PJ Old Town Food Court – I Have A Date With Nostalgia
September 26, 2011 | 14,946 views
Craving for NON-Halal Satay? – Succulent bites of marinated pork and flavourful mutton on skewers (those sticks named ‘lidi’), served with sliced cucumber and pungent raw onions. Not forgetting, the spicier than average chunky peanut gravy.
And here comes Monday. The very last one for September. Time flies, it’s been a good 10 months since I moved to KL, and the urge to hunt for good (street) food has dwindled slightly.
Could be the weather, the traffic, the workload, or the sheer incoherence of them all. But one thing’s for sure, I’ll be damned if I decide to shut this blog up before reaching its prime.
Wait, or has it? ….
Anyway, here’s a short post on this very old school food court in PJ old town serving a delightful myriad of hawker food; a startling resemblance to Ipoh’s stadium food court, or Medan Selera Dato Sagor in old town.
Time Stood Still since the 70’s? Almost every stall has this “GERAI” moniker tagged to its name. “Gerai” meaning stall in Malay, and the octagon-like shaped bazaar houses quite a good number of eateries. Though by 9pm or so, most have closed or preparing to cease operations for the day.
Not that KL’s short of good places for food. In fact, if I can do ONE eatery in KL per day, it may take me forever to cover the whole of the metropolitan and its perimeters, before running out of resources to write about.
But then again, the turnover rate of restaurants sprouting every month is at an all-time high; with new business centres in the most obscure of places; chain eateries and franchises mushrooming like nobody’s business (by the way, just had the slightly over-hyped ChaTime the other day … none too memorable, except the refreshing Uji Matcha Milk Tea; a splendid combination of green tea with red beans, infused with lots of milk).
It’s a Hakka Thing – Generously stuffed with the combination of paste (more fish than pork though, or was there any pork in them? … hmmm) the Yong Tau Foo from this stall with a bright orange signboard named Seong Kee (stall no 35) were good accompaniments to the mains we had. Alternatively, you can order other dishes from the same stall and request for rice to complete the meal.
Bombed Meats? If you’re hankering for Mum’s home-cooked food back in hometown, don’t cry. Try Seong Kee’s Hakka char yoke; a moreish combination of pork belly still wobbly from the fat layers intact, braised in this dark gravy perfumed by this distinctive aroma (and taste, naturally) of “nam yue” (fermented bean paste).
Fresh Spring Rolls, but NOT Vietnamese! – Now the “Popiah” from a stall further away (sorry, forgot to take the number, but it’s a stall almost adjacent to another Ais kacang stall, and also selling asam laksa, rojak and tauhu bakar) might not have piqued our interest as much, since the slightly dry texture of the popiah skin (the white-coloured, thin crepe) marred the experience. Slightly. But the crunchy bits of fritters stuffed inside together with the abundance of julienned jicama/yam bean and cucumber reminded me of Ipoh’s Kong Heng’s.
ABC means “Ais Batu Campur” (Mixed Shaved Ice), or Ais Kacang; a favourite dessert from the streets of Malaysia. Though this small stall situated a lot away from Gerai Satay Cina Thoo Yuen did not manage to wow us in the faintest sense of the word. Lack of ingredients, and where’s the attap chee when you need them?!
The pork satay was not of mind-blowing, heavenly proportion, but still the BEST so far in KL. Very meaty (about RM0.80-RM1.20 each, as the 5 pork, 5 mutton platter cost RM11.00), without the sinful bites of pork fats in between (unlike this Malacca’s version of the sate babi). But the mutton satay was fantastic. Tender without being overly chewy, with this irresistibly sexy gamey taste (oh, I like my lamb/mutton suitably gamey, but not overwhelmingly).
The Yong Tau Foo (stuffed fish paste) were okay, the brinjal (aubergine, eggplant) was soggy from the oil as brinjal’s literally a sponge for all liquids. Crunchy fried sui kow (dumplings) was a treat, but the skin had this overpowering ‘kan sui’ (alkaline, lye water) taste that might put you off if you’re aversed to that.
Many more stalls to be covered before coming to a conclusion, but one thing’s for sure; I will definitely order again from the Chinese satay stall. The old couple might just call it a day in 5 years, or less. Let’s hope the legacy is continued before UN-halal satay gets wiped off from this part of the world.
Medan Selera Jalan Othman @ PJ Old Town
(A mix of Chinese, Malay and Indian stalls)
Corner of Jalan Othman and Jalan Selangor
47100 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia.
* Next to PJ Old Town wet market and the bus station.
Google Map to this food court
Like this place.. eat holiao..
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Is the chicken rice still there? Their curry pork is nice. Their char siew is good too.
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I was told that the pork satay man had closed down. Don’t look like it. Must give it a try one night.
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OMG – You bring back memories of me visiting my then-BF who used to live in Old Town and all the makan places that we used to go 17 years ago. hehehe – I am not that old but my then-BF is my now hubs.
What was good then : – the YTF that you mentioned. The waiting time was damn long as many people ordered from it. There is a chicken rice stall near that YTF stall which is quite good esp their siew yoke fan – crispy, crunchy yummy skin. Also an ABC ice kacang with with kacang inside with an option to have red syrup or sugar melaka. The Malay satay next to the opening in the Malay section was pretty good too.
Outside the food court has some great stuff too. Meng Kee BKT opposite the food court is very nice too. Also there was a claypot chicken rice shop opposite the food court/ market has yummy claypot chicken rice and boiled soups. I think it only opens at night.
Old Town has many great stuff to eat except parking is a nightmare.
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Ben Makan Reply:
December 28th, 2012 at 2:57 pm
Dear TC,
Can you pls provide the address or the link to the map?
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cant imagine you came to KL to work just after i flew down under for the same reason too.. despite brisbane being MUCH smaller than KL, it will still me a very long time to cover all spots, not to mention KL! have fun eating your way thru.
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I wanna go back there again. The satay were good, and I actually love the ais kacang. Not sure if you ordered it from the same stall as I did, bcos the shaved ice were one of the finest texture I have ever came across so far in Klang Valley.
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I like my mutton satay muttony too, lol! That ice-kacang looks a bit watered-down though.
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J2Kfm Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 7:31 pm
Yeah, the ABC was not as good. Go go …. go make some satay mutton already! 🙂
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The ice kacang at stall 46 (Gerai Minum Weng Kee) is quite well known. The ice is shaved very fine and just melts on your tongue. Great stuff!
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J2Kfm Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 7:30 pm
Oh … stall 46, okay thanks. Will plan a revisit soon enough, and taste the real deal.
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Yo bro, it’s been awhile since i last blogged bout food. You should give a coverage to the Satay Babi, Satay Intestine of Babi at “Wong Kam Bercham” 🙂
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J2Kfm Reply:
September 30th, 2011 at 10:57 pm
Oh .. the food court ah? I don’t find anything of particular interest, although been eating there for so many times.
I stay nearby, after all.
The dai chow stall is not bad, but not spectacular.
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Nicholas Law Reply:
October 11th, 2011 at 4:59 pm
yea! you shud try the satay… the old uncle and auntie will actually carefully cut out the burnt part of the meat before serving them to u. give it a go. 🙂
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J2Kfm Reply:
October 12th, 2011 at 5:34 pm
Okay okay …. noted.
There used to be an elderly couple at this Old Town medan selera who operate only on weekend evenings with 3 items on the menu – assam laksa, otak and nyonya zhang, all good and tasting home-made. Not sure if they’re still there but do post if you find them !
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J2Kfm Reply:
October 1st, 2011 at 3:35 pm
Sure Su Sian, will be on the lookout for that. Only 3 items, and do they sell from a stall?
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Su Sian Reply:
October 5th, 2011 at 11:31 pm
Yes, they operate out of an actual stall, which is shuttered on week nights when they’re not there.
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J2Kfm Reply:
October 6th, 2011 at 10:14 am
Oh okay ….. thanks. Will be on the lookout for that.
oooh~~ one of my childhood makan place~~
alas!! you should have had weng kee’s ice kacang~~
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J2Kfm Reply:
October 20th, 2011 at 9:42 pm
Aiyo .. now I feel like a fool for not doing my research prior to the visit.
But then again, most discoveries in life are made accidental, not on purpose.
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