A Hearty Change at The Han Room

Things on the food front are starting out refreshingly different this year, I am glad to report. A heightened sense of chutzpah towards the appreciation of diverse schools of nourishment, as if I'd just woken up from a drawn out slumber of indifference and lethargy. Things I'd previously been oblivious to, or hastily dismissed upon one lousy experience or another, are suddenly offensively irresistible. Like tiresome steamboat. Or messy Ramly mystery meat burgers. Or the seasonal icon nga ku beng.

My previous eating incarnation would never have dreamed of making a beeline for new Oriental Group joint the Han Room at the Gardens mid-week. I mean, Chinese banquet-type dinners have been ingrained from childhood as purely extended family territory and all its connotations.

But on this feasting occasion in work vicinity, nothing else came close to remotely exciting birthday girl Vicky W as the Han Room. A wise choice, as so laid an evening before us of fine, happy feasting.

Crispy cod fish roll with chicken floss. None of us were big fans of chicken floss on well, anything, but this was a delightful savoury start.

Why not mix the starter up a little and throw in something sweet? The thousand layered cake was fine but rather one-dimensional, certainly didn't do its name justice.

The luscious Peking Duck invoked latter unprecedented cravings. I am at this very minute, physically fighting off a craving for that crispy yet juicy skin wrapped in pancake, accentuated by hoisin sauce. The leftover meat, however, was a bit too lean and dry for us but the kitchen worked with what they had with the second course of fried rice from the same dish.


The braised beancurd in crab roe sauce sounded so commonplace I would have glazed over it in a heartbeat, had my dining companions not called attention to it. The crabby sauce lifted every cynical Chinese preconception. Delicious.

With the consistent quality so far, there was no way late arrival Hong Kong Kai Lan "2 ways" could have failed us.

Regular programming all out the window by the time we wrapped up the dishes, I agreed over-enthusiastically to desserts, which again, is way out in left field for me. Some years ago, I lost my sweet tooth, I suspect to growing fondness of the drink, never to have seen more than a rare, superficial revival. But I am starting to see a possibility of a real change this year!

The star dessert of the day was the thoroughly refreshing Summer Breeze Coconut Jelly. Provided thoughtful balance to a meal too entirely heavy for a Tuesday evening.

Birthday girl's double boiled sea coconut with snow pear. A-OK.

And to cap it all off, I had the sweetened yin yang avocado & mango. I liked that it wasn't crazy heavy or sweet, despite my earlier reservations. Considering I was bursting at the seams at this point, I managed to mop this up to the last drop and still wished there'd been a spoonful more.

Service remained top-notch well into closing time. We sat around for hours, drunk on duck, dessert and conversation and only realised much later that our table was the last one keeping them from pulling the shutters down, because the staff kept diligently pouring tea and keeping out of our way.

The Han Room
Ground Floor, The Gardens Mall,
Mid Valley
Tel: 03-2284 8833

Serving the Beast Within at Thai Sabye Sabye, Old Klang Road

The Man is essentially an animal, his primary and greatest stake invested in his (or her) own survival. And when that survival is threatened, all the additional complex emotions as well as the ability to rationalise or apply logic become entirely expendable.

Case in point: One night, a desperate craving for Thai surfaced out of the blue. And with all things tinged with desperation, the advanced thinking, feeling human approach goes out the window when it came to the need to assuage that craving. Like a stiff drink. Or sex. No rest until you crack the code. Need it NOW.

I consulted the usual suspects in the blogosphere for guidance and found plenty of good things said about several Thai joints - a few were closed on Mondays and a few others were simply too far away in the horrendous rain-addled traffic. And then, just as I was on the brink of self-detonation in despair, I stumbled upon this lone post on Thai Sabye Sabye located on Old Klang Road, a stone's throw away from home for now.

The old unassuming outlet, located within Lucky Plaza (which houses Pasaraya Central, right before OUG turn-off) facing Old Klang Road, was a mere 5-minute drive away. I was giddy with excitement at the prospect of placating that incensed animal within.

The place was nicely filled up with families who looked like they had returned again and again to order the same items on the menu every single time. The worn-out furniture was reassuring, as was the wearied, yet comforted disposition of the other patrons.

We started with the Four-angle Bean Salad. Scrumptious with both dried and fresh shrimps providing a nice contrasted punch, coated with generous dousing of nam pla and citrus. Very refreshing stuff.

We couldn't possibly do without tomyam, especially on this chilly wet KL evening. Sabye Sabye served their tomyam soups in single serves (RM6 per serve) which allowed us to try two different types. He had the Tom Yam Chicken with Coconut Milk. It was creamy and comforting but it wasn't entirely mind-blowing.

I went with the Clear Soup Tomyam with Seafood. Again, despite my enthusiasm for this place, I felt the tomyam fell a wee bit short on the crazy spicy & sour front. The abundance of sliced bird's eye chillies brought on a coughing fit at one point but I saw that as just bad swallowing action on my part, not entirely great tomyam preparation on theirs.

Otak-Otak was a radiant serving of seafood coated in egg, coconut milk and turmeric. Went down too easily with white rice.

Deep fried Squid with Salted Egg dispensed the kind of joy one couldn't shy from when met with one's kindred soul. You want to get right under the skin and discover what you can't possibly know from muted appearances.

The soul of the evening had to be the Petai Fried Rice which arrived looking as placid as frozen peas but once we stuck our fork in to release the aroma, we were done for. I dare say I've not had petai marriage with carbs as zesty as this!

If you want to pay for only things you order, refuse the towel, the appetizer and jelly they serve as soon as you're seated, as they'll all pop up on the bill later. It's a token amount extra but still... you know what I mean. Meal rounded up to RM70 for two of us, which we were only too happy to fork over. The human in me laid comatose while the animal licked its paws and exhaled with gusto.

Thai Sabye Sabye

G62, Ground Floor, Lucky Plaza
Old Klang Road, KL
Tel: 03-7981 2887

The Dearth of Great Tomyam be the Death of Me!

There is no disputing this fact - KL has slim pickings when it comes to GREAT Tomyam, the perplexing yet phenomenal Thai contribution to palate busters of the world.

While there are concrete suggestions of potential in and around the blogs, as well as conversations with fellow hounds, great tomyam is in fact, an extremely personal assessment. The multitude of notes in traditional tomyam invokes the most liberal practice of cross-cultural appropriation and reception. What one person considers great tomyam may very well fall flat with another.

The search for my personal version of great tomyam led me to battle Bukit Bintang Saturday night traffic, on the trail of a recommendation from Jen. Jen has been frequenting Somtam on Changkat Bukit Bintang since the early 00's, before the area was colonized by higher-end lifestyle establishments. This too, explained why Somtam's prices of yesteryears were a fraction of what they are today, although it remains pretty much the no-frills eating establishment run by the same Thai family.

OK let's get to it. The red Tom Yam Talay (Mixed Seafood Tomyam) arrives, filled with an assortment of fresh, radiant-looking seafood. But... fishballs? Really, fishballs?

Jen informs that she's always gone for the clear tomyam instead, as it's unmasked by the coconut milk they use in the red version, so it's more sour and offers twice the punch. I won't say this is the ultimate but it is pretty decent tomyam, save for the fishballs, and also the fact that it could've been several notches hotter.

Khao Pad Talay (Seafood Fried Rice) is Jen's #1 recommendation. It came looking rather run-of-the-mill but after a quick fiddle with the sourish chilli sauce and nam pla (fish sauce) that Jen requested for, we had a taste and it was really delighful, nothing at all like its appearance. The secret, Jen proclaims, is in the way how the seafood is added to the rice only at the very end so the squid and prawns are almost still a little raw, and extremely soft and tender.

I'd only really wanted the tomyam and tomyam alone this evening but I couldn't resist reminiscing on those lazy fall-back meals in Bangkok, the very exquisite Pad Thai. Som Tum's version did not disappoint, bringing me straight back to hot muggy days of roaming the streets in wrinkled fishermen pants and a big bottle of Singha a permanent hand prop.

So it wasn't Great Tomyam this time around but it deserves a second visit - at least a go at the Clear tomyam and also some of the other very splendid looking items on its menu we didn't get around to this time.

Som Tum is located near the KFC end of Changkat Bkt Bintang, a stone's throw away from the start of Alor.

Carbo-happy, Mak Koh, Bangsar Baru

When you've had your fill of Happy Hour beer in the dai-chow desert of Bangsar Baru, and you're craving for nothing but lard-laced carbs, who do you turn to?

Mel ponders over late afternoon draught Tiger in Bangsar, confused... should we risk unpredictable uncle at Tengkat Tong Shin? Head for Thai elsewhere? So many choices, yet all requiring the nasty (and irresponsible) task of getting into our car clearly befuddled. But then someone recalled...

...Restoran Seafood Mak Koh on Telawi 2! Sticks out like a sore thumb among the rows of sleek bars, hideous pubs, first-floor boutiques and overpriced mamaks.

We skipped the impressive menu of typical and premium dai chow dishes and headed straight for where the carbs were at!

Salted Fish Fried Rice for 2, enough to feed 4!

The details - strips of deep fried salted fish, shrimps, fresh lettuce, Chinese sausages. You can tell these were just jumping off the behemoth of the golden wok no more than a minute ago!

KL Hokkien Mee - caramel darkness that oozed warmth, inspiring sobriety. Lard therapy never fails. Jane, however, declared solemnly that this wasn't all that good, for the prominent flavour was still the dark soy sauce and not the requisite balance of flavours for Hokkien Mee. She mentioned something about Setapak. Didn't take notes, too busy shoving it in.

We did good, four of us polishing off everything. Bill was a very manageable RM32 for both, given the neighbourhood. Rendered us sober to take on the dreadry Sunday drive home, the prospect of a full week of work ahead no longer fazing us.