Post-swimming grub at Room 18, Tropicana City Mall

As soon as I landed in KL from Langkawi, my Crackberry went berserk with messages about swimming at Suan’s condo. I don’t know what possessed me but I wanted to join. Yeah, the closest thing to swimming that I did in Langkawi was soaking in the bathtub so I had to come home for a fake beach vacation by a pool. I guess it’s also the hot weather and, I really missed my friends.

The swim was fun as hell and produced lot of funny pictures that shall be posted here soon but lets get on with the dinner that happened after. We went to Room 18 at Tropicana City Mall for two reasons:

1. Easy parking.
2. Pork

# – Room 18.

Apparently, the last time ST was there, the waiter kept giving giving him the wrong order. So we speculated that the guy might had just watched Ip Man 2 and hence was filled with rage towards Caucasians, hehehe. This time around, the same waiter served us! We asked him if he had watched Ip Man 2 and he answered in the positive. Next thing we knew, he kept calling ST “Mr. Twister“, haha.

# – [L-R] Kerol, Yuki, Horng, God, Haze, KY and ST. Missing #porkgang members were Ringo, Suanie, FA & Ruby.

# – Some kind of rojak as appetizer.

# – Green onion pie. I like these! Very fluffy and aromatic.

# – Egg tarts. Apparently nice and fluffy, I didn’t taste any :(

# – Yuki’s fried rice. A bit bland. I tried it and had to agree with her.

# – KY’s Duck & Roast Pork Noodles.

# – Horng’s Noodles with fried dumplings.

# – Siu Loong Pao. They were quite tasty, the soup in the dumpling was rich with herbal taste the meat was tender. I do wish they had served them on a bed of cabbage instead of paper though. This is because when the dumplings started drying up, they stuck to the paper and it got even harder to pick them up without bursting the delicate skin.

# – Kerol’s steamed rice with pork ribs. I’d probably order this the next time I’m there. According to Kerol, it was very good! I tried a tiny bit and had to stop myself from stealing it from her.

# – Haze’s bak kut teh with rice. Apparently it’s good but I’ll stick to eating BKT at uncomfortable, dirty-ish places hehe.

# – The chilli oil deserves an independent mention. It’s one of the best I’ve ever eaten…I could probably just eat this with rice alone.

# – Last but not least, my plate of roast pork rice. Okay, truthfully the roast pork cannot be compared to Pudu’s. But it’s good enough as the meat was juicy with crispy skin (just not fatty enough hehe) and was very satisfying. In fact the entire plate of rice and pork only cost RM10.80 while a strip of roast pork at Pudu cost RM13. So I was very happy :D

# – See, I’m a happy camper :D

So basically, I’d totally recommend going to Room 18. It is owned by Tai Thong and for being Malaysian, it gets a plus point from me. The atmosphere is nice and comfortable. The food is pretty good and the service is decent as long as they don’t mess up your orders. Our bill for 15 items including drinks came to just RM143.75.

Room Eighteen
G-35, Tropicana City Mall
Tel: 03-7728 8128

Awesome siu yuk/roasted pork at Hai Lam Chicken Rice, Pudu

Ok, so I’ve been consistently taunted by members of #porkgang for having never tried this supposedly awesome siu yuk (chinese roast pork) in Pudu. Considering I grew up in Cheras and with its proximity to Pudu and all, I admit, it is quite embarrassing that I’d never heard of the place let alone tried the food.

So, after the Gatsby event at Berjaya Times Square, we decided to have the infamous siu yuk for lunch. Besides, the place is located practically behind Berjaya Times Square.

As I caught a glimpse of the unassuming corner kopitiam, ST pointed out the stall called Hai Lam Chicken Rice to me but all I saw was a row of roast chickens – no roast pork in sight. A long queue made up of hungry folks was visible. I tell you, at that moment my heart sank with disappointment. I was so sure that the siu yuks were already sold out. Parking was already a nightmare in that area and it took us a while looking for space. In the end, we decided to double-park. If you prefered peace of mind, you could park at Shaw Parade which is 2-3 minutes walk from the kopitiam.

When I joined the queue, I noticed a row of roasted pork slabs hung majestically at the back and suddenly, everything in my life was good again.

Beautiful slabs of siu yuk.

A lone man was operating the stall with an assistant helping him to take orders from people. After queuing up for a while I realised that the queue was only for takeaway customers. I could have sat down comfortably and waited for someone to take our orders -_-

Chop, chop, chop!

The man really did not skim on quality. My heart ached seeing all the perfectly roasted pork albeit a little charred get discarded. A woman next to me asked if she could bag them, but the man told her that he’s selling them to the Teow Chew porridge operators for cooking “choy kiok”, the delicious tangy stew made with various leftovers and lots of pickled mustard and tamarind.

A pile of roasted pork that didn’t make the cut.

We ordered 10 strips (RM13 each) and 1 whole roast chicken (price not sure). After what seemed like an eternity, the food came.

Check out this glorious sight…

Only a video can describe how much I enjoyed myself so watch this :D

Oh my lard, watching the video brings back so much saliva in my damn mouth!!!!!!

Last picture of heaven.

I know you want it so make it happen! By the way, they only start selling the siu yuk at 12.30pm so adjust your time properly ;)

Hai Lam Chicken Rice Stall
30,Jalan Nyonya,
Off Jalan Pudu,
55100 Kuala Lumpur
Phone: 03-2145 2512