I have read and heard so much about charsiew in KL, it is surprising that I took this long to even attempt it. How different can char siew be, anyway?
In Singapore, the charsiew I am used to is artificially and outrageously red ones from wanton mee or thick jellied ones from hawker stalls. Hardly would I order charsiew over siew yoke at restaurants either. Yet when friends alike praised charsiew from KL to the skies, I honestly had my reservations.
Located within Restoran Reunion Seafood...is Meng Kee!
Relatively empty coffeeshop at an early 1030am..
Meng Kee
RM 6 for one person's share.
Hunting this down was relatively easy - along Jalan Alor or their version of a hawker food street! I wish we had time for dinner here, would have been a gastronomical one! Reviews online pointed to their char siew being sold out by 330pm and queues would start snaking at 1130am. We experienced none of that, thankfully. Headed straight for an order of char siew and the kind soft spoken hawker was nice enough to entertain us when every other order seemed to end with both chicken, charsiew and rice.
Unassuming piece of char siew - the oil glistened under the light. There I saw the usual layer of fat that I shun away from. One bite - just one bite is suffice to convert. Melt in your mouth char siew. Fat and meat so perfectly meant for each other, I was completely sold.
And like Four Seasons Claypot rice in Hongkong with a street full of the same sounding stalls, here comes Meng Kee with the same!
Meng Kee Grill Fish
Meng Kee Crayfish...
The penang tau foo far hawker I wish I had the luck to bump into!
Something nostalgic about Jalan Alor.
Rest of the food street which is super vibrant at night.
Remember this gem of a street.
Oversea Restaurant
Headed over to Oversea for more charsiew! Oversea is purportedly royalty calibre - retails for SGD40 at the Shaw center outlet!
Dimsum is not availale at the Jalan Imbi branch, as much as I was looking forward to it. They open at 1130am for lunch but prior to that, they do allow you to sit around and wait until the staff have had their lunch of rice, soup, vegetables and fish. Looked like a complete meal - from where I was seated!
Nothing too fancy.
Workers tucking into their lunch first!
Spot those reservations!
The menu proper did not seem to have undergone any revisions in terms of dishes but prices - surely, given the numerous stickers piled on top of each other.
A large proportion of the menu has to be ordered in advance.
Very addictive nuts.
RM 20 for small or a combination of char siew and siew yoke. The prized charsiew was immediately snapped up the moment the meaty chunks were strung on the metal rods. Some tables even made reservations for the prized even before arriving. Before long, the lengths of char siew was chopped up and ready to serve the lucky folks.
This was alot oilier and greasier and blacker than Meng Kee's. At least double the proportion of fat here, reminded me of pork belly. The charsiew is coated with a layer of what looked like sticky sugar, or to the same consistency which gets caught in the teeth, most annoyingly so. Depending which part of the block of charsiew you get, the meatier ones are easier to chew and ingest. The chunks heavy on fat tends to require a ton more chewing. That being said, the char siew is stellar - well flavoured (slightly salty) and guilty (with the oil, grease and fat).
Siew yoke was alot less outstanding in appearance, in fact chopped to such small cubes I wonder what was there to taste. Crispy cackling meets tender meat. Would have preferred a bigger chunk but this was lacking in bite and a tad salty.
Even in the dessert department, majority of the desserts needed pre-ordering. Panfried White Lotus Paste Pancake (RM 6) came in such huge portions, I was easily stuffed. Light chewy dough filled with mildly sweet lotus paste. Loved how this was not oily at all!
Would not mind heading back to Oversea for lunch or dinner, the rest of the dishes do look promising. Especially when the restaurant's board was full of reservations and the way every other table was brimming with food.
Yet in the battle of charsiew, of the two royalties my vote goes to Meng Kee for my preferred char siew!
In Singapore, the charsiew I am used to is artificially and outrageously red ones from wanton mee or thick jellied ones from hawker stalls. Hardly would I order charsiew over siew yoke at restaurants either. Yet when friends alike praised charsiew from KL to the skies, I honestly had my reservations.
Located within Restoran Reunion Seafood...is Meng Kee!
Relatively empty coffeeshop at an early 1030am..
Meng Kee
RM 6 for one person's share.
Hunting this down was relatively easy - along Jalan Alor or their version of a hawker food street! I wish we had time for dinner here, would have been a gastronomical one! Reviews online pointed to their char siew being sold out by 330pm and queues would start snaking at 1130am. We experienced none of that, thankfully. Headed straight for an order of char siew and the kind soft spoken hawker was nice enough to entertain us when every other order seemed to end with both chicken, charsiew and rice.
Unassuming piece of char siew - the oil glistened under the light. There I saw the usual layer of fat that I shun away from. One bite - just one bite is suffice to convert. Melt in your mouth char siew. Fat and meat so perfectly meant for each other, I was completely sold.
And like Four Seasons Claypot rice in Hongkong with a street full of the same sounding stalls, here comes Meng Kee with the same!
Meng Kee Grill Fish
Meng Kee Crayfish...
The penang tau foo far hawker I wish I had the luck to bump into!
Something nostalgic about Jalan Alor.
Rest of the food street which is super vibrant at night.
Remember this gem of a street.
Oversea Restaurant
Headed over to Oversea for more charsiew! Oversea is purportedly royalty calibre - retails for SGD40 at the Shaw center outlet!
Dimsum is not availale at the Jalan Imbi branch, as much as I was looking forward to it. They open at 1130am for lunch but prior to that, they do allow you to sit around and wait until the staff have had their lunch of rice, soup, vegetables and fish. Looked like a complete meal - from where I was seated!
Nothing too fancy.
Workers tucking into their lunch first!
Spot those reservations!
The menu proper did not seem to have undergone any revisions in terms of dishes but prices - surely, given the numerous stickers piled on top of each other.
A large proportion of the menu has to be ordered in advance.
Very addictive nuts.
RM 20 for small or a combination of char siew and siew yoke. The prized charsiew was immediately snapped up the moment the meaty chunks were strung on the metal rods. Some tables even made reservations for the prized even before arriving. Before long, the lengths of char siew was chopped up and ready to serve the lucky folks.
This was alot oilier and greasier and blacker than Meng Kee's. At least double the proportion of fat here, reminded me of pork belly. The charsiew is coated with a layer of what looked like sticky sugar, or to the same consistency which gets caught in the teeth, most annoyingly so. Depending which part of the block of charsiew you get, the meatier ones are easier to chew and ingest. The chunks heavy on fat tends to require a ton more chewing. That being said, the char siew is stellar - well flavoured (slightly salty) and guilty (with the oil, grease and fat).
Siew yoke was alot less outstanding in appearance, in fact chopped to such small cubes I wonder what was there to taste. Crispy cackling meets tender meat. Would have preferred a bigger chunk but this was lacking in bite and a tad salty.
Even in the dessert department, majority of the desserts needed pre-ordering. Panfried White Lotus Paste Pancake (RM 6) came in such huge portions, I was easily stuffed. Light chewy dough filled with mildly sweet lotus paste. Loved how this was not oily at all!
Would not mind heading back to Oversea for lunch or dinner, the rest of the dishes do look promising. Especially when the restaurant's board was full of reservations and the way every other table was brimming with food.
Yet in the battle of charsiew, of the two royalties my vote goes to Meng Kee for my preferred char siew!
Comments
Post a Comment