This place was introduced to me by my former boss a couple of years back. Since then, I’ve been back quite a few times with different groups of people and I have to say they’re pretty consistent with their food. For this instance, we managed to try a whole slew of dishes since we were in quite a sizeable group.

“lai liew ha” or yabbies – these are de-shelled for you and coated in a peppery sauce. Very nice!

Sauteed vegetables are of course a must for every meal. This dish was the first to arrive, and made a good ‘appetizer’ for the following dishes.

Next up is the “teen kai”, or frog. I’m not a personal fan of frog meat, but this dish is pleasant enough with ginger and spring onions.

The ‘tung fun’/ glass noodles here is absolutely full of filling to keep your mouth busy – chicken pieces, shredded carrots, prawns, beansprouts, cabbage…highly recommended.

This is one of Hai Peng’s MUST TRY dishes – Marmite chicken. Their ‘Marmite’ dishes overall are a specialty here…we also tried the Marmite crab as well, and the sauce makes a perfect complement to the succulent crabmeat.

Of course, not forgetting the main attraction of the restaurant – the ‘Shuun Lat’ (translated: Hot and Sour) crabs. Believe me, you can NOT get enough of the unbelievably tasty sauce. It’s so guaranteed that there’s Indian bread toast available for you to mop up the sauce with as well.

I’d say this was the evidence of a very satisfying meal, don’t you?

Hai Peng gives good value for money. They’ve got a good selection of dishes (another dish to try is the fried calamari with a hint of saffron) and are quite generous with the portions, so go easy on the ordering. You can always add on to your order, since the food arrives pretty fast (and piping hot). And good news for my Muslim friends, this place is pork-free as well, so do give it a try.

Hai Peng Seafood Restaurant
Business Hours: 5.00pm – 12.00mn
Lot KS-5, Taman Evergreen, 4th Mile,
Jalan Klang Lama,
58200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 03- 7982 5072 / 03-7981 6982

Rating: 4 / 5
Value: $$$

* Photo from NST Online

While at Bangsar Village II recently, some friends decided to eat at the Banquet eatery on the first floor. As it was owned by the same people who ran Café Café along Jalan Maharajalela, I was expecting a pretty good experience, but ended up rather disappointed on all accounts.

First off, let me warn you that the service here is EXCEEDINGLY slow…imagine waiting 15 minutes for a glass of water! Better yet, we ordered two glasses of water (one warm, one cold)…after 15 minutes, the waiter approached us from the back with just one glass of warm water, and proceeded to the front of the restaurant to pour the cold water and bring it back to the table. What the…??

Service aside, the menu looked decent enough, albeit on the high side of pricing – one of the drawbacks of paying for ‘ambience’.

First to arrive was the garlic bread. I’m sorry, but two hunks of bread plonked on a platter that’s way too big for it is NOT appetizing. For RM6 and a 20 minute wait, I expected a lot better. Taste wasn’t too bad though barring the fact that it was only mildly warm when it arrived.

Next up was the Vermicelli in clear Tom Yam Soup. (RM18) The soup was alright, although a tad too sour and not spicy enough for my palate. The amount of vegetables and meat included is fair, and the prawns were admittedly quite fresh, but if you’re not fond of onions I’d suggest you give this one a miss – there are HUGE bulbs of them floating in the soup!

By all estimations, the Nasi Lemak (RM18) fell far short of the mark. First comment elicited was “Huh? Only one piece of chicken??”, followed by disappointment at the bland taste of the curry. Not recommended at ALL.

Last but not least was the Grilled Butter Fish (RM25), which came with a wholegrain mustard sauce and sautéed beans. Can’t find too much fault with the sauce as it was definitely a generous amount, and the fish was just right. Out of all the dishes, this was the only one that marginally met the mark.

On the whole, the food standard hovers around the mediocre to average level, but for the prices they’re charging, it’s literally daylight robbery to eat there. Only recommended if there’s really nowhere else better to eat (and ONLY if the DELIcious outlet downstairs is closed…as if!)

BANQUET
1F-28 Bangsar Village II
2 Jalan Telawi Satu
Bangsar Baru, Kuala Lumpur

Rating: 1 / 5
Value: $

When you hear the word pancakes, what do you think of? The usual stacks with maple syrup? Well, Paddington’s House of Pancakes will definitely turn your perceptions of what pancakes should be upside down.

I was at their outlet at The Curve recently and was very pleasantly surprised. Although the air-conditioning was a bit insufficient (it was rather balmy even though there weren’t many people around).

I tried the Amsterdam pannekoek, which looks a lot like a huge pizza. A LOT of cheese on this one.

I can’t remember what this dish was called, but the tomato-based sauce made an excellent complement to the hash browns, blinis (wheat pancakes) and grilled vegetables.

The best part – DESSERT. Let me start by saying you HAVE to try the Treasure Box. It’s a mix of dollar pancakes, strawberries, bananas, blueberries, peaches, plums, slivered almonds and finely chopped nuts – topped off with a big scoop of ice cream, dusted with powdered sugar and served with a pitcher of maple syrup. The only downside to having this dish is that you’d probably have consumed your entire week’s worth of calories in one sitting.

Overall, it’s a fantastic place for meals, dessert or if you’re just looking for somewhere for a night snack after that late movie (they’ve got brilliant Late-Night Suppers every Sun-Thurs night starting from RM9.00++). Go check it out…you won’t be dissapointed with the food, that’s for sure.

Paddington House of Pancakes
Unit 142, 1st Floor, The Curve,
Mutiara Damansara

Rating: 4.5 / 5
Value: $$

A friend recommended this place to me recently, and I finally found some time to go visit the place last weekend. It’s tucked away in a corner in the Jalan Peel-Carrefour-Queen’s Park area, right next to the traffic lights.

Restoran Queens is usually frequented by the locals and anyone just looking for some good food. I can tell you, I’m so going to be one of those people! LOL…

I’d recommend you visit the place in the evening as they also have ‘dai chow’ available to do Hokkien Mee, noodles and rice. The Hokkien Mee is pretty good, not too oily for those watching their diets. The only bad thing is they don’t have the ‘fried pork lard’ bits.

This is the real feature of the place – satay! I tried both the Beef and Chicken satay, and it’s simply amazing. The meat literally juices itself when you bite into it…in fact, you barely need the sauce to dip it in (unlike the Kajang Satay ones where the sauce is the main feature). And the size of the sticks! The picture above is taken in real-size – NOT magnified ya…what better value can you get at RM0.50 per stick??

The sauce is nothing spectacular, but it does serve to enhance the already-mouth watering flavour of the satay sticks.

While you’re there, wash down your meal with a glass of ice-cold fresh sugar cane (RM1.50 per glass). And no, you don’t need to worry about the storage conditions of the sugarcane, this store houses its sugarcane supply in buckets OFF the floor.

I haven’t gotten any ill-effects from eating here yet, so even though the place looks a little dingy, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. Apparently the grilled chicken wings are superb as well – didn’t get to try them, although I noticed a lot of people ordering it. Next time…

Specialties: Beef & Chicken Satay, Hokkien Mee, Grilled Chicken Wings

Prices:
- Satay @ RM0.50 per stick
- Hokkien Mee @ RM6.00 for one person’s portion
- Sugar Cane water @ RM1.50 per glass

Restoran Queens
Jalan Peel
(directly opposite Carrefour and diagonally opposite Queen’s Park)

Opening hours: 5.30pm onwards (while stocks last!)

Rating: 4 / 5
Value: $$$

Was at Fridays a while back for dinner with the rents, and tried quite a few things on the menu (it’s always nice when you go with other people, there’s a whole lot more to try!) I normally go there when I’m in the mood for their Three-For-All, but decided to try different dishes for once.

We started out with the French onion soup, which came with a thick layer of cheese on top. It’s traditionally supposed to come with bread inside, but I actually would prefer it without the dough.

Next up was the onion rings – now, I will only eat actual onion onion rings…not the reconstituted kind. These were hot and crisp, and go fantastically well with their salsa sauce. One thing to look out for is that the chef doesn’t get too salt shaker-happy, otherwise you could just get your entire week’s worth of sodium in ONE ring.

The bruschetta is one dish you REALLY have to try. Tangy, juicy, flavourful tomatoes served with ‘crisp on the outside, moist on the inside’ toasted bread…what’s not to like?

My main dish was the chicken basil pasta, which unfortunately, I didn’t manage to take a picture of before I started chowing down on it…*grins*…I’ve had the dish quite a few times, but the standards vary quite a bit. Sometimes the chicken slices are rather dry, and other times the dish seems to be just swimming in sauce (which I actually like, by the way)

I wish they’d bring in some of the other dishes on their US menu. I know they can’t actually bring in pork bacon, but if they did, they would be most welcome additions!

Rating: 3.5/5
Value: $