Review: Makanan Thai Pek Sak @ Kampung Baru Sungai Buloh

**Non-Halal**


It's always great to have adventurous parents when it comes to food. I guess it must have been that upbringing that somehow I've turned into a foodie. Makanan Thai Pek Sak is merely a shack in Sungai Buloh was rather elusive as my parents have attempted to bring us earlier the year but was closed and we ended up in LYJ instead which is located near by.

Operated by a man who married a Thai wife, hence we got a combination of Chinese and Thai food. Actually the man cooks dai chow (stir-fries) Chinese style and he manned the kitchen all by himself! The Thai element here are the grilled seafood!



An assortment of fishes, squid and blood cockles are grilled over charcoal stoves. Served with the utmost appetising chili dip, way much better than Nong & Jimmy.



We have a platter of blood cockles, so juicy and yummy with the hot hot dip.



Then came the Braised Fish Head. Amazing flavours of soy bean paste with slight hint of chili melded well with the firm fish head that have quite some meaty parts. This was so good with rice that I overate my quota of rice that evening. The cook was rather generous too that my mother said he actually taught her how to cook this dish at her previous visit. However, our only gripe is the okra... so tough and old!



Thinking that they were Thai specialist, we ordered a mixed Tom Yum soup. Disappointed that it doesn't taste good at all. As the kitchen is in an open area, I could actually see the cook scooping tom yum paste from a huge tin meant for catering purposes. So stay away from this.



The star dish that appears on every table - Stir-Fried Dried Shrimp Belacan Fern Shoots. The fern shoots were blanched quickly before stir frying in sambal belacan and tossed with pounded dried shrimp. No wonder it's a must order for everyone. The fern shoots still retain their crunch and the addition of dried shrimps is a marvelous idea.



Next up is Harm Yue Far Larm Poe (Claypot Pork Belly with Salted Fish). There is no denial that I have to declare that they serve the best in Klang Valley! The pork belly are sliced thinly but broadly, unlike most places where the pork belly pieces shrivel down to nothing after cooking. The size of the pork gave a good bite to the dish. Apart from this, the portion of salted fish is really generous. The salty gravy with a hint of hotness from the dried chillies packed a punch... so now you know why I overate my quota of rice heh.



We added this crab dish later on but really, the portions here are kinda big and we struggled with these crabs. A rather unique style for a crab dish. This is done "kiong yung" (ginger paste) stir fried. Even though heavily peppered with ginger but the crabs retained it's natural sweetness. Thank goodness they were not meaty crabs, otherwise would have a lot of wastage. We managed anyway to finish up the crabs, right down to the last drop of its sweet broth. Finger lickin' goodness.



For 7 of us with rice and Chinese tea, if I can remember correctly, the bill was between RM120 - RM130 or there about. Very reasonable but then again... this is a shack at the corner of Jalan Public and Jalan Welfare, opposite RHB Bank and Yin Ma Cash & Carry. I've asked for the phone number, as the building at the back is near completion, so there might be a chance that they'll be shifting to another location.


Makanan Thai Pek Sak
Corner of Jalan Public & Jalan Welfare
Kampung Baru Sungai Buloh
Selangor
Map
Opposite RHB Bank, same road as the famous Kong Mah Dim Sum
Tel: 016 256 1020 (Ah Pheng)

Review: Revisiting Poon Choi at LYJ Restaurant

**Non-Halal**


The last I had a poon choi was back in 2005 at LYJ Restaurant in Sungai Buloh. Looking back at the post, gee, the photo was bad. It doesn't really reflect how big the portion is and it doesn't show any deliciousness at all!.

We were at LYJ Restaurant 2 weekends back for Capt'n Hook friend's farewell dinner. She was the one who arranged this and did the advance ordering of the poon choi. When we reached there, there were some changes here and there. We parked near the shop since parking is no longer available at the school opposite but since it wasn't a good place to parked, we went down further. Then I noticed another lot with the same restaurant name. Seems like the shop that we used to go now serves ala carte dishes and further down the shoplots right at the corner is where they serve poon choi. Sounds like a great arrangement as patrons having poon choi would need lesser attention hence having less wait staff around. Service is still ok though.

Each table has a stove on the lazy susan. Once everyone settled in, our RM258 poon choi was placed on the stove and the wait staff switched on the stove to keep the food warm and bubbly. Poon choi are usually serve in a deep round basins or claypots but LYJ's version came in a round stainless steel tin that one usually steam kuih-muih or bake cakes in.



I did a comparison of the picture taken back in 2005 and now, they seems to look the same. So now the taste test...



The first layer contained the "dry" food that does not need to be cooked in the gravy. For this RM258 version, we have 1/2 portion of poached free range (kampung) chicken, 1/2 portion of roasted duck, 12 pieces of salt and pepper prawns, one whole deep fried threadfin (kurau) stuffed with minced fish paste and I think some siew yuk (roasted pork).

Loved the poached chicken as the kampung chicken lent a sweetish bite as compared with farmed chicken meat. Roasted duck was all right but BoiBoi loved it that he whacked 3 pieces! The prawns were huge and fresh. The salt level is just nice for me and this is good for I still can taste the prawn natural sweetness.

Once we emptied this layer, the treasures unfold. We asked for white rice as the gravy was simply irresistible. The gravy is the essence from all the goodies that were cooked inside! There were pork knuckle, stewed pork, a type of canned clams, dried oyster, fish maw, chicken feet, beancurd sheets, mushrooms and dried chestnut. Everyone loved the gravy so much that each literally drown their rice with this rich and flavourful essence. Thank goodness we don't eat like this everyday hahaha can you imagine how much your cholesterol level will shoot up!

I didn't touch the knuckle at all as I see lots of fats and skins but they were walloped up by the others. The stewed pork was fork tender - yums. This time round the chicken feet is really tender and literally breaks up upon biting. I loved how the beancurd sheets and chestnuts soaking up all the lovely flavour.

A plate of blanched vegetables (yau choi) came with the pooi choi. Ours was chrysanthemum leaves (thong hoe) and I liked it's simplicity. We added this Stir Fried Paku Choi (a type of ferns) which has an interesting taste. What I mean is, it's a bit tangy and I'm not sure what they've used to make it so. It's topped with crispy deep fried shallots. The ferns retained it's crunchiness, coupled with crispy shallots and slight tang, this gave me a whole new world of stir-fried vegetables.



The restaurant claimed the poon choi can serve 10 - 12 people but for me, I think can stretched up to 14 people. If you so decided to have one, remember to call them at least one day in advance to book your pot of poon choi. BTW, there's a RM500 version with the addition of braised oyster and pork ribs, abalone, sauteed conch and shark's fins.


Restoran LYJ
PT 11-12 & PT 16-17
Jalan Perkhidmatan
Kampung Baru Sungai Buloh
47000 Sungai Buloh
Selangor
Tel: (+603) 6140 2678 or (+6019) 350 8621
Google map here

Review: Poon Choi at LYJ Restaurant

**Non-Halal Post**

We went for poon choi again. This time to a restaurant highly recommended by a neighbour of my parents. This restaurant is located in Sungai Buluh. The name of the restaurant is LYJ, Lee Hoong Kei in Cantonese. Errr please don't ask me how to get there as we took a big round to get there due to heavy traffic along Jalan Kepong which started from Desa Complex! Wahliau like so far when we took the road via Kota Damansara... but if no traffic jam, via Jalan Kepong will take us about 15-20 minutes only.

For good food, what the heck I supposed. We arrived there about 8pm and we can see lots of people standing by the roadside outside the air-conditioned restaurant. The road is small since it's a village road. So please watch out for cars and bikes. Thank goodness they located opposite a school and we can easily find a place to park inside the school car park. Once inside the restaurant, it was chaotic! Hehehe the scenario is very different ok since this is a new village that used to have loads of poultry and pig farms. It's pretty industrialised by now, so no worries there ok. We just need to get used to the din hahahaha... lucky we don't need to yell out loud for our conversation.

A portable stove was placed on our table and another wait staff brought out the "poon" (tub in Cantonese), gosh it's so different cos it's not a poon hahaha more like a large platter!!! (Click on the above pic to see a larger pic of all the yummilicious food all laid out in order). All the food were like laid out but then as we dug in we found out there were 2 layers after all. Let me recall what's inside...

First layer consisted of the "dry" goodies:

• steamed kampung (free range) chicken, very tasty with the garlic, ginger and spring onion dip
• roast duck, not bad but would be better if the skin is crispier
• roast pork, great... not so fatty
• prawns, so HUGE as compared with our previous poon choi session, very fresh and delicious!
• one whole deep fried kurau (Treadfin in Malay) fish where the flesh is removed and tenggiri (Spanish Mackerel in Malay) fish paste is stuffed into the skin, extremely nice that my boiboi polished 3 slices of this!
• deep fried beancurd skin stuffed with fish paste (I think), not very oily. Great with the chili sauce.

Second layer have dishes with gravy:

• chicken feet, so so, did not braised them till soft enough
• beancurd sheet with konnyaku noodle (come in a bundle, I hope I got the name correct), yumyum
• braised pork knuckle, no comment since I did not eat any
• braised pork with sliced abalone and mushroom, the gravy is very very tasty
• errr there were a couple more stuff but I can't really recall cos too busy eating and taking care of my boiboi's need hahaha

Overall verdict... TOO MUCH MEAT!!! hahaha that was what everyone thought cos by the end of dinner we have this "over stuffed" face. The gravy was great with plain rice which some of us ordered. This poon choi is catered for 10-12 people BUT I reckoned can stuff 14-15 adults if served with rice. Very value for money cos the portion costed RM218 (no service nor Government tax, yahoo!) and it came with Chinese tea, a plate of yau choy sum (blanched choy sum with oyster sauce) and a large plate of fruits (the usual papaya, watermelon and honeydew melon).

Actually whilst waiting for our table, I was busy eyeing what other people ordered or eating hahaha wahhh so many yummy dishes. I think judging from my parents' look, we should be going back there to try out other dishes.

Don't wait ok, give them a call and book a table for poon choi. I think you'll need to pre-order the poon choi 2 days in advance. Here's the addy and number...



Have fun... remember, the more the merrier!