Thursday, February 15, 2007

Ampang Fishball Noodles @ Restaurant 138, Ampang, Kuala Lumpur



Hope everyone's Valentine Day was fruitful!? Sorry no pictures of my reunion dinner last night as the light was quite horrendous at the restaurant. I did snap pictures but it didn't pass the approval board aka Splashie Boy hence all you get is a running commentary of what we ate.

As usual we ended up at Chynna, KL Hilton for dinner - the default choice for my family. The usual favourites also were ordered - chicken with fried ginger, salted egg yolk prawns and spinach in superior soup. For the festive season, we had this dish wrapped in foo chook (bean curd skin) where there's the mushrooms, oysters, fatt choy and etc inside it, a tofu dish with mushrooms and sea cucumber and the salmon yee sang. The yee sang is pretty good here, not too oily and full of crunchy bits and sesame seeds. We also tried a new noodle dish - Kwai Fah Noodles which is fried meen sin that was very good as they fried it dry with bits of egg and lots of scallops and prawns. For dessert, it was the ever favourite Lemongrass Jelly with Aloe Vera Cubes and Lime Sorbet for a refreshing end. Since it was Valentine's Day, the ladies even got a pink rose each.




Rather than deprive you of pictures today, I'll be blogging about fishball noodles from Ampang. Although Ampang seems to be more well known for yong tau foo and the Korean Village, I recently found out they also serve really good fishball noodles. This place just near the famous Foong Foong, Orchard View and Ampang Homeland Yong Tau Foo shops. Pretty easy to get here especially when Jalan Ampang is not choked up with traffic, the whole area where Ampang New Village is located is such a vast contrast with the Ampang Point area. Here it feels like you have stepped back into time as things are slow and similar to a sleepy town.

These fishball noodles (RM3.20) - a standard order comes with three fishballs and thinly sliced fishcake with your choice of noodles is excellent. The fishballs are not too springy but taste so fresh and without preservatives. The soup made from boiling anchovies (ikan bilis) is sweet and has no MSG, which is always a plus point for me as I'm really sensitive towards MSG. I had the kuey teow noodles which was smooth. I also ordered the fishcake (RM6.50) which came thinly sliced. Although it's fresh, since it was thinly sliced, I couldn't really taste it but felt it wasn't as nice as my auntie's home made fish cakes. If I do make it here the next time, it will be for the yummy fishballs as they're worth the long journey to this part of Ampang.

Ampang Fishball Noodles
Restoran 138
643, Jalan Merdeka
Ampang
Kuala Lumpur

(Pork free. Open from morning till afternoon. To get here, drive past Ampang Point Shopping Centre and go straight until you see a Shell Petrol Station on your right hand side, take a right at the traffic light. Go straight at the first traffic light, turn right at the second traffic light and drive straight down. The restaurant is on the right hand side while the yong tau foo shops will be on your left hand side.)

*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.

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21 comments:

wmw said...

Chynna!One of my fave restaurants...:o)

Lyrical Lemongrass said...

MSG-free food sounds attractive. :-) Eating fishballs has always been a problem for me as I don't like the overcommercialised types which have more bounce than fish! Thx for the recommendation.

Fulltime Mom said...

Fishball noodles have always been comfort food for me. It's difficult to find the lard free type though.

boo_licious said...

wmw - yeah, I remember yr extensive coverage there. I think I've been there so many times but yet to get a good pix from dinners as it's either too dark or too many relatives around.

lyrical lemongrass - I hate them bouncy, reeks of chemicals and etc. Yum abt the Ha Koh Chee Cheong Fun on yr blog.

fulltime mom - good news, the Teochew 60s fish ball place has gone pork free. Am not sure if all outlets but the Dsara Uptown one is definitely pork free so try there as it's nearer for you. You could also check their USJ outlet if they're pork free then you don't need to go so far.

Precious Pea said...

The fish cake looks yummy. As good as the Section 17 food court?

Never been to Chynna..pricey?

Fulltime Mom said...

wah.... great news, where in usj do u know. we normally have ampang homeland yong tau fu at taipan....

Xiu Long Bao said...

Hilton serves really great food. My lunch @ Iketeru was enjoyable. The scallops were big as my palm, crunchy n succulent...drool drool. I left Hilton with a full tummy n thin wallet.

boo_licious said...

precious pea - wasn't too impressed with the fishcake but fishball was yummy. Chynna can be pricey but food is good.

fulltime mom - sorry, I realised not in USJ, it's in SS15, one of those roads and near the fruit shops. I saw they had a branch somewhere there. It's interesting as I never knew they were pork free but the Dsara Uptown one clearly has the sign.

xiu long bao - the Japanese and champagne buffet looks so tempting but I know no pt for us as we don't eat that much.

Lyrical Lemongrass said...

Re: Iketeru (aka my 2nd home): boo_licious, actually hor, the Jampagne buffet at RM168++ is worth it. We don't eat much either, but our bill comes up to between RM350 to RM700 (excl liquor) for two usually.
I spend so much time in Iketeru that I haven't tried Chynna. I'm dying to try their yee sang, though.

MeiyeN said...

rest 138 sounds so familiar... i am still trying to figure out if my parents did bring me to this place before....

jesscet said...

yum yum... i love fish balls/ fish cakes! this one looks and sounds delicious.. must try!

so, an early Gong Xi Fa Cai to u and ur family! any open houses or gatherings for the gang? maybe we should eat out and lo-sang! any suggestion since u know the best place to chow on earth!! ;)

Tummythoz said...

Chynna, luv d decor very much.
There's a fishball stall there that I've been to sevral times many years back but never noticed the name. Wonder if this is it. Guess it's time for a re-visit. TQ for d reminder.

boo_licious said...

lyrical lemongrass - Iketeru sounds so tempting. Wish I could but I have slotted another Japanese place to try instead.

meiyen - it's all covered up with zinc sheets? Maybe yr parents did bring you there. I didn't snap a pix of the stall this time.

jesscet - Gong Xi Fa Chai to you and yr family plus the two J's. I guess we shld do something for CNY. By the way, Ms. C is back but not a good time to bug her as her mum is going for the operation this wk. If I ever get Ms. P, will try and get her to organise a get together with her but at the moment don't want to call her since she will be busy with her mum.

tummythoz - yeah, Chynna's decor is pretty nice, I like the colourful plates and monkey plus the man with the long spout teapot. Do try this fishball, pretty good stuff if no jam in Ampang.

backStreetGluttons said...

haiya must it relly b default?

v have enough (fish balls) to last 3 seasons ! Game?

boo_licious said...

team bsg - Unfortunately these balls aren't good for tennis or ping pong since they're not the bouncy type.

Fulltime Mom said...

I went round the whole of SS15 this morning in search of teochew 60. almost gave up and on the way out of the last street, voila! saw it. just to confirm it is pork free at this restaurant. thanks so much for the heads-up.to many more bowls of fishball noodles!

boo_licious said...

fulltime mom - wow! that's dedication. Sorry for not clear directions as dunce when it comes to Subang Jaya. Super glad that it's pork free so you can eat as much as you like. My friends love the Uptown one as it's near their hse.

jesscet said...

ok, sounds good. i'm quite flexible as i haven't started work. but do suggest to Ms P. places to makan!!

btw, want to ask u, u know any good place to buy `salt-baked chicken' (a Ipoh specialty but we wont go so far to get it!)

Rasa Malaysia said...

Boo, I am a fish balls whore...this one looks very promising. :)

boo_licious said...

jess - aunty betty still in hospital, shld be out tmrw so will buzz Carol then. P is forever busy as always! Only place I know that has salt baked chicken is Jinjang (somewhere I read) or the Cheras Taman Connaught night mkt. The ipoh one is yummy, ta pau it once and was drooling over the lovely smells in the car.

rasa malaysia - this one is good. Not as home made like as the Section 17 but nice too. Lovely soup but of course no MSG.

Cindy said...

Would love to know the operating hours for the fish ball noodles in ampang. Do you by any chance have that imformation?

Also, really love your blog. Keep up the fantastic work. And thank you for your reviews. Really helps.

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