Restoran Kim Choy

This restaurant is the new kid on the block in my humble hometown of Kuala Lipis. The chef was a former apprentice of another old establishment, Shi Jia Lou, who decided to strike out on his own. Coincidentally his restaurant is located on the same row as his mentor, taking over a Malay restaurant which could not survive the effect of MCO. On their first day of business, my friends invited me to dine together with them. Out of curiosity I agreed and proceed to have a lovely dinner, ◾Braised grouper fish head - not only one but two pot of this braised grouper head due to its sheer size but I'm not complaining. It could use more seasoning though ◾braised pork knuckle - more flavourful and the meat was moist and tender after the braising process. ◾Claypot salted fish pork belly aka ham yue fa lam Pou - a little bit more of salted fish and the dish would be perfect. ◾Buttermilk prawn dry style - highlight of the dinner with the medium sized prawns covered with the egg floss, and the flavour of the butter milk was prominent. ◾Stir fried green dragon vegetable & bean sprout - both vegetables combined well together to make a pair made in heaven ◾Stir fried Kangkung with pork lard - anything with pork lard will be good enough for me ◾Blanched cockles with homemade chilly sauce - this is not permanent fixture as it depends on availability, but the cockles were blanched perfectly with the addictive Thai style chilly sauce. ◾Fried anchovies with chilly and onion - perfect snack for the beer and whisky that we brought along. My second dinner here, I ordered a fish to test the chef's skill, as river fish is a permanent fixture in this sleepy town. ◾Steamed nim yue aka ikan tapah - timing and execution were no doubt hit the spot! ◾Claypot Chinese wine chicken - too sweet to my liking. ◾Buttermilk pork ribs - meat was over fried but the sauce was commendable. ◾Beancurd with minced meat - forgettable. The relatively young and eager chef definitely need to fine tune his cooking in order to pull in more fussy local customers.