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Monday 14 May 2018

Red Leaf (Fried Rice & Char Kway Teow) @ Jalan Loke Yew

After finding a gem of a prawn mee stall here, we have since returned to Red Leaf Restaurant @ Jalan Loke Yew to give the other stalls a try chance.

Sometimes, after having tasted something so darn excellent, it becomes increasingly difficult to refrain from ordering the same thing each and every time I'm here.  But I told myself that I'd give the other stalls (at least some of them) a chance before I revert back to ordering the one thing I'm after....hehe! ;)

The first time when we were here to try the prawn noodles, we ended up packing home a one pax portion of Char Siew & Siew Yuk @ RM10.  We were pleasantly surprised to find out how delicious it was.

The char siew was those melt-in-the-mouth type with a well caramelised exterior that's sticky but not too sweet.  The siew yuk, on the other hand, was nicely savoury with a fragrant, crisp skin.

And because of that, on our next visit, both my husband and son decided to have the Char Siew & Siew Yuk Rice @ RM7.50.  Somehow, this time, both the meats just didn't wow us as much as they did the first time. Maybe because of the cuts of meat we got as the char siew wasn't the perfect lean-to-fat ratio while the siew yuk skin obviously looked different as well from a comparison of the photos.

I did wonder why the one pax portion of char siew and siew yuk was priced at RM10 while a similar plate of char siew and siew yuk (with rice) was charged at RM7.50 only (since both had the same five slices though the former did seem to be cut just a hair thicker).  I did raise the question to the stall owner and she confirmed that the meat for the RM10 was cut slightly thicker...so there (I guess I have to take her word for it since I can't see the difference actually :P).  Due to the inconsistencies in their meat, you could score yourself a nice cut of meat on some days if you're lucky.

The chicken broth-flavoured rice which came in quite a large portion was ok but the rice texture can be a little mushy.

The Roast Chicken Rice was also just acceptable.

The first time I had this Char Kway Teow (with Chicken Egg) @ RM6 (big, RM7) was a packed one and I thought that the taste was decent but could have been compromised a little since it was cold by the time I ate it.  

So, I had to have it again at the shop just to be sure.  This time, as I walked near the stall, I noticed the words 'Penang Char Kway Teow'...and saw duck eggs! ;)  Ok, my expectation of something good just went up a notch.  The Penang Char Kway Teow (with Duck Egg) was very decent indeed.

The noodles of choice (a combination of kway teow and yellow mee) was well fried and had a bit of wok hei going on...and, best of all, it came with fresh tasting fried pork lard ("chee yau char") besides three good-sized prawns, fresh cockles, fish cake slices, crunchy bean sprouts and Chinese chives.  The noodles were made extra decadent by the deliciously creamy duck egg (which are not often found in CKT stalls in KL).  If only it was a tad more salty (it needed a bit more soy) and had a few slices of "lap cheong" (Chinese dried sausage), it could have been perfect.

Yes, for CKT, I always go with a combination of kway teow and yellow mee (a preference of mine and probably many KLites) though I know many would swear by just kway teow alone as how a Penang CKT is usually eaten.  And oh, if you don't like your CKT spicy, remember to ask for less spicy coz I did (actually I always do as I like to taste the noodles in my CKT rather than just tasting the heat).  But I still could taste a bit of spice in there (so I'm assuming if you didn't ask for less spicy, this CKT would be spicier than norm).  The CKT fella is quite chatty.  When I ordered from him, he said to recommend friends to his stall if I find his noodles tasty (so I'm doing my 'job' here).  I guess he has to do everything he can to compete with such a well-known 'neighbour' (aka the prawn mee) where everyone who comes here just want to eat that...haha! ;D

This time, I noticed that they offer Fried Rice too, so we placed an order for that (both the dishes cost RM14.50 in total, so one is RM7 while the other is RM7.50).  Again, I was delightfully amazed as to how decent it was.  Just look at the colour...every bit of the rice grains seem to be nicely fried...and the biggest surprise?  There were fried chee yau char...which I've never found in a plate of fried rice before! O_o  Kids would love this version of fried rice to death coz you can't find a single piece of vegetable which children detest....lol (just remember to request for non-spicy).

We also tried the Curry Mee and Wantan Mee on previous visits but they weren't anything that deserved mention.  The curry broth was watery and lacked flavour while the wantan mee sauce and pale looking char siew weren't very exciting at all.  You can easily get better curry mee and wantan mee from many other stalls out there.

My Personal Opinion

OK, I'm done trying the other stalls already! :P  In the end, it's a place I would return over and over again just for the prawn noodles.  And if your family members aren't into prawn noodles, then their best bets would be the char kway teow and fried rice (and maybe try your luck with the inconsistent roasted meat rice).

Who knew that other than the gem of a find of an excellent prawn mee, we have stumbled upon yet another gem in this shop...and that's the Penang Char Kway Teow & Fried Rice stall.  Now that I have something else to look forward to here, I can see myself coming back repeatedly for these three items.....yay! ^o^

Kedai Makanan Red Leaf
No 61 & 63 Jalan Loke Yew
(corner of Lorong Loke Yew & Jalan Loke Yew)
Pudu
55200 Kuala Lumpur

16 comments:

  1. Those red parts of the siew yuk, that must be where all the flavors are packed.. Ooomphhhh!!!

    Actually when I was still living in KL, I preferred by CKT to be kuay teow + bihun. Super rare got stalls that offer bihun, I think now even more so... :/

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    1. Yeah, bihun is super rare...I don't think I've encountered one before (some stalls don't even give you the option of mee). The stall owner might even look at you 'funny' if you order it with bihun...haha! ;D

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  2. Two of my favorite items in a coffee shop would be CKT and fried rice. Wah...got chee yau char in the fried rice! Too bad this place is a bit out of the way for me but if I do pass by the area, know where to go.

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    1. I think it's because these two dishes are very hard to replicate to the same degree of success if cooked at home...we just don't have the "big fire" to do it! ^_~

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  3. Oh boy, it's been far too long since my last plate of CKT. Now you've given me a craving.

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    1. Go, go, succumb to your craving! If you're gonna have something unhealthy, must as well make sure it's a good one :)

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    2. That's right! It better be worth the calories. :-)

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  4. ooo, i was waiting for you to write about the ckt here, after reading your previous post - looks good - i like how it definitely is egg-y and cockle-y and prawn-y ... for the first time though, i must vehemently disagree with you on something - i hate having lap cheong in my ckt, so i'm really happy it's not present here. i think i'd really enjoy this ckt and might have two plates - one with just kuey teow and the other one mixed like yours :D

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    1. Ah, so I see you've visited already since you know about the existence of a CKT stall here (so, what did you think of the prawn mee?). And with both choices of noodles, you obviously like both Penang and KL-style CKT. Oh, I welcome such vehement disagreements...kekeke! ;D I can certainly see your stand on having lap cheong in CKT as that's more of a KL thing (you probably won't see lap cheong in many Penang versions of CKT). But I'm a KLite true and true...and I welcome the addition of lap cheong (good quality ones only) in my CKT. Just 2-3 slices is all it takes to bring extra fragrance to a plate of CKT! ;) It's yumm-y alright...and egg-y, cockle-y, prawn-y...hey, you forgot one...pork lard-y....hihihi! ^o^ P/S: Do you dislike eating lap cheong (personally) or just not liking lap cheong in a plate of CKT?

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    2. Oh, no, I haven’t visited - but I remember reading about the ckt stall here - I think it might have been Baby Sumo who mentioned the ckt, and I got mixed up! :D I don’t like lap cheong in general - I hate it with rice too and with vegetables - i’d happily omit it from every recipe, including lap mei fan ;)

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    3. In that case, you probably won't like claypot chicken rice very much then...but, of course, you can always omit the lap cheong.

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  5. There is something interesting to note about the inconsistency of the roasted Char Siew & Siew Yoke as mentioned. I always faced the same at our favourite stalls and pasar malam hawkers too. They have no QC due to many unknown factors.

    I explained to my wife that I was once a best man and followed the groom to collect his roasted pig which had to be ready before we arrived his bride's door at 9.00am sharp in Kuala Kangsar! I was horrified to see the KK shop's kitchen which housed several huge brick furnace where the giant pigs were being roasted upside down overnight. The ugly sight was rather unpleasant to see the poor animals being covered with complete thick ashes like cement dusts, exactly. The seller had to struggle his might to bring down a few pigs from their individual furnace and used a huge brush to dust all the pigs at 7.00am. We had to pick the best choice as all the roasted pigs looked different after being roasted. They used all kinds of different firewood & waste wood and roasted them all at the same hour yet the results quality differed. I learnt that it could be due to the pig's own well being and amount of fat quality that matters. The pigs do have their own "wagyu" premiums like how the HKG folks claimed that our pigs tend to be 'sweeter'. LOLOL... So I would use my instincts to stare and take a good look at the displayed roasted meat before ordering. Just my 2 cents.

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    1. Don't you know it's rude to stare....hahaha! :D I don't have as keen an eye as you to know which ones are good + we won't even know which slab of siew yuk or char siew the stall owner will be cutting from. ^_*

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  6. I like my CKT with kuey teow and yellow noodles too, but no cockles :P

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    1. CKT without cockles is like prawn mee without fried shallots for me...hihihi! ;D

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