Category Archives: FOOD TYPES

Woo Lan, Brickfields – my favourite dishes

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In the midst of rushing for deadlines before the Chinese New Year holidays, we were still itching to have a nice lunch together with colleagues. A number of us cannot resist yue sang and if there is an opportunity to eat it everyday, I think we’d do that!

I’ve blogged about Woo Lan before, but I wrote about the different noodles served there. This time, we ordered dishes, and our old friend, JT, coincidentally ordered all my old favourites. I’ve graduated from these dishes and moved to several new ones, but like old socks, it is comforting to eat what I term “happy meals”.


First up was the plate of yue sang which we promptly finished, right down to the last sesame seed. It pays to have guys in the group who are not ashamed of being seen as desperately hungry, haven’t-eaten-for-one-week blokes.


In 2001, I was a big fan of fried pork belly. This simple dish is made of thinly sliced, deep fried, crispy belly stir-fried with chunks of cut onions in a slightly sweet and sticky dark sauce.


In 2004, I discovered butter squid (sotong). The sauce is very similar to butter crabs, which is a creamy milk sauce, and the squids are fried in this sauce together with a substantial amount of curry leaves. I remember in the old days, I used to finish up all the sauce as that was the best part of the dish. I even licked the curry leaves dry. 🙂 This dish takes a longer time to prepare, so order this only if you have time to spare.


Yau mak (romaine lettuce) was my favourite in the 90s.


The salted chicken dish was too dry; it would have been better had the sauce not leaked out of the packaging. But the flesh was tender and moist, although it was too small a portion for a table of 6.

Woo Lan (map here)
19, Jalan Scott,Brickfields, 50470 KL.
Tel: 03-2274-8368

Opening hours: 11.30am – 3.00pm & 5.30pm – 10.00pm

O & S Restaurant, Paramount Garden, PJ

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I come from Penang. Okay, so I spent only the first 9 years of my life there and my memories are restricted to eating flavoured toothpaste in kindergarten, playing hopscotch in primary school, eating koay teow th’ng at the market with mum, and swimming naked at the beach. But I still like to lay my claim over that island and all its wondrous food offerings.

Nowadays, I visit Penang once a year for my annual “makan” trip. The one dish I crave for constantly is the humble chee cheong fun.

You either love it or hate it. Chee cheong fun with prawn paste. Some are turned off by the strong fermented prawn smell. I, on the other hand, get delirious with pleasure.


Well, now I don’t have to travel all the way to Penang to fulfill my desires. I can get penang chee cheong fun less than 20km from where I live. That’s a marked improvement, I must say. I suppose there are a number of other restaurants in KL that serve this, but for now, Restaurant O & S will be a favourite. The chee cheong fun here is served with thick prawn paste and lots of fried shallots and sesame seeds sprinkled on top. Chilli is served on the side so you can control how spicy you want your meal to be.


The only problem with this restaurant is that it is so popular that finding a table at breakfast or lunch is hard work. There are a number of stalls serving a variety of food that will definitely satisfy one’s appetite, even if one is turned off by penang chee cheong fun (horrors!). Pretty Pui belongs to the Penang Chee Cheong Fun Hate Club so she ordered another favourite at this restaurant, asam laksa. I tried some of her soup which, despite having huge chunks of fish in it, tasted like the turmeric had not completely dissolved in it. But I’m willing to give this stall the benefit of doubt as I’ve tasted better asam laksa from this stall before.


We tried the prawn noodles, but we were not impressed. The thin soup lacked flavour.


Since our orders were rather small (translated: we’re gluttons), we also ordered a plate of yong tau foo to share. It wasn’t too bad, but I wouldn’t order it as a main course. I’d still go for the chee cheong fun! Call it an obsession!

O & S Restaurant
Paramount Garden, PJ

Woo Pin – Fish head noodles

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When it comes to fish head noodles, there are two places that I’m crazy about. On one hand, I love the XO fish head noodles at Goon Wah with its unique noodles in XO soup, and on the other hand, there’s the fish head noodles at Woo Pin.


I was first introduced to Woo Pin several months ago. Bizzy Bertie was witness to this happy encounter. Since then, I have eaten at Woo Pin several times, and I never get tired of it. The only thing that deters me from going there too often is the lack of sufficient parking space and the long wait for the food. On my first visit to this restaurant in Taman Danau Desa, my food took 45 minutes to arrive. Which is hard to imagine considering the fact that this restaurant serves only fish head noodles and a couple of side dishes. I suppose you can’t tell a diva how to sing a high C sharp note.


My most recent visit to this restaurant was on Sunday (yesterday) for brunch after church. Feeling peckish, we ordered the fish head noodles (no, we didn’t get the large bowl…still feeling the effects of the extra large plate of nasi lemak on Friday 😛 ) and we shared a bowl of boiled fish paste. This bowl also fulfilled the basic requirement for greens.


And why do I like fish head noodles? Well, the obvious explanation would be that I absolutely love any kind of fish head. Where a lot of people balk at the sight of eating a fish head (and I’m thinking foreigners here) I love digging into the cheeks and around the eyes for the best part of the fish. Of course, when the fish head is fried, getting the tender bits of flesh can be an arduous task. So the second reason why I like fish head is for the flavour of the fried fish. And when one immerses the fried fish head, and body bits, into a boiling soup with pieces of tomato, ginger, cabbage, spring onions and fried shallots together with bee hoon (vermicelli) and a couple of scoops of fresh milk and a dash of wine, the result is a tangy, rich and sweet mix of flavours that makes one wonder why one doesn’t do this more often…


Woo Pin fish head noodles can also be found at the Cheras flats which is the original location. However, the location at Taman Danau Desa is a lot more comfortable than the former.

Woo Pin Fish Head Noodles @ Ho A One Seafood Steamboat Restaurant (opposite S.K.Danau Perdana)
Jalan 1/109F, Taman Danau Desa
Kuala Lumpur
Opening hours: 7.30am – 2.30pm (closed alternate Mondays)