Malaysia Boleh! @ Shoppes at Four Seasons Place

Housed in a shopping mall with six levels of retail, restaurants, a boutique grocer and more, which also includes the Four Seasons Hotel and Four Seasons Private Residences, Malaysia Boleh! is a food court which features authentic street hawker fare from different states in Malaysia.

I read about this place more than a month ago and bookmarked it for a visit.  One Sunday morning, I finally made my way to Malaysia Boleh! @ Shoppes at Four Seasons Place with my family.  The visit turned out to be a revelation of sorts...we'll come to that in a little while.

First impression, certainly one of the better-designed food courts I've been to that embodies the classic old-school kopitiam-feel with shophouse frontage, classic kopitiam floor tiles, marble table tops and kopitiam-style crockery with evergreen Chinese tunes playing in the background for your listening pleasure...love it! But, most of all, I like how cold, well ventilated and spotlessly clean the place is.

Just as you walk in, you'll see signboards of the various stalls on both sides of the entrance.  On the left, I saw eleven signboards and on the the right, another seven.  I don't think these are the only eighteen stalls as I definitely saw a drinks stall and I remember seeing a yong tau foo stall as well.  Perhaps, the signboards will get updated later.

Right off the bat, I noticed that there were three early 'casualties' already...the JB Mee Rebus & Mee Siam, Kuantan Nasi Lemak and Nam Kee Pau are no more and in its place, Pudu Barbecue, Pudu Nasi Lemak and Traditional Homemade Pau have been added to the list.  I'm not sure if there were more changes.

I've tried a few of the stalls already but I will write about those later.  For this post, I wish to focus on just one stall as I want to 'dedicate' this post to it....kekeke! ^_*  Well, the story goes like this.....

My husband, as usual, told me to just order the curry mee for him when he saw it was available in one of the stalls.  I looked up and saw a curry mee stall next to the Ipoh Bean Sprout Chicken.  I asked him, "Are you sure?"  Coz I just assumed it was Ipoh curry mee (which we don't like) since it was next to an Ipoh stall.  That's when he saw someone frantically waving at him.  It was the lady owner of our no. 1 favourite curry mee stall!!!  When I saw her I was delighted beyond words...and I could hear myself breaking into a song (in my head, of course)....reunited and it feels so good! ;)  If there's a person who's even happier to see her, it'd be my husband! ^o^

And if you take a few steps back and have a closer look, you'll see a sign (in the shoplot frontage) that says "Jalan Imbi Ah Yen Curry Mee".  That is her stall.  We first fell in love with her curry mee when she operated out of Mei Sin Eating Shop in Jalan Imbi before she moved to ICC Pudu and now she's here.

After the initial shock and excitement was over, the first thing I did this time was to ask for her contact number (I'm assuming Ah Yen is her name).  I obviously learned from my past experience mistake...and wasn't about to let her 'bolt' again without having a means to find her.

I remember in my last post on Imbi market, I mentioned about losing all contact with my favourite curry laksa and I was bumped out by it.  I received some comments from my regular readers on that post that went something like this:

Phong Hong: If she's still in business, chances are you might bump into her again if fated.
Me: Well, looks like we were indeed fated to meet again.

Sean: I'll be happy to hear if she's moved to Sri Petaling.
Me: I'm sure you'll be just as happy to hear she has relocated here (and you can finally try it?).

Choi Yen: That is really a good bowl of laksa that I've tried.
Me: Now that I have found her (in a place that's convenient for all), you can have it again.

We immediately got down to ordering two bowls of Curry Chicken Noodle @ RM9 a bowl and it arrived with a look (and taste) that we're so familiar with....thick, creamy, savoury with just the right amount of santan flavour and chilli oil...so, so good! ^.^

She quickly pointed out to us that she no longer serves her curry mee with "kar liew" (that she used to do at her old place) of additional yong tau foo items like fried fu chuk slices, fu chuk roll (that looks like "sar kok liew"), stuffed eggplant and bitter gourd...and even chicken liver (see archive photo above). T_T

The serving now comes with chicken only (no wonder her sign says 'curry chicken noodle') apart from the usual bean curd puffs, pig skin and long beans.  Actually, I've never been a fan of her curry chicken...which doesn't quite look like a proper curry chicken but more like a whole chicken that has been poached in a curry broth.  I prefer a proper poached (white) chicken with my curry laksa.  Obviously, I'm not going to complaint as I'm already ecstatic to be reacquainted with this curry mee.

All I want is the stunning taste of the curry (her curry is so thick because she ladles a separate scoop of this very thick curry over her curry broth).  I didn't even notice that there were no fresh cockles until I was writing this post (I must have been too elated).  I'm not sure if it's a permanent thing or they just didn't have cockles that day.

I didn't ask her why she no longer offer yong tau foo in her curry laksa but my guess is that they have to stick to one price for their product (for easier management).  This will also eliminate customers wanting to customise their bowl of curry mee with different yong tau foo items which will slow up the process further.  

Sigh, it's such a shame really...as the kar liew of yong tau foo is really good (see archive photo above). Hopefully, one day, when she's more settled, she can find a way to introduce that back to her menu somehow (I will do my part to try and convince her...kekeke!).

On my way out, I noticed this flower truck right in front of the food court selling artificial flower arrangements (Fleur by RLD).  On closer inspection, they cost a couple of hundred to more than a thousand ringgit (for the colourful one on the upper deck)! O_o  I must admit the arrangement of pink tulips (on the lower deck) is really pretty.

My Personal Opinion

Now that she has moved to a conveniently located and easily accessible shopping mall, everyone gets to enjoy her awesome curry laksa in a clean and comfortable environment.  And for those of you who have not tried, I have five words for you....what are you waiting? ;)

Since we have 'reconnected', you can bet I'll be coming back to Malaysia Boleh! more often now.  With parking charges on weekends at RM5 for the first 3 hours (unlike the exorbitant parking fees on weekdays where it's RM5 for the first one hour), I think boleh-lah.

Malaysia Boleh! (Food Court)
B1-01B Shoppes at Four Seasons Place
145 Jalan Ampang
50450 Kuala Lumpur