Showing posts with label Char Kway Teow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Char Kway Teow. Show all posts

Saturday, 4 October 2014

Kampong Boy - Hurstville - Sydney, Australia

Kampong Boy



A Malaysian restaurant in the south of Sydney is a rare find as there aren't many around the area. Three years ago, when I found out that there was a Malaysian restaurant in Hurstville, I really wanted to go and try out the food. However, this has been delayed for years as we never found the opportunity to go. That was until I had a major craving for Hainan chicken rice a few weeks back. You would think I would be over eating chicken rice after consuming it numerous times in Singapore and once in Vietnam, but this hasn't been the case. If something is delicious, I can eat it very often.

Kampong Boy, a Malaysian restaurant located on the quieter end of Forest Road in Hurstville has been open for a number of years. The food must be decent for it to be open till now. I didn't set my expectations high as there isn't much to compare it against in the area.



On a Thursday night, there is a steady flow of customers, though not near full capacity as there are many tables unoccupied. The modern interior looks to have been recently renovated with wooden tables and traditional Malaysian style decorations around the dining room. There is a see through glass partition at the front of the restaurant where they do the grilling.



The menu offers a number of authentic Malaysian dishes such as Bak Kut Teh, Nasi Lemak, Hainan chicken rice etc. The menu looks to have been updated in recent times as it's different to what I've seen online and accordingly the prices have slightly increased too. We decide to stick with the safer options, items which we have tried before at other places.


The 'Nasi Goreng (($12.80)' is the Malaysian version of the fried rice topped with a fried egg. It contains sambal which gives it a spicy kick and unusual ingredients such as anchovies, which are not in the usual fried rice. It was cooked well and wasn't oily like the other dishes that followed.



The 'Fried Kway Teo ($13.80)' was made up of a combination of flat noodles, bean sprouts, prawns, fish cakes, egg and chives, which was unfortunately a letdown. It lacked the wok hei, tasted dry due to the lack of sauce and overall lacked flavour.





The dish that I anticipated and wanted to eat most was the 'Hainan Chicken Rice ($12.80)'. On the plate, everything was nicely presented and it was served with a chilli and dark soy dipping sauce. Even though they gave my favourite part of the chicken, the drumstick, it didn't make a difference as it was plain and dry. Unfortunately, the chicken rice was gluggy and soft. I probably wouldn't order this here again as it wasn't very good.


The 'Chicken Curry ($15.80)' was surprisingly a winner. It was spicy, well cooked and packed with a whole lot of flavour. As you can see from the layer of oil on top, it's extremely oily but what lies beneath is delicious. A very simple curry with chicken and potatoes but it sure won me over.




'Roti ($3.00)' is made fresh in house but I wasn't watching so whether it was made fresh on the day is not guaranteed. Crispy and flaky like how a roti should be but it was once again very oily and together with the oily curry, it didn't go very well together.



'Satay Sticks - 12 Sticks - Beef and Chicken ($16.00)' is grilled perfectly leaving a nice charcoal caramelised exterior, but leaning more towards the sweeter side in terms of taste. Together with a rich peanut sauce, it was delicious, but they could have been more generous with pieces of cucumber and red onion on the side.

Overall, half of what we ate was decent but half of the dishes weren't very good. I'm thankful that there is a Malaysian restaurant in the area that serves authentic food at reasonable prices but unfortunately my craving for Hainanese chicken rice wasn't satisfied. I would come again to try some other dishes but the food was mediocre on the day we went.

Where?
370 Forest Rd
Hurstville NSW 2220
Australia

Phone no: 02 8094 8409

Opening Hours
Tuesday to Friday
Lunch: 11:30am to 2:30pm
Dinner: 5:30pm  to 9:30pm
Saturday to Sunday
Lunch: 11:30am to 4:30pm
Dinner: 5:30pm to 9:30pm

Website
NA

KampongBoy on Urbanspoon

Tuesday, 3 September 2013

Chua Brother Homemade Fish Ball - Jalan Bukit Bintang- Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Chua Brother Homemade Fish Ball

Even though I love handmade fish ball's, this post won't contain anything about them unfortunately. This post is all about the Char Kway Teow!

The Malaysian Char Kuay Teow is a famous Penang hawker/street dish and is made from stir frying flat rice noodles in a mixed soya sauce with cockles, shrimp, lap cheong (Chinese sausages), eggs, bean sprouts and chives. Then the chilli spices can be added if you like it hot in which I requested for extra spicy. 

Within the Lot 10 shopping complex is a food court and this is not just any normal food court.  Hawker / Street style food cooked by Chinese families that have for generations, been trading on the streets of Malaysia and have been specially handpicked to open their stores within Lot 10.

If you want to savour the best of Kuala Lumpur's street/ hawker food, then here is the place to go with over 30 of the country's best eateries are located there. It is fully air-conditioned, modern, clean and indoors, which means you don't  have to melt and sweat under the scorching heat. Plus there is a whole lot to choose from such as popiah, porridge, wonton mee, duck rice, beef noodles and bak kut teh.
Don't expect hawker prices as you’re paying for the added convenience of not having to drive out to the outer suburbs like the Klang Valley,  to try out these famous dishes.

As the name suggests, the ‘Chua Brothers’, are famous for their fish balls but when I walked around the side bend, I saw a little sign beside their counter, that said they also make char kway teow . There were two options available including the ‘Penang Duck Egg Fried Kway Teow (RM 10.50)’ or ‘Penang Famous Fried Kway Teow (RM9.40)’ in which I chose to have latter.


After a few minutes, it was done. 


Big plate, average sized serving and not the most generous of portions but adequate. 


Found nothing special about the dish in that it was decent and had the right flavours, but lacked that wok hei flavour from the breath of the wok.They use the thinner version of white noodles and I found that it was very similar to the Thai Pad Thai. Even though I like beansprouts, there was just way too much of it.

wouldn't go out of my way to have this, as one can find better elsewhere, but worth a try if your staying in the city center  Then again, I can't complain as they, for generations, have been known for their famous fish ball's and that is what I will have on my next visit to Malaysia.
It does get very busy during lunch and dinner and finding a seat may be frustrating. Also, a lot of the popular dishes do sell out, so get there quick!


Where?
Lot 10 Hutong,
Lower Ground Floor,
Lot  10 Shopping Centre,
50 Jalan Sultan Ismail,
50250 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia

Phone no:
NA
Opening Hours
7 Days a Week
10:00am - 10:00pm