Revisiting New Formosa Taiwanese Restaurant @ SS2, Petaling Jaya

Sizzling goodness

It has been a while since we dined at Formosa hence with the long break, we finally managed to sit down for a meal there. This time round, we sampled a few of their new dishes, which were amazing as always. Apologies for the less than perfect pictures as my camera still has an issue with yellow light and low light situations. Definitely time to upgrade the camera. Any sponsors?


Go away! I'm protecting treasure under this

Back to Formosa's home cooked goodness. Having grown up eating at Formosa, I often view this place as a source for goodies similar to a home cooked meal. This time round, we started out with the unusual Ai Yu Jelly (literally meaning I love you in Mandarin). The refreshing lemon flavoured jelly acts as an appetizer. Unlike jellies with a crunchy texture, the ai yu jelly (RM1.80 per bowl) has a softer consistency. Said to be made from a type of fig, I enjoyed the cooling palate refresher with tapioca pearls. Usually of slightly chewy texture, these pearls were made to be less chewy, as they can sometimes affect a person's digestion system.


comfort food to heal thy soul - soft pork ribs with sweet potatoes

Once we were all refreshed, it was time for the food. We kicked off with this amazing steamed crab rice (RM34). My first time experiencing the steamed version, as usually we get the claypot version only. Using unpolished rice (that is slightly brown), the rice is steamed with chicken stock. Once the rice is cooked, a fresh crab is placed on top of the rice and left in the steamer till it cooks. The juices from the crab will drip on the rice, giving it a tantalising aroma. If you dig around the area, where the roe is, the rice has a rich heady smell from the steamed roe. Usually unpolished rice, can be chewy but not in this case as the rice is soft from the steaming and the soaking of chicken stock. A mix of vinegar and ginger juice is also given to dip the crab meat. This helps get rid of any "wind" you will experience from eating the cooling crabs.


good brain food - fish with Taiwanese spicy sauce

Next it was the crispy rice crusts(RM28), a popular Taiwanese dish. Rice crusts are dried and deep fried till crisp. A sauce (similar to our sweet and sour sauce but with more tomatoes) is poured on top of the hot rice crusts, till it sizzles. The sauce will have 3 kinds of seafood - prawns, sea cucumber and cuttlefish. Pour just a bit of sauce on the rice crusts and eat this super quick to get the mix of tastes - crunchy and slightly soft from the sauce. Another Taiwanese home dish, is the seabass served with spicy Taiwanese sauce (RM39). Made from soybean paste, you can either order fried or steaned mantou to dip the sauce.


reminds me of home - braised cabbage in claypot

Since we wanted home cooked Taiwanese dishes, next was just a simple steamed spareribs dish served with sweet potatoes (RM16). Although a simple dish, the spareribs has been marinated in the sauce overnight and the flavours has absorbed into the spareribs. It is paired with sweet potatoes or pumpkins, that balance out the taste of the slightly spicy spareribs.


wicked sesame coated intestines

Another Taiwanese specialty - a simple braised white cabbage dish served in a hot claypot (RM13). Cooked with dried prawns, fried foochook (bean curd skin), this was such great comfort food for the soul.


"I love you" jelly

Last but not least, we had a wicked dose of crunchy sesame coated intestines (RM13). By then, we were stuffed to the brim with good food. Dessert was hot gui ling gao, good for my cough and so refreshing.

New Formosa Restaurant
46, Jalan SS2/24
Petaling Jaya

Tel No: 03 - 7875 1894

(Non Halal. Open daily from noon to 2.30 pm, 6 pm to 10.30 pm. Crab and spareribs need to be ordered ahead as it is not readily available.)

Tagged with: Taiwanese Food + Petaling Jaya