Dry Chilli Pan Mee @ Super Kitchen (Taman Bahagia Branch)

After hearing so much raves about this restaurant's "must try" chilli pan mee, decided to give it a try today. Since the nearest to my office is the SS2/Taman Bahagia branch (Chow Yang), i chose to drop by there to complete my "mini pan mee tour" for this week. (3 different shops in a week)

Being a staunch Kin Kin Pan Mee supporter, and the fact that Super Kitchen was labelled as "Kin Kin copycat" as their HQ is just exactly opposite Kin Kin's shop in KL, it is hard not to overcome the mental "prejudice" and be open about the food. I can only reassure myself that this shop has survived, opened so many branches (even more branches than Kin Kin) and has his own loyal supporters ... so the food has to be some what acceptable, if not good.

The environment is acceptable

The shop in Taman Bahagia is actually not hard to find. For local PJ folks and food lovers, i am sure you are familiar with Chow Yang (a restaurant's name). Super Kitchen is located behind Chow Yang, 3-4 shops away from Kayu Nasi Kandar shop.
The environment is acceptable, looks clean, but there are flies flying around. Service is fast and no fuss (definitely better than Kin Kin at their peak hours). Now, the food...

Their version of dry chilli pan mee

To my surprise, the dry chilli pan mee (RM5.50 / bowl) does not taste bad at all! And the chilli flakes is as oomph as Kin Kin's, definitely much better than Face To Face's chilli. But overall, somehow, it still does not taste as nice as Kin Kin's , but for sure comparable to Face To Face's version. Maybe it's the noodle texture, or Kin Kin has some mysterious "hidden" recipe. Or maybe it's just me ....but for sure, it is above standard.
Another thing worth mentioning is their vegetable soup that comes with each bowl of noodle. Unlike Kin Kin's, each bowl of soup is individually prepared and served together with the noodle, hence it is piping hot and fresh. (Kin Kin's soup most of the time are delayed, and they are "mass produced" meaning it is not as hot when it comes to you). Also, their soup portion is bigger than Kin Kin and Face to Face ....:)

The chiili flakes - they are actually quite spicy

The noodle after putting in the chilli

Perfect blend - Ready to be eaten : YUMMY

The piping hot soup

I ended up eating 2 bowls of them to satisfy my hunger. Will i come back to this shop? For sure, on days that i am lazy to brave the jams and traffic to go down KL. So now, i have Face to Face and Super Kitchen as my "lazy alternatives" when it comes to Pan Mee. Which one better between Face to Face and Super Kitchen, IMHO, Super Kitchen fares slightly better on my taste bud and personal ratings.

Overall Verdict: 

Not bad overall, good service, acceptable eating condition, nice bowl of vegetable soup.

Kin Kin Chilli Pan Mee

As promised before, my personal favourite of all time when it comes to dry chilli pan mee is none other than Kin Kin Pan Mee shop. This shop has a long history dating back some 30 years ago. Now the owner has passed down the baton to his 2 sons, and they have 2 branches now, the original one in KL, and one more in Pandan Indah, Cheras area.

The famous food here is their Dry type chilli pan mee (unknown to most patrons, this shop sell the soupy pan mee and also yong tau foo, so it is not just dry chilli pan mee). Depends on your appetite, normally a guy can finish off 2 bowl easily (RM5.50 per bowl).What is it that makes it taste so good? To me, i think it is everything, from the noodle, the perfectly poached egg, the anchovies, and the to die for chilly flakes. When all these normal items are perfectly blend in, the wonderful taste of the chilli pan mee kicks in! (a word of caution, compare to many other pan mee outles, the chilli here are more on the oomph side, so apply them sparingly)

Business here is always good, especially during lunch time in weekdays, and 10AM onwards on weekends. So, if you come here at their "peak" hours ...make sure you bring along magazines/newpaper to kill your waiting time. During good business time, the owners can be quite bad tempered and easily agitated. So, if you do want to eat their famous noodles, make sure :
1) Be patient and wait for your noodle to be served, do not push the owner for quicker service
2) Be prepared to sit with others, i.e joint tables.

The famous Kin Kin Dry Chilli Pan Mee

The soup that complements really well with the chilly pan mee

The noodle after blending them all.

How to get there? It is off Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman. If you come from Jalan Sultan Ismail heading towards Hard Rock direction, turn left at the Maju Junction Mall traffic light. Go till the end and turn/curve right. At the next traffic light, turn right. Go till you see the Pizza Hut, and turn left there. Immediately turn right again and you should see Kin Kin on the left, near the end of the road. Lost? It is nearby Honda showroom and Air Asia Hotel (Tune Hotel)

Overall Verdict:

My personal favourite when it comes to Dry Chilli Pan Mee. Almost every weekend i will still drive down all the way from Kota Kemuning in Shah Alam to have them in KL. Worth a try yourself, but individual tastes may vary. Also, if you are those that don't like bad tempered/lousy service owner, do not try them.
Highly recommended.

Dry Chilli Pan Mee @ Face to Face, Puchong

I am a self confess dry chilli pan mee lover as i am a chilli eating maniac. And when it comes to this dish, my personal numero uno is still Kin Kin Pan Mee shop in KL, off Jalan TAR. (which i will blog about seperately). However, ever since i stay put in Kota Kemuning, travelling to KL can be quite troublesome and jam packed. So i need to search for alternative, at least a close number two in my personal ranking.

When my wife introduced this shop to me, i am a little skeptical at first. Face to Face ? Never heard before. But after trying out their pan mee, i am well satisfied to park them under my number two ranking for the chilli pan mee.

This shop has many branches and is run under Face to Face franchise. But, QC are quite good in the sense that the same noodle taste the same in many of these branches ( i have tried the Puchong, Damansara Uptown, and also PJ Old town ones so far)

Besides chilli pan mee, this shop has many version of pan mee, wanton mee, as well as Sarawak Kampar Mee. (all are nice and tasty) For this blog, i shall stick to their dry chilli pan mee. The noodle is nice, not too wet/moist. The egg is my favourite "Explosive" type haha. And their chilli is ok ,and not too hot. (though Kin Kin one is still way better and pack much more oomph)  

The dry chilli pan mee at Face to Face

Their version of dry chilli flakes (not as oomph as Kin Kin's)

The pan mee after putting in the chilli flakes

After it is well blended with all the ingredients ...yum yum

Besides their noodles, they have some nice snacks as well, among the noteworthy one is their golden fried wanton. Taste really crispy and yummy, to go with your pan mee. And for drinks, try their white coffee, or their ribena lychee....nice to go along the hot chilli pan mee. 

Their golden fried wanton (not "shui jiao")

How to get there? For this Puchong branch, it is in Bandar Puteri, same side with Giant. The shop is same row with Maybank nearby Giant in Bandar Puteri. It is open daily until 9:30PM.

Some of my friends was saying the BEST pan mee these days is the Super Kitchen Pan mee (the one that started as a "copycat" opposite Kin Kin in KL) Will give it a try really soon and review it. Stay Tuned.

Overall Verdict:
Clean and air-conditioned environment, fast and efficient service, nice variety of noodle dishes, noteworthy snacks and drinks, and acceptable dry chilli pan mee (IMO).

I want iPhone 4!

While i was still working in China, i had the privilege of playing with my secretary's brand new iPhone 4 her beloved husband bought for her ......After taking it in my palm, i immediately fell head over heals for it .....It is so sleek, nice and professional looking. Putting it side by side with my faithful iPhone 3G makes my iPhone 3G looks like a age old dinasour .....

And drop calls i.e antennagate issue you were saying on iPhone 4? All i can say is in the 2 weeks i observe my secretary using her new iPhone 4 there is not a single drop calls and signal is almost always at full bar! (hers is a HK set brought in to China)

Conclusion? I love it so much that i tried to put my iPhone 3G into her phone pouch ....but the plan failed. I WANT an iPhone 4!!! 

Enough whining ...here's some photo......For those interested, forget about Maxis/Digi deal. iPhone 4 in Malaysia will be bound by plans and package with 1-2 year contract. Get it from Singapore, free of any contract, just get it, pay and go (if you are travelling by plane to Singapore, can claim VATs at airport some more) For your info, the singapore iPhone 4 works for Malaysia's Digi, Celcom, Maxis. But you need to get the new MicroSIM card from your telcos. (no software jailbreaking required, like previous iPhone models) Singapore is the second cheapest place to get iPhone 4 in Asia, after Hong Kong.

Breakfast @ Makan Makan

Staying in Kota Kemuning has its many bliss, one of them being away from traffic and noises and the other being surrounded with lots of nice food outlet. One of them is my personal favourite for breakie, which is none other than the already famous Makan Makan. (yes the title of the shop which loosely translated into eat-eat in English)

So whats good for makan at Makan Makan :P ? Almost everything. This shop is famous enough to get the attention of our local food review channel, Ho Jiak's review and not to mention countless newspaper highlights.

Those highly recommended ones are marked with a "eat" logo in Mandarin. So far they had not been disappointing. Among my personal favourite are their morning breakfast nasi lemak bungkus, loh mai fan, fried chicken, and also many of theirs nyonya kuihs! As for drink, my personal preference is their kopi kluang or their cham ice.

Business here is good especially during breakfast time and lunch time. but services here are generally good and you need not wait too long. If you crave for their kuihs or the nasi lemak bungkus, make sure arrive early during breakfast to avoid disappointment.

Where is it located in Kota Kemuning? It is very easy to find. When you are traveling from USJ to Kota Kemuning using the KESAS highway, exit at the first Kota Kemuning exit, take the 3 o'clock turn at the first roundabout. Turn right at the second turning (Mc Donald is first turning, second turning is the one at NTS food court), immediately after turning right at NTS turning, turn right again at the first available right turn, cruise along slowly, Makan Makan is on the first row of shop to your left, towards the end.
What is their business hours?

OVERALL verdict :

Clean environment. Good overall Malaysian food. Nice and tasty nyonya kuihs. 

"Wu Shan" Ikan Bakar (BBQ fish) Chong qing Style, Beijing

Being a Wai Sik Chai, i am priviliged enough to explore China while working there for 2 years ....
One of the food i like the most in Beijing, is this BBQ fish shop called Wu Shan Kao Yu (in Mandarin)
The way they prepare the fish is different form our Boleh Land version.
Is it good ? I shall let the picture do the talking

When my parents visited me in Beijing, i brought them to this shop as well, here is the Before and after photo haha

This place is packed with people during dinner time. So be prepared to wait if you do visit there. Where is it located? It is in the third ring road, east, nearby Kempinski Hotel.

Final Verdict:

Kedai Kopi Hai Peng (Kemaman)

For those who travels to the East Coast, this place is a must have for a cuppa of nicely brew coffee, and many of their nicely baked, slightly burnt toast.

There are many kopitiams these days mushrooming in Malaysia, but rest assured Hai Peng coffee shop still maintain the oomph and originality (the shop has been around for many many years, 3 generations alreadfy)

So, what to look for when you are there?






 Among the noteworthy items to order:

• Packets of mee siam (Fantastic)
• Vietnamese style coffee (Kao Kao)
• Roti bakar (normal)
• Roti bakar peanut butter with pisang (yummy)

The coffeeshop is located in the middle of Kemaman town, if you are coming from Kuantan direction, it is immediately after The Store shopping mall. (There is also branches now in Kuantan, but personally this original Kemaman one is still THE ONE)
The shop is closed on Friday.

Final Verdict :