Chinese Traditional Soup @ Strawberry, Puchong

When I read on Fried Chillies about this interesting soup place in Puchong, we decided to give it a try since it's a short drive from where we were yesterday. Based on the vague directions, I am amazed I found the place even though I know nuts about Puchong. Located at a spanking clean and ultra bright coffeeshop, you can't miss the stall as you can spy the three big brown clay pots from the road.

According to the girl helming the stall, the soup originates from the Jiangxi province. The soup is unique as the different varieties are packed in individual claypots and placed in these ginormous clay pots about three feet tall. It is subsquently double boiled over a charcoal fire for approximately seven to eight hours.

Here's the inside of the big pot which shows the individual claypots that are labeled. As and when people order their soups, they can be lifted out from the big pot with a metal rod. There's not much information about this soup but I understand that Jiangxi is famous for clay products hence it could have been a spin off from the industry. The lady did give me a leaflet in Mandarin which extensively talked about the benefits of drinking soup including a pictorial history. What I can gather is, this method of cooking is extremely popular in the region with about one hundred restaurants selling this soup. To maintain the high quality of the soups, they only use mineral water and it is simmered slowly over the charcoal fire. There is no other information of the Internet about this particular method of cooking hence if any of you have more information, do let me know. I do remember that sometime last year, one of the Chinese restaurants was promoting this particular soup in the papers.

There are about ten different varieties of soups with a price range from RM10 to RM15 for each pot. You can order white rice to go with your soup and each bowl can feed approximately two to three people. Based on the lady's recommendation, we had the pumpkin, carrot, tomato and pork rib soup. I liked this particular soup as it's very "ching" or what we call delicate tasting in Chinese (I think as it's my own direct translation).

The second soup we ordered was a herbal variety with Chinese herbs like dried longan, yuk chuk, wai san and tong sum. The soup was thicker compared to the first soup but not as strong tasting as the other herbal soups I have tasted before. It's nice but we all preferred the pumpkin, carrot, tomato one we had earlier. Besides these varieties, the stall also has lotus root pork rib soup, chicken with sea cucumber and lor han guo soup, water chesnut soup, herbal chicken soup and etc.

Just across the soup stall is the economy rice stall and the selection here is pretty good especially the vegetable dishes as they use less oil. You can order a variety of vegetables and rice to go with your soup making it a pretty substantial lunch.

Restoran Strawberry Puchong
26 and 28, Ground Floor, Jalan Puteri 2/2
Bandar Puteri Puchong
47100 Puchong

Tel No: 012 - 500 2233 (Mr. Tan)
Non-Halal

(The place opens from 10.30 am to late lunch. Check with them on their off days as they were not too sure when their rest days are. To get there, drive towards Puchong and head towards Giant Puchong. You will pass Tescos on the right side if you are coming from the Sunway toll plaza, keep left and turn left when you see the Giant sign on the highway. Drive straight and at the first traffic light, turn right. Drive straight and turn right again, the shop is on your right hand side and is on the second row of shophouses. Note that these shop houses are opposite Giant Puchong and not the ones right next to the hypermarket)

*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here is entirely based on my personal tastebuds and may vary for others. The reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from the restaurant for writing this review.

Tagged with: Soup + Malaysian Food

Update: Shiewie pointed me to the direction of this Chinese show called Secrets of Soups available on Wah Lai Toi, Astro (our local satellite provider) on Saturday night as they featured this method of making soup. It's called "wui tong" in Cantonese and there is a charcoal burner at the bottom of the big clay pot. Each big clay pot can hold up to thirty smaller pots which uses specific ingredients and herbs that can be simmered for the seven to eight hours.