Review: Pak Loh Chiu Chow Restaurant

This is considered as one of my more recent venture. The Starhill Feast Village has been opened for quite a while but I can never seem to be able to find any good excuse to check the place out until recently. Hubby has been there for business a few times and as always there isn't much comment from him since food to him is something to keep him filled rather than to be enjoyed... duh! I happened to checked with a foodie friend who frequent this place, which he claimed there is nothing spectacular about the food in the Feast Village which explained why I never bothered to wade thru the perpectual traffic jam along Jalan Bukit Bintang.

Somehow we managed to find ourselves there one Friday evening last month as hubby was hosting a farewell do for someone close. After deliberating at the concierge, we carefully walked our way thru the tunnel, goshhh the floor is full of "traps". Thank goodness I wasn't wearing any stilettos else I would be cursing like mad for the floors is uneven because of the pebbles and there were little drops or steps here and there. So ladies, be careful OK.

Anyway, we ended up at Pak Loh Chiu Chow restaurant where it's headquarter is located in Hong Kong. Chiu Chow stands for Teo Chew in Cantonese and there isn't that many great authentic Teo Chew restaurants around Kuala Lumpur. I used to frequent one few doors away from Soo Kee in Imbi but they have closed down many years back. So was Classic Restaurant near Tong Shin Hospital that closed down late last year.

Pak Loh Chiu Chow has glass walls all round it which allow people to peep into its kitchen. The entrance is a stone arch and once inside you'll noticed the patterned wood on the walls. It's softly lit all around which is a biatch challenge for me to take clear photos.

This is the kitchen... pretty narrow but long. It's so full of action even though it was past 11pm and the restaurant weren't that pack. Well, maybe there were patrons ordered stuff who were seated at other restaurants in the village. Yeah they allowed cross ordering which is a superb concept. They are open till 2am for those who fancy supper.

A very helpful and attentive lady Captain (what do you call them these days?? Mike, help???) took our order painstakingly explaining to us their specialities and recommending us their "jiu pai choy" (popular and special dishes). I glanced thru the menu and they seems to have a pretty extensive list which includes Teo Chew porridge and condiments.

Anyway, hubby and guests dictated what they wanted, some dishes were from the menu some where not which the Captain did a fantabulous job in recommending. I didn't really paying attention as I was super sleepy since I was still preggy then. So embarassed actually as I was yawning away thru dinner!!!

Hubby enquired about their Chinese wine after he saw bottles of them lining the glass shelves. Seems like they do not have the wine he drank frequently when he is in China. I was joking to him to order Looi Yue Hoong, a type of wine I frequently heard in Kung Fu movies especially Wong Fei Hoong hahaha and hubby thought I was pulling his leg!!! Darn he didn't believed me its a real thing until the Captain said they do have that wine. So hubby ordered one bottle. Check out the wall of Chinese wines... Click on the pics to view larger pics.

We actually raised some eyebrows when the waitress brought out some suen mooi (tyzng boi or assam boi... whadayacallitindamnenglish??? :p too lazy to google plus I don't eat these stuff one) and some tiny slices lemon quarters. So sua koo (country bumpkin) you know until have to ask the waitress which gave us a sheepish smile, she explained that they are to serve together with the wine. She placed one suen mooi and one slice of lemon into the wine glass before pouring the wine in. They're supposed to errr make the wine more palatable... pardon me ok I wasn't really paying attention since I can't drink plus I was yawning away but I did had a teeny weeny sip. Surprisingly it's very smooth and tasted quite good. Maybe can try it now since we brought back the left over bottle hark! *hic hic*

Omigosh such long winded grandma story, ok let's get back to the FOOD!!!! I'll try to recall what we ate... I'm having the same syndrome as Mike but I had a valid excuse hahaha being pregnant tend to have short memory, that's for me, not sure about other ladies. First dish that arrived is this fried kailan. Pretty tasty with the addition of joe hau yue (it's a type of fish which I can't recall the English name) which lend a very fragrant taste to the vegetable. Tried a bite of the fish but it's so hard!!! Maybe its the dried version. Usually my mom will grill the fish till crispy and pound it till it turned powder to be used in her stir fries.

Next up was a braised lamb in claypot (not sure of actual name). I tell you, this dish is super delish with white rice!!! I ate quite a number of pieces of the lamb and tried to wallop whatever little sauce that clinged to the pot. The sauce went deep into the meat and it's ohhhh so tender. Can't wait to eat it again!!!

The next dish was ordered by one of the guest. Guess what??? It's a very very simple choy poh (preserved turnip, I hope I got this right) omelette. Let me tell you, this is the most delicious dish of all the dishes they've ordered in my opinion. I wonder what are the extra ingredients they have added in to make this so fragrant. It's something that I can't described... but please don't tell me it's MSG!!!

To me Teo Chew cuisine means taro or yam cos I find that they use them frequently used be it sweet or savoury. So we had a taro duck or something. Sorry this one I really can't recall... I think it's a vegetarian dish. We find this nothing spectacular and it's pretty oily but I can be bias since I don't fancy deep fried stuff.

Next up is a braised chicken which is fine but it's a tad too salty. It's cooked with plenty of onions and ginger. This is something that can be easily recreate at home.

Overall, it was a pretty pleasant experience and it's somewhere I won't mind going again. Might try the Teo Chew porridge next time to compare between such high class place with our regular hawker haunt at Pudu. Price wise I think it's quite fair for the kind of service and ambiance. There were 5 of us that evening and the total bill came up to about RM300 plus. The Looi Yue Hoong is RM100 and tea is mighty expensive per head at about RM10 or was it RM15, I guess depending which type of tea.

So if you're around in the vicinity and do not mind splurging some dough for some good food, this is the place. Check out some thots about Pak Loh Chiu Chow from non other than Patrick Teoh himself.

Pak Loh Chiu Chow Restaurant
Feast Village, Starhill
Tel: (603)2782 3856