Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Soon Lei

At that time, Lyrical Lemongrass was still experimenting with her iPHONE (or the GPS on her iPHONE, to be precise). Being the reluctant co-pilot (aka the one holding the inedible apple product while she drove), I had to concentrate on that little dot that was supposed to indicate our exact location, en route to our destination. Here’s the strange part; the dot was somehow offset from the main road that we were on (aka Jalan Klang Lama). I thought the system is supposed to have a high level of accuracy? To not be slammed by the influential her, let me just say that despite that tiny fault, it is still a very cool and hip phone.

As for me, I would have preferred the old way, the map. Such an old school guy I am, hor? Okay, not that kind. Hehehe...

Let’s get on with the food at Soon Lei.

Claypot Loh Shu Fun

Fish Head Noodle

Stir-Fried Mee Sua (Mee Hoon)

Stir-Fried Tung Fun With Pumpkin And Salted Egg

Loh shu fun is one independent, extreme blandness; like life without friends. And that is the reason why we need absolutely salty flavourful ingredients to make up for the taste. Soon Lei used minced pork, fried garlic and dried shrimps. The result, a good YUM. How about an extra, raw egg topping, eh? That would’ve given the dish a smoother texture, I believe.

As for the fish head noodle, the sweet fragrance of Chinese cooking wine was appetizing. It went well with the milky soup, no doubt. The addition of other ingredients like ginger slices, tomatoes, yam cuts and preserved vegetables provided a good contrast and bite. Fleshy fried fish pieces were aplenty as well.

We observed the dishes served on other tables. That plate of golden noodles was the most attractive of them all. Assuming that it was the signature stir-fried mee sua, we decided to include that in our order. Well, it wasn’t. But we walloped it anyway. I was pretty sure that we had mee hoon instead of mee sua. Slightly bland, as compared to the aforementioned claypot dishes but was compensated by the generous amount of ingredients like scrambled eggs, prawns, scallion and pork.

The goldie strands, were in fact the stir-fried tung fun with pumpkin and salted egg. Yes, we had that as well! It’s never easy to cook tung fun for they stick together easily, given their starchiness. Here, it was nicely cooked, without being mushy. Salted egg yolks gave the dish a nice colour and above all, a rich flavour that perhaps, can only be substituted by the more expensive roes. Pumpkin provided some sweetness and bite but was more of an option that a need, I feel. Nevertheless, points for creativity there!

On Labour Day, I had a few hours to burn before meeting up with the monkeys for lunch. So, I drove to Soon Lei again, just to make sure that I had memorized the route perfectly (which I failed, a few weeks back and we ended up at Alexis @ BSC). It was packed to the brim at noon! The neighbouring Goon Wah was no better.

So, if you are planning for a visit to this reasonably priced restaurant, come late. Waiting for tables in relatively hot and humid conditions is no fun. Think mushy tung fun.

Kedai Makanan & Minuman Soon Lei
G7, Blok KP1
Jalan 3/115C
Taman Kuchai Jaya
58200 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: (+6016) 608 7282 / (+6016) 273 5369

Click here for a review by Lyrical Lemongrass.

29 comments:

Selba said...

Me too.. me too.. I prefer using a map or just directly ask the people on the street when I'm lost of direction :D

Lyrical Lemongrass said...

You just have a bad sense of direction la sayang.

choi yen said...

I hate fried garlic so the fried lou shu fan sure have no fate with me~~

Btw, I can't understand GPS language either *sigh*

ck lam said...

Loh shu fun can be found easily in KL but that cannot be said in Penang :(
Sure would like to give this a try.

Tummythoz said...

So your vote is for Goon Wah or Soon Lei?

Both don't do dinner, right?

minchow said...

More power to raw egg in steaming dishes! Everytime I think of that egg yolk breaking upon the slightest movement and slowly seeping into the rest of the dish, I quiver, literally QUIVER!

backStreetGluttons said...

Notwithstanding those apple cravers and rats tails diehards & cutting edge Foodsters, so was the unGPS eating enhanced or not ?

Last stand theres still bsg, so you are safe !
LOL !

"Joe" who is constantly craving said...

i hav this place inked at the membrane of my brain..bcos i knw where goon wah is..phew..

GFAD said...

Soon.
I will farn Lei.
And eat siew ngap.

Mebbe she thot since you stay at the little red dot most of the time, you'd be a great help... :D

qwazymonkey said...

I've suffered from directions given by the Maps application on the iPhone/iPod before. So I know how the bardee dots work. Either the people contributing have really, really thick fingers or they are sorta blind when they didn't get to their destination whatsoever.

Anyway, the Loh Su Fun looks rather dry for my liking. Looks more like a fried version to me. But Fish Head nudles looks interesting. Could give it a go. But maybe when the rain starts pouring first. A lil too hot to be taking wine induced soup

Bangsar-bAbE said...

I can never figure out how to use the GPS...I think the voice makes me more "sesat jalan"! T_T

Rebecca Saw said...

LOL. GPS does take some getting used to. For a person who cant comprehend maps, GPS to me is god-send!
Havin said tht, i wil nd it soon to find this plc!

Unknown said...

Get a real GPS. Just few weeks ago, was at California with colleagues and we rented a vehicle and added in a GPS. It was so so cool! It was speaking the directions to us. (no need to have co-pilot who prefers paper maps.) lol...

Hmm you said go late. So what do hungry people do? Eat somewhere else then come here for seconds?

Chaokar said...

ALL THAT and two person?

OMG !!!
Gluttons.

HairyBerry said...

selba, agree! cos we'll learn more about that place if we do! ;D ok, but if we're in a hurry, i have no choice but to ask. ;D

lyrical lemongrass, no lor, i think i have been well with directions, if not always. albeit a little delay at times. ;P or when i am drunk la, of course. hehe...

mimi, oooh, i lurve lurve fried garlic. the crisp and aroma are wonderful! ;D then again, i dun take durians...hehe..i think GPS is fun, but yeah, needs time to study.

ck lam, yupe, do give it a try when u visit kl! cos i believe loh shu fun is one of those dishes that we eat frequently. goes well with fishball and soup as well! ;D

tummythoz, hehehe, you'll be surprised to know that i've not been to goon wah before. but the kind LL showed me when we were at SL la. yupe, i believe both dont do dinners but SL is open on saturday. that was the only time i could visit. give it a try!

550ml jar of faith, yupe, i agree!!! there's a certain magic when it comes to that smooth, silky texture of a raw egg. the millions of breakfast-ers slurping their runny yolks can be wrong. we likez! ;D

backstreetgluttons, the unGPS-ed eating was more of a free and easy gastronomy expedition that we all so need as the only restriction was the climaxing tastebuds. team, i will be counting on you when i am lost. but must get your contact first lah. ;D

joe, hehehehe, lucky you! LL was raving abt goon wah that i even remembers the name in my sleep! haha! i think the only time i can visit is on singapore's national day holiday. but argggh, it's a sunday! ok, replacement on monday. ;D

HairyBerry said...

GFAD,
Soon.
You will farn lei.
And eat with us, siew ngap or gai.

hehehe, i doubt she trusts my sense of direction. but we were a great team in several attempts to explore the unchartered territories. ;D

qwazymonkey, thanks for the support! good to know that i wasnt delusional! ;D ya lor, that offset bit is annoying la. if i were driving alone, lagi jialat. oh, din know iPOD got Maps as well. thanks for the info! ;D

as for the loh shu fun, i cant agree more. at least throw in a raw egg for a smoother effect la, me think. aiyah, no worries on the wine la. to quote LL, "fight poison with poison!".

bangsar-babe, hahaha! yeah, i understand what u mean. it's fun at times but when u are lost, it can get a little annoying. some soothing music to go with it would be nice, hor? hehehe..

thenomadGourmand, haha, i do agree that it is a helpful tool la. as for soon lei, hey, i can advise u, from the federal highway onwards. let me know la! ;D

keropokman, i wonder how much the cheapest GPS costs these days. i did think of getting one but am waiting for the bubble to burst. the price will be slashed. but not now la, i guess. hehehe...

u spoke my mind! so, i guess a breakfast/brunch before that would be great. there is a business park nearby with lotsa makans. that'll be a good stop! hehe..

chaokar, yupe, we had those dishes. all the two gluttons of us..hehe...well, we were there at 12+ and makan-ed til 4, i think. 1 dish per hour, ok lar..hehehe

fatboybakes said...

wah, iphone got gps one ah? free?

jason said...

Such an auspicious dish! I mean the tung hoon :)

They say it'll be easy for you to get there once you had experience. You just need to get lost another few times :P

Agnes Cheong said...

I miss fish head noodles. erm...food nv satisfied my tummy 1...omg

allie said...

Both the claypot lou shu fun and the fish head noodle have been added in my makan list. Hehe.. clay pot lou shu fan can hardly be found at Penang.. sad..

Sugar Bean said...

Didn't know there's such a place near my area! Thanks for introducing, will be checking this place out when I'm back.

Oh, and me too, I prefer maps than GPS. Haha!

UnkaLeong said...

I'll pull up and ask for directions;) Even being a techie, I would not put all my faith in those thingamajigs! Hahaha..Lovely dinner last night bro. Thanks for the drinks!

Ciki said...

a bit late hor the post.. but still excellent shots.. wait wait.. i will do a nic in my next post :P

J2Kfm said...

but the wonders of GPS cant be denied. though i'm stil lacking one and rely mostly on road signs, Google maps, and natural sense of direction (which i'm sorely lacking on most days!).

just read bout the Jalan Sultan outlet serving claypot lou shu fan at night. craving ... craving ....

HairyBerry said...

fatboybakes, i dunno whether LL paid for gps or not leh..but yeah, iphone got gps one. but i think its only suitable for walking, not driving la. no sound. summore so small..hehe

jason, u r right!!! it does look like an auspicious dish. the only thing missing is a name like "golden fortune" or something liddat..hehe...ya lor, the more we see, the more we learn. ;D

agnes, hahaha! me too! both the fish head noodles and the tummy. we are such gluttons, arent we? heheheheh...

allie, yupe, do check out the claypot lou shu fan the next time u r in kl! lotsa here. ;D well, u get nice ckt and laksa, something that's very rare in kl. so, that's good! ;D

sugar bean, oh, u stay in that area? cool stuff! i've been to this part of town a few times and i'm amazed by the number of makans, both old and new! great stuff!

unkaleong, ahhh, interesting! cos i thought u woulda have higher confidence in those gadgets! hehe...yeah, great time on wed! you're welcome on the drink, bro! thanks for dinner! ;D

cumi & ciki, hehehehehe, super extreme heavy backlog la..hehehe...ohhh, i cant wait to read your "nic". black and white ar? hehehehe...

j2kfm, agree with you lah! gps is nonetheless one of the best inventions i've seen in recent years. it's especially helpful when one is travelling, me thinks. as for seng kee's loh shu fan, get ready for a feast of oil! hehehe...then again, it's tasty la. oh, order the siew yoke mee as well! ;D

Simon Seow said...

It's a big U-turn from Kuchai Lama to Bangsar ooi.

ling239 said...

i miss claypot lou shee fun!!
does it comes with an egg ? :P

HairyBerry said...

ling239, no leh. this one got no egg one. that's why i was quite disapppointed. :( luckily it was very aromatic with all the dried shrimps. ;D

Joan said...

You are making me hungry now! right now!!