Hao Yun Lai @ Pandan Indah

A new Chinese restaurant popped up in my neighbourhood (more than 3 months ago) and, of course, I had to try it out.  And, by Chinese restaurant, I don't mean our local Chinese-style dishes but Chinese cuisine from China (I was told that the owners are from China).  We came on a weekend dinner (when it was newly opened) and noticed long queues of people waiting outside the restaurant and we had to quickly abandon the idea.

I have since been back for dinner to Hao Yun Lai @ Pandan Indah and found it 'eerily' crowd-free.  The restaurant was brightly lit and everything was spanking new, so the air-conditioned place was pretty comfortable.

The menu was pretty grand-looking (for a neighbourhood Chinese restaurant) and impressive, printed on very thick and glossy paper, with equally "impressive" prices.  Their menu includes breakfast items (mostly dim sum), a few affordable one-dish meals but mostly stir-fry dishes you'd eat with rice (and these were the expensive ones on the menu).  On a subsequent visit (however), I noticed that they weren't using their grand-looking menu anymore but replaced it with a simple laminated one (their reason was because of the introduction of some new dishes).  To me, it looked more like they wanted to introduce some cheaper menu items to disassociate itself from their previous grand-looking and expensive menu.

We tried the Sweet & Sour Pork @ RM22.  Now, if you think this was the usual sweet and sour pork, it was not.  Though the sauce may look like it's sweet-sour, it didn't taste like the usual sweet-sour ones that I've had before.  The sauce took on a darker shade of red though the predominant taste of it was still sweet and sour.

The crispiness of the batter coating the lean pork pieces was also a standout from the usual sweet and sour pork ones that I've been accustomed to.  Overall, it was different....and quite good (apart from the small portion size)!  Certainly wouldn't mind ordering this again.

We went for a vegetable dish of Stir-fried Eggplant & Long Beans @ RM14.50 in a robustly flavoured oyster-type sauce.  What I liked about this dish was the fact that both the brinjal and long beans were cooked till very soft especially the long beans which looked crinkled like they were deep-fried first.  Again, the portion was rather small (barely enough for two).

The Spicy Fried Squid @ RM14.80 were rather small pieces of slightly chewy, fried, battered squid tossed with crunchy slivers of celery (which I enjoyed), spring onions, dried chillies and Szechuan peppercorns. There were more dried chillies than squid! ;p

Don't be fooled by the 'innocent looking' dish.....it was very fiery in taste.  In fact, it was one-dimensional....just hot!  It'll make you break out into a sweat, especially when you bite into one of those hot Szechuan peppercorns.  Just look at the amount of dried chillies left behind! >_<

The Stir-Fried Rice Noodles @ RM7.90, fried with bits of pork (very few bits, in fact), shredded cabbage and spring onions, was run-of-the-mill in taste and nothing out of the ordinary.  The rice noodles are nothing like our "kway teow" at all, they're much thicker and chewier...not something I enjoyed.

The Seaweed and Egg Soup @ RM2 (small bowl meant for one), with bits of seaweed, egg and tomatoes, was downright bland.  Just about anybody can cook up a more decent version of this at home! ;p

You know how I love my eggs done any way...including hard-boiled but this Stewed Egg @ RM1.50/pc was braised in a sauce that tasted like dark soy mixed with water...so not good and devoid of any flavour whatsoever.

Also, stay clear of their house-made soya bean which is quite horrible-tasting as it's unlike any I've tasted before.

Service is neither warm nor welcoming and the staff tend to exhibit signs of impatience especially while waiting on you to place your orders.  There's one lady staff that comes off as particularly unfriendly.

My Personal Opinion

On my initial visit, I thought the prices of many of their menu items (especially for a residential-type restaurant) were pretty steep for small portion sizes and forgettable tastes...and wondered if they'd be able to survive.  

Whenever I do pass by the restaurant, it looked a bit deserted to me (now I know why it was eerily crowd-free when Sushi Mentai is still crowded...with queues even to this day).  I guess they realised that and have since introduced some cheaper items on their menu but then the dishes come with scarce ingredients and aren't exactly big on tastes either.

The menu says "heavenly world of flavours".....but the few things I tried were far from "heavenly".  Overall, I'm not that impressed with the food nor the service to return to try more! :(

Update:  The restaurant has since closed (yet another one that didn't survive past its first year)

Hao Yun Lai Restaurant
18G Jalan Perubatan 2
Pandan Indah
55100 Kuala Lumpur