KL dim sum

[odyseus]

a while back I was in Panang and went to a dim sum place that was very interesting - a very large place, open on the side, with plastic chairs and tables, really simple. a lot of dim sum standards, but also maybe a third of the dim sum were very localized, very malaysian.

I will be in KL next weekend, and I get to a lot of really high end dim sum places, but I was hoping to find someplace similar to the place I went in Panang. anybody have any suggestions? thanks

[klyeoh]

I know what type of dim sum places you're talking about - Penang has a few of those (Anson Road, MacAlister Road, Gurney Drive) - huge, open-air places, but I'd not been living in KL long enough to have seen any of these places here.

But Malaysian-ised dim sum dishes tasted somewhat similar in both Penang and KL, and I've tried a couple in the past months here: Mandarin Palace and Marco Polo, which are 2 of the oldest dim sum places in KL:

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/794848

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/792511

[odyseus]

thanks, I saw your comments on both, I'll give them a try. the guy I do business with in KL is very chinese, and won't try malyasian stuff at all, so I have had soem great dim sum, but nothing that is really differnt from HK or mainland.

[penang_rojak]

Actually from your description, did you go to a hawker centre here in Penang like Red Garden or New World Park, where one of the stalls sell dim sum, but there are other stalls selling other types of Malaysian food like char koay teow, Hokkien mee, popiah, etc?

I'm not familiar with KL's hawker centres but I think that's what you're looking for. So far, I don't remember any big hawker centres in KL which impress me. In the old days, they've got Medan Selera in PJ near Jaya Supermarket, but both places are now long-gone.

[odyseus]

no, it wasn't a hawker stall, it was a large resteraunt that had open walls on two sides, and it was very low key, plastic chairs and tables. I can't remember the name of the place, though. I hit a lot of hawker places that weekend, too, but I remember the dim sum place.

[antonego07]

http://www.lingzie.com/2009/03/04/dim...

The branch is at Jalan Anson, and is huge!

I remember seeing bicycles and mopeds weaving amongst the tables, with packed doggy bags full 'a dim sum.

Excellent dim sum!

I never did get to have dim sum in Malaysia this time because of the crazy timings (London Chinatown and Hong Kong yum cha joints serve dim sum all day long) and the stuff you get in Petaling Street is so stale!

[huiray]

" and the stuff you get in Petaling Street is so stale!"
--------
Is that right? Hmm. I seem to remember from way back when that you did have to get to Petaling Street early (7-8 am?) for the best stuff, save for perhaps one or two places where the turnover was large enough to get decent stuff even at 9 or 10 am. (Yook Wu Hin comes to mind...)

p.s. @ odyseus: I assume your client will want to have pork dishes so you should keep in mind what the regular/local posters (e.g. klyeoh) have had to say about halal/non-halal places for dim sum?

[klyeoh]

By the way, huiray, last weekend's newspapers reported that Yook Woo Hin's 80 year old history might come to an end soon: it's among a row of shophouses to be acquired by the Malaysian government for the construction of the new mass rapid transit subway line. End of an epoch!

[huiray]

That's sad news. Oh my.

I guess I would encourage you to try it before it is too late, then! I would be interested to hear about how the place is like nowadays before it goes into the night.

[klyeoh]

Yes, will try to and report back. I'm going back to Singapore this weekend as next Tue's National Day for Singapore and most folks there will be taking a "bridging" leave on Monday for a long weekend. So won't be able to catch Yook Woo Hin this weekend. It's not opened for dinner.

[odyseus]

hiray - my client likes to eat well, and he grew up in KL, so he really takes me to some great chinese places, he jsut refuses to take me to any malay or nonya places.

[odyseus]

yes, the one on Mcalister road in Panang is the one I was at. thanks. I am guessing that there is nothing quite like that in KL?

[antonego07]

The dish which was memorable at the Anson Road branch was the Hong Kong chee cheong fan (very rare in KL). I tracked down three locations (I got a spreadsheet on my smartphone, sortable for time, location and cuisine!). Sadly, I never got the KL public transport system worked out, and the cabs gave me the heebie-jeebies (hope no cabbies on chowhound get offended).

http://ugwug.blogspot.com/2008/04/chee-cheong-fun-yap-hup-kee-pudu.html

http://hgvc.blogspot.com/2009/03/chee-cheong-fun-in-kuala-lumpur.html

http://thamjiak.blogspot.com/2006/04/...

I remember the Chee cheong fan at Food Republic in Singapore was super, with the proper mince pork, burnt garlic and spring onions. Slurrp!

Next year in Foshan Restaurant, IPOH!