Restaurant: Kedai Ayam Wong Ah Wah
Cuisine: Malaysian/Chinese/Thai/Asian fusion
Last visited: April 26, 2010
Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Address:
No 1 Jalan Alor (Off Bukit Bintang)
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Price Range:
1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: Tres Excellent!!
Food:
Service:
Ambiance:
Overall:
Additional comments:
- Street side restaurant
- Hole in the wall-ish
- 90+ items (not everything is pictured)
- Indoor/Outdoor seating
- Malaysian-Chinese food
- Chinese-Thai fusion food
- Famous for celebrities
- Popular for locals
- No prices on menu
- Photo menu
- Fast, cheap, good
- Open to 4am
**Recommendations: Grilled stingray, Malaysian Satay Sticks
Never tried but also famous for: Roast Chicken, Chicken Wings, Thai-style bean curd (upon request), “Fan Shu Yip Chow Fu Yu” (Potato leave stir-fried in fermented bean curd), Assam Tilapia
Kedai Ayam Wong Ah Wah is the most local restaurant on the very touristy Julan Alor – street side dining street. I had locals take me here and it’s at the very end of the strip and it’s not as busy as all the others for that reason. Kedai Ayam Wong Ah Wah is busy with locals and the other restaurants are busy with tourists. It’s the best bet if you are dining in this area – which a great destination to check out when visiting Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
When I say “street side dining” – I mean in the literal sense. It’s a long block of side by side restaurants serving the same “authentic” Malaysian cuisine or Malaysian-Chinese dishes. It reminds me of Rat Alley (popular restaurant street) in Lan Kwai Fong, Hong Kong.
All the restaurants located here serve “Tai Chow” cuisine which is cooked on the fry food. You order from a photo menu and it’s cooked on a wok and served immediately. It’s cheap, quick, greasy, good, and open almost all day and night with fast service. The food isn’t the best ever, but it’s something to try and unique to Asia. I would still go back to try other dishes from Kedai Ayam Wong Ah Wah. (Man, that is so annoying to type)
Many of the restaurants will have servers standing outside proclaiming that they are the best restaurant in Malaysia – but just head to the end of the strip and look for Kedai Ayam Wong Ah Wah. I came here with locals for a midnight snack.
On the wall of Kedai Ayam Wong Ah Wah – it’s frequented by Malaysian celebrities.
I posted on Malaysian street food – but this is plated hot Malaysian street food “restaurant-style”.
On the table:
This is the seafood grilling or barbequing station in front of the restaurant.
This is the stingray! I know it doesn’t look very clean or safe to eat, but it’s fine… at least I was fine. The grilled squid and the grilled stingray are popular items to try on the whole street – best at Kedai Ayam Wong Ah Wah.
Of course the grilled stingray is a must try since I would never be able to get it easily in Vancouver, BC. And there it is! He bastes it repeatedly with a sweet soy sauce as it’s grilling.
**Grilled Stingray – 4.5/6
- It’s a pretty big piece and it’s enough to share for 4 people.
- I loved this! The skin is grilled until it’s very crispy and it’s very tasty especially since it’s where all the sauce goes. It’s also served with a sour and spicy sauce made with chili paste and vinegar. It’s a spicy pickled tasting sauce, but works well with the stingray.
- Stingray meat tastes like a cross of black cod and trout. It’s white fish that flakes easily into long strips. It has a mild fish taste and there are no bones except for the big one it’s attached to.
- It has a charred BBQ taste and a nice salty soy flavour from the marinade.
- It’s not the best here, but it is good. Some nicer places will grill the stingray in a banana leaf and that would give it more flavour.
- For my 1st time it’s a 5/6, but on a wide scale of BBQ stingray it’s probably a 4/6.
- Chicken, beef or lamb satay sticks served with Malaysian peanut sauce.
- Satay sticks are a must try in Malaysia. It’s one of the most popular, yet traditional Malaysian street snacks.
- This station is a stand alone station on the street but I think restaurants just order from him. We did – he was right next to us. He constantly fans the grill to keep the cooking temperature right… and to make customers like me hungy…
- I got 5 chicken and 5 beef.
- These were better than the ones at Devi’s Corner, they’re also bigger. The one’s at Devi’s Corner have a stronger curry taste.
- Authentic Malaysian satay sticks alternate meat with fat – eg: chicken meat, chicken fat, and repeat.
- The fat gets barbequed on the grill and it becomes almost like bacon. It’s not chewy but almost like crackling on a ham, but not as crispy. It makes for a very flavorful satay stick though! (I’m not a fan of that fat chunk, but almost everyone else is)
- The peanut sauce is really nutty but not really salty. However it was at the Lemon Garden Cafe (KL Shangri-La hotel buffet) – so maybe authentic Malaysian peanut sauce isn’t that salty?
Hokkien/Fukien Lo Mien (Mee) – 2.5/6
- This is a fusion of Chinese fried noodles and Hokkien fried noodles.
- It’s Chinese lo mien meets Hokkein Mee.
- This was a very saucy fried noodle. This is a common characteristic of authentic Malaysian-Chinese cuisine. They go heavy on the dark soy sauce. It’s also super oily.
- There’s pork slices, squid, crispy cubes of pork fat bits and spinach in it.
- The main flavour is soy sauce and then you get some crispy pork rind in there. Quite one dimensional and I just felt like I could make it at home.
- The noodles are firm chewy thing and round and also swimming in sauce.
- I prefer Vancouver’s Chinese friend noodles.
Hokkien/Fukien Char Mee – 2.5/6
- This is a traditional Hokkien/Fukien fried noodle dish.
- I’m not sure what this dish is called but it was almost the same as Shanghai Fried Noodles you get at casual Hong Kong Chinese cafes and restaurants.
- It was a thick a firm noodle that tastes like firm Japanese udon and it’s stirfried in thick, sweet and dark soy sauce.
- It’s very saucy and wet again and stir-fried with some cabbage and sliced pork.
- It was good, but nothing that special for me because I’ve tried lots of these noodle dishes. It does have a Malaysian-Chinese quality that is different though (eg: the overload of sauce factor).
Fresh Sour Plum + Lime + Calamansi Juice – 4/6
- Calamansi is an acidic orange and a popular Filipino fruit.
- This drink tastes like sour plum and lime juice. Sour, yet still sweet.
Dessert
- For dessert they offer fresh fruit popsicles. Being in Malaysia I had to try the 2 popular flavours even though I don’t like Durian.
This is a durian stand located in the beginning of Julan Alor street. Durian comes from Malaysia so if you like it you must try it here. Even if you don’t like it you might like in Malaysia because it tastes different. It’s the sweetest durian you’ll be able to try since it’s grown here.
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Mijune’
Here in Vancouver substitute skate for stingray. Peel the skin off or buy skate cleaned, steam it with blackbean sauce, finely julienned ginger and fine chopped green onions.
Mmmm that sounds like how my mom would make fish! Thank you so much for that alternative….stingray was awesome and I wish it was more available here. Skate…I’m not sure if I’ve had…but now I will! Thanks Bow!