Leng Loong Seafood Restaurant, Seri Kembangan

Lenggong Kong Xi See Fong Choy

It’s always a great pleasure to discover new eateries, especially when they are homestyle restaurants that one can enjoy on daily basis. Comfort food always makes me feel good. Dishes that can make me think of yester years are often dishes that taste the best. This round, a new See Fong Choy opens in the heart of Seri Kembangan at Taman Equine at Bandar Putra Permai. Leng Loong Seafood Restaurant brings a taste of Kong Xi cuisine to the city.

I got to know of Leng Loong Seafood Restaurant from one of the owner Ryan who also happens to own several other eateries. He was excited about this latest venture of Leng Loong Seafood Restaurant together with the chef of Leng Loong. Leng Loong’s chef hails from the town of Lenggong, Perak. The humble chef has been whipping up loads of Kong Xi dishes from his heritage and has also mastered other cuisines as well.

Both wanted to bring a taste of Kong Xi See Fong Choy dishes from Lenggong to foodies and that is how Leng Loong Seafood Restaurant was born. Staying true to the Kong Xi roots, Leng Loong serves up signature dishes using special ingredients like Lenggong homemade noodles, Lenggong chili sauce and more. We went during a Sunday lunch and were treated to a list of humble and delicious Kong Xi dishes.

Since we had our kids with us, the chef whipped up his Golden Sand Fried Rice for them. I am not kidding, the fried rice is utterly aromatic and delicious. So much so, the adults kept stealing spoonful after spoonful of the eggy fried rice. There were bits of prawns and lap Cheong that was really enjoyable and the rice was fluffy and eggy, just the way many of us loved it!

Lenggong has its own noodles and Leng Loong has gone to miles to bring this into the restaurant. The chef personally makes trips to Lenggong to replenish the noodles for his signature Leng Loong Homemade Noodle. The noodles are fairly thin and have a good firm bite. The noodles are also alkaline-free. Chef whipped up these noodles with prawns, pork and vegetable in a dark brown sauce and crowns them with lardons of pleasure.

The signature noodles are to be savored with special chili sauce. The noodles are flash fried and then braised in the brown aromatic gravy. These have a good bite and make great comfort food. The crispy chu yau char is highly addictive, rendering a luscious irresistible urge to keep on slurping the noodles. This was so yummy, we reordered another plate…

Next up, Leng Loong Kong Xi Claypot Fish is a popular dish in the town. The method is to literally steam-baked the fish in the claypot with sauce till it is fully aromatic and cooked. This one has shredded ginger and garlic with some coriander as a finishing. The tilapia is pretty decent and sweet.

Kong Xi Tau Pok is and will always be one of my favorite foods to enjoy. This typical Kong Xi dish uses certain meaty and soft tau pok, often similar to those from Bentong. These are stuffed with a filling of minced pork and chives and cooked in broth. Each bite has juices filling my mouth with delight. The tau pok is soft and the filling is very flavourful. I can easily eat quite a few of these Kong Xi tau pok myself.

The next dish also came in a claypot. Kong Xi Rice Wine Claypot Chicken uses Fa Tiew wine to create its signature aroma and flavour. The dish has chicken chunks sautéed with ginger in the dark savory and sticky sauce before being laced with loads of Chinese rice wine and crowned with coriander. Make sure to savor the dish hot for maximum flavours. The claypot also helps to keep this dish warm. I could eat bowls of rice with this dish alone. This dish is perfect for anyone of all ages and is pure comfort food at it’s best.

Kong Xi Fried Pork is also another favorite at the table as these were literally gone in minutes. Boneless pork chop is well marinated with Nam Yue fermented beancurd and other seasoning. The seasoning is robust and moreish. The pork is very crispy with a tender meat. They also make good snacks with beer so one plate of this Kong Xi Fried Pork may not be enough if you are an ardent fan of hog just like me.

Though stinky beans or Petai are not my favorite, I did try the Kong Xi Stir Fried Stinky Beans that is sautéed with minced pork in a spicy sambal sauce. The beans still retain a good firm bite. It’s a decent dish that many would like if they are petai fans. I think I’ll skip this for the rest of the other dishes…

I like how rustic the Golden Salted Egg Prawn is. Normally, the prawns are usually coated in a smoother salted egg yolk sauce but chef kept this rough and sandy for extra flavours and textures. Coupled with curry leaves, chili padi and other fragrant bits of ingredients, the Golden Salted Egg Prawns is very sinful and scrumptious. I kept scrapping for that salted egg mixture to go with my rice. I have long concluded that any ingredients when paired with salted egg will always be a favorite dish of mine. Must-order at Leng Loong!

When the Asam Steamed Talapia arrived, we all couldn’t help but to smile at the fish’s mouth. Though this dish is pretty much available here, this version is still a good one well executed. The gravy is decently tangy, spicy and savory with lots of long beans, eggplant, onion and tomato pieces. My only gripe is that the sauce is a bit too thin but flavours are still decent.

Although soups are usually a beginning dish to start each meal, ours ended with it. Old Cucumber Boiled Soup is rather delicate and a pleasing dish to end a meal of so many dishes and to sooth our tummies.

We also had a Chilled Dessert of ‘Nai Tung’. Its milk and cream set with gelatin. The ending is simple and sweet.

For this festive season, Leng Loong is also offering Chinese banquet course set menus priced at RM398 or RM588 for a table of 10 person. Enjoy Yee Sang with various dishes this festive season with reservations in advance.

Leng Loong Seafood Restaurant is your perfect neighborhood restaurant. Diners can expect simple homestyle dishes that can be enjoyed on its own or with rice. Prices are affordable for daily visits. Highlights of this restaurant include Leng Loong Homemade Noodles, Kong Xi Tau Pok, Kong Xi Rice Wine Claypot Chicken, Kong Xi Fried Pork and Golden Salted Egg Prawn.

LENG LOONG SEAFOOD RESTAURANT

No.21, Jalan Equine 9B,

Taman Equine,

Bandar Putra Permai,

43300 Seri Kembangan

Tel: 017 247 1183 / 017 912 8414

Business hours:

Lunch: 10.30am to 2.30pm

Dinner: 5.30pm to 11pm

Closed every alternate Wednesday

Takio Ikayaki: Taiwanese Giant Squid Galore

Taiwan Street Snacks in Malaysia

Taiwan is famous for their street food snacks and I have seen many times in tv food shows that one of popular Taiwan street snacks happens to be the giant whole squid that is deep fried and also served in many other various flavours. And yet, I have not tasted one till recently.

A friend recommended that I try Takio Ikayaki at Berjaya Time Sqare recently. Takio Ikayaki is a popular franchaise that sells Taiwanese street snack focusing on the giant squid and stuffed fresh squid with Spanish seafood baked rice. Takio is highly popular all over Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, Shanghai and Guangzhou while it only started in Malaysia in 2011. In fact, it is the only Taiwan chain in Malaysia selling this specialty Taiwan seafood street food.

Takio Ikayaki takes on the kiosk structure and has kiosk in Klang Valley, Penang and Perak currently. Since their speciality focus on Taiwan street food, most customers do take-away rather than dine-in. I visited one of their kiosks in Berjaya Times Square with my family one Sunday and enjoyed a quick snacking by their small dine-in counter beside the kiosk.

We checked out their menu and saw offerings of giant squids prepared few ways, BBQ shrimp and soft shell crab. The menu is small but sufficient in terms of street food snacks. Located at the 3^rd floor in Tiny Taipei, Takio Ikayaki was pretty much bustling with business as many make quick stops for these gargantuan squids the Sunday morning that I was there.

There are basically five signature snack items at Takio with another two additional options of rice bowl and drinks. There are also some special sauces available to go with the seafood snacks. We quickly ordered some Ice Lemon Tea while we waited for our snacks.

There was a big tray of fresh squid that was being prepared by the staff and I just couldn’t help stare in awe. These are like the biggest squids I have ever seen.

Here’s another photo of their staff cutting up the giant squid after being cooked. Besides squid, there is shrimp and soft shell crab too.

Our first snack arrive, looking pretty delectable since I happen to like squid tentacles very much, more so than the squid body as I like the chewy texture of the tentacles. The Golden Squid Head is perfectly encrusted in a golden crispy batter. Light sprinklings of seasoning on the tentacles are the unique peppery flavours that most Taiwanese deep fried food is seasoned with. One gets a strong and robust peppery savory flavour when munching on these tentacles. This one is very enjoyable for the price of RM6.50 ala carte.

Next up, what I came for specifically, was the Deep Fried 25cm Squid. Not that I was measuring but the size of the giant squid is mind-boggling at sight. It’s bigger than my hand. There is a lot of crunchy and chewy textures so be prepare to get some jaw exercise. The flavours echo the tentacles. One can have these spicy or non-spicy. The body of the squid is pretty thick and has a good firm bite while the tentacles have more of a chewy note. It makes good snacking if you are a fan of squid and is priced at RM8.50 each a la carte or RM10.90 each set.

The next squid dish was Ikameshi, fresh squid stuffed with Spanish seafood baked rice, crumbed, deep fried and served with various sauces. We tried two sauces of Honey Mustard and Chili Tomato plus a plain Original one without any sauce.

These look like fat tornado or submarine at sight. It’s utterly cute and stuffed to the max. Out of the three, I like the Honey Mustard sauce as there is a nice balance of sweet and mustard notes that went well with the crispy squid and savory rice stuffing. The rice stuffing is a bit soft for my liking but it is nevertheless pretty much decent when savored together with the squid and sauce.

The Chili Tomato is average with a sweet and spicy note while the Original one without sauce was a tad dry. In my opinion, the Ikameshi taste better with sauces. These are RM8.90 a la carte or RM10.90 as a set.

BBQ Lazy Shrimp was coined that name because one can eat the whole shrimp without any peeling of its shells. These shrimps are not big in size and are nicely grilled with a sweet and sticky savory sauce.

I did enjoy the flavours of the smoky sauce on the shrimp. The shrimp itself is also nicely sweet and crunchy. One gets four for RM5.90 a la carte or RM7.90 each set.

The fifth snack is the Thai Style Soft Shell Crab, crumbed and deep fried with a drizzle of Thai chili sauce. A whole piece of soft shell crab goes for RM12.90 each and RM14.90 with set.

For a fuller note, there are two rice bowl options of Squid Head Value Bowl and Lazy Shrimp Value Bowl which has the squid tentacles or BBQ Lazy Shrimp on rice and served with a spicy soy sauce. These are RM6.50 a la carte or RM8.90 per set. The set option for all includes a drink available on that day.

Takio Ikayaki signatures make great snacking! The best part is you don’t have to travel all the way to Taiwan for a taste of the giant squid and stuffed squid, simply check out Takio Ikayaki at any of their outlets…

TAKIO IKAYAKI

Website: www.takio.com.my

Facebook: www.facebook.com/TakioIkayaki

Branches:

Klang Valley

One City Mall: B-1A(M)-11, 1A, Mezzanine Floor

Aeon One Utama: Ground Floor

Times Square: 3rd Floor TinyTaipei

Penang

Sunway Carnival Mall: LG-K8

Aeon Queensbay: Ground Floor

Aeon Bkt.Mertajam: Ground Floor

Perak

Aeon Taiping: Ground Floor

Koufu Trendy Chinese Cuisine, One City: Bringing a Taste of Sitiawan’s Foo Chow Cuisine to the City

 

Authentic Sitiawan’s Favorites!

It wasn’t love at first sight for Marcus, the owner of Koufu Trendy Chinese Cuisine. It grew on him and the more he ate, the more he fell for it. A recipe homemade by his mother-in-law, he now swears by it to be his favorite!

Roping in his wife and his mother-in-law, Koufu Trendy Chinese Cuisine was born. Koufu is a moniker coined by Marcus but its Chinese meaning is actually ‘Yau Hau Fook’. It means one has good fortune to feast on great food. The owner believes in having every dishes served in Koufu to be as authentic as he can get it to be. Hence, he makes the effort to bring in almost all his ingredients directly from Sitiawan. Mother-in-law makes all the Foo Chow’s traditional red wine herself while father-in-law is a supplier for noodles in Sitiawan. The mee suah is also from a famous Sitiawan supplier while the chicken is brought in from the small farms to supply kampong chicken for his dishes. That’s not all… even the famous Kong Piang served is from Sitiawan!

I am no expert in Foo Chow cuisine but I have had red wine chicken before a few times. I was told by Marcus that the process to make red wine or Uang Chew is unpredictable. If it is a good fermentation, the red wine will have a good balance of sweetness with a tinge of sour whereas a bad one will be almost just sour. Red wine is made from fermentation of glutinous rice, red yeast and Jiu Bing (wine biscuit). If you are interested in how it is made, check out here.

Koufu serves two versions of their signature Red Wine Noodle Soup, one less potent with regular village chicken (RM10.90) and one with a stronger dosage of red wine and kampong chicken (RM16.90). It is to cater to all as some prefer a milder taste of the red wine.

Premium Koufu Red Wine Noodle Soup

Literally, the whole bowl of ingredients is from Sitiawan. From its fine smooth and velvety mee suah to the homemade red wine and kampong chicken, the premium version is flavorful and comforting. As I am fairly fond of all types of homemade wine, I took an immediate liking to this one. It has a great balance of flavors, subtle sweetness with just a nice tinge of sourness.  The thickness of the red wine is pretty good as one can see how its coats the mee suah nicely. Chicken pieces are firm and there were also some pieces of ginger.

In addition, the mee suah also did not turn soggy even after a good soaking. Did I mention the portion was good too? It’s great value for a bowl of homemade comfort goodness for RM16.90!

Fried Meat Wantan Dried Noodle

Bouncy noodles nicely seasoned with sweet soy sauce were aromatic. Crowning the noodles are sliced fried lean meat and crispy bean curd sticks with some greens. It also comes with a bowl of piping hot wantan in soup. It’s simple but has great textures and simple flavors. For RM8.90, it’s a decent dish for simple pleasures.

Traditional Taste Fried Noodle

Homemade noodles are stir fried in a dark soya sauce with sliced fish cakes, prawns and greens. The savory soya sauce brings out the comfort note in this dish. It really tastes like homemade and is very aromatic. Another yet simple dish for RM7.90…

Koufu Long Yen Soup

My favorite of all the noodles I tried that night! Long Yen noodle is an authentic Foo Chow noodles made with basic tapioca starch, flour and egg. It is cooked on a pan to resemble a pancake and then sliced up and cut into noodles. Here it is cooked in a soul warming broth filled with a soothing light starchy broth with prawns, fish cake, mushrooms, black wood fungus and greens for RM8.90. The slippery noodles are just so good with a soft chewy texture and the overall flavors are just so heartwarming like it came from a mother’s kitchen. It’s my first time tasting this and I am thoroughly sold on the noodles. Simply a must for me!

Koufu La Mian Mixed with Laksa

This one is very unique. Either you’ll like it or not at all. I am told it’s quite popular in the Foo Chow community. It’s Lu Mian or braised noodles mixed with mackerel infused laksa broth for RM7.90. First taste for me had a fishy aroma coupled with bamboo shoot flavor. I can’t quite make out the exact flavors for this one because it is really unique. There is also squid and black wood fungus in it. The noodles are al dente and pretty good so I have made up my mind to order their Lu Mian alone without the laksa the next round. Give this a try if you are feeling adventurous… who knows, you might like it since I am told many Foo Chow diners enjoyed this here at Koufu!

Koufu Deep Fried Meat

This one is also a popular one with all of us for RM7.90. The meat is tender and very flavorful from the marinade. I can taste the red fermented wine flavor in this meat and it is also well fried to produce a crisp skin and tender juicy inside. The side of chili sauce is not too bad. It was so good, we had to have another order.

Kong Piang

A famous biscuit that symbolize the Foo Chow bakery, this pastry is made from flour, lard, onion and salt. It has a filling of fragrant onion mixture and some even has meat. Leaving it to the pro, Koufu gets his supply from a very famous Kong Piang maker in Sitiawan. The Kong Piang is priced at RM3.50 for small portion and RM6.90 for a large one.

The Kong Piang is very toasty when served and it has a side of garlic chili sauce. The doughy pastry is studded with loads of toasty sesame seeds and very fragrant of onions. A first for me and I do admit to liking it. Let’s hope I get to visit the baker in Sitiawan!

Koufu Tang Shui

I am familiar with this dessert as it resembles the northern Leng Chi Kang Tong Shui for me. At Koufu, it is overloaded with 10 ingredients ranging from longan, black jelly, jellies, pearls, sweet potatoes, barley, sea agar agar and crunchy basil seeds. Priced at RM4.90 for small and RM5.90 for large, it is a bowl of nice sweet ending with lots of textures!

We enjoyed some beverages like Honey Lemon, Carrot Juice and Iced Barley. Koufu also serves up hot flower teas and one of us had Beauty Tea, a sachet filled with French Rose, Jasmine Flower & Apple Flower for whitening and improvement of skin.

Hats off to Koufu in trying very hard to be as authentic as they can! It shows that every little bit counts and we can definitely taste it. As all the main ingredients are made by the owner’s mother-in-law herself, we are assured of quality dishes with homemade flavors. Though the location of this restaurant is not as strategic yet as it is a new area, I doubt this will stop foodies from sniffling this place out for a taste of Foo Chow cuisine from Sitiawan!

KOUFU TRENDY CHINESE CUISINE

B-11-GF, Garden Shoppe One City,

Jalan USJ 25/1A

47650 UEP Subang Jaya

Tel: 603 5115 0001 / 012 393 5092

Facebook: www.facebook.com/youkoufu

Website: www.koufu.my/

Business hours: Mon to Sun 10am to 10pm

*More Photos at my Facebook: Chasing Food Dreams