PETALING JAYA, Sept 16 — In this era where hype food like blue-coloured pasta and “bulu bulu” hairy cake pulls in diners out of curiosity and for their social media, it’s refreshing to find a humble restaurant serving good food for the neighbourhood.
MaMa Lee’s Home Cooked Kitchen definitely embodies the evergreen allure of home-style, family meals.
Opened in May, the restaurant’s awkward location in SS2 — in front of a very busy road with little parking — has led them to employ the magical words, “peng, cheng and leng,” literally translated as cheap and nice.
Strictly for weekdays, one can order a tilapia fish for RM25, compared to the usual price of RM6 per 100 grams, which would have cost me RM42. There’s a catch: you must post a Google review to qualify for the deal.
Ten different sauces are on offer, either steamed or fried, ensuring you don’t get bored if this place becomes your regular canteen.
Their Lemon Thai steamed fish is a popular pick for many but I decided to try the second most ordered Nyonya curry.
The butterflied fish sits in a pool of orange curry with vegetables like eggplant, long beans and winged beans.
The flesh is smooth, especially around the belly as the fragrant curry with a little heat infuses it with flavour that calls for more rice.
We also appreciated how the vegetables were cooked to a softer consistency, probably because they prepped the curry with vegetables ahead of time.
Most restaurants don’t do this; they always throw in the vegetables at the last moment leaving them partly cooked and semi-hard. .
When you spot an entire page in the menu dedicated to yam ring with various toppings, it’s definitely a sign you must order this classic Chinese dish.
Indeed the Sweet & Sour Pork Yam Ring (RM32) is a gorgeous rendition not for its looks but for the creamy texture when you start eating it.
These yam rings are prepped ahead and then fried when ordered.
A firmer bite signals a higher flour ratio, which ruins the enjoyment of this dish — the usual texture found in most places.
There is the conventional Kung Pao Chicken with its nuggets of chicken and nuts plus dried chilies, but I wanted to try the sweet and sour pork; this dish allowed me to sample both items in one order.
The pork is tender and lightly coated with batter, yielding a softer bite drenched in sauce that balances the sweet tomato sauce well with the vinegar.
Most restaurants treat greens as an afterthought, but once in a while, you spot a different dish like Winged Bean with Lotus Root (RM18 for small, RM28 for medium).
The four angled beans are sliced and stir fried with minced pork, aromatics like garlic and chilies, plus the unusual sliced lotus root, producing a crunchier dish than your normal plate of greens.
What makes this dish exceptional is the restaurant insists on using younger, finer beans, which aren’t woody like the older ones, providing a gentler crunch.
In general, the food here definitely reminds one of home cooking because they use salt and oil sparingly, much like how a mother cooks for her family with care.
The people behind this restaurant also operate Tien Xia Restaurant at Aurora Place, Bukit Jalil.
Restoran MaMa Lee’s Home Cooked Kitchen
No. 19, Jalan SS2/3,
Petaling Jaya.
Open: Closed every Tuesday.
Tel:012-2516163
Facebook: @Restoran-Mama-Lee
Instagram: @mamaleerestoranpj
* This is an independent review where the writer paid for the meal.
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