My niece, the one working in Singapore – my brother-in-law’s daughter, will not be able to come home for Chinese New Year owing to work commitments so she came home last weekend and as always, she invited us out for dinner with her and her parents.
I heard that they run this very nice chap fanΒ (mixed rice) place as a chu char (cook & fry) place at night and the chef was originally from here, round the corner from my house. I might have gone there before – I can’t exactly remember – but I do know for a fact that everytime we drove past at night on our way home, there would be so many people and they had to lay out tables onto the road even.
We agreed to go there and give the place a try that night and boy, was I in for a surprise when we got there? The place was so very crowded, packed with a sea of people but thankfully, most of the shops in that area were closed at night so there was no problem whatsoever getting a parking space…except that you may have to park a short distance away and walk a bit as those right beside the coffee shop/restaurant would be taken.
They had an army of employees dressed in strikingly red t-shirts, their waiting staff but unfortunately, the young and handsome boy who came to take our orders was mono-lingual. I was not quite in the mood to deal with our communication problem so I just asked if, among so many of them, there was anybody who could converse in Hokkien and he flashed his cheeky smile and said obligingly, “I will go and get someone OLDER who can speak Hokkien.” Tsk! Tsk!
A lady came almost right away and she took our orders for the fried midin (wild jungle fern), ching chao (fried plain)…
…and the bitter gourd cooked with the three types of eggs…
…and a friend did tell me that their butter milk chicken…
…was nice so we ordered that and we also had their sea cucumber soup…
My niece wanted those giant freshwater prawns but no, they do not serve them here so we had to settle for their prawn balls instead…
I asked for the kiam sor (salty & crispy/crusty) but they got it mixed up and we ended up getting the butter prawns instead. Yes, it was nice but the thing was the sauce was exactly the same as the one with the chicken strips so of course, the taste would be the same.
Their own-made tofu…
…was very good and while their salted fish soy sauce pork…
…was all right, we could hardly detect the fragrance and taste of the salted fish plus they used 100% lean meat – I think I would enjoy it more with a little bit of fat. Hehehehehe!!!!
The bill came up to only RM137.20, inclusive of drinks, for the 6 of us. We ordered for 4 but the servings were so huge we had to tapao everything home. There was enough for at least, 10 people, I think.
So if it is nice and very cheap food, very fast and efficient service, this is one place you can consider coming to but if you are not into crowds and would prefer a place more quiet and comfortable, perhaps it is best that you go elsewhere.
PHOTO CREDIT: All iPhone snapshots featured in this post were taken by my niece as somehow or other, I forgot to bring my camera along that evening.
AH KIET RESTAURANTΒ (2.317307, 111.850023) is located right behind Comfort Furniture among the shops beside the Selemo traffic lights along Lorong Ling Kai Cheng 2, off Jalan Deshon if you are coming from town or you can go in via Lorong Ling Kai Cheng 4 if you are coming down from Teku or Ulu Sg Merah. The very popular kampua mee (and fried kompia stuffed with minced meat) place, Sing Ming Kee Cafe is in that same block of shops at the other end on the left.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
Only RM137.20 for those 7 dishes plus drinks, what a deal. Food looks great and to my liking.
Yes, very very cheap and servings were huge! Must remember not to order so many dishes the next time we come here.
The dishes looked good. Everything “ngam” me.
Gosh. Young kids nowadays, they are really suck when come to language. Don’t they know other languages as taught in school?? Lol. Or better, let the menu does the talking. Inventing in a good menu with 2 languages (Chinese and English) is good.
No menu here unfortunately. π¦
That is one thing I can’t understand – there is Malay in schools and English too but after so many years studying, they cannot speak a word!!! Not surprised that so many graduates cannot find a decent job these days – they only have themselves to blame.
I like everything except bittergourd which I don’t eat…
The only vegetable without any need for pesticides, other than our midin here, of course – our wild jungle fern, plucked from the forest, so very healthy. You don’t know how much pesticide you are eating when you go for other types of vegetables.
I’m already drooling over the food while reading your blog!
How would the butter prawn dish compare to Ruby’s? I’m a diehard fan of Ruby’s butter prawns so I ask the question!
I thought it was nice, different from Ruby’s…and between the two, I do feel that Ruby’s has an edge over this one here.
I’m already drooling over the food while reading your blog!
How would the butter prawn dish compare to Ruby’s? I’m a diehard fan of Ruby’s butter prawns so I ask the question!
I’m really sorry for the duplicate comment π
Aha! Duplicate comment again. π
I don’t know what’s going on!
Never mind, the more the merrier. LOL!!!
your niece takes nice food photos for a non-blogger – she could become your guest photographer whenever she’s in town! π
That is very rare, maybe just a couple of times in a year. Singapore does not have as many holidays as Malaysia.
I’m curious about the butter milk chicken – did they use butter and milk, or buttermilk, which is the liquid left over after making butter?
I haven’t the slightest idea, probably butter substitute – butter is so very expensive here, last I saw, a block of Golden Churn is selling for RM16.00!!! Possible our sweetened creamer as well, palm oil condensed milk look-alike, taste-alike. At least it tasted great – dunno if it will actually taste better if using real buttermilk, never tried.
Like every chu char place you’ve been to, midin is a must-order dish?
My niece does not get to eat that in Singapore and she only comes home once every few months so to her, it would be a real treat – a must order. I dunno where they can get to eat that in Singapore – I hear they’re air-flown from Kuching to the island republic every day! Bet it must be very expensive there, so cheap here!
Fatty pork for me too! I never like the lean cuts π
In Hokkien, we say the meat is siap siap, too lean.
Love love love the look of the midin!
100% organic, picked fresh from the wild!