Best in Wangsa Maju - Ah Siew Chicken Rice in Gombak

The stall owner's name is Ah Siew and has been operating for over 30 years. Since the day he started, with his brother actually and who have now moved on, the recipe has not changed. The rice still has that smokey feel because it is prepared using coal fire.



Located at Gombak 4th Mile, opposite the mosque, you will see a small hawker centre. It is about 50 metres from the International Islamic College Hostel. Here lies one of the best chicken rice stalls in the whole of Gombak and Wangsa Maju combined.


Now, the difference in this chicken rice are plenty. For one, the sauce is great. The chili is so damn hot and the chicken - available in steamed or fried - and char siew, is way out of the world. You can try it of course before you believe me.

Where Is The Best Siew Yoke Stall In Wangsa Maju?

If you like barbecued pork as much as some people, try the pork selling section behind the Jalan Genting Kelang market. There are a couple of stalls selling pork here and two are selling barbecued pork - char siew as well as siew yoke.

What boggles the mind is that why both selling cooked food are allowed to sell their stuff beside the raw pork sellers. Isn't this unhygienic?

If you like barbecued pork, if you purchase them here, I hope you will cook them again before eating. Else you might risk a stomach upset if they are contaminated by flies.

New Shopping Mall In Wangsa Maju - Centremart@Setapak!

Centremart@Setapak - will it last?

We just checked out the Centermart@Setapak, a new concept in warehouse shopping set up in the middle of January 2009 across what is known as Danau Kota - across the road from Platinum Point - along Jalan Genting Kelang.

In a nutshell, it is a Makro-like kind of shopping here except that this one has many shops under one roof, with several restaurants, a car dealer, a children's playground, sundry store as anchor, several wet market stalls, and some cubicles for trading ala trade expo.



The sundry store, Pasaraya Shuang Lim (above), looks promising with prices pretty cheap. Rice and some household items are pretty cheap compared to the nearer Jaya Jusco. Even the bags of brown rice was cheaper than Carrefour when we last checked. Ecobrown brown rice went for RM19plus for a 5kg bag against Carrefour's RM20plus. Garlic went for RM5.50 for 7kg bags. And there were too many.

Other things are the same price and if you are looking for beer, forget it. The price is just about the same even if you purchase in dozens.



Another shop within Centermart

Good Food At Loong Fatt

I love this restaurant. It is located at Jalan Genting Kelang, just below the bridge and next to the Mangum shop. It sells great stuff for breakfast and lunch. The coffee and tea are also extremely good and they go well with the dumplings sold at the entrance.



But recently, I had a nasty experience with one of the tenants of the restaurant. After much thought, I thought I'd mention her here so that you readers who frequent this restaurant would not go through when I went through.

I was there for breakfast with friends recently and took a table inside the restaurant because there were none outside. We ordered our food and settled the bill, and waited for the food to arrive.

Before we knew what hit us, one of the hawker-tenant selling a type of noodle started screaming her head off. It was not hysteria but at someone, probably a helper or her child, she was taking her anger on.


Still angry, she hunts down her victim.

As if that was not enough, she threw the long bamboo chopsticks she uses to prepare her noodles at the direction of her intended victim - which missed her and hit one of the people having breakfast there. The chap cooly returned her chopstick and she did not even apologise. After the chap related the incident to the coffeeshop owner who reprimanded her, only did she say 'Toi Em Chee' or My Apologies in Cantonese.



Found her victim! Here she is seen berating the poor woman after the chopsticks missed!

The reason this posting was made because that incident could have resulted in a nasty incident - what if she had thrown a chopper or knife in the first place?

So, if you are having a meal there, stay very far away from this lady's stall. She's dangerous, mind you.

Hopefully, the woman hawker will be more restrained in the future. Who doesn't get angry with slow workers? Who doesn't have domestic problems?

But behave yourself when you are doing business!

Have You Been To Island Red Cafe?

NEW KID ON THE BLOCK - Island Red Cafe
New kid on the block, Island Red Cafe (www.irc2u.com) at Platinum Walk is giving Old Town White Coffee a run for its money.

In fact, several Saturdays ago, we noted that the the former was crowded while the latter was sparely full.

We wondered why so we decided to check it out. And now we know why.

Food was pretty cheap and service extremely fast. All our orders were served under 10 minutes. I like the red concept, too, like Man U's theme, it's just appropriate.

The food business operators around the area had better take heed. If IRC continues to give good service, you guys had better start looking elsewhere for customers.

The only thing I don't quite like is the service charge - are they allowed to do so?


Pineapple-Lemon juice ala IRC.-RM3.60


IRC Toast. - RM1.00


Rojak at IRC. - RM4.50

Good Greens Begin With Good Vegetable Vendors

This is one greengrocer (the lady in violet T-shirt above) at the Air Panas market which you should check out if you want to buy good veges.

She has quite a variety and is pleasant to deal with, not calculative and often throws in some chillies, limes or even spring onions as freebies to go with the veges you buy. These things are not expensive, of course, and anyone can afford them.

But this small gesture from this lady greengrocer makes going to the market a pleasant experience. Now, this is what I call customer service.

Usually, she is assisted by her daughters and son.

Check her out if the next time you are there. He stall is located near the entrance by the main office. You can't miss her.