LOOKING for a good makan place is like punting for numbers.
Sometimes, you hit the jackpot, while most of the time, you wind up in places that are mostly hyped-up by the media and online bloggers.
Speaking of which, I would like to share an experience about one particular food stall in Petaling Jaya.
There were a lot of articles about it written by bloggers.
So, taking that as a cue, I decided to try it out. I brought along three of my makan kakis and received a shelling for recommending them the makan place.
“Aiyo! My maid can cook better than this la!,” said one of them.
Now, obviously, these guys have set the sky as their target. The makan place, in their opinion, was not worth their hard-earned money.
I equate this to losing a bet when you put everything at stake.
After a so-so meal, I ended up paying for the foodies.
Good stuff: The wantan and suay kow soup.But, despite the kaki makan sombong (arrogant foodies), there are kind people like my colleague K. Ramasegar whose tips on where to score good and cheap food are 80% accurate.
One fine day, he told me: “Eh Sam, have you tried the wantan mee opposite Tesco in Pusat Bandar Puchong ah?”
My respond was a ‘no’.
Ramasegar described the stall and gave instructions on how to get there.
After much deliberation, I finally got down to the task of investigating this place on my own.
After scouring Google for a place called Fong Lei coffeeshop, I could not find any mention in any food blog.
I was surprised to find that the stall had already ‘cleaned-up’ by 1pm.
It seems that the lunch crowd had polished everything and what was left was some char siew sou (roasted pork scraps) which the kind owner had offered generously at no cost.
I ordered a plate of marr meen (double helping) and a bowl of wantan and suay kow.
Generous portion: Fong Lei coffee shop’s wantan mee offering.The meal was served at RM6.70 and frankly, it was the best noodles I ever had in this part of the township.
And this one easily scored an 8 out of 10 on the Samo-scale.
What made my day was the decent meal, the large portion and the tasty wantan and suay kow.
Fong Lei coffee shop (N 03 03 043, E 101 37 036) is located opposite Tesco Puchong and the landmark to look out for is the former EON Bank which was taken over by Hong Leong Bank. The wantan mee stall opens only for breakfast and lunch.
