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Wednesday, 4 February 2015

Hock Seng Two @ SS2 PJ

We've noticed that this old coffee shop is usually packed with customers each time we drive by and decided to check it out one Sunday morning for breakfast.  Although most of the blogs referred to this shop as Restoran Hock Seng Two @ SS2 PJ, I couldn't locate the shop name as I couldn't find their signboard, so I hope the shop is still known by the same name.
 
Once inside, you could see that there are so many individual stalls from beef noodles, popiah, chee cheong fun, Sabah pork noodles, Penang char kway teow, chicken rice, porridge, Penang lor bak, soup noodles, assam laksa, fish head noodles, wantan mee and many more to snacks like nyonya kuih, curry puffs, Seremban "siew pau" (roasted buns) and "long yoke" (dried meat).

Since it was my first time here, I scrutinized the stalls and went for the one that seemed to be among the busiest.  This is my order of Special Sabah Pork Noodles @ RM6.  Again, I seemed to have 'nailed' the correct one since this was the most talked about stall here.  I opted for meehoon 'dry style' (coz I saw that it was a common order with many patrons) and realised that it was not the usual thin meehoon but the thicker version (coarse meehoon).  It came with a few bits of "chee yau char" (pork lard) and fried garlic.  The thick meehoon had the fragrance of lard and the dark sauce was quite subtle (which I liked) but some may find it a bit tasteless (especially those who like bolder flavours). 

But what was probably the 'talk of town' were the super smooth and soft pcs of lean pork that has been marinated in a cornflour slurry (we all know that the Chinese use cornstarch to tenderise their meat).  However, the use of cornstarch also gave rise to a more cloudy soup which I didn't appreciate as much.  Other than the tender slices of pork, there were very little "liew" (ingredients) in the pork soup...like 2 pcs of (very thin and overcooked) pork liver and 2 tiny pcs of (1/2 inch) pork intestines.  Other than the super smooth slices of pork which was memorable, the other stuff was just ordinary for me.

My spouse went for the "Char Siew" (Barbecued Pork) Wantan Mee @ RM6.  The wantan noodles were thin and nicely cooked but the sauce and char siew were forgettable.

The soup wantans fared better.

My son had the "Siew Yoke" (Roast Pork) Rice @ RM6.50 and found the rice to his liking (with a nice chicken broth flavour) although the rice didn't have the nice separated grains.  The meat of the siew yoke was flavourful enough but the pork skin crackling was a tad on the hard side.

I also ordered a plate of Penang "lor bak" & various fried stuff @ RM10.80 for sharing.  The "lor bak" (marinated minced pork roll) was the only good thing on the plate.  The other fried stuff of fried prawn cakes were just so-so and the fried vegetarian mock duck was not crispy at all.

The accompanying sauces...a chilli sauce and a thickened broth of cornstarch and beaten egg were decent.

There's also a Homi Curry Puff stall here and the Curry Puff retails @ RM2.20.  I've eaten the one in Mid Valley and it was good to note that they do taste similar (except that it's more expensive in Mid Valley, of course).

The Homi curry puff is the spiral-type and rather big, with a crispy-flaky-buttery pastry skin, though I found the edges to be a bit hard.  The filling of chicken and potatoes (more potatoes than chicken) had a distinct curry powder flavour.  It's a fairly decent curry puff but I prefer the ones with hard-boiled eggs inside.
 
I also noticed a stall selling nyonya kuih and packed 3 pcs @ RM2.70 for home.  This stall, it seems (which I learned later), sells kuih from Taiping Lim Nyonya Kueh.

I got 2 pcs of Kuih Talam (coz they were wrapped in twos) and a pc of Kuih Koci with a grated coconut and "gula Melaka" (palm sugar) filling.  I enjoyed the kuih talam more than the kuih koci.

My Personal Opinion

I've not eaten everything but the ones I did try, I found them to be average fare.  But, if there's one you should try, if not for anything else, would be the Sabah Special Pork Noodles...just for the super smooth and soft lean pork slices.

A return trip is warranted as there're so many food stalls I've not tried.  I heard that the popiah (both the traditional and egg skin type) and char kway teow stalls (reported Robert's) are quite good too.  I shall be back!
 
Restoran Hock Seng Two
66 Jalan SS2/66
47300 Petaling Jaya
Selangor

16 comments:

  1. lard and garlic are two of my favourite words when it comes to chinese food, so i'm all in! :D

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    1. They're two of my favourite words too...the third being fried shallots!! :D

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  2. Wahhhhh!!! Things sure are a bit more pricey there.

    Sabah pork noodles? I wonder if that's the raw pork noodles - they say it originates in KK, Sabah. They slice the meat very thinly and blanch in hot boiling water/soup to cook - they call it raw but it is actually cooked already because of the thinness of the slices of the meat. We have that here too - no cornflour used so the soup is very clear and nice. Not bad, I quite liked it but so far, I just had it once. Very popular, shop is always crowded.

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    1. Yes, I think that's how they made it here too. The pork is sliced very thinly and the fact that it's so smooth makes me think that cornflour is involved (somehow). If they were to blanch it in hot water and then transfer it to the soup, I think the soup will be less cloudy but probably additional work for them, so they don't do it.

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  3. I think I have been here before though I can't be sure. I remember having the char koay teow and asam laksa. Those big curry puffs, I have only tried the Old Chang Kee ones.

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    1. Those Chang Kee curry puffs are quite good too ;)

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  4. That's often my strategy too - look for the busiest.

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    1. It's a good strategy and (so far) it has not steered me wrong.

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  5. So many food in the same post, Make me dizzy again after waking up from nap! Haha!
    The Sabah pork noodles remind me of the Sabah Hakka Yip Man video clips. "Ngai siong sip sang yoke men!" (maybe that's why so many people eat that LOL LOL!)

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    1. Are you napping at your work desk? :D
      I'm afraid my Cantonese is quite elementary, so I don't understand what you're saying here! That's why I don't watch Hong Kong shows ;)

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    2. Tsk.. it's a video clip made by Sabah people, adapted from Yip Man movie (with Donnie Yen) in it, but dubbed in Hakka. The subs are in Chinese, so I doubt you have watched it..

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    3. I did google (after this) and watched it but didn't find it funny (coz I don't quite understand though I do know a bit of Hakka).

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  6. I seldom look at the names of the eateries in SS2 so I only recognize this place when you talked about the Homi curry puffs and nyonya kuihs. I ate here once only (can't even remember what I ate) because I usually go to the other corner coffee shop behind it.

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    1. Anything nice in the corner coffee shop behind it?

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    2. I think the hakka lei cha and duck leg mee suah is quite nice.

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    3. I don't like lei cha, maybe I can try the duck mee sua ;)

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