A meal at Chez Remi... a restaurant with a conscious effort

 I recently got to dine at a restaurant in Angers, France that serves meals from freshly obtained local produce and organic products whenever possible. Loved the concept as the cuisine was not pretentious and they offer hearty local flavours of the season at an affordable price.

The facade is rather simple and does not scream to passersby to come inside the restaurant. It is therefore an interesting discovery...

The first thing that greets a client - a pledge to stay clean from the use of pesticides in food.

the setting is cosy and classic bistro styled

the table setting is also pretty basic

I chose a standard lunch menu of 2 dishes at 23 Euro. The entree is a watercress and sorrel soup. Liked the rustic, dense flavour.

The main course was a choice between fish or veal. I opted for the later. Very well prepared and well seasoned. The accompanying mushroom was delicious. And with a cup of hot tea the total bill came to 26 Euro.

The online menu - it doesn't tell what it will serve because it is based on what is available seasonally...

Yuen Kee - an ode to 60+ years of classic chinese dishes

 In Raub, the oldest surviving first generation Chinese restaurant is perhaps Yuen Kee. The restaurant started as a typical Chinese restaurant (predominantly Cantonese cuisine that is malaysianised) over 60 years ago with a brothers team - the chef is the younger brother and the older brother the Maitre d’hôte, the guy who takes the order and prepares the ingredients. As far as efficiency goes in cooking, I think this restaurant has to get the gold medal. On a given "normal" day, a quick order will result in the dishes almost following you from behind as you start to head back to your seat! As the restaurant has had 3 different stages of location changes, it was reduced from a physical building - restaurant to a stall in a hawker lot. Well...

The one thing that is constant about Yuen Kee restaurant is the incredible "Wok Hei" and its classic flavours. If anything that should instantly send any Raubians to their childhood restaurant flavour this restaurant will win hands down. That having said, having survived the Covid lockdowns, the brothers, now in their 70s, are already tired and worn - and are gazing at imminent retirement for good. And soon!

So, I went for a fully "classic" order feast last Saturday just to have a go at it. For old time's sake.

All "greasy" meals need a good dunking of Chinese tea. The perfect balance. For the uninitiated, the dishes may appear a tad "greasy" and smoky but don't let the appearance fool you. Their goals are not to get a Michelin star. You get what you pay for. And satisfaction guaranteed.

Between the tea arriving and the dishes I ordered, everything was on the table in just about 10 minutes. McDonald and KFC - take note. This is real fast food and efficiency. Not waiting in line for at least 30 minutes to get cooked meals that just need to be packed. We are talking about dishes that need to be cooked from scratch here.

My perennial favourite: kangkong belacan. Never overwhelming nor too spicy yet the kangkong picks up a light smoky sear and never overcooked. A must try.

Classics: Kau Yok or braised Pork Belly with Yam. This is a classic Cantonese and Hakka dish for festive seasons and they deliver it like it should be. Better than any fancy expensive restaurants. If anyone wants to retrace their grandmother's flavour but can't find it -  this is where to find it. 

The true unsung star of the restaurant - egg Fu Yung. This is actually a true malaysian Chinese dish and Yuen Kee has the best I have eaten anywhere else in Malaysia. The eggs are properly seared on the edges and outside but the inside remains creamy and slightly runny. It doesn't give you the fried omelette vibes that you often get with less experienced chefs.

The other unsung hero - sweet and sour pork. The sauce has the right amount of tang, spiciness and sweetness which are cleverly balanced yet compliments the fried pork perfectly. The wok hei in this dish is out of this world. I will truly miss this dish should the restaurant ever closes...

The choice of soups are usually in the range from 3 to 5 varieties - all double boiled style. Lovely, simple and classical soups from the kitchens of the past. Above: watercress and pork rib soup. Below: chicken herbal soup.

The restaurant opens from Tuesdays to Sundays upwards from 10.30 a.m. and closes at 2.30 p.m. They used to offer dinner but not anymore. Prices are the most reasonable that one can ask for.

Dining at Han Room

 Well the Covid situation wasn't going anywhere and going out these days is a real challenge - the amount of hesitations and risks to calculate if it was worth it at all. Any which ways, it must have been like a year ago since I actually ate something decent from a restaurant and so my friend, so happen to be in town, decided to give it a go, with social distancing et al....

We initially wanted to have the hokkien mee but after a few doubts, Paul decided to go for the set menu at RM158 per pax (min 2 pax). The bill came up to RM370+ for 2. Pretty steep if you ask me. 

I don't want to sound like a picky eater but here's my 2 cents for the chef...

Pan-fried tuna - nice. A bit more sauce would be appreciated.

I always like superior soupe. They should just get rid of the dried-up meat inside since the double boiling already removed their essence anyhow.

The abalone was nice and soft and I liked the thick sauce.

Iberico pork was nicely done but the accompanying salad would have been better with some Granny Smith apples to give it the thang and zinger, albeit with a more sourish fruity sauce. Pork and apples are good friends. The salad didn't do justice to the main. Somehow something is flat.

Teochew-styled steam rice with Mui Choi. Too spicy for me. The spiciness masked the quality of the stew.

simple no-frills desert. ok...

Biscuits frenzy in Taiping

En route home from the North, we usually drop by Taiping for some nostalgic old fashioned fare and just right opposite our hotel, a row of small shops were selling all kinds of things when the biscuits on display suddenly reminded me of the biscuits we had in our childhood days. These days, they actually taste a bit different (or updated) but I bought a few to share with my tea drinking friends over the weekend...

still popular, these sticky filling buns

 The Chinese version of butter cookies known as hap tau so in Cantonese

 Fried scissored pastry

 A soft biscuit usually used for dunking - now in smaller pack

 The Chinese mah tong, a sugar coated fried pastry

 Dried coconut biscuits

 grilled sugar-coated bread

 kueh kapit

 An array of biscuits in tins - now only found in a few surviving neighbourhood grocery stores

Dried roti kok - used to hate them like no tomorrow. Apparently they are still being consumed today. taste like terrible fish food for aquarium.

70 year-old chinese restaurant at old Pudu in KL

A couple of weeks ago, my friend took me to a restaurant that gave me a real nolstagic jostling. Smack on the busy street of old pudu is a restaurant that stood for more than 70 years on its original structure and I think that is rare in KL. 

Restoran Sek Yuen. Built in old Straits Chinese Bauhaus-influenced style in a rather open plan (reminds me of buildings in my early childhood), the restaurant has ample air circulation which is more adapted to our hot and humid weather than today's cramped side shops over-flowing with hot stalls so common in PJ and Bangsar. The parking however is restricted to the back lane which is quite dodgy if you have a big car though...

the facade

entrance

cavernous structure of the interior, much like a pavillion

really old furniture with formeca-lined table top straight from the 60s! The worn patch is a testament to its years of repeated wiping and frictions...

liked that the owners took the pain to keep black and white photographs of the culinary processes in the kitchen on the walls

old-fashioned banquet plates made from aluminium - so 70s

standard condiments offered for the meals to come

a simple rustic chicken herbal soup (Yook Chook)

rice is served individually in tiffin-like containers. Refreshing but tad too much for small picky eaters like me...

my standard benchmark for Chinese restaurants: sweet and sour pork. Though a very common fair and rather simple, to get a perfect "Koo Low Yook" is an art and not many restaurants can pass the test of a crispy skin and soft easy center and a sweet and sour sauce that is well balanced. This one got a 6 out of 10 approval from me (considered a good dish)...

their signature dish - Pei Pa Ngap (Spiced Roast Duck). Rustic and hearty with sour plum sauce.

a simple sauteed "Thong Hor" vege -  kind of like a very tender Aster or Chrysanthemum plant that is comestible. Nice in soup and stir fries.

The Maitre-D is a very nice lady by the name "Choo Chay" meaning Sister Choo. Just don't call her lady boss or she will have a word or two with you...Price is reasonable for KL and definitely worth checking out for their other old-world rustic dishes lost in today's nouvelle Chinese cuisine and fusion cuisine.

Rustic Duck Rice in Raub

This is not the best duck rice in the planet but it certainly is a very satisfying one. It is one of those "must do" places in Raub if you ever go there to join the weekend "jalan-jalan cari makan" horde of local tourists. One warning though, they sell out way before noon and so it is actually quite difficult to get anything from the stall if we follow the city schedule of eating lunch.

The stall is located in Kampong Bukit Koman (gold mining village) right at the edge of the small stream that passes by the village and sells principally rice and noodles with roast duck and char siew (barbecued pork). On the side, there are also the usual poached eggs and pig intestines in dark soya sauce as well as authentic Yong Tau Foo (stuffed Tau Foo). Their soup, sold separately, is intense, dark, herbal and very rustic. A good strong bodied soup for those who has the liking for such things...

 Authentic stuffed tau foo and tau foo pok

 Poached eggs and intestines are offered too, with rice or noodles.

Raison d’être of the stall - their plump and rustic ducks well roasted with crispy skin and a very nice fermented bean paste sauce.