Category Archives: LOCATION: KUALA LUMPUR

Hung Kee, Jalan Loke Yew – Wantan Mee

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When Boo_licious blogged about Hung Kee, I suddenly developed a craving for good wantan mee. Unfortunately, now is a bad time to develop cravings as it’s the Chinese New Year period and not all chinese food stalls are open. It’s just as well that I have an appreciation for all kinds of food, so I’ll never go hungry.

So anyhow, I managed to convince my lunch kakis that Hung Kee would be open today and we should risk driving out, failing which we could always eat at one of the numerous foodstalls along Jalan Loke Yew. Surely one ought to be open at this time! Eeyore peered out of the car as I drove past on the other side of the road and ecstatically proclaimed that the restaurant was open (but I knew that already :-)). Parking was a breeze thanks to the number of people who were still on leave. Incidentally, all the shops on either side of Hung Kee were also closed for the CNY season. There was a buzz of activity at Hung Kee, though, as people stood outside waiting for empty tables. But this is normal, as I have been to Hung Kee at other times and I’ve always noticed a crowd.


We ordered the wantan mee with char siew (barbequed pork) and pork wantan. According to Eeyore, the noodles are not the egg variant as compared to the wantan mee at Koon Kee, Petaling Street, which he preferred. I, on the other hand, enjoyed the springy texture of the noodles and I thought the sauce that the noodles were tossed in was full of flavour and complemented the noodles marvelously. There is no need to order extra wantan as each serving came with about six pieces of wantan. The char siew is sweet and sticky and just perfect.


We also ordered an extra bowl of sui kau (dumplings) stuffed with minced pork, and a plate of siew yoke (roasted pork) which we felt didn’t meet up to our standards as compared to the superb siew yoke in Pudu. Nevertheless, if you do venture out to Hung Kee, do give their wantan mee a try. It’s well worth the trip.

Woo Lan, Brickfields – my favourite dishes

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In the midst of rushing for deadlines before the Chinese New Year holidays, we were still itching to have a nice lunch together with colleagues. A number of us cannot resist yue sang and if there is an opportunity to eat it everyday, I think we’d do that!

I’ve blogged about Woo Lan before, but I wrote about the different noodles served there. This time, we ordered dishes, and our old friend, JT, coincidentally ordered all my old favourites. I’ve graduated from these dishes and moved to several new ones, but like old socks, it is comforting to eat what I term “happy meals”.


First up was the plate of yue sang which we promptly finished, right down to the last sesame seed. It pays to have guys in the group who are not ashamed of being seen as desperately hungry, haven’t-eaten-for-one-week blokes.


In 2001, I was a big fan of fried pork belly. This simple dish is made of thinly sliced, deep fried, crispy belly stir-fried with chunks of cut onions in a slightly sweet and sticky dark sauce.


In 2004, I discovered butter squid (sotong). The sauce is very similar to butter crabs, which is a creamy milk sauce, and the squids are fried in this sauce together with a substantial amount of curry leaves. I remember in the old days, I used to finish up all the sauce as that was the best part of the dish. I even licked the curry leaves dry. 🙂 This dish takes a longer time to prepare, so order this only if you have time to spare.


Yau mak (romaine lettuce) was my favourite in the 90s.


The salted chicken dish was too dry; it would have been better had the sauce not leaked out of the packaging. But the flesh was tender and moist, although it was too small a portion for a table of 6.

Woo Lan (map here)
19, Jalan Scott,Brickfields, 50470 KL.
Tel: 03-2274-8368

Opening hours: 11.30am – 3.00pm & 5.30pm – 10.00pm

Woo Pin – Fish head noodles

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When it comes to fish head noodles, there are two places that I’m crazy about. On one hand, I love the XO fish head noodles at Goon Wah with its unique noodles in XO soup, and on the other hand, there’s the fish head noodles at Woo Pin.


I was first introduced to Woo Pin several months ago. Bizzy Bertie was witness to this happy encounter. Since then, I have eaten at Woo Pin several times, and I never get tired of it. The only thing that deters me from going there too often is the lack of sufficient parking space and the long wait for the food. On my first visit to this restaurant in Taman Danau Desa, my food took 45 minutes to arrive. Which is hard to imagine considering the fact that this restaurant serves only fish head noodles and a couple of side dishes. I suppose you can’t tell a diva how to sing a high C sharp note.


My most recent visit to this restaurant was on Sunday (yesterday) for brunch after church. Feeling peckish, we ordered the fish head noodles (no, we didn’t get the large bowl…still feeling the effects of the extra large plate of nasi lemak on Friday 😛 ) and we shared a bowl of boiled fish paste. This bowl also fulfilled the basic requirement for greens.


And why do I like fish head noodles? Well, the obvious explanation would be that I absolutely love any kind of fish head. Where a lot of people balk at the sight of eating a fish head (and I’m thinking foreigners here) I love digging into the cheeks and around the eyes for the best part of the fish. Of course, when the fish head is fried, getting the tender bits of flesh can be an arduous task. So the second reason why I like fish head is for the flavour of the fried fish. And when one immerses the fried fish head, and body bits, into a boiling soup with pieces of tomato, ginger, cabbage, spring onions and fried shallots together with bee hoon (vermicelli) and a couple of scoops of fresh milk and a dash of wine, the result is a tangy, rich and sweet mix of flavours that makes one wonder why one doesn’t do this more often…


Woo Pin fish head noodles can also be found at the Cheras flats which is the original location. However, the location at Taman Danau Desa is a lot more comfortable than the former.

Woo Pin Fish Head Noodles @ Ho A One Seafood Steamboat Restaurant (opposite S.K.Danau Perdana)
Jalan 1/109F, Taman Danau Desa
Kuala Lumpur
Opening hours: 7.30am – 2.30pm (closed alternate Mondays)