Penang One @ Puchong

Penang food lovers, this might just be your lucky day!

I am truly a fan of Penang food. I visit Penang at least once a year (usually during Chinese New Year) and to my own surprise, I am still not bored of their food. I don't see myself going like this one day, "Penang food? Meh!" because of how nearly everything I consume there never ceases to provide a taste of not only food heaven in my terms, but also indescribably like home. The craving for Padang Brown Lok Lok just kicked in as I'm typing this out. I kid you not. Because I only head there about once a year, many at times I would be craving Penang delicacies. 

I usually end up disappointed at most of the so-called "Penang style dishes" I've tried in Selangor/KL. They do not have proper Penang Hokkien mee, the curry mee resembles the maggi mee seasoning flavour (FYI: They call it curry laksa in KL), chee cheong fun, if truly done Penang style, is done wrongly at so many levels and prawn noodles have prawns so tiny they should be called shrimps. Also, as a big asam laksa lover who has eaten 7 bowls within the span of 5 days, I should add that I don't particularly find the Air Itam Asam Laksa at Asia Cafe all that fascinating. It's like looking up into the sky without fireworks. If you get what I mean.

Dad found this place some time ago and I feel so lucky. Travelling through the Puchong jam, or for now perhaps the divergence and new routes set due to construction, is far more worth it than to be travelling hundreds of kilometers to the origin itself. Penang One's ingredients all come from Penang which I believe is possibly one of the reasons as to why they price their food as such (refer to sections below).

The signboard outside.

Founded on 30th September 2010 and located in Bandar Puteri Puchong, Penang One serves a good spread of Penang food ranging from curry mee to asam laksa, chee cheong fun, duck meat kuey teow t'ng, muar chee and more. I normally head there on Sunday afternoons and their restaurant is packed packed packed! 

The signboard inside and below is a display of all the roads where their food come from.

And if pictures on the wall ain't enough to make your tummy rumble, you can watch the screen to see how they do your food here and also in Penang tiself.

Menu

The menu displays two of the very few famous murals in Penang and hunting for them on foot/bicycles is one of the main tourist attractions.

They also display the origin of each main dish (including the coordinates, wow!).

Oh thank goodness for these! 

Nothing comes cheap in Kuala Lumpur, really.

Some might argue that is is really not worth the price seeing how one bowl of Hokkien mee costs more than twice the price of what you can get in Penang. Face it, you're hundreds of kilometers away and this is the best you can get. Close enough!

What went into our tummies

Tee Nya Kuih [RM3.50] I usually call it ee-nya kuih.

This is PRECISELY what you will get if you were to purchase this in Penang!

Chee Cheong Fun [RM3.90]

Just look at that glorious, beautifully done, thick hae ko (shrimp paste) sauce! 

Hokkien mee [RM8.50]

This is my absolute favourite of the lot! I am so glad that there's a whole half-boiled egg now instead of half. Plenty of liao in that one bowl like pig skins, pork meat and bean sprouts. I try to not dry up my bowl but most of the time, I simply cannot help myself.

Special Curry Mee [RM8.50]

This is how it's done! Not to mention the existence of this in the bowl:

Pig's Blood! Yes, that's an empty bowl.

Char Kuey Teow [RM9.50]

I don't eat char kuey teow as often as I eat Hokkien mee (don't judge me). My brother says that this is the best he has ever had.

Char Pui [RM9.50]

My brother eats a lot so he had this for seconds. It tastes a bit bland though. I think you can get a better plate of fried rice at SS15 restaurant opposite Foh Foh.

Cendol [RM5.00]

No Penang experience is complete without a bowl of either cendol or ais kacang. We opted for cendol but I was not too happy with this one. I guess it was a mistake to have left it alone for too long (because we were busy indulging in other dishes). So if you happen to order this, stir and eat this immediately! I have tried the ice kacang before and it would be a better option than the cendol, in my opinion. 

A couple of tips

If you can resist it, try to not order the lobak. The price is insane.

See? I've tried it before and it's not that it's bad but I wouldn't recommend it. 

Be careful when heading there because the roads have changed slightly due to actions taken to ease the traffic. Plan your route before going if you are unfamiliar with Puchong. A landmark would be Giant Bandar Puteri which is in the opposite area.

They only accept payment in cash.

Information:

Address: 5, Jalan Puteri 2/1, Bandar Puteri, 47100 Puchong, Selangor
Operating Days: Mondays - Sundays
Operating Hours: 9.30 a.m. - 9.30 p.m.
Contact no.: +60380520181
Website: http://www.penang-one.com
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Penang.One
Parking: Public
Wifi: Available but password protected

The verdict says: ★ ★ ★ ¼ (out of 4)

Ah Lye Curry Fish Head Restaurant @ SS19, Subang Jaya

Tonight I decided to write a simple review of this Chinese restaurant my family and I had dinner at. I am personally very fond of Chinese food - especially mom's cooking. From egg fu yong to stir-fried vegetables, bean curd and steamed fish with soy sauce, I cannot imagine my life without those dishes. Guess my roots are shown quite clearly in my food preference. 

As you can tell from the title, the restaurant's speciality is curry fish head. I never knew the existence of this place until dad looked it up on the internet. It's pretty much in the middle of nowhere. And by nowhere I mean rows and rows of houses and suddenly *poof!* Behold, a row of shops!

* Note: I apologize for the low quality photos from my phone because I did not expect myself to write a review about this place and therefore did not bring my camera. You'll see why I ended up writing one anyway somewhere at the part where I introduce the dishes (: 

Setting

An article stated that this restaurant has been around since the year 2000. When you visit the restaurant, you can tell that the sign board is really old and is not well lit at night.

The restaurant's sign board barely visible.

One of the waitresses serving rice. The counter behind her is where they make drinks and cook rice. The kitchen is pretty much hidden way at the back.

The restaurant is air conditioned. Design wise, it's typically a modern Chinese restaurant in a suburban area. It is not decorated with many (or any) pieces of art and the tables are placed fairly closely to each other. I was a little annoyed at a lady who was sitting at the table behind me because her chair kept hitting mine and she did not turn to apologize at all. Because I wanted to enjoy my dinner and my table had some space, I had to relocate my seating position. 

It wasn't a full house during my visit but there were many big families of six members and above.

What went into our tummies

The following dishes we ordered are eaten with rice. Typical Chinese way of eating - except that we did not use chopsticks. 

Mmmmm...

I don't know about most people but I really love to add garlic and soy sauce to my rice before eating it. Garlic is like the ultimate flavour enhancer to me!

Hot sea coconut

This is a home made drink. You can tell from the taste of the filtered water and the sweetness of the drink. Aside from that, other drinks they had tonight was honey ginger and also a lime drink. 

Bean curd [RM6.00]

This is served with something I believe is pickled white radish (please correct me if I'm wrong) along with spring onions and fried onions. It's a salty dish and the flavour of the sauce compliments the bean curd.

Asam Prawn [RM20.00]

Real pricey for a small dish of four prawns but they are not miserable prawns. They are HUGE. The asam sauce is also pretty good. It's quite sweetish. I wouldn't order this dish on my next visit. Once is enough.

Sweet Pork [RM14.00]

I think this dish is okay. The pieces of pork are quite tender. I do think there's something missing in this dish to make it more syok (erm, I'm not entirely sure how to explain this Malaysian term to foreigners but I can give you an idea. Syok represents the fireworks in the night sky full of stars. If that made any sense at all ...) 

Stir-fry Bean sprouts [RM6.00]

A simple, average dish. You can't go very wrong with stir-fry bean sprouts unless you're not a good cook. 


And here's the highlight of the dinner:

Their speciality: Curry Fish Head [RM27.00]

This is the reason why I decided to write a review. I think this dish is close to amazing. The curry is thick and full of flavour from the spices they used. The fish is fresh, although they weren't super generous with its amount, and so are the aubergines, okras and tofu. While eating it with rice, it suddenly reminded me of the Nyonya style of cooking curry for some reason. The fairly spiciness of the curry enhanced the flavour of the dish as a whole. 

Some regulars would say that this dish went down standard since a few years ago but as a newbie, I still think it's fine.

This is how thick it is!

A couple of tips

If you are new to the Chinese restaurant style of ordering and paying, there will be the manager/supervisor who would either seat you and/or come to your table the minute you are seated to take your order. Places like this do not have a printed menu. Tell them what you want and they will suggest the cooking style of your dish to its availability. i.e. Chicken with Marmite sauce, fish and ginger sauce, stir-fry french beans, etc. When finished, they will bring the bill to your table. Some restaurants do not give you receipts like this one.

This applies to most Chinese restaurants: Come early! Peak hours can start as early as 6.00 p.m. for popular restaurants. Alternatively, you can give them a call to make a reservation on weekends though I think it's not really necessary. 

Parking is not an issue for this place. It can be really dark and dodgy at night so bring along some company. 

Finding your way there

If you're not familiar with the SS19 housing area, it's going to be a little tough for you to look for this place. I would recommend mapping your way before coming. The restaurant is located along a row of shops where Subang Jaya Gospel Centre and Pasaraya Ria are too. And pray on your way out. 

Information

Address: 28, Jalan SS19/1G, 47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor

Contact no.: +60356380468 or +60356349692 
Operating days: Not specified
Operating hours: 12.00 noon - 3.00 p.m. and 5.00 p.m. - 10.00 p.m.

WiFi: Unable to comment
Parking: Public

The verdict says: ★ ★ ½ (out of 4)