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Motormouth From Ipoh

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Is Your Heart Touched? (The Dim Sum from Hong Kee & Loong Seng)

~~ HONG KEE TIM SUM @ PANDAN INDAH, KUALA LUMPUR ~~


Let's drool at what KL has to offer, for today's post. Hong Kee Tim Sum generated ripples and waves among the dimsum-loving community (floggers alike) with branches opening everywhere in Klang Valley. Recently (or as recent as I remembered, this being a June experience anyway), Hong Kee started business in Pandan Indah as well, a densed area with so many restaurants, cafes and good food, it's impossible for the residents to starve and lament there's nothing to eat. No joke.

Some steamed delights .... Siew Mai, Xiu Long Bao and Har Kao

Me being a traditional dimsum lover, orders the basic stuff whenever it's my 1st time. And I've a lot of firsts. Hehe ... Anyway, the baskets of dumplings came with shockingly humongous morsels of goodies, begging to be devoured. Compared to even Ipoh's offerings, the sizes of these 'little giants' was impressive.

But when it come to the taste, erm, a ho-hum affair, at best. The XLB was horribly dry, and tasteless even with the vinegar and julienned ginger dipping. Prawn dumplings (Har Kau) and pork dumplings (Siew Mai) fared better, but still lacking in taste. It felt like we were chewing on flour, rather than full-flavoured, sweet, juicy meat.

Hong Kong Chee Cheong Fun

Not to confuse any foreigners, or out-of-towners, the Hong Kong CCF (chee cheong fun) is NOT an imported product, but rather, a type of rolled rice noodles stuffed with shrimps and char siew (BBQ pork meat). A staple of mine, I almost always order this simple dish whenever I'm in dimsum outlet, be it in Ipoh, Penang or KL.

Sad to say, the HK CCF here was below the mark. The fillings was lesser than generous, and the rice noodles reeking of an awkward 'chemical' taste. Don't ask me how to describe it, but there IS an annoyingly unpleasant taste.

The Doctor's Nightmares ....

Luckily, when it comes to the fried stuff, all of which would frighten a health freak more than a busload of cockroaches, or swimming with the sharks, or even sitting through a whole session of Parliament, Hong Kee serves edible options.

Particularly tempting was the prawn rolls with crispy vermicelli (or was it?) - the upper left photo in the collage above. Crispy, oily, and yummy, they deserve a try if you happen to be here. The rest were mediocre, but not to say disappointing.

I lost the receipt, but the price was rather reasonable, around RM3 per plate/basket. Well worth the money as the portion's not dainty. Kalah Ipoh punya dimsum .... But all in all, SIZE DOES NOT really matter, ain't it?

Location : Hong Kee Tim Sum @ Jln Pandan Indah 4/3A, Pandan Indah, Kuala Lumpur. Various branches in other parts of KL and Selangor.

~~ LOONG SENG DIMSUM @ SS2, PETALING JAYA ~~

Go find the shop with lots tables outside, in case you're lost ...

But all's not lost, my friend. Nope. As we were staying nearby Section 17, PJ (this was in August, therefore memories' not so vague) we decided to venture to SS2 for dimsum on the last morning of our stay.

The Devils vs The Angels ??? (The Fried Goodies vs The Saintly Steamed Ones)

Based on direction from a friend, we were told to look out for tables lining up the street and corridor, among the mazes after mazes of restaurants and cafes in SS2. Of course, go in the morning, as at night, SS2 Murni still RULES the place, with endless rows of tables on the street.

Steamed La La (Clams) with Pork/Fish Meat

The crowd was reassuring, as wherever the crowd goes, the food's gotta be good, no? Starting off with some usual Har Kau and Siew Mai, I chose some slightly different stuff as well. But breakfast at around 11am somehow limited my options greatly. Price to pay, for a late awakening?

The Pork/Fish/La La combination worked wonders, as the meat was fresh, devoid of unpleasant fishy taste, and packed with flavours. Steamed with simple broth, and with julienned carrots and chives added for taste, these babies looked AND tasted lovely.

Ol' Yellow Goodness ....

The egg tarts in KL are slightly different from Ipoh dimsum outlet's version, as the pastry is not of the flaky/crumbly type. But more to John King's cookies-type of pastry. Offers a nice bite nevertheless, and the egg custard encircled within was fragrant, creamy, and light.

The Downs ....

Chinese Pancake (Woh Peng) and the Yong Tau Foo with Thai chilli sauce did not score too well in our books, the former a tad oilier than desirable, while the latter was already cold when the plate was placed on our table. Everyone abhors cold tofu, right?

Perennial favourite, immortalized in a song ... "Char Shiao Pau"

Greasier than John Travolta's hair in Grease ... Dare to try me? =)

That "icing" on the "cake" made all the difference ...

The rest of the dimsum fare were all satisfactory, the HK Chee Cheong Fun was a delight to discover, such smooth rolls of rice noodles outside of Ipoh, with shrimps and char siew bursting from within, and topped it all with the incomparable sambal.

A dimsum experience comparable to Ipoh's. Did it touch my heart? YES, you can bet your bottom dollar Loong Seng did!

Location : Loong Seng Restaurant @ 50, Jln SS2/66, 47300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

But Hong Kee on the other hand .... well, probably deserves another chance. The fried glutinous rice supposed to be good, right?

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, for the avg price of RM3/basket and u get a portion that will put many of Ipoh's Dimsum restaurants to shame ( Please forgive me, bt don't u agree with me especially on size-wise? And dun get me started on Ming Court Dim Sum =P ), Hong Kee is the place to go. Bt food wise, Ipoh hits the bullseye here! That, i agree with you =P.

Precious Pea said...

Ahh..both used to be my regular dim sum place till i moved to setia alam. You know hor...been 6 months since i last had dim sum. So craving for it now.

mycroft said...

i luv dim sum!!! there is another nice place in paramount garden (not too far from SS2) which serve quite reasonable price n nice dim sum. cant recall the name, but its situated in front of Giant. nice place. sun sure got table until the roadside

Anonymous said...

ops ur post taught me not to judge a book by its cover..loong seng looks like some dodgy dim sum place to me, which is why i often give it a miss..will definitely try it out the next time we are around ss2

Anonymous said...

You sure that nobody will freak out with busloads of cockcroaches; one cockcroah and you get any girl screaming....

Dim Sum in Ipoh overrides everywhere in Msia and u had to try KL's version. Try Connaught Road or Garden KL next time....there's quite a few there by the main road.

Anonymous said...

hmmm.. those dim sum looks so yummy and proven the fact that... photo tell thousand lies....

:P

look yummy won't 100% taste great...

CRIZ LAI said...

Wow... dim sum review. I'm quite an expert now after having dim sum continuously for the last month. From the look of Hong Kee's dim sum, I would say it did not impress me at all. The har kao looked so thick. An ideal one would give you a see-through effect. The SLP looked terrible too as the ideal SLP should be steamed over a bed of sliced cabbage so that it won't be too dry. the CCF too thick and the sauce for it is too little.

As for Loong Seng, I would say that the presentation looked better. The clam dim sum impressed me. That's something unique. The CCF has all the required garnishing. It looks good too. Well as for the Har Kuen, it looked oily and they should have lots of kitchen towels to drain the excess oil. I love them with lots of mayonnaise.

When you are here, give me a tinkle, I'll take you to try out the one and only stall in Penang that only uses fresh prawns instead of frozen prawns as most dim sum stalls do.

http://crizfood.blogspot.com/

HairyBerry said...

a recent visit to pandan indah opened my eyes to the many interesting eateries available there!

btw, no sang chow lor mai fan for you at hong kee? ;D

wmw said...

I have eaten at both of these places...no matter what, dim sum is a fave! Hahaha...looks like so many fave items hor??? :o)

J2Kfm said...

MBoy : gee, you're harsh. I do admit some of Ipoh's over-rated ones serve only dainty portion, but TASTE-wise, I'm still accustomed to Ipoh's varieties.

Precious Pea : Setia Alam no dimsum meh? btw, where is that? =P

mycroft : Paramount garden? oh so that's the place to go? ok, will try to crawl my way there.

kampungboycitygal : compared to Hong Kee, I'd vote for Loong Seng. but be warned not EVERYTHING's nice.

JENcooks : hehe, I'm sure someonewould be freaked out. Connaught? eh, Jason's area I think.

PenangTuaPui : hailoh ... don't judge book by cover ma ...

Crizlai : I'll definitely give u a call if I ever go to Pg again. somehow, I'm tempted to relive my USM days all over!

Nic : I din know the fried lo mai fan is popular then ... I just pointed to everything n anything brought to table. some more the waiters all also not proficient in Eng or malay or Chi.

wmw : other than CCF, I think you have an ample list of fav eh?

Anonymous said...

As people would find it:

Outstation people often say Ipoh's dim sum is good.

Ipoh peeps often say that dim sum in other places are better than Ipoh.

:p

Jalan Ipoh's late night dim sum are not bad too.

Raynebow said...

Loong Seng looks good - will try it one day! Dim sum is also my fave, having been brought up with Ipoh's famous ones...hehe!

aka Pureglutton

jasmine said...

like kampungboycitygal, haven't stepped into loong seng because it doesn't look that promising... but will venture in next time when i'm in ss2 too. :D

J2Kfm said...

jason : maybe as old Chinese saying goes, "Next door's rice crust is more fragrant?" :)

Raynebow : yeah, I can NEVER say no to a dimsum breakfast.

jasmine : I admit, if I'm to walk around the area, the Lorong Seratus Tahun Curry Mee a few doors away would probably attract me more than Loong Seng. But seriously, the dimsum's not bad.

mycroft said...

find ss2 dim sum bit pricy, though nice to eat

J2Kfm said...

mycroft : pricey ah? hmm, I forgot to ask them to itemize, but from the spread I chose, and tapau some paus and lor mai kai, came to RM49 if I'm not mistaken.

tinkerbel82 said...

wow..this reminds me of Ipoh Dim Sum. In Auckland, we've a restaurant known as Enjoy Inn, owned by Hongkies. They serve dim sum like Char Leong, Polo Pau and Cheong Fun!
Despite that, they still have my stuffed eggplants!!

J2Kfm said...

hi tinkerbel82! oh all those typical HK type dimsum. stuffed eggplants Foh San's nice.