Fun OK Seafood @ Taman Muda

Fun OK Seafood @ Taman Muda is a typical no-frills dai chow (rice with dishes) restaurant that we discovered on ShopeeFood but did not order delivery.  We were able to have a first-hand look at their menu which was rather extensive.  It can be quite intimidating to look at the menu with so many choices if you're visiting for the first time with the person taking the order hovering over you for your decision.  Worst still if there's no menu (and you have to listen to what they have) or the menu is written only in Chinese (which I can't read), so it's good to have a heads-up on what they offer. 

So that made me confident enough to visit for a dine-in straightaway.  It's always good to show a photo of the eatery's signboard whenever possible (as it makes it easier for people to spot the place from afar) but it's not always possible especially when eyes of workers and customers are glued on you (too shy-lah), so this photo was taken on the day we found the shop closed.

My son absolutely loves to eat lai liu har (literally translated to mean pissing shrimps which doesn't remotely sound appetising, otherwise it goes by the name mantis shrimp or squilla).  I actually wasn't aware that it was called squilla until I saw such it described as such on the menu.  So, we chose Squilla in Salted Egg Yolk Sauce @ RM22 as our first sampling.  Can't fault the cooking of the squilla which was super crispy but the salted egg yolk coating was a little muted.

The Fried Tofu with Minced Meat in Special Brown Sauce @ RM15 attracted me to order it as it was listed as their speciality on the menu (with 3 thumbs up & a chef's hat).  The soft fried tofu was nice but the brown sauce wasn't what I was expecting and I couldn't quite put my finger on what I tasted until my son aptly referred to it as bolognese sauce.  Yeah, that's it.....not a taste I'd associate coming out of a tai chow place! >.<  I didn't take a fancy to the sauce (not something I'd order again) though my family thought it was alright.

Our choice for our vegetable dish that night was my husband's perennial favourite of Curry Mixed Vegetable in Claypot (there's no individual prices listed for vegetables but was told they're usually around RM15 except for some, like the curry vegetable, which will cost a little more).  With the usual ingredients of cabbage, eggplant, okra, long beans and tau fu pok, this one failed to meet our expectations as you can probably judge by the colour of the curry.  The spices and curry powder was the dominant taste and missing that red chilli oil and santan creaminess that we prefer.  Safe to say, there'll be no repeat of this dish.

The first time we were here, I was about to order a fourth dish when the lady boss stopped me and told me that three would be enough...and it was, more than enough actually.  We ended up having to tapau (takeaway) the salted egg yolk squilla which we couldn't finish coz the portion of curry vegetables was too big.

Even though our first visit wasn't all positive, we did return and our second visit we ordered the Squilla in Creamy Butter(milk) Sauce @ RM22 this time.  The creamy buttermilk or lai yau sauce was good, the consistency of which is little bit wetter (which I prefer) and not overly thick and cloying like some can be.

We were very happy with the outcome of the Sweet & Sour Pork @ RM20 which is a must-have dish for us.  The little pork strips (rather than rounded nuggets) were a lot crunchier than many I've eaten, so it was good in that sense.  I was happy to see the use of fresh pineapple chunks (along with onions, tomatoes and cucumber) in the sauce which made it very appetising to eat.  If there was one teeny weeny thing that could be improved would be to make the sauce a little lighter but it obviously made no difference to my family who clearly enjoyed it.

For our vegetable component of the meal, we went with a simple Stir-Fry Green Dragon Chives or ching loong choy.  I love to eat this vegetable immensely for its sweet, crunchy and oniony flavour.  I could finish this all on my own if I wanted to.

Again, on our third visit, I had to order someone's favourite squilla and we ordered the Squilla in Creamy Butter Sauce @ RM22 once again but asked for it to be cooked dry-style (or kon lai yau, something similar to Chinese Dry Buttermilk Prawn).  The dry style, fried with red bird's eye chillies and curry leaves, has these super frizzy thin shreds of egg floss (made from stirring egg yolks into butter) that were super crispy to eat. This is my son's favourite style of having squid or squilla but the dryness of it can get to you after a while, so make sure you order something saucy for your other dishes.

Since there were only two of us, we ordered only two dishes, the second being Kam Heong Clams @ RM22, the clams of which were of a decent size and fairly fresh but the kam heong sauce needs work.  It wasn't too salty, lacking a bit of the fragrance of dried prawns and had too much lemongrass taste (the shredded lemongrass was a bit stringy too when I bit into them).  After this sampling, there will be no future orders of anything kam heong from here.

On our fourth visit, we found the place closed (must be taking a long break after working tirelessly through the CNY period, I'm guessing).  So, we ventured a few doors away (at the end of the same road where there was another Chinese restaurant occupying two individual lots) since we were already in the area.  Let's just say the people there weren't particularly friendly and since no-one acknowledged our presence, we simply just took a seat in one of the lots but found the place a bit too dim for our liking.

The guy who took our orders didn't give us any recommendations but just stood there while I flicked through the endless pages of the menu.  I felt his impatience and ordered quickly.  So, I went with 4 dishes not knowing what their portion sizes were like (sorry, no proper names or prices since the guy took away the menu right after).  We had sweet and sour pork (didn't nail that crispy crust), mantis shrimp kung po style (nothing to like or dislike), homemade fried tofu served with mayo (nice crisp on the outside but tofu was a bit dense) and stir-fried Chinese broccoli with salted fish (kai lan with ham yue) which turned out to be the best tasting dish with a nice salty fragrance permeating the kai lan.  I doubt we'll be returning as the place/people just didn't endear themselves to us.

So, on our actual fourth visit to this place, we ordered squilla yet again done a different way, Squilla Kung Po Style @ RM22 cooked with dried chillies, onions and sprinng onions with a spicier note.  This turned out to be their least successful style as the squilla ended up having a different and not so palatable texture than the other styles.

We have even tried the Salt & Pepper Squilla via delivery.  That meant we've tried almost all styles (except kam heong for obvious reasons) with creamy butter emerging on top and kung po not something we would have again.

The Tofu with Broccoli, White Snow Mushrooms & Straw Mushrooms @ RM18 was yet another recommended dish (with 3 thumbs up & a chef''s hat).  No complaints on this healthy and easy to digest dish.

My son's favourite omelette is a Dried Radish Omelette @ RM12, something simple that many households can easily whip up at home...but was told the raddish I use isn't quite the same in flavour as those eaten outside. >.<

I decided to order an extra dish of soup, Chinese Pickled Vegetables with Tofu Soup @ RM9 (a soup that my family drinks) thinking it'd be like the size of a double-boiled soup but holy mackerel, it was a soup fit for three and, mind you, this was S size!  But it wouldn't be a soup we'd order again as it wasn't a slow-boiled soup but more of a guan tong (quick boil soup), so it didn't have enough time to develop its flavours + the vegetables (especially the ham choy) were not as soft as I'd like them to be.

On our fifth visit, we just had to re-order the well executed Sweet & Sour Pork @ RM22 as it was something we truly enjoyed the first time round.  Not only was it one of the better dishes here, it was also among some of the better sweet and sour pork we've had.

We also ordered something they recommended, Tofu with River Prawns in Premium Brown Sauce that was not on the regular menu but offered in one of their set meals (so I don't know what's the individual price).  Although the river prawns weren't big, they were fresh and sweet.  Cooked together with fried tofu rectangles, nai pak (extra dwarf Chinese cabbage) and onions in a decent brown sauce for something light and easy to eat.

For vegetables, we went with one that all three of us enjoy, Stir-Fry Cabbage with Dried Prawns, a simple stir-fry vegetable but we would have liked a bit more dried prawns and some bird's eye chillies for that little kick of heat.

On our sixth visit, after trying almost every style of squilla, we finally let that rest and went with Salted Egg Squid @ RM22 instead....hah..hah.  Though the squid was slightly chewy, the salted egg sauce was decent.

The Pork Belly with Salted Fish in Claypot @ RM25 was another winning dish with its salty, fragrant flavours of salted fish and thinly sliced tender pork belly.  I wished there was more spring onions to bring added freshness to an otherwise robustly flavoured dish.

This was the place that got me hooked on Sitr-Fry Potato Leaves as this soft textured vegetable was simply lovely.  There was a photo of this vegetable dish on the menu, so I just pointed to it.  I wasn't sure if potato leaves and sweet potato leaves were two different things (I think some places call it yam leaves as well) but I know how sweet potato leaves look like and the reason I don't fancy it as much is because it's more stem than leaves, so I've always refrained from ordering sweet potato leaves.  But I was told by the lady they're actually the same just that some places use the stems as well where as they use more of the leaves. So, now I know, the stir-fry sweet potato leaves I've had in the past (which I didn't like) was because they cooked all the stems as well (I recently found out that I should ask for "shi mew" as in baby leaves and those will have more leaves than stems).

Although the portions here are good, sometimes we do order a fourth dish usually something like a tofu or vegetable dish that's easy to consume.  This was the Thai-Style Tofu @ RM15 which succeeded in lifting up our appetites with its zesty, lightly spicy and sweetish sauce (a bit sweet for me but should be fine for others). The standout for me was the nicely crisp tofu and the fresh, crunchy shredded onions and cucumber.

This Stir-Fried Fu Yue Yau Mak or romaine lettuce fried with yellow fermented bean curd cube was well-liked by my husband but me and my son both agreed that the one we had at our neighbourhood's bak kut teh place tasted much better.

My Personal Opinion

Although I can't convincingly say that the food here is all good, I can safely say they're good value.  A simple meal for three here (without any expensive seafood like fish, prawns or crabs) is circa RM60 (for 3 dishes) or probably RM80 (for 4 dishes)....very reasonable prices as portions are huge and satisfying backed up by decent tastes.

Fun OK's seafood is certainly ok even though I've only had a little sampling of them (in terms of squilla, prawns & squid) but I do see a lot of people ordering their steamed fish (and crabs sometimes too).  Overall flavours can be slightly more robust in some dishes (that's probably why my family enjoys their food).

It has since become one of our regular spots for our weekend tai chow dinner (my husband's favourite kind of meal).  Waiting time might be a little long (so a little patience is needed) if the restaurant happens to be full as they also do a lot of takeaways and food deliveries as well.  And if you eat there regularly enough, you'll notice some slight inconsistencies in their cooking/taste as well.

Update: Fun OK has since relocated to No 2-G Jalan Wawasan 2/8, Bandar Baru Ampang, 68000 Ampang, Selangor

Fun OK Seafood

75 Jalan Bunga Tanjung 6A

Taman Muda

56100 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 016-662 2342

Danny Penang Tua Pan @ Pandan Perdana

I came to know about this restaurant, Danny Penang Tua Pan @ Pandan Perdana, during the few times we went to this area for the famous yam rice and mixed pork offal soup.  Each time we passed by, I noticed that the restaurant was usually empty with ony 1 - 2 tables occupied.  From what I read online, they were originally located in Kepong but moved to Pandan Perdana a few years ago.

That scared me a little as a place is usually deserted when the food is not good but the word "Penang" proudly proclaimed in their signboard made the difference.  They know very well that food from other States (especially Penang and Ipoh) always tend to attract KLites.  But do be prepared that the portions here are rather small as similarly experienced by my blogger friend, phonghong bakes & cooks, recently too.  Why?  Do Penang Lang have small stomachs or they eat very little? @_@

Anyway, armed with the knowledge of a good Google rating, I dared to step in.  The menu was two-sided, one side showcased all the noodles (mostly priced at RM9 for a single serving) while the other featured dishes you can order to eat with rice.

Let's start with a noodle dish that perked up my initial interest (which is also part of the name of this food establisment) and that was the Char Hor Fun (Tua Pan) @ RM9 which is quite similar to our wat tan hor (fried hor fun or broad rice noodles).  Well, I don't speak Hokkien so I wouldn't know what tua pan means but I do know tua pui means fatty bom bom, so tua has to be big...heehee).

So, the difference I detected in this version is the use of broader rice noodles as opposed to our typical kuey teow though it also had small amounts of meehoon in it.  They don't use eggs cracked into the gravy unlike most versions of Cantonese fried noodles or kong fu chow (though some Penang versions also have eggs included).

This is a better photo to showcase just how broad the rice noodles are.  I've not had char hor fun in Penang, so I don't have anything to compare it to, so all I can say is that I prefer our kong fu chow with an eggy sauce though I did enjoy eating the tua pan to a great extent as it was slippery smooth and slurp worthy, not something we get to eat often here.

One noodle dish that I found unique too was this Fish Meat Fried Bihun @ RM9 as we seldom have noodle dishes that come with fish.  The meehoon was well fried with hints of wok hei and had fish cake slices, taugeh, choy sum, egg bits and chunks of fried fish (not sure what fish was used but my guess would be dory).  Overall, we thought this was one of the better noodle dishes here as it had good flavours and the portion was also much larger compared to the rest of the noodles we had.

One of my most liked stir-fried noodles has always been Cantonese-style stir-fried noodles with kong fu chow yee mee coming ahead of kong fu yin yong (mixture of meehoon + kuey teow) in terms of choice of noodles. But I only like it with a particular type of yee mee which I've not been so fortunate to find in most of the kong fu chow here.  Then I realised why after eating this Penang Ee Fu Mee @ RM9.

It seems the type of yee mee I'm looking for all this while is actually yee fu mee which is different from the yee mee that's widely used here.  Some yee mee even stay crispy after the hot gravy is poured over it (that I had to cook it in the sauce at home to soften the noodles) while some are too thin and will disintegrate into the hot sauce (like sang meen). >_<  But this yee fu mee, even after being fried, soaks up the eggy gravy (and softens) much better than yee mee.  I used to say (like many others), yee fu mee = yee mee lah...but now know it's not, ee fu mee is distinguishly different in texture to our yee mee and also more squarish in looks.

This Penang ee fu mee, cooked with prawns, pork, fish cake and choy sum in an eggy broth, tastes a lot better with the noodles having a bit of a bite.  Though the gravy isn't among some of the better ones I've had and I've always been searching for this particular type of yee mee which isn't easy to find, this ended up to be my favourite dish from here.

Also indigenous to Penang is this dish of Penang Hokkien Char @ RM9 which I've never really fancied (or maybe I've not come acrossed a good one yet).  Braised in dark sauce together with prawns, pork slices and choy sum in a mixture of meehoon + mee (not yellow mee), the noodle dish tastes a bit like mun (braised) yee mee style.

Of course no visit to a Penang eatery is complete without trying one of their most famous exports, the Penang Fried Koay Teow @ RM8 and because the Penang version is always eaten with just koay teow, you don't mess around with it by adding mee (which I like to do if it's a KL version since I prefer it with both koay teow and mee).

Their version of char koay teow with prawns, chives, taugeh, egg and the ever important lap cheong, cockles and crispy pork lard (had to settle for 2 out of 3, there weren't any sihum on the day I had it).  This fried noodles was also where the satisfying and tasty hint of wok hei was most apparent.  But unfortunately, I must rattle them off for the use of frozen prawns in this (Penang lang would roll in their graves) and all their other noodles.  It's unacceptable coz these cheap, translucent, overly crunchy prawns are totally tasteless...and adds nothing to the taste of the noodles! >:(

Seeing that we enjoyed the flavours of the fish meat fried bihun earlier, it prompted me to order the Fish Meat Bihun Soup @ RM9 which I soon regretted.  The bihun soup came with slices of fried fish meat, fish cake and choy sum in a broth that had a few slices of ginger.  Other than that, the broth didn't taste like it was cooked from scratch or boiled for hours.  It was so bland and one-dimensional that you'd probably only eat it if you were unwell.

What was worst was that the formerly fried fish meat was no longer crispy after steeping in soup.  That was my bad...I should have anticipated that, of course.  What was I thinking?  It was then that I realised confirmed that the fish was definitely dory.  Dory (unfortunately) has this overly soft texture when cooked in sauce or soup (besides tasting bland), that's why is not favoured by most people but (somehow) when fried it doesn't taste as bad when it's lightly crisp (and flaky even).

Besides fried noodles, they also offer a few types of fried rice and we settled on their Special Fried Rice @ RM9 fried with chicken, fish cake, lettuce, long beans and egg bits topped with freshly fried shallots.

What my son originally thought to be fried dory pieces turned out to be small nuggets of chicken (which I was quite certain they were but asked them just to confirm).  The fried rice turned out rather tasty (to our surprise) with good wok hei, so we will certainly order it again (which we did) as it's my son's favourite dish here.

If you prefer a stronger flavour with lap cheong (instead of chicken), you can order the more common Chinese Sausage Fried Rice @ RM9 as that's available too.

We also ordered a side dish of their Penang Lobak @ RM9 and found it thoroughly enjoyable with a good filling of pork meat that's not too heavy on the five-spice flavour.

When I said their portion of fried noodles is very small (at the beginning of this post), I wasn't exaggerating. They're so small that even the accompanying soy sauce/chillies/fresh garlic condiment plates were small, extra tiny that we thought it was kinda cute (others will think so stingy-lah).  The blue plate is the regular size, the pink plates are the teeny-weeny ones...I've never seen a sauce plate this small! :O

For people with a more ferocious appetites, one plate is definitely not going to cut it, they'll probably need at least two (some may even need three!).  Even I can handle two, I think (ok-lah, maybe one and a half plates).  For our first visit, the three of us handled 4 plates + 2 side dishes easily, on our second visit, the two of us had 3 plates + 1 side dish (struggled a bit but still managed to finish in the end) and on our third visit, we were the most behaved by having only 2 plates + 1 side dish...lol.  On hindsight, RM54 (6 dishes x RM9) for three people sounds more than reasonable but perhaps some people might deem RM18 for just a meal of noodles as too pricey.  Maybe that explains why the place is never crowded or full pretty empty during dinner time (perhaps they're busier at lunch time).  But if you love variety, then this place suits you as you can order more servings (of different varieties) to try.

My Personal Opinion

Overall, the thing that stood out the most was just how small the noodle portion sizes were (they come in only one size and you can't order a bigger size even if you wanted to).  The presence of wok hei in some of its fried noodles (especially the dry-fried type, the saucy ones not so much) makes them satisfying enough although there are consistency issues as some days the wok hei can be a little muted.

The negatives would be the small portion sizes and unacceptable use of frozen prawns (and mass produced fish cake and frozen dory although I can't fault them for this since the vast majority of stalls use these ingredients in their noodle dishes nowadays).  I just wish they'd use more fresh ingredients as I'm not for commercially prepared fish cake or frozen dory though I've seen fresh prawns (and cockles too) used in their noodles based on photos online.  Hope they can get back to that soon when seafood prices become more stable as I've been seeing more and more stalls relying on frozen prawns of late.

Although the noodles didn't blow me away (I think Penang lang would be even more critical), they're still decent enough (more suitable for those who prefer subtle flavours).  But the best thing I can take away from here is that I've finally found the type of yee mee (cooked Cantonese-style) I crave (which turned out to be actually ee fu mee), so this place will be a keeper (and I've been back regularly for my favourite noodles). ^_~

Danny Penang Tua Pan

35 Jalan Perdana 6/4

Pandan Perdana

55300 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 011-3611 7753

Xiao Hei Chicken Rice @ Pandan Cahaya

This isn't a food introduction post (after all, it's just mere chicken rice!) but more of a food post that's good to know...that needs to be shared....and that may benefit some of my readers coz it's ridiculously worth it.....kind of a $aver post....lol!  So, obviously, it's only for those people who live or work in and around my area or where the shop is located.

Sometimes when I can't decide what to eat, my fingers will just keep scrolling ShopeeFood and that was when I stumbled upon this Xiao Hei Chicken Rice @ Pandan Cahaya.  Well, chicken rice is a dime a dozen as you're bound to find one such stall in any coffee shop.  Some are excellent, some are good but most are decent enough and that's because (I think) roast chicken is probably the easiest to nail successfully of all the roasted meats like char siew, siu yoke or roast duck.

The first item on the menu I tried was the Roasted Chicken Rice + Drink @ RM8.50.  I didn't see the "+ drink" initially, so imagine my surprise when I found out that the already fantastic price was inclusive of drinks (RM6.50 without the drink).  So, is this ridiculously worth it or what?  And at delivery price some more! :O That seems more like in-store prices with no mark up (heck, you may not even get that price for dine-in at some places).

For my choice of drink, I went for the cham peng (iced coffee + tea) and was pleasantly surprised to find it good.  I ordered the drink without putting in a request for less sweet just to gauge how sweet their drinks can be and was nicely confronted with a drink that's not too sweet.

Shock aside at the incredible value, the roasted chicken was also decent in taste.  Although I didn't get all thigh parts (which I requested), it was understandable as I ordered almost close to their closing time.  The few slices of siu yoke (roasted pork) you see was an add-on for RM3 (which I added to reach the minimum spend so that I could use the discount).  I didn't think the siu yoke was all that good, so you can safely skip that.  They've recently added siu yoke rice (RM12.50 + drink, RM9 without drink) option on their menu.

Encouraged by the superb deal and tasty chicken rice, I ordered the Poached Kampung Chicken Rice + Drink @ RM10.50 next (RM7.50 without the drink).  Again, the poached chicken was good, in fact better than the roast chicken if you ask me.

I requested for chicken thigh (as usual) and this time I got the part I want.  The chicken was tender with good flavours though the skin may be a little fatty (it usually is a little fattier around the thigh).  Knowing that it was smooth, tender and juicy, I don't think I'd mind if I was given a bit of chicken breast (so I don't think I'll need to ask for a specific cut the next time I order).

For the choice of drinks, I chose teh peng (iced tea) this round.  It was decent too though I liked the cham peng more.  The other drink choice is kopi peng (iced coffee with milk).  I'm not sure what's the rationale behind the pricing of the food as the drink prices seem to go up (from RM2 - RM3.50) depending on the main meal ordered.

I liked the rice too...a good portion with a good dose of chicken flavour.  I thought the flavour was better than a lot of the chicken rice stalls out there.

The accompanying soy sauce was fragrant and delicious too, not too salty that I was able to pour all of it into my rice.  The fresh chilli dip is spicier than the norm but that didn't stop me from finishing it.  Not only that but they also provide a blended ginger paste (not something you get regularly at many of the chicken rice stalls).

Not only was the food tasty and value for money but they can still afford to absorb the pricier/better packaging (put those places who charge more to shame but yet give you shabby packaging like those cheap styrofoam and soft transparent plastic type of packaging).  Look at the packaging for the drinks, thick packaging and properly sealed with no leakage, like those from higher end cafes or kopitiams.  Even the packaging of the soy/chilli dips are in small plastic bags with resealable tops.

My Personal Opinion

If you live or work around Ampang or the Pandan Triangle areas (they've recently opened a second branch/stall in Taman Shamelin Perkasa), I don't think you can get a better deal than this....that's superb value for your money yet delicious.  Where can you find a rice meal with an iced drink at just RM8.50 in times (of increasing prices) like this?  Not even at dine-in prices...and if you factor in the RM3 ShopeeFood discount, the price is even more inconceivable! ^.^

So I hope my little public service announcement (lol) is a shout-out to those looking for a good bargain or offer awareness to those who did not even know you can get a meal at such an unbelievable price.

Note that this price is only offered on ShopeeFood (and not FoodPanda where the price is similar but comes without the drink...which goes for between RM4 - RM5!).  Not sure if this was a mistake on their part in forgetting to add on a mark-up (for delivery) on ShopeeFood, so take full advantage while you still can.  Don't say I bojio? ;D

Xiao Hei Chicken Rice

52B-G Jalan Pandan Cahaya 2/3

Pandan Cahaya

68000 Ampang

Selangor