Private Kitchen

With a name like Private Kitchen, images of underground supperclubs spring to mind, and I half expected the venue to be in someone's house, and since the invite came from PureGlutton, (read her review on the link) I thought it might be at hers.  As it turns out, Private Kitchen is in Damansara Uptown, next to the famous Koon Kee wantan mee, and really, is quite hard to miss.

I was late, so I understand I missed out on some dishes, as the ravenous food bloggers cannot wait 10 minutes without eating.  Drat.  Anyway, I was in time for this lovely soup, a hearty, wholesome broth with pumpkin and pork ribs.  Perfect for our current wintery weather. 






Sometimes with soups, the meats are boiled until they are left with the flavour of blotting paper (sigh, I've actually come across youngsters these days who ask, "what IS blotting paper"), but the meat left in this soup is still flavourful and tasty, and tender. 


How can one fall in love with such yellow skin, the epitome of the Chinese steamed chook.  Of course, the colouring is not naturally so yellow, but is aided with tumeric, as the chicken is cooked in tumeric.


The chicken is actually an accompaniment to this noodles in soup, but really, the clincher for this dish is the fabulous sand ginger condiment it is served with. 




Noodles with fried egg and minced meat in tomato soup.  This may LOOK like something you'd cook from a packet of Maggi, but it isn't.  It is however the ultimate comfort food.  Actually these are the lunch menu items, in case you are gawking at the thought of this for dinner. 




Typhoon Shelter noodles with Pork Chops. Hitherto, I did not know typhoon shelter was a place in Hong Kong. 


The pork chops are good enough on its own, and actually rather generous for a lunch portion.




This looks like sweet sour pork, tastes like sweet sour pork, but for some inexplicable reason, is called "stir fried pork" with rice, in the menu.  The pork masters, ie, Ken of FOODPOI and Taufulo, give it the thumbs up, as far as sweet and sour pork goes. 




Bangsar Babe, who baffles me with the sheer amount of food she can ingest in the miniscule frame, imbibes this very picturesque flower tea. 


Private Kitchen fried rice with seafood and XO sauce.  Good old traditional fried rice.  I would have preferred it with a bit more porky stuff. 

Like this one here.....


Portuguese fried rice.  Of course, in the course of the twittering and instagramming, someone asked if the Portuguese really did fried rice, since by and large, isn't fried rice an Oriental thing?  Oh well, they have conquered Oriental lands as far as Macao, and according to a recent article, might still be a threat to our nation's security, so if they can conquer whole lands, I am sure they can replicate fried rice.  Actually, this dish was very yummy...


Strawberry Beef.  A strange marriage that actually works.  The beef is supremely tender though, which makes me wonder what the chef did to achieve such tenderness. 





Deep fried pork ribs with special salad sauce.  Definitely something I'd order for dinner.  Unfortunately this dish screams out for rice, and we all know rice at dinner is the enemy.  I kid.  We are Chinks, bring on the rice.


Stir fried squid with Vermicalli, in special chilli sauce.  Tangy, spicy, and the squid very fresh..  However, this dish needs to be consumed fast, because once the vermicelli soaks up all the liquid, it can get rather stodgy and is not as palatable as when freshly served.




Portuguese style baked chicken chop.  A very distinct curry powder taste. 


Deep fried tofu with salt and pepper.  The perfect beer food.  On its own, the salt batter is a bit too salty.


Some encore dishes, Typhoon Shelter garlic fried tiger prawns... honestly, food reviews can be such health hazards when generous hosts insists on force feeding you like a foie gras goose ...I was really too stuffed by this stage.  Apparently Typhoon Shelter style is distinct because of the inordinate amount of garlic and spring onions.


Chives with Siu Yoke.  The token greens for the night.  A great combination though. 




Bangsar Babe's flower has bloomed....


Osmanthus jelly with Kei Gee, (wolfberry), a typical Hong Kong dessert. 






Chef Lam Fai from Hong Kong.  Very soft spoken (at least it appeared so), and earnest in his explanation of his dishes. Special thanks to Jacqui Yap for having us, and taking such good care of us.

Private Kitchen
103 Jalan SS21/37
Damansara Utama
47400 Petaling Jaya
Tel: +603-7728-8399
Fax: +603-7727-8398
Business hours: 11.00am-3.00pm/6.00pm-10.00pm
*Closed on Tuesdays