KUALA LUMPUR, June 30 — Never turn up your nose (or stomach) at neighbourhood restaurants.
The food is good and there's a certain friendliness about their diners too. That's how I felt when I discovered Restoran Mountain Hill.
It's a contrast to the bustling eateries at Taman Gembira, which is just across the road from it, since that side is packed with people looking for parking so they can patronise their favourite restaurants.
Perched by the roadside, this restaurant has numerous stalls offering eats ranging from chicken rice, chee cheong fun, yong tau foo, Hakka noodles and so forth.
With so much to try, I only managed to sample a few offerings.
What stood out for me was Freddie Traditional Fish Ball Noodle stall. I ordered the dry version of the Traditional Fish Ball Noodle and the whole ensemble was a tasty one.
You know you're in for a great treat when the bowl of dry noodles (loh shue fun which is my default order) is slick with dark soy sauce and crunchy lard crisps. I wanted to resist eating the whole bowl so I could try other things but it was so tasty, I ended up demolishing three quarters of the bowl. It's topped with a few slices of fried fish cake too.
This went well with the bowl of clear soup filled with a mix of fish balls and fish skin wantans. The fish balls were nice with just a little bounce and the fish wantans slightly chewier.
But what blew me away were their dumplings or sui kow. I had greedily ordered a bowl of five pieces.
The dumplings were so tasty with a filling of pork and fish paste that I wished there was more. Then I spied how the lady next to me had also ordered the dumplings but with noodles in soup. You can also order it with a dry version of the noodles.
If you want a lighter breakfast, there's also a stall selling steamed Hong Kong style chee cheong fun. You get silky rice flour sheets topped with crunchy prawns doused in a slightly sweet light soy sauce. On its own, it can be quite sweet but pair it with the fragrant sambal and it balances out the flavours.
Another popular choice as seen from surveying every table is Bobo Pork Noodle. You get the pork noodle soup with all sorts of ingredients like pork patty, pork balls, pig's liver and intestine .
The broth looks a bit cloudy but it's not as robust as I would have liked. It's a cleaner, lighter taste that doesn't have so much added MSG, making it quite drinkable and appealing to the older generation.
I asked for an egg too but that was overcooked. The stall also sells Sam Kan Cheong noodles, claypot yee mee and claypot loh shue fun with an egg yolk.
As there are few tables and chairs in the eatery, you end up having to share tables with strangers. And sometimes, you get chatty ones who tell you what's good to eat since they're regulars there.
That was how I ended up ordering a plate of char kway teow. I was told the three women running the stall are sisters.
When you observe from afar, you will notice the woman frying the noodles has a rather calm appearance when she's cooking the char kway teow.
I was rather worried my plate of char kway teow wouldn't have any wok hei but it was pretty good. What impressed me most was the bean sprouts!
Usually you get soft bean sprouts but these ones were really crunchy and added a nice contrast with the fried flat rice noodles.
The stall also offers fried loh shue fun and fried rice.
Apparently in the evenings except Wednesday, there is also a stall which offers Western food like chicken chop, pork chop and pasta with bacon. I was told by their regulars that the stall is pretty popular too.
Parking is ample too. You can either park at the side of the road or nearer the shophouses behind the restaurant, which is what I prefer.
It's best to dine here in the morning as it tends to get hot later in the day.
Restoran Mountain Hill, Jalan Ramah, Taman Serangkai, Kuala Lumpur.
Open: 7am to 2pm. Closed on Monday.
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