KL Food Journal #1

[jbernag]

First time poster on chowhound and I figured i'd write some food notes from our trip to KL, Malacca and Singapore. My wife and I are from the United States and are here as artists-in-residence at MMU in Cyberjaya until the 18th. Friends have mostly shuttled us around, and we have had some great, and some not so great food so far.

We got into town in the evening of the 31st and our friends wanted to party at the towers, so we got some food at the top floor stalls in Suria KLCC. We wanted to go to little penang cafe, but they closed early for the festivities, so we settled on some malay food on the top floor stalls that wasn't very good. Tasted like boxed spices.

However the next morning we went to Tai Thong Imperial City for some dim sum. I was blown away. The delicacy of the dishes were impressive and the flavor overall was outstanding. The xiao long bao, taro puffs, chicken+century egg congee and the pork buns were some of my favorites, but everything was quite good except for the "sichuan dumplings", which were pretty average (not sure the exact name).

That evening our friends were talking a lot about this tea themed restaurant called Purple Cane. While our hosts seemed to enjoy the meal, my wife and I were pretty underwhelmed except for one dish. We had the crispy tea duck (very dry), braised chicken in tea (bland, tasted like dinty moore canned braised meat), macadamia nut vegetable stir fry (fresh, good ingredients, delicate and flavorful, my favorite dish of the night), ginger+tea steamed fish (waaaaay too much ginger, it totally overpowered the fish) and some assorted bland desserts. Not a fan of this restaurant.

Which brings us to yesterday, where in little india we went to Saravana Bhavan. We were torn on this place. On one hand, the initial flavors were rich and intense and absolutely delicious. But our meal ended up feeling VERY heavy in the end, the richness was overwhelming leaving us feeling lethargic. Among the dishes we had were the paper dosai, dhal makhani, the signature lunch plate (included raita, lime pickle, butter dal and some others), and aloo gobi fry. I’m thinking that we ordered wrong, because after a few bites we felt 10 pounds heavier and as a result began to enjoy the food less the more we ate. Nonetheless, you can tell that the food is high quality and I would be willing to try it again, just with some balance to the overall meal.

That evening we headed over to Hon Kee in Bukit Bitang because I had read on chowhound about how good their sliced raw fish congee was. I think the location was the mistake. It was in this food court underneath a mall where everything looked a little bit too slick. Nevertheless we ordered one sliced raw fish and one pork and century egg congee. The congee itself was rather bland, and it felt as if it were an issue with the stock rather than the other ingredients. The pork congee was better due to the well-seasoned pork, but even that was watered down by the congee. I know they have multiple locations, maybe it was a bad staff day?

We're looking forward to some amazing experiences while we're out here, hopefully my brief reviews will be helpful to somebody. :)

[huiray]

I think klyeoh has posted here about Hon Kee's congee being better at their original location on Petaling Street: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/810137

Hmm, that food-court-under-a-mall that you went to (where you had the congee) would appear to be Hutong @ Lot 10. It's supposed to be a conglomeration of stalls offering "heritage"/treasured foods from renowned places for said food, with the stalls functioning as "outlets" for the "mother restaurant". It's supposed to be a useful place for sampling all these goodies in one place, as it were; a "curated" place - so to speak - and is also supposed to be the only "public food court" in KL which is non-halal (where pork is served). But perhaps you know all this already and simply don't like the place as it is. :-) Nevertheless, it seems that some of the outlets do fall below the standard of their "mother restaurants". A couple other CH links:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/782533
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/798825

As for the general nature of good Cantonese food, I'm sure you're aware that delicate, subtle tastes and textures are a feature of the cuisine, unlike the big, bold flavors that I often see some folks (not all folks, of course) around me in the US prefer in almost any food they eat. ;-)

[klyeoh]

Sorry for the late reply - I just got into London after travelling much of yesterday. Coincidentally, I was at Hon Kee in Petaling Street for breakfast on Monday, 2 Jan. Had the pig's intestines porridge there. It was better than what you'd get at Hutong @ Lot 10, but fell below my expectations - my yardstick was the one in Penang - I need to search for tht thread when I have the time.

[jbernag]

I have had some amazing food here, so I hope no one thinks that I am trashing KL. As for the blandness, I love the delicacy of some cantonese dishes, the ones at purple cane were too understated though.

as for the south/north indian, we asked the waiter to bring us his favorites, so that's what we got. Good, but heavy. I'll be posting again soon, have had a lot more good food since then.

[klyeoh]

Certainly loved to hear your honest opinion about the food you had and places you tried. That's what Chowhound is about - keep them coming.

[Muchlove]

It's fine, you are allowed to order what you want. I am just letting you know that Saravana Bhavan is not known for its North Indian food. Also, if you order food like dal makhani, of course it will be heavy.

[Muchlove]

Saravana Bhavan is a south Indian place. You should have avoided the North Indian stuff and gone for Southie things. I love their pongal, appam, adai-avial and their quick lunch which comes with sambar rice, special rice of the day, curd rice, poriyal and a sweet. Their anar juice is also amazing.

[huiray]

Isn't most Indian food in KL South Indian/Tamil in origin? So looking for good Northern Indian dishes is a more iffy proposition in KL anyway (than in Singapore, for example), so I am given to understand.

[Muchlove]

Apart from dosa, the dishes the OP listed all sounded North Indian. I see no purpose in going to SB and ordering North Indian food.

ETA: whoops I see we are agreeing. But actually you may get decent Northie food somewhere in KL, but I would just not suggest doing so from a Southie place!