Home Style Chinese Dinner @ Restoran Hua Xing, Sungai Way, Petaling Jaya

It has been a while since I have posted an article about tai chao places. And it is now to clear away that drought.

Crowded!

Hidden in an unassuming building complex, lies a gourmet treasure worth hunting down. And that is Restoran Hua Xing. Despite being so hidden, it has been very popular among the locals. So popular in fact, the restaurant was already full when we arrived and that we had to eat outside the premises. And this was just 6.30 pm on a Sunday!

Oh well, at least we can still eat. 

But that is a testament as to how good the food is. Well, we are here already and since many patrons have already given their seal of approval, might as well just soldier on. At least we are not alone when eating by the sidewalk. As this was the first time coming here, I relied on my friends' recommendation. As always for places like this , there will be a variety of meat and fish dishes and to be taken with rice.

Comforting.

The first dish that came to the table was the Fu Zhou red wine chicken, which presented itself with a very dark red gloss over it. The red wine sauce was deep and vinegar-like. It also has a very rich profile to it and was somehow like a syrup. The chicken that it was coating however, had a clean taste and the two came together nicely. It was cooked with some black fungus, giving it some dimension in terms of texture. Well executed and comforting, this chicken dish stood at a modest RM22.00 for the serving we had. 

This was really indulgent.

The Hokkien style braised pork came next and added some intensity to our meal. This was definitely more savoury to the earlier chicken dish. The sauce also had some hints of acidity, probably due to the dark vinegar that it was cooked with. There was an earthy aroma to it and the meat was fatty and sinful. A real treat to go with rice. Additionally, it came with some alkaline rice cakes.

How to eat the alkaline cake. You can see a plateful in the background

The rice cakes themselves are quite neutral in flavour, but it had an amazing texture, similar to a nyonya kueh. Buoyant and chewy, it was a good fodder for the elements in the braised pork dish and trebles the experience. This was for RM 28.00.

This was gorgeous. 

For this visit, we also asked the staff on what they recommend and the fish with braised nuts came soon after. It is somewhat of an unusual combo, but to our surprise it worked well. What stood at our table was a whole tilapia that was cooked twice. it was first fried then braised in the peanut sauce. And the peanut sauce was not something that we initially imagined. It was a clear broth, flavoured with peppers and scallions. It was very clean and crisp, and yet had a woody element to it. I reckon it was from the peanuts. The sauce was also slightly spicy. There was alot going on with this dish. But the elements work nicely. RM 32.00 was the modest price tag for this bad boy.

Definitely not the healthiest of dishes. Still good though. 

And lastly, came our veggies which was deep fried brinjal. This was a real treat. Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, it also has many things going on. It was slightly spicy and had alot of garlicky aftertaste to it. There was also a sweet and salty profile to it, which I suspect comes from salted fish. This was so good that I can just eat this on its own.  This took the longest time to prepare but it was worth the half hour wait. It was also our cheapest dish, as it stood with a tag of RM8 only.

Took a while finding this place. But really worth the trouble. 

The food quality was indeed spectacular and it really trumps over the slight inconvenience of eating by the sidewalk. With food this good and this cheap (total damage was RM108, which included tea and rice), I would not mind eating again whether it is at the restaurant proper of the hinges of its premises. The food is unpretentious, homely and inviting, like what a good tai chao should be. If you are a fan of home style Chinese cuisine, I cannot recommend this place enough. And if you are planning to visit this place soon, Hua Xing's address is as follows:

Lot1-12, 1st Floor,  Plaza Seri Setia, 

Jalan SS9/2, Seri Setia,  Sungei Way,

47300 Petaling Jaya