The Chinese delicacy of bite-sized portions of food served in bamboo steamers, also known as dim sum, is usually related to the presence of pork. There is wide perception that dim sum without pork is not dim sum at all, but let’s not generalize too soon. Situated in the relatively quiet Maju Junction Mall is the Maju Palace Restaurant, one of the many restaurants belonging to Oriental Group, serving dim sum made from Halal certified meat. Without further ado, we ordered the item that is synonymous with dim sum itself – the Imperial “Har Kau” or Prawn Dumplings. There was nothing but praises for this dish, for the prawns were large and succulent, bursting with juices upon every bite. Another point to note was how perfectly thin the translucent skin was, just enough to wrap the prawns without tearing and not too thick that it was cloying. Loved it!The same praises went to the Siew Mai Yunan Style. Traditionally, siew mai is prepared with pork, but in this case chicken thigh meat and shrimp bits were used, giving it a nice and savoury bite. The pork was certainly not missed here.The Large Bao or Dai Bao was one item that we were looking forward to, served in a huge size enough for at least 2 persons. The dumpling was fluffy and warm but we found the filling to be too wet such that the bottom part of the bao became soggy. It was quite a challenge to eat this without making our fingers dirty, if you get what I mean. Otherwise, the portion of meat and ‘sar kot’ was quite generous.My favourite dim sum dish is the Pan Fried Radish Cake but we mistakenly ordered the Stir-Fried version, which I found to be a tad oily. I much prefer the Pan Fried version which we did eventually order – crispy skin and soft warm insides. I also found it to be less oily compared to the stir-fried version. My friend ordered the Braised Egg Noodle Village Style, saying that it’s his favourite dish and he had to have this every time he eats here. We were surprised to see that it came in a big portion, meant to be shared by 4! This was not unlike wan tan mee, except with thicker strands. The noodles were firm and bouncy, and the combination of soy sauce, mushroom and bean curd skin was excellent.For desserts, we had the Baked Egg Tarts and Thousand Layered Cake. No prizes for guessing which one was my choice. I loved the egg tarts which were served hot off the oven, with crumbly pastries and rich, smooth egg custard. If I was not so full, I would have eaten more of these. Promotion: 30% discount on dim sum lunch during Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays.

It was the perfect night for BKT. The air was still cool and damp from the rain earlier, and the place was not as crowded as it normally was. Not only did we find a nice parking spot (just in front of the restaurant – illegal), we also found a table effortlessly. Since it was past 8pm, we fired our orders rapidly, hoping that food would come faster if we ordered quicker.But really, we didn’t have to, because the first dish of “Taufu bok” or bean curd came almost as soon as the waiter left.Together with the crispy Chinese Crullers (yau char kwai), we almost couldn’t stop ourselves from finishing the bowl of soup that came with the taufu bok! But patience is a virtue, so we waited and waited. Until the glorious sight of Claypot Bak Kut Teh came into picture. Rejoice! I loved the BKT that was full of ingredients and served in piping hot claypot. The soup at Ban Lee was fabulously flavourful and full of herb flavour. It was the slightly darker in colour and had a lot of ingredients such as enoki mushrooms, beancurd sheets (fu chok), lean meat, pork ribs, intestines and vegetables just to name a few. Still, all that did not really matter since the soup was so good! It had a slight (almost insignificant) bitter aftertaste, but it’s the type of aftertaste that makes you want to drink more.

Needless to say, we finished the soup in no time and asked for refills. Usually, the soup that is refilled lacks in flavour compared to the first pot of soup, but this was not the case. It was still aromatic and flavourful, and might I add that we asked for multiple refills just because it was so delicious.We almost wanted to order extra portions of the BKT, until the wait staff suggested for us to try their Steamed Chicken instead. We thought, why not The steamed chicken was smooth and tender, and particularly juicy since we were given the thigh meat. But other than that, there was nothing really spectacular with the chicken.Ban Lee will definitely be my top choice for Bak Kut Teh if I ever have the cravings and do not want to travel all the way to Klang.

Recently, we came to know about Uncle Jang Restaurant, that served pure, unadulterated, spicy Dak Galbi! There were only 2 options available, either Spicy or Non-Spicy. No prize guessing which one I ordered! But since I was sharing with my colleague, we played safe by mixing 1 portion of Spicy and 1 portion of Non-spicy. And we waited for the staff to cook.While waiting for the food to be ready, we were served some banchan in the form of kimchi and a bowl of cold sourish soup. I didn’t quite enjoy the soup but eventually found out that it’s actually useful to curb the spicy feeling after eating the dak galbi.It was definitely not easy sitting and waiting patiently for the food to be cooked while the strong aroma of gochujang attacked our senses. The smell was make us salivate non-stop, not to mention the spicy whiff that we got once in a while that caused us to choke. Finally, the staff said the golden words “Please enjoy your meal”. Yes, we started to dig in like hungry beasts, almost scalding our tongue from the piping hot chicken. Oh but it was good! Just like how I remembered it from Seoul. I ate the chicken on its own. I ate it wrapped with lettuce. I even ate it with kimchi. And don’t forget the rice cakes – so chewy and bouncy! I wish there were more of those.We have the option of adding in side dishes if you think the main dish is not filling enough. During my first visit, I asked for Ramen and fried rice, to be shared by 2 persons. I personally enjoyed the Fried rice more, as the flavour was well absorbed within the rice and the addition of seaweed and extra gochujang made it even more tantalizing.But during my second visit, I found that the Udon paired better with the Dak Galbi due to its thick and slightly chewy nature, almost like rice cake. The ramen would have been too soggy after being cooked for a while. The udon was just nice!In my opinion, Dak Galbi can create either a love or hate relationship with people. You either worship and love it like we do, or dislike it for being monotonous. Really, there’s nothing else you can eat here except for Dak Galbi, unlike a full-fledged Korean restaurant. But I urge you to try it out, because it really tastes just like the real thing back in Seoul. Of course, if you’re a first-timer, I would suggest you to go with the non-spicy version.

There are only two options, either the dry or soup pan mee. To enjoy the complete satisfaction of Chili Pan Mee, order the dry one. It will come with fried shallots, anchovies, minced meat and a whole poached egg on a bed of noodles.The chilli paste was stored in a separate container, so that you could control the level of spiciness you want your noodles to be. Just look at the chilli flakes – fiery red and shiny from the chilli oil, one can tell that it’s not going to be easy on the tummy!You know you’ve got a good bowl of chilli pan mee when the poached egg is perfect, the golden yolk flows into the noodles and coats them evenly, and the chilli flakes give the noodles a bright red sheen with bits of minced meat attached. The first bite of the chilli pan mee is the most satisfying one – after all the work of tossing and mixing, the excessive salivating due to the absolutely glorious aroma of chilli and shallots – came the ecstasy of firing up your senses with spicy chilli and bouncy noodles. Oh yes, Kin Kin did live up to its expectations. The noodles were exceptionally firm and chewy, while the chilli paste was spicy, spicy, spicy! But with a hint of aroma apparently from the addition of tea leaves within. It’s really different from the other chilli pan mee I’ve tasted before.We also tried the Soup Pan Mee for the fun of it. It came in a big bowl also with a poached egg and anchovies! On top of that, there were slices of pork fillet and vegetables within. Of course, eating this after the chilli pan mee, I felt it to be a little too bland. My palate was already accustomed to the tasty and spicy chilli so I can’t be a good judge.It’s a bowl of noodles that’s worth sweating for! Literally!

One thing I dislike about buffets is the crowds. And the fast-disappearing food from the buffet line. Living in a predominantly kiasu land, it’s not common to find buffet tables to be nearly empty almost as soon as they’re served. Thankfully, I did not face this problem with Nagomi. Every time I went to the buffet line, the food was always at least half-full and the crowd was not that alarming. I always had time to leisurely walk around, observe each dish, decide whether I should choose one or the other, before moving on. What’s the rushOne thing that captivated me was the fresh mini lobsters that were still swimming in the tray filled with water! A few of them even managed to escape the tray, onto the table. When I tried to take a couple of them onto my plate, they started crawling and fell on the floor. Apart from the lobsters, most of the other seafood offered were fresh, notably the fish slices, prawns and bamboo clams. The crayfish and crab were marvellous for the miso soup. I added them in at the beginning before anything else and they made the soup so much sweeter and delicious.Apart from the raw food spread, there was also a section dedicated to Sushi and Sashimi. Yes, Salmon Sashimi to be exact – they are offered only from 8 to 9pm daily, signaled by the ring of the bell. Of course, the main star of shabu-shabu is the thinly sliced meat. There were 4 choices to choose from: chicken, lamb, beef and duck. Duck It was my first time. Although I found the meat to be a little on the tough side, the aroma was unmistakable, and it was thankfully, fresh. My favourite had to be the lamb and beef slices though, just swish-swish for about 10 seconds in the bubbling soup, and they would be tender and juicy.I enjoyed the Goma sauce the most especially with the sliced meat. For seafood, I preferred to eat them on their own or with spicy chilli sauce.Even though the selection was not that extensive, the seafood and meat slices were definitely of top quality. This is the case where quality triumphed over quality, and I certainly have no complaints.