Roaring Forties

Yesterday, we tried another a place featured in the Angel Wong Chui Ling’s  1 day 5 meals gourmet show and this time we chose the Restaurant Yipoh at Damansara Utama. There were 15 of us, so we could choose almost everything off the limited menu. We choose; Yi Poh Salted Chicken, Szechuan Tan Tan Noodles, Herbal Noodles, Peking Sui Kow, Fried Foo Chook, Fish Fish Cake, Fish Balls, Siew Pak Choy, Tow Foo, Omelette, Hor Fun and Yi Poh Beansprouts.

Their signature dish the Yi Poh Salted Chicken was quite tasty but definitely not the best we have tasted. The rest of the dishes were dissappointing.

I would not intentionally make a trip there again for food but if I am in the area and if I ran out of choices, I would visit them again for the salted chicken.

So far Angel’s features hasn’t revealed any real gems. Guess that’s what the Malaysian media is all about. It is just publicity without much essence.

From those who has caught the show and want to try out Yipoh chicken, check them out at:-

25, Jalan SS21/56B, Damansara Utama, 47400 Petaling Jaya, Selangor D.E. (It is located along the same row as The Ship.)
Tel : 603-77222172 

Tomorrow is the weekend again and we have another invite to check out some eating joint but I still have not recovered from the previous expedition to a place called “Satu Ikan Tiga Rasa” in Selayang Segar.

This place was made famous by a local talk show called 1 Day 5 meals hosted by Angel Wong Chui Ling. 

The journey itself was a torture. We started out from Mentakab and were supposed to pick up the Flams but heavy rains and a massive traffic jam along Jalan Ulu Kelang forced us to seek refuge at my in law’s place in Ampang Jaya. After a rest, we tried again but leaving the Ampang area  alone took us 45 minutes.

We had to surrender and ask the Flams to proceed directly to the rendezvous point..  We had a slight breather at the elevated highway because no one wanted to pay the toll but the minute we exit in Jalan Tun Razak, we rejoined the traffic as it slowly wormed its way out of the city.

It was bumper to bumper all the way to Jalan Kuching. We did some illegal overtaking from the left lane and managed to overtake quite a sizeable number of utterly frustrated motorists including the Flams. who were 2 km ahead of us when we called them to check their whereabouts.

Finally, we arrived at the Selayang round-out (from KL) and we took a 3 o’clock turn and proceed and took a 12 o’clock at the next round about. Immediately, after this round about there were warungs on the left side of the road. We took a left turn immediately after the warungs and took the first left after that. 100 meters down the road towards the end, we found our restaurant “Satu Ikan Tiga Rasa”. 

The timing was perfect as both the Flams and the Winds also arrived at the same time.

Great I thought. It was only 6.45 p.m. We should be able to wrap it up by 8.30 p.m. latest.

We found empty tables but we were told that we had to wait. We were puzzled? Why do we have to wait when there is an empty table?  Anyway, we were allowed to sit while the owner went about their ways.

There were probably 5 tables outside and perhaps another 4 tables inside. More people arrived and we felt so fortunate since we got the table first. Those left without tables were told to come back in two hours.  

Finally at 7.30 p.m. after a 45 minutes wait, the lady owner came to take our orders. Okay! Things are finally moving, I thought. We went to choose our fish where their specialty was to cook it in three different ways. LK got us a red Lapu Lapu and Kurau.  

8.30 p.m. Food should be here soon, we thought. After all we have ordered an hour ago. 

9.00 p.m. The kids were literallyfainting. I decided to pack some barbequed chicken wings from the Malay warung.  

9.15 p.m. I was back with the wings and everyone cheered. Never seen such enthusiasm for chicken wings in my life before. Even the neighbouring tables were looking over their shoulders enviously. 

9.30 p.m. Wings are now bones. Conversations has turned dried. Everyone were looking at each other.  

9.45 p.m. Food appeared like magic.

The first fish dish was actually fish cooked in porridge -

For porridge or chinese congee lovers, this dish absolutely topped the scale.  Very tasty and unique as it came with a stove underneath. So the porridge was still piping hot to the last spoon.

The 2nd fish dish was a steamed fish -

It was about average, not too bad and I have taken much better steamed fish elsewhere. 

The 3rd fish dish was a Tom Yam fish

The Tom Yam fish wasn’t exactly Tom Yam a la Thai! It was more like an assam Tom Yam fish soup. It wasn’t too spicy, more sourish and sweet than hot. For a person who loves seafood and chili, I found it to be pretty good. I would have been happy having this dish alone  with white rice. However, the reviews from the rest were pretty mixed. Guess if spicy is not your cup of tea, then this dish wouldn’t rate too high on your list.

We also had prawns, eggs and some vegetable but the other dishes weren’t so great. I don’t want to waste my time mentioning them.

Overall, the food at “Satu Ikan Tiga Rasa” definitely ranks above your regular fare. It is unique as the style is very home cooked like but yet more elaborate than your home dining. The taste is good and I would recommend that place for die hards who want to try something different. But for us, the food was not worth the three hours wait. 

LK summed up the experience perfectly, “Satu Ikan Tiga Jam”.

Anyway, anyone who still want to check out this place, good luck to you. The contact details are:-

Restaurant Satu Ikan Tiga Rasa

Lot 59-61, Jalan Besar Segar 1,

Taman Selayang Segar,

68100 Batu Caves, Selangor 

Tel : 012 367 2163

Nov 15 – Had a ’simple’ lunch today in a little Teo Chew porridge shop in Mentakab. There were 9 of us and we shared the food which included chicken, fish, eggs, tow foo, salted vegetables, pickled vegetables, foo chok, mushrooms, pork, long beans, spinach and 3 other vegetables which I had trouble naming. In total, there were 12 dishes for the 9 of us, not to mention 2 types of fruits for dessert!

It was a simple lunch for the Chinese who always had the fascinating obsession with food. Only the French could match the Chinese in terms of uniqueness in the cuisine but they lose out in the sheer amount consumed. The Saudis probably will pack their tables with more food but they will never match the variety that the Chinese has. This fascination for food is what makes the Chinese unique.

You will be able to find 24 hours eateries in all Chinatowns and in all Chinese cities, the emphasis is nothing but food. The Chinese often greet themselves “Have you eaten?” instead of the customary “hello”. It is likely that food was hard to come by in ancient China and when you have the opportunity to consume, you feast. But in today’s modern times, food scarcity could hardly be an excuse. Maybe old habits die hard. The only real explanation for such gluttony is perhaps it is the real secret to happiness. ”Eat, Drink and Be Merry”.

Sometimes, this simple pleasure that the Chinese enjoys put them in a very bad light in the eyes of other cultures especially where you have wealth disparity. A meal like the lunch I had, would looked like a month’s supply of food for the deprived and the famished.  Others would think that the Chinese are such greedy people or show offs.

It is difficult to break away from one of the oldest culture in the world but sometimes we would need to scale down on such excessive traits. I did not really enjoy the food but lunch was more of an opportunity to enhance the social ties.

Well, it was a good lunch and I consoled myself that at least it is not game meat or meat of an endangered species.