Cheap & Decent Meals

[Tepee]

This thread is a spin-off from Carrot Top's Buy Soup, Are You Nuts? thread, where I maintained that in Malaysia, you can find a long list of food available within US$12. Since I didn't cook dinner (hey, it's Saturday!), and it was late, the 5 of us went nearby to a no-frills no air-cond restaurant, with 2 TVs and you have a choice to dine al fresco or under some cooling fans. It cost us RM28 (US$7.42) exactly, as stated on the menu...no tips, no tax, no hidden charges. White rice and chinese tea included.

Will be returning to this restaurant, simply named 'Y-Y Restaurant' for their noodles (ignore spelling mistakes/translation errors/literal translations & etc..)

I shall keep this thread open for future cheap eats.

Edited November 6, 2005 by Tepee (log)

[hzrt8w]

TP:

Fantastic pictures!!!

On the Steamed Talipia Teochew Style: Is it cooked the same way as what you showed us (steaming pomfrets)? The fish seems to be immersed in broth, is that right? Do you know what ingredients there are in this dish? I see tofu, and what seems to be choy poh (preserved daikon turnip)?

Edited November 5, 2005 by hzrt8w (log)

[torakris]

Why is it that I take pictures of gorgeous food and can make it look inedible yet you can turn a fish head into food porn????

In the first picture, what is old cucumber?

[Tepee]

Ah Leung Gaw - Mg Goi! Yes, the fish is done the same way as my Teo Chew Steamed Fish and the salted vegetable is ham choy or salted mustard green. There's soft tofu, ginger and mushroom in the broth which is produced from the steaming, rather than an added broth. Good stuff.

Kris - Tks...just playing with another interest, photography. Your contribution to the Gallery of Regrettable Foods thread are too funny; I'm sure the dishes were delicious.

Old cucumber is a variety of cucumbers which we use to boil a 'cooling' soup; it cannot be eaten raw like the green varieties.

[PCL]

TP,

can you please post the address of the restaurant? my dad will be very interested to visit. he's just left melbourne for KL this morning.

i am keeping score of the number of times TP and Shiewie et al have made me almost impulsively book multiple return tickets to KL just to EAT!!!!

[Tepee]

LOL, PCL! You don't have to send your dad to my neck of the woods (which is Bandar Kinrara, Puchong, by the way) just to have a homestyle meal. They are everywhere! In every housing estate. Prices shouldn't vary more than RM10. Since I hardly cook during weekends, we've patronized many such restaurants and all the meals have been satisfactory.

[PCL]

Ai Ya... tell us one lah!!!

Puchong, yeah i think i know where that is, but then again, i'm not so sure... but he does go there now and then... for the record, no home style places in TTDI... good Ipoh hor fun though...

[Tepee]

OK...OK...the shop is in BK5...er...will have to check out the actual address. But, I say, yet again, that it's no big deal.

Rather, THE PLACE to go is Paramount Garden (Section 20)/just down the slope from SEA Park, much closer to TTDI. Find the way to Giant supermarket. There are 3 blocks of shops (East, South and West) surrounding it.

To the East, is a 'cannot block' Bak-Kut-Teh with a equally awesome Kwangsi Restaurant a few doors away. The homestyle menu is limited but (wah-lau) the food is really good. A must try. May have to wait to get a seat.

To the West, is a homestyle Hakka Restaurant I return to again and again. Good stuff. One or two shops away, is Yeong Dau Foo which speaks Quality.

To the South, are another 2 homestyle restaurants, both corner shops. Been there too.

Umm...that should keep your dad busy for a week or two.

Edited November 8, 2005 by Tepee (log)

[Laksa]

To the East, is a 'cannot block' Bak-Kut-Teh with a equally awesome Kwangsi Restaurant a few doors away.

←

TP, I hope by "cannot block" you mean that the bak kut teh is good until tak boleh tahan, rather than commenting on the laxative effects of their soup.

[Tepee]

Yes, Spicy Friend, I mean Mo Tak Teng/Tak Boleh Tahan. Not to worry, I, who have a rather pampered constitution from 5-day/wk homecooking, daresay I can vouch for all the outlets I recommend in this thread; never* had a run-in with pathogens.

* Should I never say never?

[JC]

One of my favourite 'tai chow' places is Ming Kee in SEA Park. It's directly opposite the KFC outlet.

TP, thanks for the tips for those places around Paramount Garden. You ever tried the Ah Wah hokkien mee there? Not bad also. Their 'wat tan hor' also looked very good. This BKT place you mentioned, it's a shop by itself or in one of the coffee shops?

[Tepee]

John, I haven't tried Ming Kee before. Is Ah Wa the one at the end of Jalan 20/22? We usually go to that one or the one behind O & S; always long queues. Forget about the BKT shop I mentioned earlier. Apparently, the shop situated on the parallel road just opposite, called Ah Goong Jia Xiang Rou Gu Cha, is better.

[Tepee]

Recently, we discoverd a shop selling a delicious Chue Geok Sheun/Cho (Vinegared Pig Trotters) in Taman Kinrara, Puchong. Been having it for 3 consecutive Saturday lunches. For only RM9 (less than US$2.50), you get a good-size serving (enough for my family) of homestyle gingery goodness. YUM!

Edited November 13, 2005 by Tepee (log)

[Shiewie]

John, I haven't tried Ming Kee before. Is Ah Wa the one at the end of Jalan 20/22? We usually go to that one or the one behind O & S; always long queues. Forget about the BKT shop I mentioned earlier. Apparently, the shop situated on the parallel road just opposite, called Ah Goong  Jia Xiang Rou Gu Cha, is better.

←

Tepee - Ah Wa is that shop next to the Shell station in the Jalan 222 area I think. Is that right JC?

[Shiewie]

Recently, we discoverd a shop selling a delicious Chue Geok Sheun/Cho (Vinegared Pig Trotters) in Taman Kinrara, Puchong.  Been having it for 3 consecutive Saturday lunches. For only RM9 (less than US$2.50), you get a good-size serving (enough for my family) of homestyle gingery goodness. YUM!

←

This is making me very hungry and it's not lunch time yet

Edited November 14, 2005 by Shiewie (log)

[Tepee]

Tepee - Ah Wa is that shop next to the Shell station in the Jalan 222 area I think. Is that right JC?

←

When I saw Ah Wa, I immediately thought of that one too, but John was talking about Ah Wa in the same breath as Paramount Garden, wor?

[JC]

Yeah, I was talking about the one in Paramount Garden. Dunno what is the road name, but it's the corner coffee shop.

[Tepee]

After running some errands this morning, I visited my fav chap fun/mixed rice shop in Bandar Puteri Puchong (pix here and here). The last time I was there,I estimated they had 40 dishes. Today, I made a more careful count and it looks 50 easily. The proprietor was so thrilled with me snapping his dishes (note his wide grin), he undercharged me for my 2 packets.

Edited November 24, 2005 by Tepee (log)

[Pan]

Those dishes and that place look awesome! We have some "rice and 3 sides for $4" places in Chinatown and Flushing here in New York, and they're a good way to get a decent cheap meal, but they're nowhere near comparable with that shop. Well, some in Flushing may have a comparable number of dishes available (Mayflower near the Long Island Railroad station in Flushing, for example), but I don't think any are comparable in selection plus quality.

[Tepee]

Those dishes and that place look awesome! We have some "rice and 3 sides for $4" ...

←

That's dollar for dollar for you. On one of my 'greedier' days, one packet really full of goodies would cost RM4 at the most.

[Dejah]

Recently, we discoverd a shop selling a delicious Chue Geok Sheun/Cho (Vinegared Pig Trotters) in Taman Kinrara, Puchong.  Been having it for 3 consecutive Saturday lunches. For only RM9 (less than US$2.50), you get a good-size serving (enough for my family) of homestyle gingery goodness. YUM!

←

Oh...my...

[Ben Hong]

As you all can see, I get on to this site very late at night, just before bed time. Now here I am trying my darndest to shed a few pounds by abstaining from eating midnight snacks. It doesn't take a whole NASA team of rocket scientists to deduce that my mission is nigh on impossible, what with Tepee' s posts and lovely (drool) pictures (slobber) and (mmm) good prices. Unfortunately, I can't just put on my slippers and slide down to the hawker centre (McDonalds does not count, it is not food), so in order to surreptitiously fill my gut (sshh, mustn't wake Linda) I am doomed to a plain bowl of bran flakes and yoghurt gaaAAaKkkk.

From now on, I'll try to open Tepee's posts only after a big meal.

[Tepee]

Ben-sook...my advice is mainly stick to a chinese/malaysian cuisine, and you don't have to worry about diets....poooh! To help you, I've posted more food ideas in another thread.

[Tepee]

This evening's meal, specially for PCL...your family is looking for Hakka Food, no? I couldn't believe that it just came up to RM36 (just under 10 bucks) for my family of 5!!

[PCL]

Hey Tepee... RM36??? What kind of prices are those???? Puchong?? Must go!! I'm back in town in a couple days, so maybe next weekend I can convince dad to drive me to Puchong, well, drive us all!!

Thanks babe, you're a champ!!

But hey, does 'mei-cai' on the menu mean 'mui-choi' in Cantonese???