Smokin’ SOB normally doesn’t get ecstatic about food; his philosophy in life is to eat to live rather than live to eat (unlike the rest of us). So when he mentioned to me, about a month back, that he had just eaten same “damn good f*#^ing good fish”, I knew that it had to be something really special.

Unfortunately, the restaurant doesn’t open for lunch, and the Makan Club doesn’t do dinners, so we were unable to enjoy Smokin’ SOB’s out-of-body experience.

So naturally, when he suggested dinner today at Chung Sam Restaurant, I couldn’t say no. 🙂

Chung Sam is hardly what one would call a restaurant. It’s more like an open-concept shack. The “kitchen” is in the centre, and the tables surround the kitchen. The problem with seeing the kitchen is that one can easily be tempted by the array of food ordered by others. Take Richard, for example. Richard loves crabs, and his attention was on the crabs throughout the night. Unfortunately, all the crabs were booked by another table, so the poor chap could only salivate. I’ve never seen anyone look so miserable.

But the star attraction at this restaurant is the asam (tamarind) fish. The fish is first deep fried in a wok, then placed on a lotus leaf. The sauce (prepared beforehand) made of tamarind juice, chillies and belacan is then poured over the fish together with sliced onions. The “package” is then wrapped up and deep fried again to allow the flavours to envelope the fish. It was served hot and it was certainly delicious.

Smokin’ SOB was right. It was damn good f*#^ing good fish. 🙂

(Note: If you’d like to sample the fish, do go there early as they run out of the sauce pretty fast. We had arrived at 8.15pm, and we were the last customers to get the asam fish.)

Chung Sam Restaurant
No. 3, Jalan Anggor,
4th Mile, Off Jalan Klang Lama (coming from KL, just before the Tmn Desa exit),
58100 KL
Tel: 03-7822291/012-3685164

I hate the school holidays.

Other than the fact that the roads are just a little less busy in the mornings.

God forbid if you’re crazy enough to venture on the roads between 9.00pm and 10.00pm. The droves of people who take their families to shopping malls during the school holidays is mind-boggling, and as everyone well knows, Malaysians love maximising their time, so it isn’t unnatural to find people leaving the malls only when it’s closing time, i.e. 9.30pm – 10.00pm.

So when we decided to go to Goon Wah Restaurant at Kuchai Lama, it didn’t come as a surprise to us that half of Kuala Lumpur was out on the roads as well.

Finding Goon Wah was not that difficult thanks to Eeyore’s knowledge of Old Klang Road and Kuchai Lama. But I think that if I were equipped with a reasonably good map, it would not be difficult to locate the restaurant.

Finding a table is a little more difficult. Goon Wah occupies two shoplots, one of which is air-conditioned. All the tables were occupied when we arrived. But within 5 minutes, we were shown to a table.

It didn’t take long before our orders arrived. First up was the Chu Cheong (pork intestines and stomach). The strong smell of the intestines and stomach were masked by a generous amount of garlic, red chillies and dried shrimps, while still retaining the crunchiness. I thoroughly enjoyed this dish.

Next came the Lo Hon Chai (chinese mixed vegetables). We thought it was pretty ordinary, and will probably never order it again.

The star attraction, XO fish head noodles, was served boiling hot in a claypot. The soup, despite not being as “creamy” as some other restaurants – presumably this place uses less milk? – had a nice fishy taste with the right amount of tanginess. And the noodles…thick white noodles…soft, yet not mushy, with a nice bite to it, and its texture a cross between asam laksa noodles and marshmallows. I could wax lyrical about it, but one would think I was off my rocker.

The claypot lou shue fun (literally translated as rat tail noodles) was slightly different from what I am used too. Normally, it is a little on the greasy side, but this lou shue fun was dry and not oily. Served with minced pork and egg, it was delicious.

Our final dish was Kau Yoke (pork) with yam. It may be extremely sinful, what with layers of fat and meat cooked in dark soy sauce, but the taste was heavenly! Eeyore happily “wiped up” the sauce with the steamed mantou (buns).

I think I died and went to heaven today.

Goon Wah Restaurant

G13, Jalan 3/115C, Block KP2,

Taman Kuchai Jaya,

Off Jalan Kuchai Lama,

58200 Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03-79820048/79840722

Fax: 03-79820163