Category Archives: LOCATION: KUALA LUMPUR

Hup Yick Restaurant – Taste of Foochow – Ginger Wine Chicken

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It was a very hot Wednesday afternoon and we decided to drive out for lunch. We had heard about the famous ginger wine chicken in Pudu and were keen to try it even though we had no idea where the restaurant was. Perhaps the heat coupled with our hunger brought out the adventurous side in us.

On an aside, I am now laughing, alone, while writing this as it is highly amusing to think that this is what I would classify as “adventurous”. hehe. It must be the age thing.

After some very skillful parking at Jalan Yew, we trudged along the old shoplots, the smells of the market still in the air as workers swept up the debris from the road. Directions were promptly obtained from one of the shopowners.

We are big fans of ginger wine chicken, and we were trembling with excitement at the thought of savoring the dish in a matter of minutes.

Our order of fishballs stuffed with minced meat came first. I felt like I had bitten into a cottony-soft pillow. Our excitement grew.

The mee suah (wheat noodle) in red ginger wine soup arrived. Mee suah has traditionally been the stuff one would eat when sick. Pretty Pui wasn’t too excited about the noodles, but was willing to overlook that for the sake of the soup.

I love mee suah, so the entire dish sounded perfect. Served with sliced ginger and black fungus in a thin red wine soup and generous portions of chicken, it looked rather interesting (the soup was red, after all) but nevertheless, appetising.

One mouthful, and the bubble burst.

Sigh.

Hup Yick
No. 30, Jalan Yew
Pudu, 55100 KL

Siu Siu Restaurant, Jln Sungai Besi

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I hardly drive along the Sungai Besi road, so when I visited the Technology Park about a week back, I was surprised to see Siu Siu just after the RMAF Air Base. After making the necessary enquiries with my learned friends in the Makan Club, I was informed that this was a branch of Siu Siu Restaurant which I had blogged about in December. Naturally, we had to see if the food was as good as the other restaurant.

We are definitely creatures of habit. We loved the claypot vietnamese seafood curry so much at the other place that we insisted on having the same dish. I must say that I was just as impressed with the seafood curry. It was very creamy and not too spicy – the kind of curry that you can drink from the bowl without finding the taste overpowering. However, I found that it tasted even better with the fragrant white rice that was served to us.


The mixed vegetables consisting of celery, lotus root, lily buds, almond flakes and slivers of brinjal was a bit of a disappointment. We agreed that it was rather bland in flavour.


On the co-owner’s recommendation, we tried the Peking Tofu which was tofu blended with egg, water chestnut and fish paste and fried so that it was crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. It was served with mayonnaise.


We were informed that this branch did not serve the excellent char siew that we had tried at the Syed Putra location as the restaurant was relatively new and did not have as big a clientele as the other restaurant.

The claypot vietnamese seafood curry came up to RM28 while the other two dishes were priced at RM12 each.

The decor in the open-aired restaurant was simple, but the co-owner, Flora Cheong, mentioned that they were in the midst of constructing balinese-style gazebos to enhance the decor.

Siu Siu Restaurant
No.1, Kampong Satu,
Jalan Sungai Besi
57100 Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 012-233 7880/016-370 8555/016-309 8038

Opening hours: 11.00am – 11.00pm everyday.

Siu Siu Restaurant – Seafood

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I started the day thinking that I would have a lunch appointment with my boss and a client, but unfortunately, she had to postpone our meeting, and that is how my boss, Pretty Pui and I ended up at Siu Siu. It was definitely a very good substitute for the initial lunch appointment at Kottaram, a restaurant specialising in cuisine from Kerala (which will be the subject of another review).

I have worked in Brickfields for a number of years and have only recently moved out of that comfort zone. The idea of a comfort zone seems to cover many aspects of my life; my job, my personal life and certainly, my eating habits. We all tend to fall back on old favourites, so the idea of exploring beyond that boundary is sometimes unthinkable. As a result of that, Siu Siu Restaurant which is located approximately 2 km from my workplace, remained undiscovered.

Siu Siu stands in one of the small pockets of greenery in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. Finding it isn’t difficult – coming from KL on the Federal Highway, take the first left exit after Kuen Cheng High School, drive straight on about 200m and you’re there. There is also ample parking.

Apparently, one of the specialties at Siu Siu is the claypot rice with crab. We were not in the mood for crabs, so we passed, but we did see the dish. The rice looked very much like the claypot chicken rice, with the only difference in appearance being the crabs sitting on top of the rice.

We ordered another house specialty, Vietnamese Curry Prawns. This is best eaten with the mantou (buns). The curry is creamy, presumably due to the addition of milk (evaporated milk?). In addition to the prawns, the claypot contained lots of sliced brinjals, ladies fingers and long beans. I enjoyed this dish which reminded me of butter crabs, but with lots of curry.

The char siew (barbequed pork) took me by surprise. When you think you already know where the best char siew is, another one comes and rocks your world. Okay, so I’m exaggerating a little, but I thought the char siew was fantastic! It wasn’t too sticky and was sufficiently sweet, and it consisted of the right amount of lean meat and fat.

Vegetables consisted of a mixed selection of 4 different types – brinjal, long beans, petai and 4-angled beans.

Whenever the conversation at lunch turned to work, we quickly switched the topic by telling each other how good the food was. And that was no lie.


Restaurant Siu Siu

No. 15-11, Lorong Syed Putra Kiri

50450 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 016-370 8555/016-309 8038 (Mr Ng)

Open from 11.00am to 12.00midnight.

Closed on Mondays.