No Money To Go Overseas?

It has been YEARSSSSSS since I stepped into Overseas Jln Imbi. Were it not for the fact that our foreign guests were residing in Marriot, we probably wouldn't have ventured to this area at all. Afterall, there are many other Overseas outlets that are much more accessible. One good thing is they do have a fairly efficient, and reasonably priced, jockey service.

The place looks like its been stuck in a time warp. Not much difference from 20 years ago. Ventilation in the place leaves a bit to be desired, but it was crowded, nevertheless, a testimony of its culinary appeal.

The charsiu tou (head?) has always been one of my favourites. Indeed, the standards have been maintained, and it makes for a fabulous starter. A combo of lean, with lean & fat meats, the caramelized marinade and char makes it rank as one of the char siu greats.


Peking Duck. First, they plonked the platter of skin in front of us, with no pancakes, or sliced shallots....so we weren't sure if it was meant to be eaten like that. My hungry daughter lunged at it as if we've been keeping her imprisoned on bread and water for the last week..... had to restrain her and tell her to let the adults have their share first. Kids these days!!!! Anyway, after asking the blur waitress, if pancakes etc were part of the package (she wasn't sure), it finally came. I am always suspicious of places that serve you Peking Duck without showing you the whole duck first, and carving it in front of you. I mentally tried to piece together the pieces of skin, like a duck jigsaw puzzle to see if they made up the surface area of an average duck...... not to sure, actually. Taste wise, it was delicious. A big redeeming factor, of course. Alas, I only got one piece. I guess it's about right, for 11 pax to get 1 piece each, with some lucky ones getting two.

Not in sequence, but this was the duck meat in fried noodles. Tasted very good, consistent with the high standards expected of Overseas. The texture of the noodles were just how I liked it. Song, (what's the english equivalent of "song"? Some say crunchy, but its not quite)....

Tau Fu Tau Kan. Beancurd with beancurd skin. A perennial favourite, you cant really go wrong. I have yet to try a bad version of this dish, anywhere.

Lovely plump prawns fried with salted egg yolk. At first, in a moment of temporary blurness, I thought the roe was from the prawn. Anyway, the prawns were rather large, and tasty. And fresh.

Assam tilapia. Tilapias are a bit of a hit and miss, as you sometimes get that muddy estuarine taste, but this one had tender yet firm flesh, with no hint of the aforementioned shortcomings. The assam sauce was screaming out for rice, and what a heavenly combination they made.

Brinjals and long beans, and I think it was meant to come with 4 angled bean too, which was out of stock.

Overall, a rather pleasant dining experience, with a bill totalling approx RM55 per head. A bit on the pricy side, I feel, cos apart from the prawns, and maybe the duck, the other dishes weren't exactly high ticket items. Oh, our guest did have 2 beers, but how much can THAT cost right!

I did miss their signature ham yue fah lam pou....(belly pork with salted fish in claypot).

Top Chinese New Year Foods I've Had

Happy Chap Gourmet, all.

Sigh, after today, Chinese New Year will be over. Gone will be the heavy handbags, stuffed with angpows lest you bump into that relative or friend that has a brood of 10, the late nights of lifting hands to the gambling gods for a DOUBLE ACE, the smell of freshly minted notes, be they 1s, 5s, 10s or 50s....the startling sounds of the start of a lion dance, (as I am typing this, one has started down the road).

Rather than talking about individual restaurants, I think I'll just reminisce in passing the foods I've had in the last 15 days, and highlight those that I think are worthy of mention.

It's customary for us, at my inlaws place, to have a vegetarian lunch. I cant really understand the concept of chinese vegetarian, whereby they seek to replicate the real thing, by making it into mock meats. I guess in a way, it does widen a menu selection by a thousandfold. I mean, afterall, there are only so many ways one can serve a tofuburger, or a salad...but throw in vegetarian char siu, like the one below, and vegetarian mutton, and vegetarian prawns..... and whatever else, you get a infinity menu, basically. Let us just IMAGINE we're killing the animals, ........

I love this charsiu, despite the screaming absence of lard.


This curry dish I think doesn't have any fake meats, so it is really vegetarian in content and thought.


This is a horrible picture, it looks like someone's regurgitated meal, but believe me, it tastes deeeevine. The vegetarian gods would approve. It's mutton curry, made from mushroom stalks.

Nothing like a plump juicy lobster cooked the Chinese way, in superior XO stock, to tickle and tantalise the palate. This was at the Equatorial Bangi, at the 7th day (everyone's birthday, aka Yun Yatt) hosted by my inlaws. The rest of the food in Equatorial Bangi, in the other outlets, I reckon are generally quite awful, but the Golden Phoenix does serve exquisite Chinese, if you know how and what to order. The lobster was fresh, and was probably waving its antennae around an hour before that trying to get astro reception.

According to Kylie Kwong, the most humane way of killing a lobster is to freeze it, so that it goes to sleep, and THEN, kill it.

This has to be one of the most divine desserts in a chinese restaurant that I've come across. Durian pancake, (more like dumpling) and the ping pei pumpkin with lotus filling. Now, durian pancakes are quite common, and used to be Lai Poh Heen's signature dessert. What makes a good one? For starters, no fake dairy cream mixed with the durian puree. 2ndly, even if it was cream, (real cream, straight from the mammaries of a cow), it should only be a hint of it. I like my durian strong, and bold. Thirdly, the filling should be cold as possible. Fourthly, the crepe skin should be thin as possible, so you don't feel like you're eating a badly made giant durian wantan with skin thicker than an insurance agent.

Note how the filling is a gorgeous duriany yellow. Apparently they added custard, but only a hint of. Absolutely gorgeous.

Contrary to popular belief, I am not as Yee Sang-ed out as some may think. My first yee sang was on the Monday before CNY, (by which time some people had like had it up to their ears with it), and since then, I haven't really had it all that many times.

Of the restaurant ones, my favourites were the ones in Overseas Restaurant, and Equatorial Bangi.

But of course, my favourite yee sang are the home done ones, because we always chuck in a whole can of THIS:


Top quality abalone from the mexican seas. Copious amounts of this stuff, that of course, really, is good enough to eat on its own. And we usually do serve it separately.


Abalone with a hint of yee sang.

Paying tribute to our favourite edible mammal, that oft misunderstood, sometimes reviled, sometimes adored, porcine creature that has spawned classics such as the 3 little pigs, Charlotte's web, etc.

The Yoke Pai in Overseas. Yummy. Fat and lean, just the way God intended, and meat falling off the bone in a lovely sauce, complemented with fried man tau. (buns)

A platter of waxed meats, Lap Mei, with the special rice in claypot. A lot of pork, I know. Well, eating this dish about once a year is about right. It is very sickly rich, (in a non dairy way), and salty too.

And specially for Lyrical Lemongrass, the Lemon Tart that I meant to pass you a slice of. (okay, this isn't really under the CNY Foods category, it's just that I made it for one of the CNY meals).