expected typical kind of service which was pretty non-existent. HOwever this time around, service was quick and those waited on us were nice. Maybe was not too busy this time around.

Ok back to the food. What did we have ? My wife and I ordered our favourite Dosai/Thosai Rava. This is normal thosai/dosai filled with sprinkles of onions and other veggies like carrots. We also had a small serving of dry mutton curry. Worth mentioning is the white and orange/red chutneys that you can have with the thosai/dosai..they were flavourful and thick too. The dhall was tasty too. What can I say...it was a delicious breakfast and reasonable price too. 

So that's that. Look-out for my next post on where we stayed and more to come. Will try to update regularly with new adventures as the Lord enables us to enjoy enroute to minister and preach.

Hope you enjoyed this and do try.

Regards

Edwin Koh Boon Leng

15/1/17