Char-siew @ Famous Seremban Favourites

A couple of weeks ago, there was this char-siew bug which seemed to have bitten some of my colleagues. They were all talking about eating char-siew and where to get the best ones. Some of them went to hunt for one famous shop in Kepong (I didn't go) and for more than a week, char-siew was the main topic when it came to lunch time.

I have read so many blog posts about this famous char-siew place in Sunway Mas... so armed with a map found in AWOL's blog, we made our way to...

Restoran Famous Seremban Favourites
No. 80-1 (Ground Floor)
Jalan PJU 1/3B, Sunway Mas Commercial Centre
Petaling Jaya
Tel: 017-279 8582
(Closed on Tuesdays)

The road leading to this place is extremely packed with traffic - both moving and non-moving ones! By "non-moving", I mean there were many cars double-parked along this already-narrow road... so weaving your car among them really requires a lot of patience and good nature!

You can also read masak-masak's post with detailed directions to this place!

The place wasn't overly crowded when we finally stepped in. It was about 1pm and there were still a couple of tables available. While placing our orders for char-siew, we were asked "you want fat or not fat?" Wow! Can choose your cuts of char-siew somemore! So being the ultimate piggy fan, we opted for "medium fat", haha!

And so our plate of "medium fat" char-siew arrived...

I like the way the char-siew was chopped chunkily - that adds to the enjoyment of biting into the sinful fatty porcine goodness, hehe!

The sides were well-charred, there was the compulsory layer of glistening caramelised coating, the meat was tender and juicy...


But... but... I felt there was something lacking in the flavour of the char-siew. Hmmm... it somehow lacked sufficient "taste" (not salty enough? not sweet enough?) almost bordering on blandness. I know, I know... so many people have been expounding the glorious taste of this char-siew... and yet, I truly feel there's some taste lacking in the marinade of the meat. Perhaps a few more grains of salt and sugar would help?

Oh... the other grouse I had was the poor miserable watery chilli sauce they served. Honestly, that was really the worst chilli sauce I have ever come across - it was really really too watery and you know how watery chilli sauce tastes like, right? I know, good char-siew should not depend on any chilli sauce... but a decent version of chilli sauce would certainly help!

So what did we have besides the char-siew? Their much-talked-about Hakka Mee, of course! I would say their version was mediocre... I have tasted better Hakka Mee. Nevertheless, it provided the necessary carbs for the meal.

We also ordered a bowl of their Fishballs... which also turned out to be very average. They were springy but I would score them average marks in the taste department.

I found the owner to be a bit on the cocky side too. I read somewhere that he's some hotshot MBA or Masters-holder... hmmm. While paying for the meal, we mentioned it was our 1st time eating in his shop... he asked us how we came to know about his shop and we said it's through some food blogs. Guess what he replied? He said "Oh yeah! so many people have blogged about my shop la, since more than 2 years ago. Now only you read ahh? - you people are 2 years late lah!"

*Shrug... roll eyes*

Best Lorbak in Penang!

*Pureglutton comes in and sweeps away the cobwebs and dust covering every corner of this blog*


OK, now that I have done some housecleaning here (I know, I've been MIA for some time, lol!), I better put up the pics of the best Lorbak we had in Penang, before the pics expire or get lost in my archives, haha!

Right... this was on the last day of our Penang makan trip. It was a rainy wet morning.... when I called CK Lam, she advised that we really really must try the Best Lorbak in Penang! The boys were totally enthusiastic when I mentioned "Lorbak"... so with the GPS and CK's directions (it's near Cititel Hotel!), we found our way to Kafe Kheng Pin located at 80, Penang Road.

I must admit I don't have the best pic here to capture the total deliciousness of this Lorbak... do hop over to CK Lam's post for better yummy pics!

When you enter this old-world kopitiam, you can see that every table will have at least a plate of these yummy fried fritters....

The stall selling the Lorbak is certainly the star attraction of this place and you have to wait quite a bit for your turn while the stall-owners frantically fry the batter-covered yummies in the huge wok of hot oil. I think we had about 3 plates of these - an assortment of meat/fish/seafood rolls, squids, prawn fritters, tofu etc! The crispy pieces disappear as soon as the plate is placed on our table!

Of course we also ordered other stuff while we were there - 3 plates of Lorbak were not enough to fill our growling tummies. So, let me show you what else we had...

Wantan Mee - with mushroom, cha siew and shredded chicken ... average, I would say...

Ahhh... the Char Kway Teow was pretty good! According to LL & NL, this was gooodddd - and they proved it by ordering 2 plates! I had a couple of bites and I must say I agreed with the boys - there was enough wok-hei, the taugeh was crunchy and the noodles were very flavourful! They claimed that taste-wise, this is equivalent to the Giant Prawns CKT they had the day before and certainly much much cheaper!

Another good eat was the Chicken Rice. The auntie manning this stall warned me that I had to wait some time for my order. OK fine... so I waited like 20 minutes and still my chicken was not forthcoming. I went over and reminded her... guess what? She had totally forgotten my order even though our table was just behind her stall! Anyway, finally the plate arrived at our table....

... and boy, it was delicious & worth the wait! See the almost-translucent glassy skin of the chicken? - that was so smooth and succulent! The rice could have been tastier - it lacked the chicken oil/onions/garlic flavours but the superbly poached chicken made up for this shortcoming.
Needless to say, my plate of this yummy chicken was hijacked by the boys and we had to order a second plate - and that too was hijacked by them!... haiya!

We definitely will hunt this place down when we next visit Penang - you can be sure of that!

Once again, I'd like to thank CK Lam for introducing this place to us and it was lovely meeting up with her and her professional photographer, hehe!