Footsteps - Jotaro's Travels: YummY! - Hawker-Street Fare @ O&S

Sunday, August 19, 2012

YummY! - Hawker-Street Fare @ O&S

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YummY! Jotaro's Food Review
HAWKER-STREET FARE @ O&S RESTAURANT

Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia

Every so often, me and my wife would sleep late on a Sunday and have a Sunday Brunch. This Particular Sunday, we went to one of our favorite coffee-shop - Restaurant O&S, Petaling Jaya for our brunch. As Penangites, coming from George Town, we love this place as it has many stalls selling Penang food. One can find the renown Char Keow Teow, Penang Prawn Mee, Keow Teow Thng to Chee Cheong Fun here, all mouth-watering delicacies - the sight of which is sure to fire up one's appetite.
There are so many stall here, so too be fair to the food, this blog will give list the stalls available at this shop with a general description of the food they sell respectively. The detail account on the taste, flavor, etc. of each will be posted in different individual blogs as and when I have tried them. Other wise this blog will be such a long and tedious one.
For today, we ate Char Keow Teow, Keow Teow Tng & Chee Cheong Fun, and took away Goreng Pisang & Yong Tau Foo. We also ordered Goreng Pisang and Yong Tau Foo for take-aways. So will will start of with these.

(Note: To Penangites & Other Malaysians, this is an introductory to Penang food for non-Malaysians, so please bear with me. Thanks)

A. Penang Char Keow Teow

Penang Char Keow Teow (Fried Keow Teow) is different from those of other places. The one in Restaurant O&S is closest to the orignial from Penang (probably becuase the cook is from Penang), and is one of the better ones in the Klang Valley.
Penang Char Keow Teow is stir-fried keow teow (flat rice noodles) stir-fried in a wok with lard, soy sauce, garlic, fresh prawns, slices of Chinese sausage, bean sprouts, cockles and chili paste. Sometimes chives and deep-fried lard cubes are added too. Eggs are added on request. (for more elaboration on this dish, read my blog PENANG CHAR KEOW TEOW @ O&S RESTAURANT).

A good Char Keow Teow will have the noodles slightly burnt to bring out the flavor of the noodles. When this is done, the keow teow spreaded out over the wok and can be seen to be "dancing"
I think what makes the original from Penang better is that the keow teow there is flat-thinner and slightly oily, making the slight burning more well spread in consistency. Keow teow from other places are generally flat-thicker.
Prawns used should be of a good size, at least one inch in diameter when cooked. Other than noodles, this Char Keow Teow stalls will normally also serve Chinese yellow noodle, vermicilli and rice fried in a similar manner.
I like my Char Keow Teow without eggs, as to me the eggs hinder the smooth texture of the keow teow.

B. Penang Keow Teow Thng

Keow Teow Thng (Keow Teow Soup) uses the same noodles as Char Keow Teow. The noodles are quick boiled separately, ingredients added and soup is poured over the mix. Garnishing of fried garlic and lard cubes are added.
Keow Teow Thng varies from place to place, but most versions will have fish-balls, slices of fish cake, spring onion and either chicken, duck or pork. The fish-ball used is important, with the best being "saito fishballs". Additional ingredients could include pre-cooked small pork intestines and pork liver.

Keow Teow Thng with coagulated pig's blood & small pig intestine

The version sold here is the Penang one, main difference is that coagulated chicken blood is added. The soup base used here is chicken. The duck-soup, which can be found in some stalls in Penang, is much nicer as the duck makes for a much nicer soup stock. This is also one of my favorites at Restaurant O&S (for more elaboration on this dish, read my blog PENANG KEOW TEOW THNG @ O&S RESTAURANT).

C. Penang Chee Cheong Fun

Chee Cheong Fun is also flat rice noodles but it is steamed and their consistency is softer and bouncier than the keow teow noodles. The noodles are maintained hot in a steamer and a brought out to be cut into strips just before serving. Normally the noodles are in long rolls, but the here it is served unrolled.
After cutting, sweet sauce, chilli sauce are added and fried sesame seed is sprinkled on top. Some stalls also add fried shallots for an additional flavor. The Penang version also have prawn paste added.

The stall here serves Penang style with the hae ko (shrimp paste). It is very good as the hae ko is obtained from Penang itself. However, the chee cheong fun they use is not the rolled type and fried shallots are not added. They also serve Curry Chee Cheon Fun, which is serve without the sauces but with santan (coconut milk) curry.
(for more elaboration on this dish, read my blog PENANG CHEE CHEONG FUN @ O&S RESTAURANT).

D Goreng Pisang

Goreng Pisang is deep fried banana fritters which have been coated with a layer of batter.
It is important that the batter have some shortening so that the batter when fried will be crispy and flaky-crunchy but not hard. I know of only two stalls in the Klang Valley that sells with this type of batter. Most stalls from other places don't achieve this flaky-crunchiness and their batter are often too hard, so hard that it can hurt one's gums.
The type of banana used is important and it has to be slightly over-ripe for it to be sweeter. Most stalls use Pisang Raja. Some stalls uses Pisang Tandok, although much bigger, its harder meat taste is bland and dry.

From left, Deep Fried Popiah, Combo Yam-Tee Kueh-Potato, Sweet Potato Patties

Other than banana, this stall also sells yam (taro), sweet potato fritters, deep-fried poh piah, sweet potato patties and kueh kedok (banana pastry). They also have one of my favorites, a combination of one slice of yam, one slice of sweet potato with a slice of Tee Kueh (Chinese glutinous cake) in between. YummY!

E. Yong Tau Foo

Yong Tau Foo is healthy food. It is basically fish paste stuffed into various vegetables or different types of Tau Foo. Vegetables used are brinjals, bitter gourds, ladies fingers, and chilli. The tau foo used is tau pok, white soft tau foo, or the larger taupok. Most of this are stuffed with fish paste and then deep fried slightly. The version sold here is the Kuala Lumpur style.
Some stall also include in deep-fried foo chok (soy bean curd skin) and vegetarian goose.

F. Penang Hokkein Prawn Mee

This is another renown Penang dish, called Hokkein Mee on the island iteself. It is yellow noodles & vermicilli served in delicious, aromatic prawn soup. Served in a bowl with sliced prawns, bean sprouts and kangkong. Fried shallots are added as garnishing and usually additional chilli paste is given for one to add to one's personal liking.
As with many Hokkein Mee stalls, they "Lor Mee" - instead of thin prawn soup, a starchy soup (the starchiness achieved by adding tapioca flour) is used and a half a hard-boiled egg is added. This dish is usually eaten with pickled, chopped garlic and lots of chilli paste. The rest of the ingredients are the same as Hokkein Mee.

Penang Hokkein Lor Mee

G. Curry Laksa & Assam Laksa

Curry Laksa is yellow noodles & vermicilli serve in thin santan (coconut milk) curry.Together with the noodles, bean sprouts, a few pieces of broiled chicken, cockles and tau pok (deep fried tau foo) are included. Some stalls even add boiled pre-dried pork skin, which is actually quiet nice when eaten with the curry as the spongy skin absorbs the curry. Other stalls also add in boiled brinjals (eggplant). For garnishing, half a lime and additional chilli paste is provided. In Penang, this is called Curry Mee, but the ingredients don't include pork skin and brinjals.
Assam Laksa is white, springy rice noodles served in a spicy fish soup. For garnishing, mint leaves, curry flower and some sliced red chilli is added. I find that assam laksa in the Klang Valley tend to be more sour in taste. In Penang, this dish is just called laksa.

H. Beef Noodles

Beef Noodles is actually Keow Teow serve in beef soup. Added to this are slices of beef and other innards. For garnishing, spring onion and chopped coriander leaves are sprinkled on.

I. Chicken Rice

This is a quintessential favorite of many. The rice is cooked with chicken soup and extracted oil from chicken fat. This stall serves mainly roasted chicken, although personally I like the broiled chicken as it is more tender and the skin smooth and nice - sinful but good. The Singaporeans claim to have the best Chicken Rice, but many in Malaysia will beat theirs outright.
This stall also serves Chinese sausages, roast & barbecued pork and also chicken gizzard.

J. Fish Head Noodles

Fish Head Noodles is an interesting dish. The soup's ingredients includes evaporated milk to give it that creamy flavor and that extra zing! One can have it with yellow noodles or white rice noodles (similar to the laksa noodles but with less bounce). Deep fried chunks of fish head is added, it is best to leave this dish for a short while before eating so that the flavor of the fish head soaks into the soup and enhances it.
Other than this, the stall also serves Pork Noodles. It is noodles served in pork-stock soup with pork balls added in. But this is different from the one served at the other pork noodle stall (see Pork Mee below). The seafood noodles they serve is similar but with fish, squid and prawns.

K. Ipoh Kueh Teow (Ipoh Hor Fun)

A dish with its roots from the Malaysian town of Ipoh, it is almost similar to Penang Hokkien mee in the sense that the chicken soup has some prawn flavor underlying the chicken taste.. Ipoh Kueh Teow (more commonly called Ipoh Hor Fun) actually uses "hor fun" and not keow teow noodles, this hor fun is smoother and finer in texture. The noodles soup is served with chunks of broiled chicken and chives. Cut red chilli in soy sauce is provided.
This stall also sells Prawn Wantan Soup, the wantan being made with prawns instead of minced pork.
They also sell Lam Mee, something similar to Penang Lor Mee, but the starchy soup is not so thick and clearer. It served with slices of prawns, bean sprouts, spring onion for garnishing and sambal chilli is provided to spice up the dish. This version of Lam Mee is different from the Penang one.

L. Mee Jawa

Mee Jawa is yellow noodles serve ins slightly starchy spicy soup. This dish originated from Java, Indonesia and is served with bean sprouts, prawns and garnished with spring onion.
The Herbal Chicken Drumstick soup is chicken drumstick double-broiled in Chinese herbs, excellent dish for a good health.

M. Nyonya Kueh

This stall sells Nyonya Kueh, although some of the kueh has been brought up to date with contemporary flavors. Nyonya Kueh is pastry made by the Nyonyas (mind you not Peranakaan) of Penang and includes Nine-layer Kueh, Ang Koo, Kueh Talam, Pulut Tai Tai, Pulut Udang, Curry Pok etc.
They also sell Chinese egg-tarts.

N. Pan Mee

Pan Mee are noodles freshly made from wheat dough, they are rolled out by the stall operator everyday. The noodles can be in round stringy form or flat like kueh teow (but in shorter lengths). It is served with pork-stock soup with deep-fried anchovies and basil leaves. This stall also serve the kon-loh (dry) and curry versions.
They also sell clay-pot soup Yee Mee with similar ingredients but with a raw egg put on top prior to serving.

O. Popiah

Poh Piah is turnip slices cooked rolled with a thin, round rice-skin pastry. The turnips are boiled with prawn to form a vegetable gruel. A piece of Chinese lettuce is put on top of the pastry to avoid the roll from becoming soggy, chopped tau kua, chilli & sweet paste are added for garnishing. At some stalls they add crab meat too.
Nasi Lemak is rice cooked in santan (coconut milk), which adds a creamy flavor to the rice. It is served with a variety of curries (chicken, beef,fish, etc.) and cucumber slices, and sometimes sambal belacan.

P. Pork Mee

This Pork Noodle is different from the one sold by the Fish-head Noodle stall. That one serves it with pork balls made from a paste, whilst this one serve it with freshly minced pork meatballs. Also, the dish in individually cooked per customer (or at most for two customers) right there and then in a small pot. Other ingredients are pork liver, pig's intestines. One can request for broth instead on noodles, it is excellent too.
They also sell pork meatball soup, and if requested served with pig's tripe,

Q. Wantan Mee

Wantan Mee uses a different noodles from the regular yellow noodles. The noodles are drier and uncooked with some wheat powder sprinkled to prevent the noodles from sticking together. They tend to be more springy then yellow noodles but not as much as the laksa noodle.
Most people eat this dry with thick black soy sauce. Slices of barbecued pork and choy sumis added. A small bowl of wantan is served with the dry version. Some stalls also add curry on request.
The soup version is the same except served with chicken or pork soup. Picked green chillies are added for garnishing.

This is one dish that is better in the Klang Valley than Penang, probably because of the better thick soy sauce used and also because of the tender & more savory barbecued pork.

R. Fresh Fruits

A small stall sell fresh fruits on a make-shift counter right at the front. Pineapples, yellow honeydews, guava, mangoes, papayas and watermelons are available. The pineapple and guava can be further sliced into smaller pieces and assam boi powder added for the extra oomph!

S. Drinks

As in any coffee-shop, the main operator also runs the drinks at stall. Hot and cold drinks like coffee, tea, almond, Chinese tea are sold. Carbonated drinks and beer are also served. This particular one also sells freshly blended fruit juices. A favorite of mine is the Ambla-Sim Boi driknk, i.e. ambla fruit blended with assam boi, very thirst quenching with a kick from the assam boi. This drink originated from Penang about fifteen years ago and has spread to the rest of the country.

At Restaurant O&S, one is spoilt for choices from the variety served by the many stalls. Most of the stalls serve delicious food, and also a fair number of the stall operators come from Penang, need more be said?