Ooh Lala @ Pandan Indah

Besides Pulau Ketam Seafood Steamboat that has been operating in my neighbourhood for many years, the other newer steamboat player is Ooh Lala @ Pandan Indah that has been around since late 2023.

But as the name implies, this steamboat restaurant is obviously focussed on lala/clams-type steamboat but they also have a wider variety of food on their menu that includes snacks, noodles, rice and desserts.

On our first visit, we tried the Crispy Fried Sotong @ RM9.90 which featured very crispy deep-fried squid in a well-seasoned, medium thickness and tasty batter.

I was expecting the squid rings to be on the chewier side (based on the many experiences I've had with fried squid) but this was surprisingly rather tender to the bite.  I also thought that the price was relatively cheap compared to the portion of squid we got.

Another shared snack we tried was this Crispy White Prawn @ RM9.90 which was equally delicious as well.  I could see from the looks that it had the same batter coating as the previous crispy fried squid.

The tiny white prawns with shells on were fried to crunchy perfection, so there's no worry as you can eat the crispy heads and tails too.  Again, I thought it was a great portion for the price charged.

One of my favourite things to eat these days is Salted Egg Pumpkin @ RM9.90.  It's a dish I order regularly at dai chow places though the version wasn't quite as good as the ones I ate at dai chow restaurants.

But they were still acceptable and yielded soft (perhaps a tad too soft), sweet pumpkin thereby making the salted egg coating less crispy + the saltiness could also be dialed down a notch.

As mentioned earlier, this place specialises in lala steamboat and they put on quite a show if you order that. Each serving of steamboat (RM38) comes with 1 kg of lala.  They would fry some shredded ginger and cili api in some shaoxing wine which will burst into flames (for a bit of a side show...lol) once it comes into contact with the charcoal fire.  Finally, the clams and soup are added into the claypot...and that becomes the soup base for your steamboat.  You can then order/add on whatever proteins or vegetables you like for your steamboat.

Since my family isn't overly interested in anything soupy (which includes steamboat), let alone a lala steamboat where the soup base has ginger and Chinese wine in it, I've to resign myself to the fact that I won't get to try this.  Of course I can go it alone but I feel it's not worth paying RM38 for the soup base + the 1 kg of lala may be too much for me to handle.  Even if I could finish the lala by myself, I won't be able to eat anything else for the steamboat.

So, my best (and only) way to try their lala would be in their Lala Bihun Soup (without milk) @ RM15.90 and the bowl was filled with some shimeji mushrooms, lettuce and a single red bird's eye chilli (for a bit of heat, I suppose) and lala, of course, garnished with fried garlic bits and chopped spring onions.

They use the thicker-shelled clams here (instead of the thin, elongated ones) which I prefer as they tend to have less sand in them.  I was very happy with the freshness and size of the clams.  You can clearly see that the clam meat is rather plump yielding juicy clams to the bite.

As for the clear soup base, it was alright though there's still room for improvement for a better, all round flavour.

The Lala Fried Rice @ RM14.90 is more in the wheelhouse of what my family would rather eat in a place where everything is soupy...lol!  It's fried rice served in a claypot topped with a fried egg.

The darkly coloured fried rice made it look more like claypot chicken rice.  It's a simple rice dish fried with lala meat, egg bits and chopped spring onions.  I didn't taste this but my son mentioned it was a bit on the oily side.

Since the earlier lala got my seal of approval, I revisited (on my own) to try other noodles, one of which was the Lala Prawn Mama Mee @ RM19.90.

The bowl came with a chockful of ingredients of lala, prawns, shimeji mushrooms, lettuce, tomatoes, egg bits and lemongrass in the soup.  I added chopped spring onions and coriander.  At first, I was wondering what mama mee is only to find out when served it's actually instant (egg) noodles (Mama brand, I assume).

I do like this brand of instant noodles and meehoon...and the thick green (spinach?) noodles didn't disappoint with its soft, springy texture (not overcooked).

The soup base, with the beaten egg, was thick, rich and flavourful.  It had both spicy and sour notes, so it was like a cross between curry and tom yum.  Very appetising indeed...and it was a very filling portion for one.

The prawns were pretty large-sized for the price paid...and there were two! ^.^  You can roughly judge the size of it on the plate.  They were fresh and firm, no complaints there, just that you have to get your hands dirty to deshell the prawns.

You can help yourself to any of the condiments you need for your meal...and there are plenty of dips and condiments to choose from.  In my first visit, I remember they even had a bottle of shaoxing wine on the table for you to add to your soup to your heart's content (and I thought to myself, how generous of them).  On my next visit, it wasn't available anymore (I guess they wised up since wine is too expensive to leave in the hands of customers to use freely) though you can still get your hands on the wine at the condiment station.

Here, I picked a reddish sambal, a green chilli paste, crispy fried garlic bits and some chopped spring onions + coriander for some freshness.  My noodles hardly needed any chilli dips, they're more suitable if you're having steamboat.

Another dish I tried was this Crispy Fish Fillet Noodle (with milk) @ RM15.90 which had shimeji mushrooms, small bits of salted vegetable and lettuce.  I helped myself to the fried garlic and fresh coriander + spring onions (from the condiments station) and added them to my bowl.  The soup base was too thick and milky for my taste, so unless you like yours very milky, you might want to stay away from this.

The fairly crispy fish fillet was served separately.  I believe the fried fish was patin which had a nice, soft texture but I felt the fish was underseasoned on its own.  Luckily there was the green chilli paste to perk up flavours.

For drinks, I broke my curfew and decided to have the Kedondong Asam Boi @ RM7.90 as I can't resist if I see it on the menu.  It's my all-time favourite drink/juice to have...and for some reason, I always find this drink at steamboat places.  The other steamboat place in my neighbourhood, Pulai Ketam Seafood Steamboat also has it.  Maybe it's because you'd be sweating buckets when you eat steamboat that you need a cold, refreshing drink to cool you down.

The other drink above was the Calamansi Asam Boi @ RM7.90 that my son had.  Other times I just stick to Iced Barley (no sugar) @ RM1.90, the price of which startled me (it's dirt cheap!) as I've paid anywhere between RM2.70 - RM3.20 at old-school coffee shops for the same thing.  Surprisingly, the Tie Guan Yin (Chinese) Tea cost RM1.90 also.

My Personal Opinion

Ooh la la indeed.....though the food isn't fantastic enough (to garner a 4.8 rating on Google) but it's also not as bad as I was led to believe.  I now have two places in my neighbourhood to indulge in lala noodles (the other one being Tasty Lala Noodles) that's equally decent although Tasty Lala uses a different type of clam.  I prefer the clams here I as they're little bit more meatier while the soup base in Tasty Lala probably a tad better.

Of course this place offers more than just lala noodles, so if you happen to enjoy steamboat, tom yum/curry lala noodles or a (very) milky version of fish head noodle, this place may be worth your while.  And if you like some crispy snacks to go along with your meals, they have that too.

This place has been opened since late 2023 but it took me a while before I made my first visit.  That's because I was told the food isn't good, in the end it's best to try it out yourself.  This place occupies the previous space vacated by Poppo Kanteen (not sure if it's under the same management but the receipt has the name Poppo Canteen on it...and, incidentally, all Poppo Kanteen branches have closed down).

Ooh Lala

27G Jalan Pandan Indah 4/2

Pandan Indah

55100 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 03-4288 6923