3 Meals Of Goodness

I never really fancied Salt-Baked Chicken since I’m really not into herbal chickens and stuff but occasionally, a little indulgence can be rewarding.

I recently came across a local TV food guide featuring Angel Wong Chui Ling … a local celebrity as the host. Her eating programme, One Day Five Meals, where she is given RM50 a day for five meals is currently on air on Astro Wah Lai Toi. Through Chui Ling’s show, I found some really great places for cheaper food haunts … !

One of such is Kedai Makanan Yi Poh … located in Damansara Utama. On the first look, Kedai Makanan Yi Poh resembles your local neighborhood coffee shop where you occasionally skips by to ‘tar-pau’ your favorite afternoon tea or black coffee.

Set ups aside, this place serves a good round of delicious meals … and their specialty is a local favorite, Salt-Baked Chicken (Yim Guk Gai). Some said, the best Salt-Baked Chicken can be found in Ipoh, Perak … as mentioned by Kampungboycitygal.

Seriously, I am not a fan of Salted Baked Chicken … heck ! I am not a fan of salted anything … but in this case, I’ll make an exception. Especially when it comes highly recommended by Angel Wong …

Since this review was an impromptu case, I did not order much. A Szechuan Tan Tan Noodle … some Penang Sui Kow and of course, their specialty … the Salt-Baked Chicken. Service was good and order was taken fast and swift. Then again, I was their first customer that afternoon.

More customers drifted in before I had chance to ask the boss further questions relating to their salted baked chicken preparation method. Hence I could only produce some details on my liking of their food. Szechuan Tan Tan Noodle was the first to be served. Szechuan food tend to taste a little funny if you’re not ‘used’ to it. The Szechuan Tan Tan Noodle is a good example …. the taste, a little sweet for my liking … taste more like tomato soup. But I like the noodle though … you’ll love it if you like Wan Tan Noodle.

Then came the Peking Sui Kow …. (Peking Water Dog !?!?!?!) … nah, just kidding. This snack dish is just crispilicious … if there is such a word. Get a piece … take the first crunchy bite and dip it into the sauce … and when the fillings were soaked with the sauce, stuff the whole thing in a mouthful .. yes, I am sure you can take it all in ! Now the taste will be complete. Yummy !

And the grand finale …. the Salt-Baked Chicken …. that’ll be Yim Guk Gai in chinese. Seriously .. I’d give a thumbs up for this bad boy ! Too bad it’s only a half-bird …. felt like I could take more of it. The chicken meat is soooo ssssuculent and tasty … which only means the chicken was marinated well … and by wrapping it in paper and baked in hot salt in a covered wok, it keeps the taste within the chicken meat.

Contact Details

HQ : No.25, Jalan SS21/56B, Damansara Utama, 47400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor D.E.
Tel / Fax : 603-77222172

Branch : Giant Hypermarket (Bandar Puteri Puchong) Food Court (FC-10)
Tel : 016-3469179

Branch : No.9, Jalan Bendahara 1, Taman Puteri, 83000, Batu Pahat, Johor.
Tel : 07-4345439

Back in my ex-workplace, we used to get 2 hours off for lunch on Fridays and since I worked in Cyberjaya … that was really a blessing i.e. there weren’t much interesting restaurants in Cyberjaya. Fridays were also the day we get adventurous … going out, hunting for a good meal. From Cyberjaya .. we’ve travelled to Kajang for Ice Kacang and Chi Cheong Fun … to USJ, Taipan for Italian food … Sungai Long for Pan Mee and for this round, we headed to Serdang for some nice hot Pig Intestine Pepper Soup ! AHEKO Hot Soup Restaurant is located next to South Sity Plaza in Serdang. Head towards South City Plaza, there are 2 rows of shop, right next to the Mall. AHEKO is right in the middle … if you drive along the shoplots .. you’ll never miss the big red signboard …..

Hot Soup is the specialty in this restaurant .. the Pig Intestine Pepper soup. Non-Asians might get a little turned off by the name of the soup, but trust me … try it and you might get hooked to it. It’s really good especially in cold weather … imagine sipping this hot pepperish spicy soup in a cold winter night. YUMMY ! (Not that I’ve tried that before .. I imagine a lot). Besides the soup, another speciality is the Wine and Black Sauce Spicy Chicken .. another delicacy ! As the name mentioned … the dish is a little spicy with a little wine taste ! A reminder though .. drink lot’s of fluid after this meal. In chinese … we would say .. this meal is a little “heaty” … if you know what I mean.

The price here is not at all expensive .. the soup is between RM8.00 to RM12.00 which serves from 4 to 8 person and averagely, the dishes are between those pricing. A meal for 10 would come up to around RM100 ++ which is reasonable, I would say.

For those adventurous diner, you might want to try making this dish on your own. Here’s the instruction. Good luck on the intestine though …..

http://chowtimes.com/2006/07/pig_stomach_pepper_soup.html

Anyway, here’s my review ….

Contact Details

AHEKO HOT SOUP
No. 6-3, Jalan SP2/2,
Taman Serdang Perdana,
Seksyen 2, 43300 Seri Kembangan, Selangor.
Tel: 03-8941 1337

Ratings

OVERALL RATING : * * * * (good food, good value)
Environment Rating : * * * * (fortunately it’s airconditioned, else you’d be perspiring! restaurant’s a little plain .. a little touch up could help brighten up the place)
Food Rating : * * * * * (good stuff, recommend to friends)
Service Rating : * * * * (not bad, waiters missing at times)
Value Rating : * * * * * (not too pricey)

Operation Details

Operating Hours : 10.00am ? 11.30pm(Weekday)?10.00am ? 10.00pm(Weekend)

Miscellaneous Details

Halal : Definitely Not
Dining Method : Dine-In Takeaway
Special Dishes : Pig Intestine Pepper Soup, Wine and Black Sauce Chicken

Food/Cuisine : Chinese
Ambience/Features : Family . Air Conditioned .
BYO Allowed? : No
Reservations : Accepted

Sunway Mentari is located right opposite Sunway Pyramid, yet I’ve asked many and they are unsure where is the exact location. I wouldn’t blame them for not knowing … particularly because there isn’t anything interesting in that part of Sunway. But right across the NPE highway is where Sunway Pyramid and one of the busiest areas in Bandar Sunway, the Sunway Metro commercial area, which is adjacent to the shopping mall.

The shops there house banks, restaurants, tuition centres and business outlets, contributing to the daily traffic congestion around Sunway Metro.

While Sunway Mentari isn’t exactly popular for being a busy commercial area, there are a few good spots for food. Steamboat is a good example. Many of you may have heard of Yuen Buffet Steamboat which serves up a good buffet steamboat for less than RM20 per person, which is quite reasonable for many. There’s also Tasty Pot, another buffet steamboat joint which is equally “packed” at night. I’ve recently visited an incredibly good Korean BBQ restaurant (exactly next to Shell Petrol Station) which I can’t recall the name. But rest assured … I WILL review that place … evidently, this place is even better than my last review on another Korean BBQ joint …. Daorae.

Alrighty, that aside .. let’s get back to the main storyline which I frequently fail to keep up to. I am writing about another Bak Kut Teh place … yes … and I know I just wrote one not long ago. But this, my dear friends … are different. Well, how different .. you might ask. Well, go ahead … ask me.

Now that you’ve asked me …. read my title. It says … “Hokkien” Bak Kut Teh. Yes, that’s right. I clearly said it …. Hokkien Bak Kut Teh and it is different from the Teow Chew counterpart. As I’ve mentioned in my previous article, the difference is in the soup … and I happen to prefer the Hokkien version is has thicker and darker soup with stronger herbal taste.

Not only do they serve my favorite BKT style … they are pretty generous with the portions. To-date, I’ve been there twice and on both occasions …… stuffed to the rim ! Apparently, they also serve the dry Bak Kut Teh but I have yet to try that one.

Whichever flavor suits you … that’s your choice but a piece of advice though. Always make sure you have your chinese tea with your Bak Kut Teh meal. Reason ? Simple … Bak Kut Teh meals are known to be quite “oily” (plain chinese direct-translation) … or contain quite considerable level of “fats”. And chinese tea are known to have a counter-effect on the fats.

Nuff said. Trust me on this. I grew up in Klang.

Kedai Makanan & Minuman Ren Ren
No.3, Grd Flr, Jln PJS 8/10, Sunway Mentari,
Dataran Sunway Mentari, 46150
Petaling Jaya, Selangor

Contact :
Rueben Chua 012-6252220