I love steamboats. My friends used to tell me that maybe it’s a Klang thing. Perhaps it’s true to a certain extent. I come from a big family and when there’s a cause for celebration, we dine out. In a town like Klang, there’s only 2 places you can go if you have a family of more than 10. You either go to a seafood restaurant or a steamboat restaurant.

And I guess that why I grew with a certain preference for chinese food … and trust me, steamboat is as chinese as it can get.

I still remember the days where steamboats were served on aluminum pots heated up with charcoal fire. And to top it off, most steamboat restaurants were open-aired. The heat … the sweat … yet we enjoyed our food. These days, air conditioned steamboat restaurants are normal and steamboat pot were heated using gas or electric source.

One such outlet is the Grand Steamboat Garden in Taipan USJ. I was there recently as an invited guest by Wilson from PlacesandFoods.com to try out their new concept which I find quite interesting. Imagine a cross between sushi and steamboat. Well, you don’t exactly dip sushi’s in the hotpot! What I meant was … a conveyor belt. Choices of food were displayed along a conveyor belt, just like those you see in fast food japanese sushi restaurants. You pick your choice and eat your heart out. And that’s where the similarity ends.

At least you don’t have to eat and count the colors of your plates like you usually do. This is because you’ll be charge a flat fee instead of how much you eat. But do bear in mind that if you waste food, they charge your leftovers. Can you imagine that? Well …. let’s put it this way, people go hungry on the other side of the world. I am sure you feel for them. So don’t waste, ok?

Range of dish choices are good … from paper-thin beef slices to seafood balls and of course, the usual vegetables and noodles. Occasionally you spot a couple of eggs roll by the conveyor belt that’s pretty much in your face. I made an attempt to count how many different types of dishes they offer by staring at the conveyor belt and stopped counting at 10. Cross-eyed.

If I am not mistaken, there should be easily more than 50 different types of dishes offered. Talk about spoilt for choices, eh? But I believe they could do more to add value. Besides raw stuffs, there’s also choices of ready-to-eat dishes such as my favorite .. the Honey Chicken .. yum yum …. and a couple of other items.

And the next most important thing to steamboat is the soup. There’s nothing like a well-prepared soup and these guys at Grand Steamboat really pamper you with choices. Available soup choices are chicken, herbal, prawn, tomyam and finally extra-spicy soup. I was contemplating between prawn and extra-spicy (I am a sucker for spicy stuffs) and finally the prawn won.

What I like most about the place is the ambiance. It’s bright and cheerful although I must admit that they should do something about the plain cement walls, that’s a little out of place. Otherwise, seating arrangements are pretty well spaced out.

I wouldn’t say this is the best steamboat restaurant I’ve been to but given the benefit of doubt, Grand Steamboat Garden could grow into one.

Contact Details
39G, Jalan USJ 10/1F,
Taipan Subang Jaya,
47610 Subang Jaya, Selangor.

The restaurant is located on the same row as Standard Chartered Bank in Taipan. It’s an intermediate corner lot.

Ratings
OVERALL RATING : * * * (plenty of room for improvement)
Environment Rating : * * * (could do with a little more identity)
Food Rating : * * * (decent, can be better)
Service Rating : * * * * (Well served. You may want to check back again during peak hours)
Budget Rating : * * (Could do with a little more value-adds)

Operation Details
Average Price : RM26.80 nett (adults) RM16.30 nett (children)
Operating Hours : Daily 11.30am – 2:30pm, 6.00pm – 11.00pm
Accepted Cards: : Master Card , Visa Card

Miscellaneous Details
Halal : Yes (but no certificate though …)
Dining Method : Dine-In lah of course. How to ta-pau steamboat???
Food/Cuisine : Chinese hotpot
Ambiance/Features : Simple and bright
BYO (Bring Your Own) Allowed? : Erm … I think I can sneak some pork chop into my hotpot?
Reservations : Yes

So here I was, sitting here feeling a little tired and fatigue. Perhaps too much eating and not enough exercise. A friend suggested that we go try some vegetarian food for lunch. And usually I would shudder at the thought of vegetarian food but I just remembered having just a little too much ‘meat’ for the whole of last week, so I decided to go with the vegetarian lunch.

We went back to Shiang Hai Vegetarian Restaurant which I’ve visited before, about 2 months ago.

We decided to try vegetarian sushi. Yummy ….. ugh. Well, that was before I tried these stuffs. I mean, just look at the name of the sushi. Orchid Sushi ……. Banana Sushi ….. sigh. Anyway … the dishes were served and I picked up a piece and dipped it into the wasabi, lot’s of ‘em … just in case. I took a bite and guess what … it’s actually delicious ! Purple rice wrapped around a slice of sweet mango with some crunchy carrots. And the taste …. it’s a little like eating salmon sushi … except it’s sweet.

As for the Banana sushi, I don’t really like it very much. Probably because of the Alfalfa Grass … or that’s what my friends call them. Tasted a little raw … you know, the green grass smell and taste.

So what the benefit of eating vegetarian sushi? Would eating vegetarian sushi equals eating vegetarian food? Studies have shown that vegetarians (following a well-balanced low-fat high-fibre vegetarian diet) often have lower incidence of coronary artery disease, hypertension, obesity and some forms of cancer.

And here’s where you can fit in if you ever want to be a vegetarian.

• Fruitarians: Avoid all animal products and processed foods.
• Vegans: Avoid all animal products.
• Lacto-vegetarians: Eat dairy products but not eggs.
• Lacto-ovo-vegetarians: Eat both dairy products and eggs.
• Semi-vegetarians: Eat fish and/or chicken but no red meat. They are not officially classed as vegetarians.

A vegetarian diet can be a very healthy option but it is important to ensure it is well balanced. You could stuff your face with chips and chocolate at every meal and be vegetarian but you wouldn’t be doing your health much good.

Anyway, if you feel like having some healthy, vegetarian sushi .. do check them out.

Contact Details
40-1, Ground Floor, Jalan PJS 8/2,
Mentari Plaza, Bandar Sunway,
Selangor.
Tel : 03 5621 1016

But I don’t blame them.

I don’t. Seriously.

I mean, just look at the amount of bah kut teh outlet’s I’ve reviewed for the past year. It’s no wonder I scare the vegans away. I mean, I heard this from a friend of mine, Siew Cheng. A vegan, obviously. I guess, I owe this article to her … I mean, it’s because of her that we frequent this vegetarian restaurant often enough for me to write an article about them.

Else, she is never visiting my site, ever.

Anyway, Shiang Hai … not Shanghai as most people mistakenly refer them as … is located in Sunway Mentari … directly opposite of Sunway Pyramid. It’s the same row as Mc Donalds too. Well, I can’t comment much about the setup since I don’t exactly frequent vegetarian restaurants that often. Well, the last one I went to had very elaborate decorations and obviously their bills were very well decorated too!

Be prepared to speak mandarin when you place your orders, or at least cantonese since most of them don’t speak english except perhaps their lady boss. Well, ordering food here isn’t that complicated … just pick and choose from the menu and yes, the menu is in english. Just keep in mind that this IS a vegetarian restaurant when you’re tempted to order that delicious, mouth-watering mutton curry. There goes a saying “Looks Can Be Deceiving” and we don’t mean it literally here!

Have you ever had vegetarian sharks fin soup? Yup, you heard right … vegetarian sharks fin soup !!! I mean, this must be the best way to enjoy sharks fin soup “guilt-free” without ever killing a single shark. I mean …. did you know that the most efficient way of obtaining shark fins is to first catch a shark, then haul it on deck, then have a team of crewmen swiftly slice off the fins with razor-sharp machetes, then to toss the rest of the fish, still alive, back in the sea. The stomach-turning result is that the shark sinks to the bottom of the ocean in presumably agonizing pain, and there slowly drowns to death.

Anyway, vegan sharks fin soup is the way to go. And if you ever want to attempt preparing this dish … here’s a complimentary recipe for you.

And this is the best Ginger Fish I’ve ever had … seriously. I mean, this dish taste exactly like a real fish dish. How on earth are they able to even prepare it, I seriously don’t know but all I know is …. I wouldn’t mind having another serving. Even the fish skin tasted real ….. I guess you know what I mean.

The mutton here’s a little … tasted a little different. It’s nice and delicious, don’t get me wrong. But it just doesn’t taste like the real thing. Probably it’s a little too soft, the ’supposedly’ mutton I mean. But otherwise, this is definitely a great dish.

More photographs of vegan dishes below.

Here are the contact details of this restaurant.

Shiang Hai Vegetarian Restaurant
32A, Ground Floor, Jalan PJS 8/2,
Mentari Plaza, 46160 Sunway Mentari
(Opposite Sunway Pyramid) Petaling Jaya.
Tel: 03-5621 1016 / 03-5621 1017
Fax : 03-5621 1016

It’s not easy for me to write an article on Bah Kut Teh, especially when I practically grew up on these stuffs. I could tend to be a little biased … since I prefer Klang Bah Kut Teh over any others.

Anyway, almost anyone and everyone who can take “non-halal” food may have tasted Bak Kut Teh … one way or another, especially when it’s widely available in Malaysia. Go way up north to Penang … and you can find “Klang” Bak Kut Teh there. And zip back down south to Melaka or Johor, chances are you will also find “Klang” Bak Kut Teh available. Another advantage of being a Malaysian … good food is available anywhere, anytime. Once I had Ampang Yong Tau Foo in … err.. Penang. Don’t ask me why …. ha ha.

Since I am writing about Bak Kut Teh, I might as well add this article snippet about the origin of Bah Kut Teh … which was an excerpt taken from Foodvenue.com (dudes, don’t mind I “pinjam” your article)

Bak Kut Teh was invented by a gentleman from Quanzhou of the Fujian province in China. The secret recipe was passed to a friend who later went to Klang and became the first person to commercialize and sell Bak Kut Teh. The dish went on to become a famous dish and was copied and improved many times over. So according to this version the Hokkiens were the inventors of the dish. The Teochews came later and the main visual difference between the Hokkien and Teochew version of Bak Kut Teh is that the Hokkiens use dark soy sauce and thus the soup base is characteristically darker in colour. It is up to the individual’s taste buds which one tastes better.

Here’s another article that claims Bak Kut Teh originated from Singapore. Hmmm.

Done with that and now to the main topic, which is about Subang Teow Chew Claypot Bak Kut Teh stall … not in Klang, but in Bukit Jelutong .. Shah Alam. This place came highly recommended by one of my close buddy and we’ve been planning for AGES to go there. Having said that … the anticipation buildup was quite unexpected.

Anyway … the plan came through and we visited the place finally. As we arrived pretty early, there were not many customers … and we chose a good place with good lightings (for my sake). The place looks pretty much like a construction canteen shack but otherwise, quite clean.

Well … to cut it short, there were not much of a choice when it comes to ordering Bah Kut Teh …. it’s served in claypots, hence you only get to select the serving size (depending on the headcount) and what extra ingredients to add or not to .. i.e. mushrooms, dried bean curd skins etc. Then there’s the extras such as steamed vegetable dishes and there’s even Assam Fish (didn’t order that one though). We ordered a cold Tofu dish instead … which is surprisingly good. Then again, it’s a very simple dish to prepare … light soy sauce, green onions with a sprinkle of dried prawns …

I think I might be a little one-sided especially when it comes to reviewing this place. Reason ? I prefer Hokkien Bak Kut Teh … which has thicker, and more herbal tasting soup. It has more soft, fatty meat with huge bones whilst Teow Chew Bak Kut Teh has clearer and not too herbal taste. But having said that, some may like it otherwise. So, don’t quote every word from me ….

Location 

Bukit Jelutong, Shah Alam
(Opposite the Esso Petrol Station along the main road heading to Sungai Buloh)