Soong Kee Beef Ball Noodle @ Setapak

Hearty Beefy Noodles and More…

An eatery that has withstood the test of time, more than 6-decades to be precise, in the heart of our metropolitan city where it all started has Soong Kee Beef Noodle extending their branches to the latest location in Setapak. Started in 1945 by Mr. Soong Kee himself after World War 2, business may not have started out great but it has now become a bowl of legend from constant support of beef noodle lovers from everywhere.

Renowned for their beef noodles, Soong Kee pride themselves on serving a variety of noodles with their robust dark rich beef sauce along with a piping hot bowl of beef broth with beef slices, tripe and beef balls. We paid a recent visit one weekend for lunch at the Setapak outlet. Despite the area being packed with many eateries, Soong Kee still manages to stand out as a popular option for the many locals living in that area.

The Setapak branch is spacious and designed with a classic minimalist theme of bright and clean dining comforts. Walls dressed with history of how it all started along with their brand logo, Soong Kee is an eatery where one knows that good food is enough to warrant constant visits.

The menu, besides their signatures, now offers additional street food favorites that cater to non-beef eaters like wanton noodles, curry mee, dumplings, steamed chicken and more.

Drinks to quench the thirst:

Honey Lemon (RM4.00), Loh Hon Guo (RM2.00), Ribena Lychee (RM4.00), Kopi-O (RM2.50) & Barley Lemon (RM2.50)

Diners get options of Soong Kee’s Beef Balls Noodles (RM8.90) served dry or soup as well as option of their original Hakka noodles or thin meehoon. We tried the four combinations and found ourselves enjoying the dry version with thin meehoon as our top favorite followed by the Hakka dry version.

The sauce is what elevated the noodles to new grounds of flavours. Dark minced beef and pork, slow braised to yield that tender and rich beefy goodness. Coupled with their signature house made bouncy beef balls, this is what draws diners from near and far for a hearty bowl of beefy goodness.

15 Street Food to Eat at Malaysia Boleh!

Affordable Malaysian Hawker Dining Shoppes at Four Seasons Place KL

Malaysians are blessed with plenty of good eats always. Adding to the list of good eats in our metropolitan city is Malaysia Boleh!

Located at the newly open Shoppes at Four Season Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Boleh! is a non-halal food court that rounds up some of the best street food from all over the country in one place. The new food haven has more than 20 classic street food that is a sure crowd pleaser, especially the working crowd in the city.

Owned by Singapore’s Fei Siong Group, Malaysia Boleh! had a grand opening recently and was attended by many VIPs including Singapore Deputy High Commissioner Mark Neo and other local celebrities.

Malaysia Boleh! food enclave has had its first success in Singapore and is now making its mark in the country where all the food originates.

The auspicious opening ceremony was also graced by the famous Kun Seng Keng Lion Dance troupe for a big bang celebration.

The food enclave has a modern theme, showcasing Malaysian local cartoon mural, white washed walls, mosaic floors, minimalist white table settings, lighting made from bird cages and fish traps and more. It’s nicely air-conditioned and bright, making dining comfortable.

Food at Malaysa Boleh! is very affordably priced. Many dishes start from RM8 for a hearty bowl of street food. Although there are more than 20 dishes available, here are our top 15 street foods to try…

In no particular order, one simply must-try the Yong Kee Char Kuay Tiao (RM9). Expect a good hit of breath of wok with slivers of soft rice kuay tiao well-seared and flavoured with soy sauce and chili paste. Additions of bean sprouts, chives and prawns are much expected as it gave the kuay tiao its delicious texture.

The Penang Fried Oyster (RM12) is also sublime. Starchy bits along with egg and plump baby oysters are best savored with the chili sauce on the side.

Pudu Barbeque Roast Duck + Char Siew Combo (RM15) is a good choice when one cannot decide which roast meat to try. Succulent roast duck and glistening crystal char siew is nicely roasted, make it delicious on its own or with rice and noodle.

Malaysian’s ultimate street food of nasi lemak is also available here. Made famous in the street of Pudu during late night, the Pudu Nasi Lemak with Fried Chicken Drumstick (RM9.50) has fluffy coconut tinged rice with spicy and sweet sambal that goes well with the crispy fried chicken.

The Hee Koh KL Wanton Mee (RM9) is sufficiently satisfying with springy soy sauce and aromatic oil laced noodles served with pieces of roasted char siew and plump wantons.

For the full lardy flavours of unctuous crispy lardons, order the KL Hokkien Mee (RM12). A dark hodgepodge of dark soy sauce braised thick noodles with pork slices, prawns, cabbage and chu yau char, this plate of noodles will always be a crowd favorite at any time of the day.

Another good eats that has many queueing up for is the Penang Carrot Cake (RM8). Cubes of rice cakes fried with lots of preserved choy poh and garlic, flavoured with soy sauce and chili and finished with egg is so yummy.

One simply can’t go wrong whether you opt for the Pork Porridge (RM9) or Pork Kuay Tiao (RM9). Both are cooked well with lots of porky delights and flavored with a delicious porky note.

The addition of gelatinous curry braised pork skin is what gave the Jalan Imbi Ah Yen Curry Mee (RM9) its signature flavour and texture. There’s also poached chicken, beancurd puff and long beans in this bowl of slurp-ilicious curry noodle.

Simple and familiar flavours in the Le Qi Ipoh Bean Sprout Chicken (RM10) makes this classic a constant favorite for many that ultimately enjoys a tasty poached chicken on chicken oil laced rice.

The Claypot Chicken Rice (RM10) also makes a solid one pot wonder with well-marinated chicken pieces along with Chinese sausage slices cooked on rice in claypot. Aromatic from the finishing touches of more soy sauce and wine with sprinkling of scallion, the rice is delicious, especially the bottom crispy bits.

Ban Mian evokes homecook flavours like no other. Springy and doughy noodles made from scratch, cooked in soup or dry style and topped with minced meat, shredded black fungus, crispy anchovies and blanched vegetables sums up Yoko Chilly Ban Mian (RM9) in one word… yum!

Calling all Penang asam laksa lovers! Though the Penang Asam Laksa (RM10) is not the best but one is assured that this bowl is pretty decent when it comes to that pungent sourish asam laksa flavour in the city.

The Penang Prawn Mee (RM10) is also worth a try with noodles in tasty prawn stock topped with poached shrimp, pork slices, boiled egg, kangkong and crispy aromatic fried shallots.

Last but not least, the Penang Road Chendol (RM3) is absolutely divine! Make sure to order this dessert to finish your meal at Malaysia Boleh! For a mere RM3, the sweet icy dessert has a rich gula melaka that makes this one of the better chendol in the city. Must-order!!

There’s still more good eats at Malaysia Boleh! besides those mentioned. Make your way there for a taste of many affordable street food all housed in one comfort location…

MALAYSIA BOLEH!

B1-01B, Shoppes at Four Seasons Place,

145, Jalan Ampang,

50450 Kuala Lumpur

For more information, visit: https://www.facebook.com/MalaysiaBolehKL/

Business Hours: Daily from 10am to 10pm.

October Steamboat @ Paradigm Mall

Steamboat & Seafood Delight

For something unusual on steamboat, head over to October Steamboat for a hotpot feast! Located at Paradigm Mall, October Steamboat is halal and serves up Malaysian’s local version steamboat along with some Chinese seafood dishes.

The restaurant is spacious and there are two dining sections available. October Steamboat serves individual steamboat soups but there is a big table available for big dining party that wishes to share the family style steamboat servings.

On one side of the restaurant there are few tanks holding live seafood. From live crabs to clams and prawns, there’s more than just steamboat at October.

The menu is filled with lots choices. For steamboat, there are many choices of locally inspired soup base. From Chicken Soup to Asam Laksa, there is even a Herbal Soup. Besides those, there’s the favorite Signature White Tom Yum Soup and Nyonya Tom Yum Soup too.

October Steamboat is also generous when it comes to sauces for their steamboat. One gets to choose from the many condiments and sauces available to make your own sauces.

We took the big table since there were a few of us that day and opted for the Chicken Soup for our kids and the Asam Laksa soup for the adults.

There are plenty of steamboat ingredients available. There are also set ingredients with a little of everything. We had the Set B which is good for 3-4 persons (RM72.54). These sets are certainly value-for-money. Fully filled with lots of ingredients such as fish slices, prawn, cuttlefish, handmade fish ball, chicken ball, cheese fish ball, fish & soya, fish cake, squid ball, assorted mushrooms and vegetables as well as noodles.

One can add-on more a la carte ingredients such as Beef Slices (RM7.16), Prawns (Seasonal price), Seafood Fuchuk (RM6.13), Fish & Soya (RM6.13), Homemade Otak-otak Paste (RM14.42), Cheese Fish Ball (RM7.16), Handmade Otak Otak Ball (RM8), Seafood Taufu (RM6.13), Siew Bak Choy (RM4.05), Choy Sum (RM5.08) and Beech Mushroom (RM6.13).

While they are nothing fancy, these are pretty classic choices that one can enjoy often. From the many choices of available, the Cheese Fish Ball, Fish & Soya along with the Seafood Fuchuk was a crowd pleaser, so much so these warrant a repeated order.

While the Chicken Soup was decent, the Asam Laksa soup was deliciously yumm. Bold and robust with spicy and sour piquant flavours, the soup had lovely hits of spicy herbs and fish flavours. The longer the soup boils with all the ingredients, the more flavourful it becomes.

Besides the steamboat, we also tried some seafood from the live tanks. The Salted Egg Crab (Seasonal price), though not big in size, was fresh and sweet. Deliciously coated generously in salted egg yolk sauce, it was lip-smacking yummy. There’s also other flavours such as Kam Heong Crab, Kung Pao Crab, Sweet & Sour Crab and Marmite Crab too.

The Kam Heong Clams (RM20.65) are good too. Aromatic and moreish in flavours, the clams were nicely cooked and the kam heong flavours are nicely balanced.

From the snack section, the Fried Chicken Wing (RM11.31) and Fried Dumpling (RM9.24) were sufficiently tasty for snacking.

One dish that surprisingly good at this steamboat joint is the Hokkien Mee (RM14.42). Braised till the thick noodles has absorb all the soya sauce flavours, the noodles also had some prawns and squid along with some vegetables.

Decent place for steamboat and some seafood, October Steamboat should easily satisfy foodies who are shopping at the mall and looking for some familiar comfort food.

OCTOBER STEAMBOAT

Lot 18 & 30, Level CC, Paradigm Mall

No. 1, Jalan SS 7/26a, Ss 7,

47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Tel: +603-7886 8808

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OctoberSteamboat/

Business Hours: 10.00am to 9.30pm, daily