Act 1: Precious Pea’s Breakfast Excursion – Yang Kee Beef Noodles

*continue from Prologue: Precious Pea’s Breakfast Excursion – Kung Fu Pan Mee.

After our first stop at Kung Fu Pan Mee, we made our next stop at Yang Kee, OUG. On our way there, Precious Pea forewarned us that we can skip the noodles as the noodles aren’t that nice as previously. But when we reached there, the rest has already placed their orders. The noodles looked tempting from the menu (choose from hor fun, loh shu fan or wantan mee), hence I ordered the wantan mee with minced pork. The noodle was okay, albeit a little greasy. The minced pork somehow very finely minced and lack flavour. The wantan fares better with plump, juicy pork filling.

The braised beef seems not bad with dark, gooey gravy and radish but Boolicious and Precious Pea commented that it lack the “omph” and not as good as it used to be. Although I’m not a fan of beef, I did try a piece of it and it tastes pretty ok for me.

The group split after that; some went to search for the nice butter cake in the morning market in OUG, while the rest decided to go for Karaoke! 😉

*Coming up… last part!

Prologue: Precious Pea’s Breakfast Excursion – Kung Fu Pan Mee

Precious Pea will be leaving on a jet plane to Melbourne to reunite with her sister and nephew permanently soon, hence she’s been having some aggresive makan trips with her Makan Gang lately. And last month, she gathered some floggers together for a food trip in the Old Klang Road vicinity.

There were approximately 14 of us that day! The PJ Gang (notably Unkaleong, NomadGourmand, WMW, SC, Precious Pea, Simon, Citygal, J2kfm and me) met up at the KFC in SS2 before we carpooled and followed Precious Pea’s direction to the hidden area of Taman Sentosa for Kungfu Pan Mee. And yes, we did bumped into the sifus in front of the shop!

Ordering was chaotic for such a noisy and big group like us, so we resolved to the “angkat tangan” (put your hands up) method, as if an adult is dealing with a bunch of naughty kids. The variety of pan mee they serve here are pretty standard; with soup or the dry version and some other side orders such as pork meat ball, fish balls etc.

The soupy version of pan mee arrives first (RM 5 for small, 6 for big). Came with home made sambal and lime, the broth was sweet and flavourful. The sambal packs a punch and goes really well with the noodle. My only gripe would be the small amount of daun cekur manis they threw into the broth.

As usual, I had the dry version (same pricing as above). It was laden with minced pork, sliced mushrooms, anchovies and daun cekur manis.

The noodle was pretty good, with just right thickness which delivers a nice bite to it. And it’s not your average pan mee as they cut them in long strips (a few strips of the flour noodle will fill up your bowl in no time!)

We couldn’t just leave the place without trying at least one of their side orders, hence we opted for pandan chicken (RM 4.50 per piece). The size was quite large, but a little greasy. The meat were juicy and well marinated but lacks the pandan fragrance.

Kung Fu Smooth Pan Mee
28, Jalan Seri Sentosa 9A/133,
Taman Sri Sentosa, Bt 6 1/2,
off Jln Klang Lama, 58000 KL.

Tel: 016-288 3911 (Jesmond/Molly).
Web: http://www.foodjourney.com.my
Click here for map.

*stay tune for second part…

Floggers who made their major appearance:

• Precious Pea
• Boolicious
• Kusahi Keat
• WMW
• CityGal
• Food Cookies
• J2Kfm
• Unkaleong
• NomadGourmand
• SC
• Nic KHKL
• Simon
• Tankiasu

Lim Kee, Behind FGA Building, off Jalan Kuchai Lama

*Notice: Lim Kee has moved to its spanking new premise at Kuchai Business Centre. Click here for the address.

*Rewind back to 8th November 2008

I was in Damansara that day. Not know what to have for dinner, I contacted WMW (my nearest flogger neighbour!) and glad that she was free to entertain me that night. It was quite a last minute decision actually and based on the Good Food Guide from Flavours, we decided to venture into the unfamiliar territory of Kuchai Lama (I’ve always wanted to explore areas like Old Klang Road, Puchong, Kepong, Segambut and so on as I believe there are many hidden gems waiting to be discovered).

The place doesn’t have a signboard (but the book says that the place is called Lim Kee) but if you know where the Full Gospel Assembly (FGA) building is located, Lim Kee is just behind the building. Opens only for dinner, parking could be a issue here especially if you arrive during peak hour.

We were lucky that we managed to get a table without long wait and we got more excited when we realized we were seated just next to the kitchen! (we don’t really bother with the smokes and fumes anyway).

Initially, we would like to order their specialties which were highlighted in the book but we ended up ordering more and more stuff! We had the Fried Sweet Potato Noodle (recommended by the book), done in Hokkien style with prawns, squids, vegetables, pork slices and topped with a handful of fried, crunchy lard bits. Being my first time trying this delicacy, I find it a little bland. The potato noodles were quite nice to chew, though. (I just realized that both WMW and I were using the same picture!)

Lim Kee dish out different types of side dishes every weekend and we were lucky that night as we managed to try the braised pork in special gravy. The gravy has a fruity taste and the pork, juicy and fork tender (or maybe you can call it, chopsticks tender!). There wasn’t much fat on the meat, so we had more meat to dig in and we literally mop the plate clean.

Another recommended item – Fried Glass Noodle with Bitter Gourd. Both of us initially thought that the bitter gourd would be stir fried with the noodles together but actually, it was served on the side. Stir-fried with prawns, squids, pork slices and topped with chopped spring onions, fried shallots and crunchy lard bits, the noodles has a nice “wok hei” and not greasy (the lard bits do not count!)

I guess WMW liked Abacus Seed as she seems excited upon hearing about this dish from the lady boss. The stir-fried abacus seed here was different from the one I tried at Nam Chuan (notice the difference in colour and cooking style) and I would say I prefer this version, which was cooked with dried shrimps, minced meat, spring onion and wood fungus. The yam abacus seed were quite firm, yet still managed to deliver the QQ (al dente) texture when biting into it. Good stuff.

It was a fruitful trip, I must say. Exploring new eating places is more fun with someone who share the same passion and I’m glad that we made it here despite the excitements and uncertainties while driving to the place (we accidentally got onto a elevated highway and both of us were screaming and blaming each other for too busy talking and didn’t pay attention to the signboards!) but we still managed to arrive safely.

Lim Kee is located behind FGA (Full Gospel Assembly) Building
Off Jalan Kuchai Lama,
Tel : 03-7981 1972,
Opens from 6pm-12 am,
Close on alternate Mondays.
(details above are from WMW)

More reads here, here and here.