Neon Khumthong Garden @ Hatyai

“Sawasdee ka!” A week ago, I made a trip up north to Hatyai to attend a wedding dinner with my in-laws. Since we stayed there for a couple of days, I managed to try out some of their local food. One of the most notable restaurant which I personally recommend is called Neon Khumthong Garden.

Unlike the overpriced restaurants at the city centre, Neon Khumthong Garden offers a good variety of Thai food at decent prices. No wonder the restaurant is well-known among the locals. Their ‘laksa noodle’ is a must try dish. Served with raw vegetables such as beansprouts, long beans and etc., it reminded me of ‘Ulam’ which is the Malay version of salad consisting of vegetables that are usually eaten raw or boiled for a very short period.

The noodle is made from rice flour and it is fatter than our version of Mee Hoon.

The raw vegetables were fresh and crunchy.

But what made dish truly special were the gravy. While I have no idea on what these gravies were made from, they were thick and spicy in a very nice way. The taste just hit the right note with a rich aromatic coconut milk and condiments used.

I was told that the most popular gravy is the yellow one which has cubes of coagulated chicken’s blood in it (front bowl in the picture above) but I didn’t have the guts to try it.

Nevertheless, I was perfectly contended with the other gravies and literally poured generous quantities all over the soft springy noodle. This is my favourite gravy.

The reddish gravy was also equally good.

To tell the truth, gluttony got the better me and I finished three servings of this delicious dish that day!

Beside the laksa, their Kerabu was also worth trying. It has a slight tinge of sourish taste mix with prawns and squid. This is a good appetizer.

Their fried chicken can easily put KFC to shame. It was crispy on the outside as the chicken is coated with a layer of flour.

The flour is thin enough that you will feel that you are biting onto the real chicken texture which is tender.

And finally the lunch was ended with a fantastic dessert called The Red Rubies or locally known as Tub Tim Grob. The red rubies are actually water chestnut dipped with red colouring. Once you have tried Neon Garden Khumthong’s version of Tub Tim Grob, you wouldn’t ever want to have this dessert in any Thai restaurant in Malaysia. The chestnuts were so fresh and so was the coconut milk. Coupled with a few slices of jackfruit, this is truly the best dessert ever.

If you ever go to Hatyai, make Neon Garden Khumthong your first choice for food. It is easy to recommend this place after eating at several other restaurants which doesn’t even come close to their quality of food offered here.

Neon Khumthong Garden
518/17 Sanambin-Hatyai Road
Moo 3 Kuanlung
Hatyai
90110 Songkhla
Thailand

Tel: 074-251143, 474587

Restoran Soon Hing @ Kota Kemuning

A while ago, I came to know from my niece of a restaurant called Soon Hing at Kota Kemuning. The restaurant is apparently famous for its Wanton noodle and it is located just a stone throw away from Pun Chun Noodle House which is another famous place to eat around the area.

The overall environment at Soon Hing was clean, hygienic and orderly. This  provided a comfortable dining experience for their customers. Service was also efficient and our food arrived on our table without waiting too long.

First up was the roast duck Wanton noodle. The roast duck skin was crispy while the meat was tender and moist. The duck definitely contributed to the overall tastiness of the meal.

The noodle was springy and freshly made. You can tell how skillful a plate of Wanton mee was made by tasting the texture of the noodle.

The curry chicken Wanton noodle was also noteworthy. Unlike most conventional curry which is more diluted, the curry served with Wanton noodle has to be thick so that it doesn’t become too watery once it is mixed with the black sauce.

The gravy was rich with ‘santan’ and curry flavour. The chicken meat was also delicious.

Soon Hing definitely offers one of the better Wanton noodle around town. If you are living around the vicinity of Kota Kemuning, I am sure you would have heard of this place. The place was packed during the weekend which is a sure sign of the quality of food served there.

Soon Hing offers different varieties of Wanton Noodles. I will definitely make my way back to this restaurant again to try their food soon!

Restoran Soon Hing
No. 8, Vanilla Q31Q
Kota Kemuning
40460 Shah Alam
Selangor Darul Ehsan

Location Map

E Garden Recipe @ SS2 Mall

SS2 Mall has recently opened its door to the neighbourhood of Petaling Jaya. Although the occupancy rate is still at its minimal level, there were a couple of restaurants that were already opened. One of them is E Garden Recipe.

From outside the place looks nicely decorated with a homely feel.

E Garden prides itself to serving food that are organic, natural and healthy.

I ordered their set lunch which consists of curry chicken noodle and peach tea.

The noodle comes with a choice of normal vermicelli rice noodle or brown rice noodle.

There were also chicken meat, long beans and tau fu pock.

Coincidentally, the gas supply was disrupted that day and I was told that most of the dishes from their menu cannot be cooked. Perhaps this was the reason why the meal that I had wasn’t very impressive.

I find the curry taste too overpowering. Then again, since they are serving organic food, perhaps the taste was meant to be that way, presumably using organic ingredients.

I have yet to taste their other food, but for the time being, their curry noodle won’t be my choice of dish to order there.

E Garden Recipe
LG 55 SS2 Mall
SS2 Petaling Jaya
Selangor Darul Ehsan

Location Map

Restoran Hup Soon @ SS3

It has been a while since I ate at Restoran Hup Soon. Many years back, this corner coffee shop used to be a popular lunch spot for me as their food were reasonably priced. However, just last week, I dropped by Hup Soon again and ordered a plate of Char Kway Teow (RM 4.50).

The taste was decent enough although I had tasted better Char Kway Teow elsewhere. It wasn’t bad but then again, it wasn’t particularly good as well.

Restoran Hup Soon
Jalan 3/29
SS3 Kelana Jaya
47300 Petaling Jaya
Selangor Darul Ehsan

Location Map

Restoran Bee Kin @ NZX

A few weeks ago, I stumbled across this new Chinese coffee shop opened along the same row as Ming Yang at NZX, Damansara Ara. Since it was a new restaurant, we  decided to check out the place. Not all the stalls were opened but there were a handful of choices to choose from. My colleague ordered some Yong Tau Foo for us to share. The taste is not that bad.

Soaked in hoisin based sauce (sweet gravy), this is a variant from the more common soup based  Yong Tau Foo.

Brinjals or Eggplant is another common Yong Tau Foo which happens to be my favourite too.

The food are chopped into bite size pieces and then cooked with boiling broth. Yummy…

I ordered a plate of Wantan Mee. Surprisingly, the taste was quite good. Not the best Char Siew (barbecued pork) but it wasn’t bad either.

I took the curry chicken with gravy which was thick and rich with santan (coconut milk).

The noodle was springy and nicely cooked. Thumbs up for the taste.

Restoran Bee Kin
Jalan PJU 1A/41B
47301 Petaling Jaya
Selangor Darul Ehsan

Pun Chun Noodle House @ Kota Kemuning

I stopped by at Pun Chun Noodle House yesterday for their delicious bowl of Wan Ton mee. For those who doesn’t know, Pun Chun originated from Bidor Perak since the 1940’s and has since grown to be a crowd favourite for its signature Duck Wan Ton noodle.

Thankfully, food lovers do not need to drive all the way to the northern region to enjoy their mouth watering dishes since they have opened a branch at Kota Kemuning, Shah Alam.

The restaurant was already jam-packed with customers as early as 9:00 a.m. I had a chance to grab a seat and ordered their dried Wan Ton noodle. Their noodles are home made using family secret recipe.

It has a ‘springy’ taste when chewed inside the mouth. Besides that their roast pork are marinated overnight and barbecued daily to ensure freshness.

Sliced green chillies with soya sauce go well with the dish.

Apart from that their Wan Ton is really big. According to them, the Wan Ton is also home made with fresh shrimps.

Yummy big Wan Ton…

Overall, I am really happy with the meal which costs RM 6.

Pun Chun Noodle House
10, Jalan Anggerik Vanilla AC 31/AC,
Kota Kemuning,
40460, Shah Alam
Selangor Darul Ehsan
Malaysia

Tel: 016-3807812 / 019-3206773
Operating hours: 6am to 4pm, daily