Chung Sam Restaurant – asam fish

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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

Chicken Cuisine, Glenmarie – Curry Chee Cheong Fun

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Every Saturday morning, for as long as I can remember, breakfast has always been curry chee cheong fun. Now, for those who have gone out with me, you will know that when it comes to chee cheong fun and yong tau foo, I always go for the sweet black sauce and never for the curry. I am usually not very fond of the curry version in most places as I dislike the watered down, barely-there curry.

We came across this place by chance. As most of you may know, Bukit Jelutong is rather secluded and good chinese food is hard to come by. So when we discovered the shops in Glenmarie which were a stone’s throw away from home (relatively speaking, of course…one man’s rock is another man’s pebble 🙂 ), we were excited about the fact that we could stop eating nasi lemak and roti canai for breakfast and have something different, for a change. Variety, after all, is the spice of life.

Chicken cuisine has grown. From it’s humble beginnings of a very ordinary looking kopitiam, it has now undergone extensive renovation with a cafe-like ambience but still retaining the chinese kopitiam-quality food and prices. You can get mixed rice, a variety of noodles, nasi lemak and kuih here (all non-halal). The place packs up pretty fast on a Saturday morning; there are a lot of early birds in Shah Alam and Glenmarie.

I love the chee cheong fun (flat white noodles) here, not so much for the yong tau foo bits that go with it (although those are really tasty too), but the wonderfully rich and thick, spicy chicken curry that they add to the chee cheong fun. So what you get is a really dry version that gives enough flavour to the entire dish without overpowering it.

The stall also serves very good curry noodles, again with the same curry base as the above. This dish is as popular as the yong tau foo, and is served with lots of cockles (my favourite!), taufu pok (fried beancurd), long beans and a very good sambal (chilli paste).

Chicken Cuisine

6, Jalan UI/Seksyen UI Hicom-Glenmarie Industrial Park,

40150 Shah Alam

Sri Nirwana Maju, Bangsar – Banana Leaf Rice

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When my office was in Brickfields, we were spoilt for choice when it came to Indian food. We had our favourites, like the stall at the alley between Jalan Tun Sambanthan 3 and Scott Road which had the world’s best chicken peratal (fried chicken in very dry, thick curry). Our main problem, again, was familiarity and a resistance to try something new. With so many options to choose from in Brickfields, why venture further for the same kind of food?

Because of our cockiness about our knowledge of Indian food, we hardly ever explored outside Brickfields.

Now that we are no longer in Brickfields, we have become a lot more adventurous with food.

We chanced upon Sri Nirwana Maju in Bangsar when I went to AmBank to settle my monthly car HP installment payment. I was poorer, but starved due to a diet of bread and more bread for 4 days. The restaurant is located next to AmBank and is packed with people at lunch time. I dread to think how we’re going to brave the traffic now that Bangsar Village II is open. The traffic jam leading to Bangsar this evening was horrendous!! Back to the topic at hand (I do get so easily carried away!), we were very lucky to find a table for four and grabbed the table. Yes, the Makan Club is quite resourceful in getting tables. 🙂


Thanks to Smokin’ SOB’s intimate knowledge of Indian dishes, we could sit back and wait to be served. Four pieces of banana leaves were promptly placed in front of us, and shortly after that came the rice, sliced cucumbers in yoghurt, fried long beans and crunchy fried bitter gourd (see picture above). We were also served fried papadums (spicy Indian crackers), rasam (a spicy Indian soup that tastes quite similarly to mulligatawny soup), dhall, fish or chicken curry, pickles and yoghurt. These are the fixed items, and one can order various types of meat dishes to complement the meal.


Smokin’ SOB must have thought that we were famished as he ordered fried tenggiri (mackerel) (hot from the stove), mutton peratal (mutton in thick curry), fried fish flakes and chicken. I thought the fish flakes dish was rather tasty and it’s something I’d order again.


Banana leaf rice is an interesting concept as the servings of rice and vegetables are unlimited. The spiciness of the dishes coupled with the richness of the food are indicators, though, that one should not overeat. Etiquette also dictates that if you find the food good, you should fold the leaf away from you, and if you feel otherwise, then fold it towards you. We think that folding the leaf away is just to stop the curry from spilling all over you. 🙂

Sri Nirwana Maju
43, Jalan Telawi 3,
Bangsar Baru, KL.