Review: Lala Chong, Kayu Ara

One of the pioneer Chinese restaurants in Kayu Ara, Lala Chong is famous for good food at cheap affordable prices. A favorite haunt of Elaine's, we met up here with my parents for dinner.

Deep fried yam ring. A dish that I used to have often in Klang, they weren't very stingy with the yam and it wasn't very oily. It is hard for anyone to go wrong with the mixed veggie in the middle. Unless if it was me cooking it.

Stir fried paku. Given my preference for leafy greens (I usually avoid the stalks like a plague), this vegetable is one that gets my thumbs up. Maybe because of its crunchy texture. Maybe because it tastes a bit like a snack. Either way, this is one dish which you should order when given the chance as not many restaurants carry it. Plain, garlic, sambal, they are all good.

Lala soup. No, this isn't their signature dish. In fact, I don't think they have one. Except for reasonable prices.
The seafood were fresh and juicy but the soup wasn't that great. It was nice but I prefer something with more oomph. Like pepper.

Deep fried prawn in sweet sauce coated with Nestum. Having a slow growth spurt meant having parents try to feed you many things. Nestum was one of those that I never taken a liking to. Even now, I find it's too sweet despite having a sweet tooth.
Surprisingly, it worked its charm with the prawn. Coupled with the sweet sauce, it was good enough to make you forget (for awhile) that they overcooked the prawn that it was dry and the flesh shrunk faster than your jeans would in the washing machine.

Deep fried squid ring. I love squids in general because they are like me, no backbone. Fortunately for them, they taste better than I would.
Some places like to cheat their customers by coating the rings heavily with the frying batter so that you can't tell how puny the squid is but no such thing here. If anything, you get a nice crunchy layer outside with soft squid inside.

Stir fried meehoon. In general, I prefer my noodles to be on the dry side when stir fried. This one tasted more like they blanched the noodle until soft and tossed it together with the rest of the ingredients =\

Salt baked fish. You'd think that my father knew better but he tried a piece of the skin because it looked crispy (no doubt from the generous salt to bake the fish).
While the fish was fresh, we agreed that this cooking method somehow didn't do it any justice.