Malaysia Boleh! 3 @ Shoppes At Four Seasons Place

Since reconnecting with our #1 sought after curry laksa here, we've been coming to this place on a fairly regular basis.  And oh, the curry mee now offers 3 types of yong tau foo (but no chicken liver) as add-ons at RM2 - RM2.50 per piece (rather expensive, I might add) that could see the price of your bowl of curry mee bumped up to more than RM15! >_<

While my husband continues to indulge in his favourite curry mee on each and every visit, I've had to put on hold my fondness of the curry mee so that I can try the other options available (and write about them).

I was gently reminded by choiyen (in my previous post) that I was supposed to try the Fried Hokkien Mee @ RM12 (regular, RM15 for large) and so I better made sure I did on my third visit (haha!).  At first glance, I was happy to see the sprinkling of pork lard crisps which is a super important ingredient in a plate of Hokkien Mee as far as I'm concerned.

It only had two good-sized prawns that were firm and sweet but (luckily) they made up for it with a generous amount of lean pork slices and softened cabbage...plus the freshly cooked sambal accompaniment, with its distinct fiery red colour and oil around the edges, is the hallmark of a well-made sambal that will hit the spot nicely.  

There's nothing better than digging into a plate of piping hot, freshly fried Hokkien Mee and get a free facial sauna at the same time...kekeke! ;D

And when the smoke clears, you'll be greeted with noodles that are deliciously coated in a thick dark soy concoction that's neither too dry nor too wet...and you just can't help but slurp up each delicious strand! ^o^ Overall, this was a really, really good plate of mall-executed Hokkien Mee I have to say, so much so that I'm willing to overlook the fact that their version didn't come with any pork liver.  Though the noodles were a hint on the salty side (for me personally) but considered well seasoned for most tastebuds in general.

Next, I tried the Ipoh Kuey Tiow Pork Noodles @ RM9 with minced pork, pork liver, lean pork slices, choy sum and the ever important but not so generous chee yau char.  The pork lard crisps I had that day didn't taste very fresh and weren't all that crispy or fragrant.  The soup base is the cloudy type and wasn't particularly porky-flavoured either.

My preferred bowl of pork noodles would usually be a combo of meehoon and mee but it'd be foolish to choose anything other than kuey teow since this wasn't just any pork noodles but specifically Ipoh kuey teow pork noodles.  The kuey teow was certainly slippery smooth, smoother and more thinly sliced than our usual kuey teow here, but probably not as thin and translucent like those Ipoh sar hor fun noodles.  Unfortunately, for this bowl of pork noodles, the kuey teow ended up to be the best part.

The previous Kuantan Nasi Lemak has since been replaced by the Pudu Nasi Lemak & Fried Chicken stall.  I was quite happy with the good dose of santan flavour in the rice.  The sambal for the basic nasi lemak @ RM3.50 also turned out better than I expected since this was a Chinese-style nasi lemak.

I thought I wouldn't like the sambal but I did.  It tasted more towards a typical Malay stall sambal than a Chinese one.  You can add on a piece of fried chicken wing @ RM4, thigh (RM4.50) or drumstick (RM5). However, the fried chicken wasn't all that great as I found the batter had a floury taste (it reminded me of those store-bought seasoning powder mix). ;P

From the Pudu Barbeque stall which offers roast duck (RM10 or RM13 for duck drumstick), roast pork (RM10) and char siew rice, we ordered the Char Siew Rice @ RM9 as it was the only meat that was in abundance (we would soon find out why).  There weren't any roast pork left and only a quarter of a duck was still hanging in the stall (we happened to be there for dinner this time).

The char siew turned out to be a disappointment as it was very meaty and didn't have that dark caramelisation.  Neither was it the tender, melt-in-the-mouth type of char siew.  Better to give the char siew a miss altogether (in fact they looked very similar to the ones at the wantan mee stall).  The other strange thing I noticed is that the char siew was sitting horizontally on a plate of dark sauce instead of the usual presentation of them being hung vertically on hooks where the caramelisation is obvious for all to see.

We ordered the Fried Carrot Cake @ RM9 again as we remembered it turned out quite well the last time we had it...but, sadly, this time we were massively disappointed (so it deserve a photo).  It just wasn't fried long enough to produce the crisp, caramelised edges and losing that bit of wok hei in the process.  That's because there were more orders to keep up during dinner time and the chap (maybe it was even a different chap) decided to fry a few plates at one time. >_<  Glad to report we had it again another time (in the morning) and it was cooked just the way we it should be.

Another thing I didn't get to eat in the mornings was the Chai Kueh as they're always not ready when we're there at 10am.  They offer 4 variations here...Chives, Sengkuang (Jicama), Yam & Pumpkin Chai Kueh @ RM2 each and I got all 4 types to try (do watch out for the chilli dip though which can be quite spicy).

All four types were fairly decent, with thin and translucent skins, but none stood in taste among the four.  It really depends on what filling you like to eat most and, for me, I like the sengkuang one the most.  The chives had a nice flavour without being bitter.  I was surprised by the yam and pumpkin ones which had dried prawns in them and not just yam and pumpkin paste like those I've eaten before.  Didn't like the yam one all that much as the yam paste wasn't very smooth and the pumpkin one turned out to be really cold (probably sitting on the tray for far too long).  Best to eat them when they're just out of the steamer.

The last time I was here I had Kopi-O-Ping which wasn't very good, so this time I tried the Teh Ping which also turned out to be meh.

My Personal Opinion

I'm slowly but surely eating my way through all the stalls here one by one! ;)  Of all the stalls I've tried so far, the curry laksa is still my undisputed #1 favourite followed by the hokkien mee and chicken rice.

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