Restaurant LuckyPot @ SS2 PJ

Restaurant LuckyPot @ SS2 PJ is a popular spot for Hunan/Sichuan cuisine and comes highly recommended, so we found ourselves here for dinner one weekend (and made reservations ahead).  They have other branches located in Kuchai Lama, USJ Taipan, Puchong, Cheras, Kepong & Bukit Tinggi (and all with a rating of not lower than 4.8 which is very encouraging indeed).

When we arrived for our dinner reservation at 7 pm (this photo was taken when we left), the place was in full swing and we had to wait for about 10 minutes for the diners before us to finish and the staff to tidy up the table for us.  The space isn't very big, just one shoplot space, so prior reservation is highly encouraged especially if you're a big party as big tables are very limited.

Checking out the menu, I see some similarities in their dishes to the ones I've eaten at Dragon-i in Sunway Velocity like sour spicy potato shreds, fried string beans, spicy chicken, hua diao chicken, fish with preserved vegetables, braised pork with pickled vegetables and more.  Which is better, you ask?  Read till the end to find out! ^_~

This first chosen dish of Spicy Chicken (Small) @ RM45 is probably one of their most popular dishes as you practically see this on every table.  They're cubes of chicken fried until superbly crispy with lots (and I mean lots) of dried chillies along with fragrant peanuts, whole garlic cloves, onions and curry leaves.

The dish was incredibly fragrant overall and the spiciness will hit you once you keep eating more of it.  It's tolerable, not numbing, spiciness though.  If you're a lover of spicy food, you'll enjoyed this immensely (I did)...it was excellent! ^o^

The Chef Chilli Fried Meat @ RM45 (comes only in one size) is a dish of thinly sliced pork pork belly (I usually don't enjoy pork belly as much but this one I did coz they were sliced incredibly thin and not as fatty) stir-fried with green chillies.  They looked like green bell peppers initially but they were much thinner in texture and when I tasted them, there was a hint of spiciness, so they were some sort of green peppers/chillies indeed (tiger skin peppers?).

The green peppers were cooked until nicely soft along with well seasoned pork, soft and caramelised garlic cloves, (something resembling the crunchy texture of) wood ear fungus (but they were whitish, not black in colour) and bits of pork lard.  It all came together to yield a very flavourful and tasty dish.  Another outstanding dish if you can see pass that it was a bit oily.

After two chilli-forward dishes, I wanted some respite from a dish of Minced Meat Homemade Tofu (Small) @ RM20 and this was beautifully done both in preparation and presentation (the top was embedded with some greens).

The outside of the tofu was fried to such a crisp texture (more so than the many similar ones I've eaten before) and the tofu smooth, silky and luscious with a good egg flavour.  The minced meat topping enhanced the taste of the tofu even more to make it one of the best tofu dishes I've had. ^.^

Our vegetable dish was the Delicious Beijing Cabbage (Small) @ RM20, a seemingly standard and ordinary vegetable dish.  But there is stir-fried cabbage and there is this stir-fried cabbage...lol!  What sets it apart is the flavour imparted by the tiny cubes of pork lard, fried garlic chips and dried chillies along with some slivers of pork belly.

I could also detected a fragrant dose of wok hei in the stir-fry, a sign that the cabbage was cooked on high heat...and that's why you don't see a lot of leakage of water from the cabbage.  We've had our fair share of wet and soggy cabbage from many dai chow and Chinese restaurants...and this version was definitely more successful...not to mention delicious.  Taste aside, I found it strange that it was served on an aluminium foil wrapped hot plate.  I'm thinking...if it was stir-fried in a wok, why not just scoop it onto a plate?  I can only guess that the cabbage was treated differently (roasted/grilled in the oven or to keep it warm but not overcooked on a hot plate?).  Well, only the kitchen knows.

For nibbles & bites, I got us some Lamb Skewers (5 pcs, top) @ RM18 (for a change) and Pork Skewers (5 pcs, bottom) @ RM15 just because I noticed many people ordering this.  Both had strong flavours of spices in its marination with a warm, earthy, aromatic flavour and just a hint of heat.  I believe cumin was one of the spices used in the lamb skewers (since they have a dish of Cumin Lamb on their menu).

My husband found the lamb skewer more tender (and I do agree) and preferred it over the pork skewer.  For non-lovers of lamb (like me), we'll always be able to detect a very faint hint of gaminess in the lamb (no such thing as far as my husband was concerned).  It wasn't detectable at first bite but it was certainly there in the next bite or two but this one I could at least eat (so lamb lovers would certainly enjoy this).  Ya, I should have gone for the beef skewers and would probably have enjoyed that more.  The lamb and pork skewers were decent (for me) but I couldn't help but wish I could dip them into some kind of sauce (like the way we eat satay...lol!).

My Personal Opinion

For people who love China-style (Hunan/Sichuan) food with spiciness (I've to admit I'm not a big fan of this type of cuisine but I am of this place), so I can confidently recommend that you give this place a try (and there are lots of other options that aren't spicy as well).  Portions are generous, prices reasonable....and the taste outstanding (better than the ones I had at Dragon-i and I consider Dragon-i good already although they're more known for their fried rice, hand-pulled noodles, pork chop & siu long bao...which again is also quite similar to what Din Tai Fung offers).

For me the best dish of the night was the absolutely the fragrant and crisp spicy chicken along with the peanuts...it was very addictive and a must-order.  My other favoured dish was the humble and simple housemade tofu with its silken texture and eggy flavour.  I'd be very happy with just tofu and rice for a healthy meal.

We ordered way too much for the three of us but we knew we wanted to try more dishes, so I brought along my trusted containers to tapau whatever food we anticipated that we wouldn't be able to finish (by the way, the Chef Chilli Fried Meat did well reheated until the green chillies were soft and lightly charred...and the meat sizzling because it's pork belly and that's when you can see the oil oozing out...lol!).  I'm sure I'll be back coz there are a lot more dishes on the menu that I'm hoping to try! ^_~

Restaurant LuckyPot

No 185 Jalan SS2/24

47300 Petaling Jaya

Selangor

Tel: 019-576 8749

#ewew cooks Air-Fried Prawns with Roasted Potatoes & Capsicum

Every household should have this incredible kitchen gadget in their kitchen...an air fryer!  Before I got my air fryer, I relied on my convection oven to grill or roast meat, potatoes and vegetables.  Since getting an air fryer, my convection oven has been officially "retired".

I now use my air fryer a lot, mostly in making western-style meals like roasted chicken, potatoes and vegetables...and I'm loving it! ;)  But I've never used it to roast/grill seafood of any type, whether fish or prawns.  Then again, I've also never used my convection oven to cook seafood before (other than making baked salmon wrapped in parchment paper or foil).  

So, this is my first attempt at cooking prawns in an air fryer.  I didn't google for any information or recipes since I reckon prawns will cook pretty fast in the air fryer and I wanted to keep it simple.  First, I prepped my prawns by making a slit down the back and removing the vein.  I let the prawns drain on some wet paper towels (in the fridge) and made sure I pat them down really dry when I took them out from the fridge (coz seasoning will not adhere well to wet prawns + they'll tend to steam rather than fry in the air fryer if they're wet).  These prawns cost me about RM45 for 20 prawns (and I used half of it here).

Next, I drizzled some olive oil over the prawns and marinated them with just lots of freshly cracked black pepper and plenty of my all-purpose Montreal chicken seasoning (you don't really need any salt, you can use any spices you want like chilli, curry, turmeric, paprika, etc.).  I made sure I opened up the prawns (including the heads) so that the seasoning can get into into all the nooks, cracks and crevices in the prawn (especially in the slits).

Then put your prawns in a single layer in an oven-proof dish (or paper liner) that fits your air fryer...along with a few slices of garlic.  Since my air fryer is pretty small, I can only fit about 6 - 8 prawns in a single layer at one time, if more than that it'd be overlapping a bit.  Since I only need 10 prawns for myself, I might as well do a second batch, so I split them equally giving them more room to cook better.

Prawns cook pretty fast in an air fryer, so I cooked them at 200°C for about 6 - 8 minutes (and mine were fairly large prawns).  I flipped them halfway through and realised that there wasn't enough charring, so I tossed them in a bit of soya sauce to get that desired browning.

My oh my, my Air-Fried Prawns look pretty darn good, I have to say...sufficiently browned like it came out straight from a restaurant (self--praise is no the praise...lol) but without the smoky flavour, for that it has to be cooked over a flame! ^_~

I'm pretty stoked at how successful my air fried prawns turned out on my first attempt. ^o^  They're so easy to cook and cooks super fast too.  If you like your prawns more charred, I guess you'll have to use more of the browning agents like light/dark soy or oyster sauce.

I made some roasted potatoes and red capsicum to go with the prawns as just 10 of it is not going to make me full, so I need some carbs on the plate in the form of roasted potatoes, my favourite, crisp on the edges and fluffy inside.  While I'm at it, might as well throw in some vegetables like red capsicum, broccoli, french beans or brussel sprouts.

I love seafood, especially prawns, so it was worth it to experiment and try to make it at home coz it's even costlier to eat prawns at restaurants.  You won't realise just how easy it is to cook them until you try it yourself...and I'm glad I did.

Now that my attempt at cooking prawns in the air fryer turned out better than I expected, you bet I'll be making them more often.  I especially enjoyed sucking out the juices and flavour from the prawn heads.  If you're lover of prawns (like I am), then I urge you to try this simple dish (no recipe required) at home at a fraction of the cost of what you'll need to pay at a restaurant.  You'll find that it's so fast to make but absolutely delicious as a healthy meal! ^.^