where and what to eat lah?

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Lot 10 Hutong is known to serve some of the best KL's hawkers food under one roof, featuring more than 20 food outlets that have survived over three generations, serving only the best in local Malaysian cuisine. Supposedly, these outlets are favourites of the YTL's CEO, Tan Sri Francis Yeoh, he actually handpicked and canvassed them to open an outlet at his new food court. The food here is non-halal and they make sure the 'hawkers' will be cooking in their original style throughout the generations; if it uses a charcoal fire, it stays that way.


When you walk and see a picture of the famous God of Eatery and renowned celebrity food critics from Hong Kong, Chua Lam, one thing is assured, be prepared to pay a premium for the food here.

Unlike other food courts, Lot 10 Hutong is styled to be a maze of alleyways designed by the multi award-winning architect and designer Yuhkichi Kawai from Japan. Find your way through the puzzling maze of challenge and you will be rewarded with different culinary offerings at every turn of the corner.

You will come across familiar and well-known stalls such as Petaling Street's Kim Lian Kee charcoal Hokkien mee, PJ SS2's Ho Weng Kee wantan mee, Petaling Street's Hon Kee porridge, Soong Kee beef ball noodles, Pandamaran Klang's Mo Sang Kor bah kut teh, Jalan Gasing's Ipoh chicken rice, Campbell mini popiah and many more. Simply can't eat finish them in a single trip!

Kim Lian Kee in Petaling Street runs by the Lee family since 1920s. In the olden days, most stalls would just cook one pot of noodles to be served throughout the day to customers. Looking for a niche, they decided to be different by serving his noodles fried instead of offering the soupy version. Thus the Hokkien mee with yellow noodles, prawns, pork slices, crispy lard fritters, braised in a dark soy sauce-tinged stock and wok-fried over a charcoal fire was born.


Charcoal wok-fried Hokkien mee (RM 9.35) was thick, black, smooth with whiffs of wok-fried charcoal fragrance braised in it. Hate to say this, but it was actually pretty good! Hard to believe that we are actually having taichow in a mall. There are two cooks and you're lucky if you get the chinese cook - apparently he is the better skilled one.


The famous Soong Kee beef ball noodles that have been around since 1945. Springy yellow noodle (RM 5.80) topped with generous portions of delicious dark minced pork sauce and a good bowl of bouncy beef balls. If you were to compare with the famous Ngau Kee beef noodle at Jalan Tengkat Tong Shin, Soong Kee is more superior in every way - their minced pork sauce is finer and smoother.


The legendary Ho Weng Kee wantan mee which is used to be in SS2, PJ - now they have moved to Lot 10 Hutong instead. I was devastated when I couldn't find Ho Weng Kee in SS2 anymore. Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?!? Now, I have to travel all the way down to KL and pay a premium for your wantan mee...!@#$%^&*? Thanks YTL!


One of my favorite, the must have must try 5 spices beef brisket wantan mee (RM 9.35). The beef brisket is very tender, flavorful, chewy and braised in low heat with the five spices for long hours. Combined with the right springy texture noodles which absorbs the essence from the beef brisket broth - perfect! Except that this dish used to cost only RM 5 back in their SS2 days, @#$%^&*!


This lam mee stall, Lam Mee Ya caught my attention with a wide nice looking banner even though I have not heard of it before. Apparently, they have another branch located in 1-Utama New Wing.

Original lam mee (RM 9.25) with prawns, fish paste, slices of cabbage and topped with chopped scallions and browned onions. For an extra kick, lashings of sambal belacan and vinegar were added into the thickened sauce. Nothing fanciful but it didn't disappoint me either. Is it worth the premium price? Nah!


Located at the other end of the food court was Kong Tai Singapore which serves fried oyster omelette and Singapore Hokkien prawn mee. I gave their Singaporean Hokkien mee a pass, wasn't a fan of it, the noodle looked white, plain and tasteless.


Instead, I opted for their fried oyster with omelette (RM 10.40). Oysters were fresh and plentiful but I didn't like the omelette. It wasn't crispy enough, the flour starch wasn't mix properly with the omelette and it created several pieces of gooey gums, eeeww!


For dessert, Ice Room Classic, flavored ice blended into smooth snow flakes. Their banner looks captivating too! Variety of flavors ranging from black sesame, green tea, peanut, strawberry, durian, mango pomelo, etc.


Too bad they ran out of black sesame on that night. Chose the snowy green tea (RM 9.35) instead. The texture wasn't as smooth as ice cream but better off compared to cendol and ice kacang. The green tea wasn't flavorful, strong and bitter enough for my liking, you can still taste the plain ice somehow. Better if they can add more green tea and completely infused it into the ice to give more umph! Furthermore, there was a hint of durian taste that was left over from the previous customer which ordered the durian snow ice, wtfish! Maybe I'm just too old for these kind of pleasant looking food...

Verdict: Some are good some are normal. What's best is that you can eat them all under one roof for convenience sake. Just pay a slight premium for the location, deco, air-cond and hygiene.


Address:
Hutong,
Lower Ground Floor,
Lot 10 Shopping Mall,
50, Jalan Bukit Bintang,
50250, Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03-2141 0500
Business Hours: Opens daily from 12pm - 3pm and 6pm - 11pm
Halal: No
Taste:
Value:
GPS: 3.146244, 101.711978
Map:

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My first dining experience at the 'old' Paris Restaurant was more than a decade ago. Back in the 90s, they were operating at a run-down dirty old shack next to the Jasmine Towers and overlooking the 'beautiful' scenic views of the illegal squatter settlements. The foods were decently good and cheap for a decrepit roadside shack. Business was insanely good and it soars overtime. Now, they have expanded to a spanking 3 new spacious shop units with 4 floors high which easily accommodate trucks of people.

The New Paris Restaurant is renowned for their lightning speed Chinese fast food experience. No kidding, these military trained workers are really fast and efficient! Upon ordering, the first dish usually arrives within the 4th minutes and everything else arrives within 10 minutes at most. Even the cleaning part is done really fast, all the tables are wrapped with layers of disposable pink plastic sheets so that soiled plates, cutlery and leftovers can be wrap off immediately for fast turnaround.


The first dish to arrive was the steamed Patin fish (RM 48) sprinkled with fresh corianders, spring onions, sliced gingers and drenched with superior quality soy sauce. The fish was very fresh, sweet and perfectly steamed, maintaining the delicate silky and tender flesh. Drizzled the sweet savory sauce over a plate of warm white rice...Deeeeeeeliciouss!


Champagne chicken with watermelon (RM 18) is the New Paris's signature dish. Fried cutlets of chicken cooked in a special sweet and sour sauce with a hint of champagne. I ordered this almost every time I dine at New Paris, not because it is extremely tasty or whatsoever...Just that I can have all the mouth-watering watermelon balls as dessert after the meal :P


Claypot taufu (RM 15) with strings of mushroom, green snow peas and carrots.


Stir fried long beans with prawns in Vietnamese style (RM 10). The prawns were fresh, succulent and delicately coated in a spicy tangy sauce.

Verdict: New Paris is no longer cheap as before but strangely it is still packed (people mountain people sea). Furthermore, their isn't exactly the best but I guess the super fast service makes up for any short falls. I still miss the dirty 'old' Paris.


Address:
New Paris Restaurant
No. 62, 64, 66, Jalan SS2/72,
47300 Petaling Jaya,
Selangor
Tel: 03-7955 9180, 03-7955 0186
Business Hours: Opens daily from 11.30am - 2.30pm and 5.30pm - 10.30pm
Halal: No
Taste:
Value:
GPS: 3.118662, 101.625802
Map:

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Strangely enough, it never cross my mind to try out New Formosa Restaurant despite living in Petaling Jaya for more than 20 years. Since 1980s, they have been serving a wide array of authentic and creative Taiwanese delicacies while keeping abreast of their customers' growing health consciousness. Shame on me for allowing this to escape from the clutches of my gastronomical stomach.


The restaurant might be small but it probably has one of the brightest and shiniest looking deco with mirrors covered on both sides of the wall. It is probably also one of the most air-conditioned restaurant per square feet to keep you cool. Their menu is also probably one of the most extensive looking with more than 100 varieties of dish to choose from. Going through their menu is like reading an encyclopedia, it was very informative and detailed on the ingredients used and how it benefits you.

Master chef owner Mr. Lee Weng Eng and his friendly Taiwanese wife Mrs Jeanie Lee definitely has a respect for fresh ingredients and well-honed cooking techniques with an innovative approach to a healthy Taiwanese cuisine.


Steamed yam rice in hollow bamboo Taiwanese Hakka style (RM 18) is one of the must-try specialty. Fragrant rice steamed with chunks of beautiful powdery yam, mixed with chinese mushrooms, spring onions, shallots and combined with the right saltiness from the dried shrimps and Chinese sausage (lap cheong)...wonderfulest!


Each tube of bamboo yam rice is just sufficient for five rice bowls. No doubt that this is definitely my favorite award winning dish of the night.


Bean curd with minced meat and preserved salty vegetables (RM 15). This salty sourish dish is actually quite appetizing and it goes very well with bowls of fragrant white rice.


Signature deep fried sesame chicken (RM 15) is battered with sprinkles of sesame seeds and deep fried till perfection. Crispy on the outside while maintaining the tenderness and juiciness inside.

The deep fried sesame chicken is served with a special made sweet plum sauce and hot sourish kimchi chili sauce. The kimchi chili sauce is actually very tasty! Such a perfect combination with the deep fried chicken.


Stir-fried asparagus with fresh lily bulbs, ginkgo and pumpkin slices (RM 17). The sweetness of the pumpkin blends in nicely with the fresh crunchy asparagus, lily bulbs and ginkgo. Refreshing and innovative yet nutritional!


Dessert time! Their menu has at least 2-3 pages dedicated for assorted desserts; from Taiwan's famous sweet glutinous rice pieces to crystallized yam and puddings. How to resist not trying?! Die die also must try. The caramel custard pudding (RM 2.90) has a nice smooth creamy caramel taste with the right sweetness.


Yam ginkgo pudding aka Orh Nee (RM 2.90) is a must-try warm dessert! The sweet yam is mashed until it forms a smooth paste and mixed with ginkgo nuts. The original version is actually very sweet and fattening as it contains pork fats to yield the smooth textures. But this is a much healthier version without lard and low in sugar.

There were also a variety servings of puddings, from green tea aloe vera, mango to honey herbal but personally I only enjoyed their caramel custard and yam ginkgo puddings.


Original flavor handmade glutinous rice pieces (mochi) (RM 3.20) coated with sugar and showered with plentiful specially selected peanuts. It was served warm, not overly sweet and the peanuts were actually really good. Unfortunately, they ran out of mixed flavored mochi (RM 3.70) for the night.

Verdict: It was love at first sight! With so many varieties to pick from and such warm heartfelt hospitality from Mrs Jeanie Lee, will definitely warrant my subsequent visits.


Address:
New Formosa Restaurant
46, Jalan SS2/24,
47300 Petaling Jaya
Tel: 03-7875 1894, 03-7875 7478
Business Hours: Opens daily from 12pm - 3pm and 6pm - 11pm
Halal: No
Taste:
Value:
GPS: 3.11409, 101.62112
Map:

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