Hon Kee Restaurant @ Jalan SS21/1A Damansara Utama PJ

Who's familiar with Petaling Street area? I mean... someone who knows every crook and cranny of this area? I'm not one of them (obviously!). But Jenn used to read law for a few years here in ATC, which is located within walking distance to Petaling Street. Naturally, she knows more on where to eat delicious food here compared to me.. who never appreciate good food until I dated her! So I have to thank her (hope you read this dear!)

Whenever she had class early in the morning, she would come earlier to savour a bowl of piping hot porridge together with a plate of sang yue (raw fish slices)... that was what she told me. I didn't even know on their existence until Honkee Porridge opened their stall in Hutong Food Court @ Lot10 and then in Damansara Utama or simply known as Uptown among PJ-ites! Now I don't have to drive all the way downtown just to have this delicacy :)

So one early (I mean very early.. like 7++am) weekend morning, I arrived in front of their Uptown outlet. Parking was a breeze unlike weekdays where you would have a hard time finding a spot.

And already there were morning crowds enjoying their porridge while reading newspapers!

Their signature dish is Porridge with Raw Fish Slices @ RM5.50. With this price, you would get a rather big bowl of porridge and a plate of "wan yue" slices which was doused in the aromatic sesame oil. Texture-wise the porridge was very smooth and aromatic due to the sesame oil and spring onions. The key is to eat the porridge while it's still hot! Simply dip in the fish slices into the hot porridge for a while and it's good to eat. Normally I am not a fan of porridge, as I have a perception that porridge is only reserved to sick people. I was wrong & my perception was changed forever :)


Chee cheong fun with pork curry @ RM4.90 - the curry gravy was packed with flavour. However, I thought that the pork as it was not proportionate with the amount of chee cheong fun.

Century egg @ RM1.50 - Jenn just love century eggs! it went very well with the porridge.

You Tiao or fried fritters @ RM1 each - If you are early enough, you would see them bringing in fresh you tiao in when you arrive here. Crispy & non-oily, this was my favourite stuff to dip into the porridge.

Leo's verdict - Honkee has been in business since 1949! Now the sons took over and expanded the business. If you see a blue Subaru Impreza parked outside, that means he's in the shop! Boy do they know how to promote their shop by adding a Facebook page (by the way, I am a fan on their facebook page). And they have done a very good job! Now Honkee Porridge is available in Hutong Lot10, Damansara Utama, Bandar Puteri Puchong and the latest outlet in Taipan USJ! Strategic location with good population catchment and we don't have to drive all the way down to Petaling Street just to savour the famous porridge. Service was good and what I like best about this place is that they open very early for business (suits me as I wake up around 7++am). My only grouse is that the drink is below par... they should really improve the standard of their tea & coffee!

Bubur Nasi Istimewa No.1 @ Jalan Sutera, Taman Sentosa, Johor Bahru

We arrived in JB quite late at 9pm or so. Feeling tired, we checked into our hotel and were quite lazy to go out after the whole day journey from KL-Melaka-JB. But I had promised my cousin (who lives in JB) to meet up somewhere in JB city centre for supper. It has been quite some time since we met up... very close cousins even when we were little kids. Dragging our lazy ass out, Gerald and I drove to Taman Sentosa following my Garmin's instruction. Something was not right as my Garmin pointed me the other way... but following my instinct, I drove the other way until I reached the intended destination. There are actually 2 Taman Sentosa in JB so please be careful and go to the one nearest to the city centre.

Jalan Sutera is the main road in Taman Sentosa when you turn in from Tebrau Highway. This area used to be gangster territory, with a lot of vice activities during its prime. My friend once told me that he saw gangsters chasing their targets using parang and steel rods... happened right in front of his eyes while having supper nearby. There were a lot of karaoke, night clubs and disco in the surrounding area too... but now only a handful left.

You would notice a row of roadside stalls as you drive along this stretch. As for landmark, if you see 7-11... you are there! Parking is relatively easy to find... and please proceed to look for a stall with the name "Bubur Nasi Istimewa No.1". Quite a funny name if you ask me. Oh yes, the operators were quite loud too... yelling their stalls' specialties.

The whole place is brightly lid and quite noisy with the patrons chatting the night away...

At the stall, they have already prepared the condiments to be mixed together with your bubur (porridge)... basically it's like Teo Chew porridge where you are given a bowl of porridge and you select the side dishes with stir fried kangkung belacan, cockles (ham), and sambal ikan bilis among others.

The condiments include peanuts, belacan, pickled vegetable and salted egg. You only have to put everything (except the salted egg) into the porridge, stir it and eat it!

Their kangkung belacan was to die for... freshly stir fried with slightly fiery belacan!

The sambal ikan bilis was great too! Sprinkle the lime onto the dish to give extra sourish taste on top of the spicy belacan! Yummy...

Ikan pari bakar - fresh but I think the spicy sauce had overpowered the taste of the fish!

Leo's verdict - this place is normally packed with supper crowd even though they are opened from dinner time onwards. The total bill came at RM22.50... which I considered quite cheap. I think that this was the first time I broke my principle of not having supper :) I've been so tactful for so many years...

Xin Jie Teo Chew Porridge @ Jalan Jawa (Java Street), Off Jalan Bunga Raya, Melaka

After my lunch at Long Fatt, I was brought to another Teo Chew porridge shop. Don't ask me on how to go here because my client just pointed here and there and I'd reached here in less than 10 min from Long Fatt. It is well hidden along a small one-way street. There is no signage in English, only Chinese. "Xin Jie" means New Street in English and I literally translated the name :)

Just to be sure, this restaurant is located next to the famous Lover's (Yin Yang) Bridge.

This place is normally frequented by the locals, office workers as well as well-informed tourists. Just like Long Fatt, you could only find the elderly people manning this place. Where has the younger generation gone?? Most of us prefer to work in office, wearing office attire and don't like to get our hands dirty.

The choices here were somewhat different from Long Fatt, where the latter was more towards traditional way of preparing... the dishes in Xin Jie looked more like home-cooked style.

The same fermented bean sauce and chilly sauce were given together with the porridge.

Wasting no time, I asked my client to order some of their most famous dishes. What??? I can't afford to try out all the dishes at one go. There were only 2 of us... starting with this, dark soy sauce chicken. The meat was tender with a hint of pepper which was not over-powering the sweetness of the soy sauce. Thumbs up!

Stir fried lala - another good choice!

Salted vegetable - same as Long Fatt

Bitter gourd with fermented bean sauce - Not really a fan of bitter gourd, which was slightly bitter but somehow I liked this dish. It was very soft due to the long process of braising.

Chilly fish - this dish was a clear winner for both of us. The fish was sliced open from the top and stuffed with chilly before deep fried. Just sprinkle with lime and as a result, sour and spicy all-in-one.

Leo's verdict - while both restaurants offer Teo Chew porridge, some of their dishes were different. I think Xin Jie is more suitable to the new generation's palate :)

Long Fatt @ Jalan Kg. Pantai, Melaka

As promised to thenomadGourmand, here is my posting on my Melaka business trip last 2 weeks... even though there are other blogs that I have not posted yet... Becky, you can plan your August trip now...

Sunday 5th July 2009, 10pm... somewhere in a small town in Pahang...

Leo: Wah!! Axian is introducing Teo Chew porridge this time... in Malacca! hhhmmm hhhmmm... looks delicious! I'm so there...
Jenn: Of course you can say that... you are going there on Wednesday mah (looked rather down)
Leo: It's business trip, honey! Since I'm going there, I might as well ask my client to bring me to the shop. Next time I'll bring you there ok?
Jenn: Hhmmpphhhh...ya right? (slightly disappointed and disgusted)

Fast forward to Wednesday 7th July 2009...

For those who didn't watch Axian's program, this shop has been around for a very long time. It is now managed by the second generation... but then, the 2nd generation looked very old as well! So how long do you think the shop has been opened for business??? According to Axian, it's more than 75 years! Apparently, there are 3 generations manning this shop.

Situated on a one way street filled with row of very old shophouses along the way, parking can be hard to find during lunch time as many people make their way here for a few bowl of porridge to go with traditional Teo Chew dishes. My client told me that this street used to be the busiest street during its prime... but has gradually lost its importance throughout the years. The restaurant also used to patronised by the workers of the nearby traditional groceries shop on the same street. If you see an old Chinese temple, Long Fatt is right beside it.

Everything looked exactly the same as shown in the TV... for example this food counter.

The shop was rather small and cramped with less than 10 tables.

The owner handled everything on his own... a rare sight these days where most people would employ foreign workers to do the hard work.

Assorted Teo Chew dishes to go with plain porridge. I felt hungry instantly :)

These are the Asam fish. Ever notice how systematic the owner lined up those fish?

Minced meat - up close and personal

MOst of the time, they will serve fermented bean sauce and chilly sauce together with the dishes. Contrary to cantonese version which is thicker, Teo Chew version is lighter and used as dipping sauce for the dishes. I'd seen some patrons actually mixed the bean sauce into the porridge.

These were what we ordered for our lunch... 5 dishes, 2 bowl of porridge and 2 glass of Chinese tea!

1) Salted fish - very crispy
2) Salted vegetable - mediocre
3) Asam fish - according to the boss, they use bokok fish which were cooked for good 12 hours. As a result, the bone was soft and you could literally eat it together with the flesh. The asam taste was light but good nonetheless. FYI, the fish were not gutted but somehow the innards tasted quite good. Perhaps it was just me :)
4) Minced meat - the meat was mixed with sting ray or shark meat for softer texture. Then the mixture was chopped using meat cleaver old-school way for 45 minutes before steamed... the meat was full of flavour and very soft indeed!
5) Prawn sambal or hee bee - this dish was a clear winner for both of us. It had a very distinctive taste which was different from others out there. Hard to describe in words but I loved a lot.

Leo's verdict - the bill came at RM12.20, which I was more than glad to foot the bill even though my client insisted to pay (he said that I'm a guest wor...lol!). It is hard to find such a traditional way of preparing the dishes these days. For Teo Chew porridge lovers, do find a time to visit this place whenever you are free. Initially, I wanted to add more porridge and dishes but my client said that there was another good places to eat Teo Chew porridge. That is why my trip to Malacca this time can be considered as porridge excursion!! LOL!!!