Sing Wah Coffee Shop @ Jalan Gasing

During the wet, wet, rainy season, nothing hits the spot like a hot pot of Bak Kut Teh.

The name literally translates as “meat bone tea”, and, at its simplest, consists of fatty pork ribs simmered in a broth of herbs and spices including star anise, cinnamon, wolfberries, cloves, dong guai, fennel seeds and garlic, for as long as possible, to get the maximum flavor out of it.

I like mine with offal, but since I’m normally sharing the bowl with Cumi, I settle for varieties of mushroom, choy sum (vegetables), and pieces tofu puffs instead. Offal changes the flavor of the soup, and he dislikes anything that remotely resembles pig innards, coming near his precious soup! We personally have the highest regard for Bak Kut Teh at ‘Restaurant Yik See Ho’. This place is situated in the vicinity of the Pudu Wet Market and is a hot favourite amongst KL-lites. It’s one of the Top 10 places we would bring our friends visiting KL for food. Sometimes you need a quick fix in the afternoon, and since Sing Wah Coffee Shop is air-conditioned and situated in the comfortable suburban area of Jalan Gasing, we figured, why not?

As it turns out, the Bak Kut Teh here is pretty decent – maybe not as herbal and thick as the Pudu or Klang based Bak Kut Teh shops (though not all of them are tasty), but certainly potent enough to hit the spot. Loved the Pai Kuat (ribs) and soft bone – I love gnawing at the bones.. since there was no offal, this was the next best thing. The generous amount of mushrooms, tofu puffs and beancurd skin was a plus as well.

Another dish to order here is the curry Chee Cheong Fun. Soft, silky flat rice noodles, and a thick, rich santan (coconut milk) curry base topped off with succulent chunks of chicken and a good measure of greens makes this an irresistible meal. You can also ask the nice lady owner, whose original stall had been located in Sungei Way, to pour the original sweet bean sauce instead of curry. With the sweet sauce, you can request for chopped roasted peanuts sprinkles (uncommon) besides the usual sesame seeds, and sesame oil.

For Char Kwey Teow lovers, there’s the option of cockle invested, greasy, flat noodles fried with prawns, and full of smoky wok aroma. Average, but not the best we have eaten. Again, most of our favourite chinese fried noodle places are in KL, so that’s a bit of a distance to go, especially when you want to have a zippy lunch. We do recommend this good breakfast Char Kwey Teow place, if you’re interested!

A few meters from  Sing Wah Coffee Shop, along the five foot way,  a crowd is building. We see adult and kids, huddled over baskets of what seems to be food, and snacks.

Then we realise it seems to be some sort of mini Thai Market, or Thai fair. Its the weekend street vendors and they are apparently related to the other popular weekend mobile Thai food stall near the Siamese Temple just about a kilometer away.

Magazines, snacks, food , desserts and all sorts of nick-nacks , laid out in neat stacks and folks milling around, some out of curiosity, some with intention to buy.

A young fan of Thai sweets?

My favourite somtam! I can’t resist a good papaya salad! 

I also love Lap Mu! Tons of pork offal, minced pork etc, in salad form, with tons of chilies.

 Looks like we are going to have a feast for dinner!

Then Cumi recognizes the lady – he asks her if she is from the Thai shop that used to be located in the Siamese Temple and she replies Yes!

Just as I cannot resist Somtam or Lap Mu, Cumi loves his Thai desserts!

More TV snacks for us! This is the rather unhealthy pork crackling or pig skin. Once you start, it’s hard to stop!

Sing Wah is located 2 shops away from the 2 famous chicken rice shops, Satellite Chicken Rice, and New Restaurant Ipoh Chicken Rice, in Petaling Jaya.