Hong Kong Desserts @ KTZ Food, SS 2, Petaling Jaya

Note: this establishment was visited before the MCO took place. 

It is been a while since I have placed sweet treats center stage. So its time to break that drought! Most people would have known of this very popular Hong Kong style eatery. KTZ, which is the play to the words 記得食 ("kei tak sek"), which means remember to eat, is a humble corner shop which has been around for many years. And a craving for late night desserts with my family brought us to this joint. I remembered visiting this place back in my early teens, but that was too long ago. So it was nice to be reacquainted to this popular spot. 

Front of the queue. 

Most people recommend their dessert items over their other dishes. Sure, there are small dim sum dishes and noodles but those are not what they are famous for. And according to my brother, there are better food elsewhere. After all, it was their desserts that put them on the map. So we decided to have a bit of everything when it comes to the sweet treats. 

Bouncy balls of glory. 

The first that came was a classic tang yuen dessert stuffed with black sesame. This was very satisfying and was the best I had in a long while. The rice mochi was very bouncy but yet not too chewy. That black lava inside was oozing with sweetness and was very nutty. The woody and earthy aroma that you get from sesame was very evident in each mochi ball. The sugar syrup had a very intense ginger flavour and not too sweet. 

Molten core

I think that was a good call, seeing that the sesame filling was already quite sweet. A good contrast of flavours and textures. A bit expensive for 3 pieces as one bowl was for RM5.50. But a noteworthy recommendation. 

Old fashion classic. 

If you want something more of a dessert soup "tong sui", then the red bean soup may be more to your taste. It was really good too. The texture was abit of a liquefied custard and was quite smooth. This is not that chunky and watery combo you might get from some half baked hawker center. This was a bit sweeter than the tang yuen, but that is to be expected. Not much of a textural component here, but for this one, a more consistent texture is more apt. Another good bowl, and this stood for a slightly cheaper price tag of RM3.90.

But if something frosty is more of your thing, especially when the weather is overbearingly hot, then they do have shaved ice desserts too. A classic choice is of course mango. Topped with mango puree and sago balls, this will cool you down easily. However, I do have to note that only the top part and the very bottom were loaded with fruit and mango puree. The mountain of shaved ice, although impressive to look at, was essentially ice. So if you do not want to just have some bland frozen water in between, it would probably be a good idea to slowly break it down and let it dissolve before going all in. Still, not a bad choice. This stood for RM8.90.

Some Blade Runner neon feels over here.

Being a dessert hot spot, and surprisingly, a very popular date spot too, KTZ gets very busy after dinner hours. Be prepared to wait in line in the event you arrive after 8pm. In fact, we had to sit outside the premises by a parking space. But I believe this adds up to the experience as food like this has to be served in a more rustic and honest backdrop. If you somehow ended up in the SS 2 shopping street area , do remember to eat the desserts here. Pun intended. The address is as follows:

No. 22, Jalan SS2/63, 47300 Petaling Jaya

PS: I have decided to post a visit to a shop, which is different to the "new normal" of home recipes as of late. Few reasons come to mind. Firstly, this is to give some readers something to look forward to when the whole MCO is over. And this leads to the second reason, which is more importantly, to give these owners and cooking staff the exposure they need and to encourage readers to support them once their businesses are open again. 

In fact, I already have a stack full of notes and photos that are ready to be transformed into articles, but I decided not to put them in light of current circumstances. But after some thought, these businesses need all the help they can get. And if you notice, I usually patron honest eats and independently run establishments, which means, they do not have access to a war chest that a chain might have. So if a restaurant or stall piques your attention, please bookmark that page, to remind yourself to visit the place I recommended. Better yet, why not check if they provide take away?