Chicks And Pea . com Malaysian Food Blog

T’was a cold and rainy Friday night when the fab four (me, Chloe, Wilfred and our M.I.A. chick, Lina) venture out to the furthest corner of Kuala Lumpur for some grub. Longing for something hot and spicy to fill our bellies and warm our souls, we decided what could be better than steamboat to do the job, right?

Our quest led us to Kepong, the so-called “steamboat haven”. It’s a haven indeed for steamboat lovers as we find ourselves facing rows and rows of restaurants all serving the same thing. We finally settled for this place called Pulau Ketam Steamboat Restaurant *phew*. Not sure why it is named Pulau Ketam when the restaurant is not in Pulau Ketam also *scratch head*. Anyway, when we reached the restaurant, a man was standing in the middle of the road ushering us to park in this empty space directly opposite the restaurant (woohoo … free parking!! But the place a bit muddy, not good for girls wearing 3 inches heels :S). Since there was a slight drizzle, the man even offered umbrella-ring services to us when we got out of the car. So nice yea?

A little about the restaurant, it occupies two adjacent shoplots but separated by a small alley in between. It’s a typical Malaysian style Chinese restaurant where food taste and enjoyment take precedence over hygiene and presentation. So expect wailing babies, kids running about, funny smell emitting from the drains and flying cockroaches *shudder*. The place was about three-quarters full when we reached there about 8-ish (usual Malaysian time for dinner in case you are wondering). If you are the type that judges a restaurant by the size of its patrons then this would be an indication of a popular restaurant considering that it’s a weekday and that it has been raining practically the whole day long *miserable groan*.

Ok, ok, I know I’m longwinded, so lets get to the food now … we ordered the mixed style (ying yong: tom yam and ching tong) steamboat for three people on the recommendation of the lady boss. Though there were four ravenous souls there that night, we happily complied with the lady boss so as not too seem like greedy pigs and also because we girls are small eaters *ahem*. Additionally, we also ordered a side dish of grilled chicken wings from a small stall that is affiliated with the restaurant. There was some confusion (an understatement) while ordering the chicken wings as we girls thought that a pair of chicken wings meant one wing but is called a pair because it is usually served cut into two pieces while Wilfred thinks that a pair literally meant two wings. Apparently the person that took our order has the same thinking as Wilfred and we ended up with eight chicken wings!! That is a total of four chickens whose wings were cut off for our enjoyment *eyes wide*… oh well …

The stuff for the steamboat arrived in three plates: one that contains all the dumplings (this is actually an extra order), another that contains the eggs and noodles, and finally a huge silver platter that contains all the other items such as foo chok (bean curd skin?), meat balls (fish, sotong, prawn, pork), pieces of meat (chicken, beef, fish, sotong), quill eggs and some other things whose “official” names we don’t know (refer to the picture). These are the typical stuff that is usually given for steamboat.

Closeups of some of the things … "Oh, look … got PRAWNS!!", Lina got hyper on seeing them.

Poor prawnies *shakes head sadly*

While waiting for the soup to boil, the chicken wings arrived. The chicken wings came with its own chilli dip. We tucked into the chicken wings with relish. Verdict on the chicken wings: pretty average, does not leave us craving for more. Each wing cost RM2, a standard price for grilled chicken wings in the Klang Valley (tell us if can get cheaper elsewhere).

The good thing about steamboat is that once you get the soup boiling, the cooking part is pretty much a breeze because you just need to throw in the stuff and wait for it to float to the surface of the soup. And since most of the stuff is pre-cooked, it would usually be a short wait. A tip for eating steamboat is not to be greedy: cook the food in batches so that the food would not be overcooked. There isn’t any rule of thumb on the order that the things should go into the soup but most of the time, the noodles and eggs would be left until the end of the meal to fill up any remaining spaces in the tummies.

The clear soup (ching tong) was a normal ikan bilis stock soup, nothing extraordinary. While the tom yam soup was thick, spicy and sour but seem to be lacking in an important ingredient: lemongrass leaf (fatt fung kam yip). A dummy tip for those new to steamboat: the soups are refillable (DOH!) so don’t hesitate to ask the waiters for more.

A home tip from the chicks and pea here: a bathtub can doubled as a sink to wash dishes (altogether now: ahhh…). This tip was gleaned from our observation of how the dishes are cleaned in this restaurant. Two bathtubs was used: one to soak all the dirty dishes in soapy water and another filled with clean water to wash off the soap. How ingenious and resourceful!!

For those who like the convenience of getting your daily Chinese newspaper or a pirated DVD or two while having your meal, then this is the place for you. Every now and then, a peddler would come around to every table selling things of entertainment value such as newspaper, DVD and lottery tickets to food stuff such as homemade cookies, kuih-muih, and freshly cut fruits. We bought some tako (cubes of santan gelatine with chopped pieces of waterchestnut) for dessert. It wasn’t fantastic or probably because we were already pretty full by the time we got to the dessert. However, we felt its taste could have improved tremendously if it has been packed in folded pandan leaves rather than in some plastic container.

Overall, it wasn’t a memorable dining experience though it does leave each of us feeling content *rubbing tummy*. The total damage for the meal was about RM60 for four person, this is inclusive of the drinks and additional order of dumplings.

Left: the residue remaining in the pot, gross right? Right: the mess after the feast, yes we are slobs