Category Archives: LOCATION: SELANGOR

Batu 8 Kapar Sea-foods (yes, with an “s”), Kapar

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Six of us squeezed into Bald Eagle’s Audi last weekend and headed off towards Kapar, armed with just a GPS and a lot of faith, on a quest for some “pretty awesome seafood”.  Only Jun had been there before in his much younger days while riding in the backseat of his mummy’s car, so his only recollection of the place was:

1. The food is damn good

2. The restaurant is located just off the main Kapar road

3. Make the first right turn after the masjid/surau

4. Don’t expect much, it’s just a shack.

For the most part of the journey it was a rather pleasant drive thanks to the various super highways leading from our homes in Shah Alam to that little town beyond Klang.  Our GPS was keyed in with the address, 162 Kampung Perapat – information we had lifted from the only blog that had a write-up on this restaurant.  Prompted by the GPS, we turned off Jalan Kapar into Jalan Kampung Perapat, counting down the distance with the enthusiasm of a herd of ravenous pigs.  As we drove deeper and deeper into the kampung with nary a restaurant in sight, the manifestation of yet another banana tree didn’t seem reassuring.  The surroundings were eerie, like a scene from a Malay pontianak movie.  Finally Jun spoke up.

“Hey guys, this doesn’t look right,” he said. “It should be just off the main road.” (refer point two above)

“Well, we’re following the GPS.  Let’s just see where it leads us to,” I said.

We learnt, within seconds, that 162 Kampung Perapat was a dilapidated factory, situated in the middle of an overgrown thicket, with wooden gates that were carelessly held together with a rusty lock.

“Meena, did you see a masjid/surau when we were coming in?” Jun asked me.

Jun must have thought that my four eyes functioned as such – two eyes focused on the GPS and two on the surrounding landscape.   Luckily, as we were retracing our route, we saw a surau on our left.

“Okay, turn left at the surau!” Jun, the only “authority” in our group remarked.  Bald Eagle dutifully turned.  “It should be just…..about……here!” Jun exclaimed.  We looked.  Crickets.  A frog croaked.  Something wasn’t right.

Sammy was the only person in the group who spoke Hokkien, to be specific, Penang Hokkien, so she was tasked to call the restaurant for directions after we agreed that we were getting nowhere with Jun’s able navigation.  The first number she dialed led to a fax machine.

“Bugger,” I cursed.  I pulled up the blog post again to look for more numbers.  Three numbers were listed there.  I tried the first number, a mobile phone number, and hastily chucked the phone to the Hokkien-speaking lass.

“Hello,” Sammy said hesitantly when someone answered.  “Ini Restaurant Batu 8 kah?” she asked.  We all wondered why she wasn’t speaking in Hokkien.  “Kami nak cari Restaurant Batu 8!”  More talk on the other end.

“Oh, maaf ya! Salah nombor!” Sammy hung up sheepishly and swore at us.  “I think we woke that person up,” Sammy growled.  “But nobody sleeps at 8 o’clock!” Karen interjected defensively.  The unexpected remark broke the building tension in the car.

Hope was getting slim.  I tried calling the second number.  There was no answer.  Then I looked at the blog post and saw that it was written in 2009.  Unlike England where a copy of the Lonely Planet travel guide from 1981 can still be used as reference, nothing is of permanence in this country.

Could we be third time lucky, I wondered.  We were already lost and hungry and had nothing to lose.

I cannot even begin to describe the joy we felt when the person on the other end of the line replied in the affirmative in Hokkien that we had dialed the right number.  And therein began a comedy of errors as the man described mosques and suraus to turn at when there were at least four of those in a one mile vicinity.  When he eventually realised that we were not achieving any progress as far as verbal directions were concerned due to a serious linguistic failure, he told us to go to the nearest surau and wait for him there.  It was a testament to small-town hospitality and we applauded when he turned up on a motorcycle to lead us to the shack of food salvation.

We cheered as we saw a glimmer of light along the dark and narrow road; a silent welcome to the battle-scarred troop that had braved the journey from Shah Alam to Kapar bearing a bottle of Hibiki 17 year whisky on the promise of a meal of steamed mantis prawns, crabs in sweet and sour sauce, salt baked chicken with flesh so tender and flavourful that it needed no accompaniment, spicy squid, and fried beehoon with clams.  It was a meal that satisfied every craving.  It was a meal that was deserving of the one and a half hour journey of blunders and lapses in judgement.

Our journey home took 25 minutes.

The CORRECT address on the business card:

Batu 8 Kapar Sea-foods (yes, with an “s”)
162, Batu 8, Jalan Kapar,
42200 Kapar, Selangor.

….except that it’s not really on Jalan Kapar, is it?  Head towards Jalan Keretapi Lama (runs parallel to Jalan Kapar) between the intersection of Jalan Masjid and Jalan Kampung Perapat.  And if all else fails, you know you can call the friendly local tour guide at the numbers listed below:

Tel: 03-3250 8326, 012-318 6465, 012-218 6465

 

Zuan Yuan Chinese Restaurant, One World Hotel Petaling Jaya

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Happy Chinese New Year to all friends and readers!   I have tossed yee sang 10 times this year already, and I’m not complaining as I’m a yee sang addict.   My makan kaki, Ecstatic Eeyore, and I have a ritual of going to Woo Lan every year and ordering a plate of yee sang and a noodle dish for two.  It seems rather pathetic when two people toss yee sang gaily, chanting all kinds of unachievables, but we don’t really care as we immerse ourselves in tradition.

One of the first sessions I attended together with the other bloggers was a food review at Zuan Yuan Chinese Restaurant.  Zuan Yuan is ideal if you’re looking for a halal alternative.   While at first, we moaned and groaned about missing the lard, we eventually came to the realisation that a perfectly good meal could emerge from a halal Chinese restaurant without that glorified hog.   We scoffed at the idea of lap mei fan without the typical waxed meats made of pork, but when we tried Zuan Yuan’s version of lap mei fan with the clever replacing of pork with turkey and chicken, we knew that we could finally share this much revered dish with our Muslim friends.

The roast duck is a specialty at Zuan Yuan, and I understood why.   The meat was tender, the skin was crispy and the spicy chilli sauce was a good complement to the dish.   I also liked the fried tiger prawns.   The prawns, which were extremely fresh, were coated in a dry sauce made with dried shrimps, chilli and garlic – perfect for those who prefer bolder flavours.

Nian gao, a sweetish sticky confection made from glutinous rice, is popularly eaten during Chinese New Year although it is available all year round.   At Zuan Yuan, the nian gao is home made and is served with a twist – it is paired with an avocado custard, then coated and deep fried in a kataifi phyllo dough.

Chinese New Year set meals are available at Zuan Yuan till the 20th of February.   This year, Chef Michael Chew has prepared 4 varieties of yee sang with different accompaniments ranging from the more common seaweed and salmon to exotic ingredients like chuka hotate and sliced abalone.  The set menus at Zuan Yuan are available at prices ranging from RM988++ to RM1,388++ per table of 10.

Zuan Yuan will remain open throughout the fifteen days of the Lunar New Year.

Zuan Yuan Chinese Restaurant
One World Hotel
First Avenue, Bandar Utama City Centre
Petaling Jaya

Tel: 03-7681 1159

Thank you, Bangsar Babe, for the invitation, and Florence Leong and Crystal Koh of One World Hotel for kindly hosting us.

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Yee Sang with seaweed and assorted fresh fruits – less of the preserved stuff!

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Roasted duck with unique spicy sauce

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Wok-fried tiger prawn Hong Kong style

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Steamed coral fish with pickled radish and chilli

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Braised diced sea treasure, dried oyster and sea moss in golden bag with green garden

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Steamed lotus leaf rice with assorted meat and chicken chinese sausage

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Chicken and chrysanthemum soup – clear soup with robust flavours

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Double-boiled sea coconut with organic bird’s nest, red dates and white fungus

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Deep fried avocado custard and nian gao with kataifi phyllo

Huck’s Cafe, Jalan Gasing, PJ

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Huck's
Green chicken rendang

It’s a little too late by the Holiday Rulebook, but I turned off my Christmas lights today, and I shall probably stop listening to Christmas carols tomorrow.  With a flick of a switch, I am assailed by an overwhelming sense of wistfulness that the merriment’s come to an end and the reality of 2011 is setting in together with the multitude of deadlines and expectations.  I suppose I should embrace the challenges that will inevitably come my way, be prepared to whatever extent I can, and occasionally focus on the more pleasurable things in life.

Huck's Collage

The concept of secret supper clubs is relatively new to Malaysia although it has become increasingly popular in certain countries.  Huck’s Cafe is designed in such a fashion, where people gather around good food, not in a restaurant but at a residence.  Every night, different groups of people, approximately 15 to 20 in number, congregate at a particular house in Petaling Jaya to enjoy the lovingly cooked food prepared by Huck Seng, a self-trained cook.  He started off by cooking for his children and posting delectable pictures on Facebook, and soon, friends showed interest and asked if they could sample his cooking.  Eventually, with the steady stream of customers, Huck’s Cafe emerged.

Huck's Collage

While there are secret supper clubs where the location is kept a mystery until the very last minute, the location of Huck’s Cafe is publicly available on Facebook.  All one has to do is be a “fan” on Facebook, then leave the proprietor a message to find out if a particular date is available.

Huck's Collage

We ordered a variety of dishes for our group of 16 that night – a combination of local and Western dishes to suit our diverse palate.  The lemon roast chicken ala Jamie Oliver was a hit with everyone.   What initially looked like charred skin turned out to be some sort of caramelisation, and the flesh was flavourful and tender and juicy, literally falling off the bones.   Also good were the local dishes – sambal udang petai which was sufficiently spicy and sweet, green chicken curry and a fluffy and tasty kerabu rice with a beautiful herbaceous scent from the various types of ulam used to prepare this dish.  Desserts were equally enjoyable – the creme brulee was well prepared with a lovely crisp caramelised surface, the chocolate mud pie ice cream satisfied those who loved nuts, and the warm chocolate brownie’s soft texture contributed by the use of bananas and raisins was good enough to satisfy the chocolate lovers in our group.  With a large group such as ours, preferences are bound to be debatable.  I found the cottage lamb stew pie too sweet for my liking, the base flavour of the meat masked by too many other ingredients, but to another member of the group, it was her favourite dish.  Nevertheless, it didn’t matter as it didn’t detract from the meal’s overall worth.

Huck's Collage

It is simple, home cooked fare.  The one factor which gives Huck’s Cafe an edge over the mass of restaurants that proliferate in the Klang Valley is this – Huck Seng cooks from the heart.

It’s the same reason why when I cook and accidentally put too much salt in my curry, Bald Eagle still devours every little bit.  And asks for seconds.

Huck's Collage

Huck’s Cafe on Facebook.