A day with the floggers..

Initially started off with Precious Pea's promise to bring WMW and Nic to try the pan mee; the end result turned out to be a large group of floggers joining her on a food crawl instead :)

We started our first stop, Kung Fu Smooth Pan Mee...

Boo and Nic were already there, we promptly rearranged the tables to fit in everyone and placed our orders..

Obviously noisy since there were 14 of us, and much more havoc ensued the moment the food was served..the number of DSLRs whipped out was quite a scene..hehe (p/s Jason, where's the 'shaolin masters' picture? :p)

I had the soup pan mee, as I wanted to try the soup base. It's very tasty, the soup had the anchovies sweetness and the mince meat added further flavour to the soup. I tried Jason's soup served with dry pan mee and we both agreed that the soup in my pan mee was more flavourful. The pan mee here was hand pulled, it's broader than normal pan mee and most length wise were about a feet long. The texture was springy and smooth, and the condiments of fried anchovies, mince meat and veggies goes nicely with this pan mee.

We had additional order of pandan chicken. Was average; though it's juicy, I find the marination lacking.

Floggers being floggers, how can one meal suffice?

And so we moved on to Restoran Yang Kee..

One our way there, Pea mentioned that we must not order the noodles, as they have changed supplier recently and the noodles was a no-no. Most unfortunately, we were one of the last to arrive, and the others were already there and ordered their bowl of noodles. We decided to share some loh shu fun, mixed beef and pork parts and braised beef with radish. The loh shu fun was ok, the mince meat (paste?) was slightly gooey. The mixed beef and pork parts were mediocre too. Pea recommended the braised beef, and after a spoonful, she said it was no longer that good :(. I did try, the beef was tender and the radish soft; just that the sauce lacked that 'kick' we were looking for..

The group split after that; some went off, others in search of the nice buttercake at the pasar pagi nearby..

Pea, WMW, Jason, J2kfm, Nic, Simon and I decided for some K session instead. And such wonderful voices they have, I was throughly entertained by the very serious and professional singing (floggers have excellent voice i tell ya!). Of course Simon's dancing added in much laughter and cheers ;p

After karaoke? It's tea time, what else?

Popped over to Otak otak place, which we had some grilled otak otak, steamed otak otak and cucur otak otak. The otak otaks had soft-tofu like texture , with visible chunks of fish (esp the steamed ones). I find it ok, I'd fancy a more solid texture in my otak otak. The cucur was oily and a tad hard though.

Did we continue with more food crawl after that? No la. Floggers also needed a break. Well, maybe an hour or so before I continue for dinner :p

It was nice meeting the rest (some for the first time); citygal, tankiasu, meng keat, food cookies, the nomad gourmand and unkaleong.

And thanks Pea for taking the time to arrange this (esp logistically!). xoxo

Kung Fu Smooth Pan Mee

28, Jalan Seri Sentosa 9A/ 133, Taman Sri Sentosa, Bt 6 1/2, Jalan Klang Lama, KL.

Restoran Yang Kee

52, Jalan Hujan Rahmat 2, Taman UOG, Jalan Kelang Lama, KL.

Otak Otak Place

One Utama (New Wing), 311B, Lower Ground Oval. Near Cold Storage.

Restoran Face to Face noodles house, Damansara Perdana

Was suppose to eat at TK Chong's Ipoh hor fun as Rick said it is pretty good. Most unfortunately, it was not open on the day we went, so we had to crack our heads on what to eat yet again! We looked slightly to our right and tahdah! Face to Face restaurant was so packed, it's really hard for us to just walk away from it.. Seeing that it serves chilli pan mee and sarawak kolo mee kinda triggered my interest so in we went.

Face to Face serves noodles, mostly pan mee..be it dry, soup, with chili, thick or thin noodles and with curry chicken. They also serves wantan mee, suikow(dumpling) mee and sarawak kolo mee. SF and I ordered the chilli pan mee (thick noodles) while SL ordered it with thin noodles. Bollywood Queen took pan mee with curry chicken as she dont take pork (that's the only porkless noodles there anyways). The wait was long and our side orders came first..

The fried fish cake...The fish cakes looks suspiciously similar to those served in Bao Bao, so am not too sure who got this idea first. The fish cakes are sliced thinly and deep fried, pretty good as snack.
The fried foo chook (beancurd skin) was served soon after. Not what I was expecting, their version was basically fried foochook served with diluted curry sauce. Nothing to shout about.
Bollywood's curry pan mee was served next..

She thought it was just so so as the noodles were way too thick, the curry was too creamy (with santan) and sweet (of sugar). By the time she finished her bowl, she felt like puking (sorry to disgust you) as the bowl of noodles was just too rich for her..Finally our chilli pan mee was served..

I ordered chilli pan mee as I could not find this noodles anywhere else other than the famous Restoran Kin Kin. Looking at the noodles, it looks pretty decent..The pan mee, the mince meat, fried ikan bilis (anchovies) and our own dollop of dried sambal chilli flakes. The egg, however, was served a tad different from Kin Kin's. Rather than the half boiled egg I expected, it was sunny side up egg. Give the noodles a good mix and makan! Bollywood queen was right, the noodles were a tad too thick. Although the anchovies and mince meat were fine, I was a littlle disappointed with the chilli as it tasted slightly burnt. And the egg was not runny enough to have the chilli flakes clingy on it :(. I think Kin Kin's version is better. Would I come back in the future to try their Kolo Mee? I'm still uncertain bout that.

What Julianne thinks? Average and forgettable

If you are at Curve/Tesco/Ikea and wanna try Face to Face noodles , just drive towards Damansara Perdana.It is located on the left, row of shop where 7Eleven is. Face to Face is at Jalan PJU8/51,Perdana Business Centre

Bao Bao Restaurant, Aman Suria

I always passed by Bao Bao in the evening and although it has customers, I could not be bothered to give it a second look..
Sometime back, Dragon, who works near there, told me that Bao Bao is rather famous for pan mee.. And recently, gary told me that this place is so pack during lunch hours that people had to queue outside the shop.. sure or not?

Since curiosity killed the cat, the pan mee mystery sure got my 'investigation' mode on..Decided to go over to Bao Bao for dinner (not so pack) with WF. As we were not given any menu whatsoever, I asked what they have there.. Pan Mien lah! barked the waiter, looking at me as if I'm a ninkumpoop. Hey, how I know la, maybe you serve other stuff??

Anyways, WF ordered dry pan mee with thin noodles while mine was with thick. You can also opt for pieces (mien fun gou) and soup based.

We were served a while later and I had to blink a couple of times...Ok la, maybe I'm rather suaku here, but I memang tak pernah nampak pan mee served like this before...The noodles was the rite type, but they replaced the fried anchovies and mince meat with char siew, meat balls and fried fish cakes..Yup, those onion bits look-a-like in the picture are actually deep fried sliced fish cakes. We tossed the noodles and took a bite.. surprisingly, the noodles tasted pretty good.. The fish cake actually make quite a nice alternative to the ubiquitous ikan bilis and the sauce was just nice. The pan mee noodle was too thick for my liking though, mental note to order thin noodles next time..Char siew was so so, but dipped in their pan mee chilli.. man oh man, its yummy! After taking a few more mouthful, I would think that the main 'attraction' in Bao Bao would be the pan mee chilli and the fish cake.

As we were paying the bill, I asked the waiter if they served the usual ikan bilis mince meat pan mee.. Again, he looked at me as if I'm a dunguloid and said, Of coz we serve the traditional pan mee. You didnt ask for it ma. What you had is our jiu pai (famous) pan mee lor.. Oh I see...

What Julianne thinks?

Different and tasty

Bao Bao Restaurant is located at 15, Jalan PJU 1/43, Aman Suria Damansara. Yup, same row as MCPG that I just wrote about..

Restoran Kin Kin

I briefly wrote about Kin Kin months back in the good food list as it's the only famous chilli pan mee that I have tried. Heck, its the only chilli pan mee I have ever tried. :p

Though I have been eating this for years now, I am still a fan of the conventional pan mee. Nevertheless, this is an unique, tasty pan mee and it has earned itself many loyal customers. I have known some who are so addicted to this noodles that they must have it at least once a week....

Lily and I popped over around 12:40pm for lunch on a weekday and it was freaking pack!! Though the pan mee here is more expensive compared to the average pan mee, no one seems to mind at all..We waited for seats and in the end had to 'dub toi' with others..

So what is chilli pan mee? Well, for those who have not tried this noodles before, chilli pan mee's main ingredient is of course, the chilli. Not the usual chopped chilli or the watery pan mee chilli sauce, but this version is the stir fried dry chilli with shrimp concoction. What you get is homemade pan mee with the usual ikan bilis, mince meat and topped with a half boiled egg. Instead of the usual dark soy sauce in your noodles, you add your own dose of dried chilli and mix with the noodles. With the yolk still runny, the chilli pratically clings to every strand of the noodles, giving it a wonderful aromatic flavour. Having the noodles warm, the chilli spicy and the ikan bilis crunchy sure packs a few punches with every mouthful :).

What Julianne thinks?

Unconventional, fiery but lip smacking (yeah and maybe spicy and red too from all the chillies!)

Restoran Kin Kin is located at Jalan Dewan Sultan Sulaiman 1, Off Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman. Along Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, turn left when you see the Honda showroom. Turn left again, Kin Kin is located in the midst of mechanic shops. With the amount of crowd, you wont miss it.