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Tuesday 21 August 2018

Char Koay Teow King @ Damansara Uptown

It was my husband who alerted me to this new char koay teow (CKT)'s grand opening about two weeks ago. From the photos he sent me, it looked good.  My husband had actually visited the place (on his own) the week before and wanted to bring me there just to see what I thought about their CKT.

So, we decided to drop by the following week to Char Koay Teow King @ Damansara Uptown to give it a try.  They had been in operation for about a month when I visited.

Their signboard says Penang authentic char koay teow (frying since 1992 in Bukit Mertajam as per their Facebook page) though they go by the name Koay Teow King.  

The place is air-conditioned and clean, of course, since it's so new.  Once seated, you'll find a one-page laminated menu on the table with just 6 options...CKT with either chicken egg (RM12), duck egg (RM13), soft-boiled chicken egg (RM14), crab meat (RM16), roast pork (16) or mantis prawn (RM20).  I had a sense of deja vu looking at the menu but I shall get to that later.

You order at the cashier counter and once you've paid for your orders, you'd be given an electronic pager that will beep (with flashing lights) once your orders are ready.  You're then expected to collect your plates of CKT from the kitchen counter.  So, if you're expecting to be served, you're not gonna get it here where service is kept to a minimum.

Out of the six options on the menu, two weren't available yet (the roast pork and mantis prawn versions).  My husband was actually here the week before and they mentioned that the roast pork will be available the following week (which meant the week we visited) but it was still not available.

Our first order was for the CKT with Duck Egg @ RM14.  Oh, besides just the 6 items on the menu (4 when we were there), there's only koay teow when it comes to the noodles since Penang authentic CKT only comes in koay teow.  So, if you're one who prefers a mixture of koay teow and mee (like me) in their CKT...well, too bad! >_<

A plate of CKT here has the usual ingredients of see hum (cockles), lap cheong (dried Chinese sausage), nga choy (beansprouts), gao choy (Chinese chives) and freshly fried chee yau char (pork lard crisps...but you'll need to go on a 'treasure hunt' to find a few measly pieces).

It also came with 3 big prawns (though the menu, their Facebook page and in my husband's first visit, only two were given initially).  I'm not sure why they decided to give three instead of two prawns.  Perhaps they realised that their plate of CKT may be overpriced with only two prawns (or maybe it's two if they're larger and three if they're smaller in size).  That tells you how profit-minded they are...until they're not even willing to give you three if they happen to be slightly bigger! :P  The prawns I have no complaints as they were firm, fresh and sweet tasting.

Next, we went with a more decadent CKT with Crab Meat @ RM16 only to find out that this CKT is not fried with egg! O_o  The lady at the counter said the CKT comes with the usual ingredients of see hum and lap cheong...which got me scratching my head...isn't egg considered a usual ingredient in a CKT?  What CKT is not fried with egg (unless you specifically request it to be omitted)! >.<  In the end, I asked for a chicken egg (to be fried with the noodles) that cost an extra RM1 (additional RM2 for a duck egg).

Take note also that if you order the crab meat version, your CKT will not contain any prawns but you can have it as an add-on (RM7 for two prawns, the lady at the counter told me).  RM7 for just two prawns is expensive IMHO as I can get a prawn of that size (from the wet market) for about RM1 (but they can probably get it cheaper direct from their supplier due to the large quantity they buy).  So, 'no thank you' to adding on prawns as I can't imagine having to pay RM24 for a single plate of CKT! O_o

I wouldn't recommend this CKT version with crab meat as the crab meat plonked on top was served cold, not super cold, but you know it has been chilled and it hadn't been taken out long enough from the fridge for it to come down to room temperature.  Further compounding the cold crab meat was the fact that there were some shell fragments that weren't picked out completely.  It wasn't the nicest experience when you had to bite into shell fragments when taking a mouthful of the CKT with crab meat.  In some places, finding a shell fragment or fish bone left unpicked can even lead to the dish being sent back to the kitchen....haha! :D

I chose the CKT with Soft-Boiled Chicken Egg @ RM14 for our final choice as I wanted to showcase a different CKT.  I was stupid enough to order it and would soon regret my choice.

That's because breaking the runny yolk and mixing it with the noodles made the plate of CKT rather wet. Order this only if you like your CKT wet.  For me, I think it's a stupid option to offer (a soft-boiled egg has no place in a plate of CKT).  I'd much prefer the option of an add-on well-fried sunny side up egg instead (but I didn't see that option on the menu and they didn't tell me I could have it that way).  As this plate of CKT originally does come fried with a chicken egg, I needed to pay RM1 to change it to a duck egg.

Now that I've featured all three plates of CKT, let me tell you what I thought of it.  At first bite, the noodles were fairly tasty but the beansprouts weren't all that crunchy nor were they the fat, juicy type that I like. The koay teow itself didn't have any charred bits and was missing the much sought-after wok hei.  The addition of a fairly generous amount of lap cheong with the hardly noticeable chee yau char did add an element of a much-needed fragrance to the noodles but there was simply not enough chee yau char.

Contrary to what they 'advertise' in their FB of WYSIWYG, it wasn't the case...especially when it came to the see hum...what you see isn't what you get!!  The see hum weren't as generous (in amount) or as raw as shown in their FB.  The cockles were well cooked through in all 3 plates of CKT.  My family's portion of cockles all ended up on my plate (yay!) coz they don't eat cockles and I wasn't about to tell them to omit the cockles seeing that each plate cost us more than RM10.

If you're lucky, you might get one or two larger ones but most of the cockles were smallish in size.  That, unfortunately, is the fate (or should I say state) of our cockles stock these days.

All plates of CKT come with a free drink, a choice between pat poh (herbal) or nutmeg (not of the fresh kind, probably of the concentrate/syrup kind)...and, if neither pleases you, there's a plain water option. Didn't like the pat poh nor the nutmeg, the latter of which tasted like some kind of sweetish syrup water with barely a hint of nutmeg.

#Interesting Story

Coming back to my feelings of deja vu earlier, a number of similarities got me feeling this way.

1)  The use of the word 'king' in their shop name.
2)  The limited options (in their menu) and similar-type ingredients (in their dishes,
     especially mantis prawns and siew yuk) is something I've seen before.
3)  The use of similar black-coloured crockery.
4)  Just the overall decor/feel of the place.
5)  Plus I remember reading about a collaboration project on their FB.

So, to satisfy my curiosity, I checked their FB page upon my return...and, lo and behold, my hunch was right...they're by the same people (or at least the same guy who helms Prawn Noodle King)!  (1) and (2) above was a dead giveaway!  In future, if I come across a shop by the name of 'Beef Noodle King' (their other potential collaboration project), I'd be alerted to the fact that they might be related to Prawn Noodle King and Char Koay Teow King...hahaha! :D

P/S: On my way home, I noticed that there's a new Prawn Noodle King branch (their third) in Damansara Uptown at Jalan SS21/37 (joining their existing two outlets in OUG & USJ Taipan).  Looks like there are many fans of their prawn noodles since business is blooming.

My Personal Opinion

The taste of the noodles was decent by most standards, especially those who don't mind not having the necessary wok hei or aren't looking for the noodles to be charred.  For me, those two aspects are critical for a good plate of CKT.  Having said that, I did enjoy the fresh, large prawns and the lap cheong...but that's about it.

For a plate of CKT of that price, I expected more!  The taste has to be way better than that...and it wasn't. Perhaps, I'm a bit harsh with my judgement but I've had better CKT for less, that's why.

And now that I know the taste and quality of their siew yuk and mantis prawn (from my previous experience at Prawn Noodle King), I probably won't need to try those two options here.  Worst still, not only do you have to pay a premium price, they make you 'work' for it...you have to queue, order, pay and collect your CKT from the counter! O_o  Will I be back?  I think you know the answer to that already.

Char Koay Teow King
8G Jalan SS21/58
Damansara Utama
47400 Petaling Jaya
Selangor
Tel: 7731 9818

25 comments:

  1. The poached egg CKT, think also not working lah this combination, aiyoyo~~
    There is a stall in kopitiam (Fook Kee) at KIP Sri Damansara which offers quite a decent version of CKT, u can try out if you're happen to be at that area.

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    1. Ah ha, another one who doesn't think poached egg in CKT is a good idea! I so love soft-boiled eggs, so I didn't think it through before ordering...haha! >.< Ok, thanks for the tip but don't seem to be able to find this Fook Kee when I googled.

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  2. Half boiled eggs on kuih teow i think.. is a bad idea. LOL.

    Having seahum too raw isn't necessarily a great idea in terms of health wise but they're always so tempting! Looks like overall a decent enough CKT tho, I shall give it a try one of these days :D

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    1. Ha, yet another who thinks soft-boiled eggs is a lousy idea! ;) I agree with you on the health part of it when it comes to raw see hum but eating it cooked all the way through also isn't the best way of enjoying them.

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  3. Thank you for sharing this post and I am very curious to go over to try. Just like the Four Seasons, I had to go and try their Prawn Mee and Curry Noodles too. My guests all loved the whole place and they ordered almost 8 different types of food. It was so fun.

    I was amused to hear your comments about their CKT in full details. I would say that Penang and BM are so close by yet their eating mentality are quite different. A good example is that only in Butterworth and BM that you could find Assam Laksa stalls there serving the laksa gravy with plain rice!!! I recall the shock on my face during my college days. Muahahaha

    Now the culture of eating koay teow with mee in the CKT is quite common in Northern States and the CKT without eggs is a normal practice since I was born. Those days everyone had to bring their own eggs to the seller to add on. Later years, they started to provide chicken eggs and later it was duck eggs! I am not trying to defend this stall at Uptown but just sharing my vivid childhood memories.

    Next the way they served the eggs over your CKT raised my eyebrows too. Then I recalled again that in Penang, some people would request their eggs to be fried in various styles just like how your plate looked like. I think some Penang Lang are too fussy! LOL

    Like your hubby, I plan to hop over alone to try before alerting others.

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    1. Ok, go with low expectations...hehe! ^_~ I thought eating koay teow with mee is more of a KL thing. I've been to a few places that specialise in (supposedly) authentic Penang CKT and they don't offer mee in a combo with koay teow as they feel authentic Penang CKT comes in only koay teow. Maybe they should have opened in a mall somewhere to cater to tourists who like to eat at clean places and don't mind paying higher prices.

      So, how did you like the curry noodles in Malaysia Boleh!. I can see why your guests love the place as it has many local hawker fare under one roof...and they get to eat them in a clean and comfortable environment :)

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    2. Think this place is over price. Tried there last month, ordered the soft boiled egg.when the ckt came, it was without hum and lap cheong. I made a complain, the lady at the cointer acknowledged quickly. I tot she is going to give me a new plate but instead she just gave me the hum and lap cheong in a side order plate after like 10min. The taste will be diff since it was not fried together, and for that premium price, just not worth it.

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    3. Why weren't there lap cheong and see hum in the first place? Mine had but very few see hum lah! >.< I agree, giving you the lap cheong and hum separately is not acceptable. I've read comments that some of the CKT even came without egg and hum. This place seems very inconsistent. They better buck up for their plates of over-priced CKT! :P

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  4. Hmmm... I think I'll give it a miss. Thanks for the look inside.

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  5. i was hoping to read your opinion on this! i've heard quite mixed feedback on this place, but ya, most of the feedback is tilted toward ok-but-not-the-best ... i think it's a really nice concept to open a char kuey teow specialist eatery with a few different variations on the menu, but i guess they need to fine-tune each recipe - cold crab meat and overly wet eggs sound like the execution wasn't well-thought-out enough. hmmm, considering how cockles these days are kinda shriveled, maybe we should mix them with some mussels in ckt for a fleshier chew :)

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    1. If someone were to add mussels in their CKT, they'd open themselves up to some criticisms about the authenticity of CKT...haha! :D Well, if you're going to open a CKT specialist eatery, you better get your CKT right...and they didn't! ;)

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  6. Aha! You have been there too. My sentiments are same as yours. What Penang CKT are they talking about? I came away most disappointed. I like straight up good CKT with no need for fancy toppings. I felt that crab or mantis prawn or roasted pork and god forbid, soft boiled egg toppings are out of place but I suppose they want to give us "variety". One visit was enough for me. Oh, I also spotted the Prawn Noodle King but have yet to step inside.

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    1. Oh, you've been there already...and then I saw your post title today. Oh dear, if the other four toppings aren't a good idea, then what are they going to give customers (in terms of choices) since they're a CKT specialist?

      So, will you be trying out the Prawn Noodles at their sister outlet? Don't go with high expectations so you won't be too disappointed.

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  7. The huge guy at the counter was weird. And yea the u gotta work for them for that kinda price is ridiculous. My plate of crab ckt and using duck egg is rm18 mind u. They didn't even bother telling me changing to duck egg need to add rm2. Guys occasionally goes our smoke and the cigarette smell just swarm into the shop with air cond which is shitty. It is not at all worth it. The max price I would pay is rm12 for my plate. Never 18.

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    1. Hmmm, looks like they have more haters...haha! I paid RM17 for my plate of crab meat CKT with chicken egg as the crab meat version doesn't come with any egg, it seems...what CKT doesn't have eggs! :O Cigarette smell inside the shop? Looks like ventilation is poor here too (just like their sister outlet, Prawn Noodle King). The weird huge guy you saw may be one of the bosses. You can check the facebook of Prawn Noodle King to confirm if he's the same guy.

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  8. Just had a plate of ckt at this place and my verdict is... What an awful plate of ckt. Any roadside stall rm5 ckt taste better than this.

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    1. Yet another hater I see. I agree...any roadside CKT stall is better...and at least that one we don't have to pay double/triple the amount here. >_<

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  9. Tasteless n overpriced. The ckt at damansara jaya is way above n authentic too at half the price.. Owner is the chef himself

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    1. Haha...more haters I see! ;) Yeah, the owner also fries the CKT if he's around. I think there are two more chefs who fries the CKT. This was a collaboration between him and some Penang CKT fella.

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  10. Have you tried Mr Char Koay Teow in Jaya shopping Center? I wonder how you would compare these two.

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    1. No, I have not tried Mr CKT. I believe this one is pork-free so it wouldn't be a fair comparison-lah. ^_~ If I'm ever in the area, I might drop by and try.

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  11. Koay Teow King in Damansara Uptown - Taugeh is more than the kuey teow!

    One plate has chinese sausages, one plate doesn’t have.


    Overrated and Overpriced!

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    1. Oh dear, I see more complaints on their inconsistency with ingredients and cooking. I agree with you totally on it being overpriced. And soon they will no longer be overrated anymore as their google rating is dropping fast (only 2.7 at last check)!

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  12. Tried. No 2nd time. The pat poh doesn't have the usual pat poh taste, only sweetness. There's no wok hei, the sihum just a bit and cold, the kueh teow not the usual ones I like and the taste is uneven. I asked for combo set which has belacan fried chicken wing that doesn't have enough belacan taste. This place was almost empty when I decided to try. For the price I'm paying, the quantity not enough, although got 2 big prawns, lap cheong I ate 1 or 2 only.

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