Fong Lye Taiwan Restaurant
>> Thursday, May 20, 2010
Venue: Fong Lye Restaurant, The Gardens
Occasion: Dinner with parents to celebrate mum's birthday
Overall comment: Lovely food, though I feel that the serving is a tad small. The place is packed even on Friday nights, so make sure you're there early :) Oh ya, the prices of food there are actually quite expensive, but worth eating from time to time la...
Halal: No
Total bill = RM83.15 for 3 persons
Since my first visit to a Taiwanese restaurant in Sunway Pyramid (Xian Ding Wei) several months ago, some of my blogger friends recommended me to try out Fong Lye instead. Taking the opportunity of my mum's birthday last month, I drove both my parents to The Gardens on the Friday of my mum's birthday.
Horror of horrors, there's a queue! *contemplates Plan B*
Anyways, one plus point for Fong Lye is that they have a 'waiting area' for their customers. Not too bad. At least you can sit around & wait instead of having to stand (at times for more than 15minutes). I'm not too sure if it's part of The Garden's management or it's part of the restaurant that those seats are strategically placed there.
Interestingly, while waiting for your number to be called, Fong Lye serves a small glass of refreshing lime juice to those who are thirsty & tired of waiting (actually to all who are waiting). Yums! Not too sour, nor too sweet :)
*****
My dad thought the lime juice tasted nice, so for a guy like him, ordering is often simple.
We didn't need to wait for too long as the snacks arrived quite quickly.
I'm a fan of mushrooms, so I had to order this. The mushrooms were coated in some flavourful batter. It's slightly too salty & has that Maggi instant noodles' seasoning kinda taste, but it's alright. The better fried mushrooms are the ones at Cameron Highlands & My VG Restaurant in Taman Equine, SK.
Almost all my blogger friends who have been here before recommended me to this snack. "It's a must-have," they said. These 'golden balls' look SO appealing, right? These deep-fried sweet potato balls aren't like the one that I grew up eating (from the SS2 pasar malam). The outer layer of these balls are hard & crispy, while the inside is chewy! I think my dad really enjoyed this (more than the mushrooms) as he was eating it non-stop! Hahaha...it's quite expensive, but oh well, how often do we eat it anyways? I enjoyed it nonetheless...wish the portion was larger!
Ordering this chicken dish is a must for me - especially at such a Taiwanese restaurant. The portion was REALLY small, to my surprise. The gravy has a mixture of sweet, salty, & vinegar-sour, which makes the dish very appetizing. The basil leaves gives this "sam pui kai" dish a very pleasing fragrance, which I can't resist! Having said that, I just found a place for better "sam pui kai" (cheaper some more) at a humble restaurant in Seri Kembangan. That "sam pui kai" is a killer! I've yet to blog about it (too many drafts awaiting my action).
Each rice set comes with 3 side dishes & a bowl of braised pork rice ("ru rou fan" in Mandarin). I noticed that there are no set side dishes for each customer. These were served to us, but I saw that some customers had brinjals & deep-fried wan tan instead.
Deep-Fried Yam Ball with Minced Pork
Lovely :) The flavour was just nice, plus the yam was "powdery" & soft :)
Braised Pork Rice ("Ru Rou Fan")
I love "ru rou fan". I wish we could have more! Somehow I feel that Xian Ding Wei's "ru rou fan" tastes better...hmm...the rice has a "chewy" texture, plus the tender & fragrantly braised pork that tops the plain rice makes the rice a dish to savor by itself!
The fish may be the usual dory fish fillets, but I personally felt that the style of preparation/cooking was delectable. It's actually very simple, yet the sauce was uniquely blended with some preserved plums & pickled pineapples! Gives the 'boring/common' steamed fish a slight tangy-ness & twist.
We enjoyed our meal here, albeit slightly expensive for us.
This is a MUST-HAVE! I'm actually not a fan of peanuts, but oh my, my, this was EXTREMELY delicious! It's like eating "cold, light peanut butter"! I was flabbergasted at how smooth the peanut snow mountain was & I didn't regret ordering this AT ALL!
Oh, I was a "happy-bunny". The peanut snow mountain just did the trick to make my day end on an inevitably pleasant note! :D
More updates to come! 1 down, 12+ more to go!! *lol*
Fong Lye Taiwan Restaurant
Lot T208, 3rd Floor, The Gardens Mid Valley City
Lingkaran Syed Putra
59200 Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: (+603) 2282 8699
Note: No reservations allowed on Fridays - Sundays
Ratings:
Presentation: * * * *
Price: * * *
Environment: * * * 1/2
Taste: * * * 1/2
Service: * * * 1/2
Overall:
- Ruth
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5 comments:
Yeah.. normally I would come to Fong Lye before noon.. easier to get tables. I don't like waiting FYI
We went to Xian Ding Wei at Queensbay Mall last month and the food was below average. By the way, Fong Lye was founder by a Taiwanese, and Xian Ding Wei if I am not mistaken by a local.
->leo: I don't enjoy waiting, but since I was there by recommendation from so many foodies, I just waited ;) Not too bad; worth the wait...hahaha...
->Baby: My dad is like a kiddo...he likes kids & he's just like one as well! Hahaha...
->Jason Wong: Oh, I didn't know XDW is founded by a local...haha...oh well, taste-wise, it's different. FL has the 'authentic' kinda taste whereas XDW is slightly "lower grade" ;) Nonetheless good for me...the one I had was in Sunway Pyramid, which was alright. Not great ;)
Ooh been meaning to try the newish menu here... but the queues always drive me the opposite direction!
->minchow: As leo suggested, go in the afternoon to avoid waiting so long for a table :) Worse case, go there earlier & u won't need to wait too long then ;)
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