Friday 29 October 2021

Ming Chai Kee, Damansara Uptown

In the aftermath of the pandemic which saw many restaurants in my area closed, hope springs eternal when new ones emerge.

One such eatery is Ming Chai Kee which is situated along the same row as Texas Chicken. That stretch of shop houses has seen many restaurants (and other businesses) come and go.


If I am not wrong that spot was last occupied by the short lived Embassy Cafe (and Tables of Joy before that) which moved out of The Starling sometime last year. Well, I am not surprised after my last visit while they were still at The Starling.

I spotted Ming Chai Kee while running errands and in the process found a few more new restaurants (yay!). So of course with my revenge dining out mood kicking in big time, I had to drop by.


The interior is very neat and clean with SOPs strictly adhered to. Before you are seated, the staff will disinfect your table and give it a good wipe down.


Ordering is by way of order chits which makes things very easy.


Their specialty is wonton noodles which I understand is Hong Kong style.


They serve fried noodles too.


And of course sides and desserts.


They have also added new dishes to their repertoire.

When I saw Wat Tan Hor Fun on the menu, I could not resist. Oh I do miss Wat Tan Hor Fun but the places that I loved  have closed down. Haiz...

When this came to the table, the first thing I noticed was the beautiful plate. I am a sucker for plates with blue designs, so pretty!


This serving of Wat Tan Hor Fun is very generous. I give Ming Chai Kee thumbs up for portion size. 


You get loads of ingredients too in your noodles and I assure you, you will not leave hungry. However, in terms of taste, I would have liked more depth of flavor and the wok hei aroma that I have come to expect of wat tan hor was lacking. If you prefer light and clean tasting food, this wat tan hor is for you.


The black coffee was a little thin for me, I prefer my kopi o a bit stronger. 

Of course I had to come back to sample more. On my way there I spotted this little fella enjoying a jolly time in the hammock.


So cute! Every time I see a cat, I fall hopelessly in love. Haiz....


There you go, another grand lunch. This is the Three Toppings Wonton Noodles. I chose dry style but with benefit of hindsight, I reckon the soup version would be better.


The noodles are thin and springy, cooked just right and tossed with a very flavorful sauce. It may look pale but the taste is anything but. I thought it was very tasty.

The three toppings are fish balls (giant sized ones), prawn wonton and beef slices. A rather odd combo but you get to taste all three topping, decide which one you like and then next time just choose one or you might actually like all three hah..hah...

I thought they were all good (the beef was very tender) but what stood out for me were the prawn wontons. There is a big prawn (very fresh too) in each one. 


This time I opted for Iced Lemon Tea which was refreshing and best of all, not sweet.


On yet another visit I had to try the Char Siew Wonton Noodle. And because I loved the prawn wontons from before, I added Prawn Wonton Soup.

Oh, before I forget, the only chili condiment served here is chili oil which is why I skipped it. I would have preferred pickled green chilies or simply sliced chilies with light soy sauce but I am not one to kick a fuss.


The soup had a strong prawn flavor but I also found it a little fishy (not in a bad way though). I don't know if it was meant to taste like that or it's just me. But I was more focused on the prawn wontons.


Nyum! I love this! There are 6 prawn wontons in a bowl. The prawns are of a respectable size and very fresh.


No, I have not forgotten about the wonton noodles and char siew.


I would say that this is very decent char siew, well marinated, tender and moist and slightly different from those char siew usually found at chicken rice stalls (or the one at Annie 1) which has more charring and hence a stronger flavor (but may sometimes result in a drier/tougher texture). 


The wonton noodles, like before, were thin and springy and tossed with a delicious fragrant sauce. It was good though I have to admit that I prefer local style wonton mee. Nevertheless, I enjoyed my meal and left happy.


Finally I had to try the Stir Fry Beef Koay Teow (not to be confused with Spring Onion Ginger Beef Koay Teow which is the gravy type)


This dry style version was as good as I had hoped and I would say that this is my favorite order thus far. 


You get good smoky flavor, well balanced seasoning and lots of sliced beef and crunchy beansprouts.


For once I enjoyed the chili oil because it went so well with the fried noodles.


I hope that with consistency of good quality and generous portion sizes and with the support of happy customers (like me heh..heh...) Ming Chai Kee will be here to stay.

18 comments:

  1. wah....i m drooling while reading this!!! all look so good!! i dun mind coming here a few times.

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  2. Here too! I wonder how they choose to open at a time like this - hopefully they will not have to struggle to stay afloat especially when a lot of people are not ready to go out and dine in just yet. Pays to be careful!

    I love the look of the plump wantons and I like char siew like that, not too red, nicely charred. I haven't had beef kway teow for a long long time now - dunno any place selling that here now. The wat tan hor looks different with the green veg - I think they usually use Chinese cabbage for the dish...but the green sure is a welcome added colour!

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    1. From my observation, over here people are coming out more and more to dine. Hopefully these new restaurants can survive based on this. Some will do better than others.

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  3. For the 1st time I saw Wat Dan Hor comes with mushrooms in the gravy, hehe :P
    HK ppl have their Wonton mee with chili oil, hence the chili oil is served here since they are specialise in HK style Wonton mee.
    I like beef fried Koay Teow aka Gon Chao Hor, one with good wok hei pls...

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    1. Now that you mentioned it, ya hor? hah..hah.. I did not even notice the mushroom until I looked at the photo. Oh, I did not know that HK people eat wanton mee with chili oil. No wonder. The fried beef koay teow had some wok hei though not very strong. I still loved it.

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  4. I would love the 3 combi and the prawns wantons and your favourite stir fry beef so I am going to see if I can get delivery to my place! Thanks for introducing this eatery. Dunno when I will set foot into uptown again.

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    1. Hope you get to try it via delivery. Very light tasting so very ngam you.

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  5. Wow... the food looks so good to me.. I mean all of the above!! Yes, the servings on plates play a part... if plastic red plates are used for the wanton hor, immediately the food jatuh points.. LOL.. .

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    1. All the dishes I tried, I believe you will enjoy it too!

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  6. Everything looks so nice and delicious here... I'm back in KL for a week or two now, but I'm stuck with my mom's special diet menu throughout I guess, after all I've not been home for more than a year now. No chance to eat fine food like these.

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    1. Good to hear from you again! Naturally your mom will mother you kaw kaw (even more so after not seeing you for more than a year) and you will be fed with her home cooked food. You must device an excuse to come out and eat restaurant food hee..hee..

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  7. I had a light lunch and I am drooling over all the food you have posted here. I miss the plumb prawn wontons because the couple that served good prawn wontons have retired.

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    1. I will be back for more prawn wontons and the fried beef koay teow. It looks like you have to find a replacement to enjoy prawn wontons!

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  8. Since this is Hong Kong-style wantan mee, I always prefer the soup version as it's better than the dry (coz they can't do dark sauce like we do). As for their soup base tasting fishy, that's also their signature as they like to use dry sole but quality ones shouldn't taste fishy but fragrant and umami. The usual two standouts for me for a Hongkee joint is that they're good at making shrimp wontons (with whole shrimps inside, they don't stinge) and beef dishes, so I can understand why their kon chow hor turned out good. I can also understand why the wat tan hor wasn't good coz one look I can see why...the colour & thickness of the sauce wasn't right and missing those eggy strands. I also spotted the mushrooms...clearly they don't know how to make wat tan hor like the locals..lol! Hopefully this one is here to stay (for your sake) coz (from experience) they don't seem to do so well here. I guess locals prefer more robust flavours than their ching & clean taste. >_<

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    1. Just from this comment I learnt more about Hongkee style food. So their seasonings are lighter than ours and the fishy bit about their soup is normal. This sort of reminds me of Mak's Chee which I have not visited in a long time.

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  9. I like the look of the wat tan hor fun. I missed it....

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    1. Somehow the best wat tan hor are from hawker stalls or those tai chow places.

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