Review: Fong Lye Restaurant, The Gardens KL

Lot T209, 3rd Floor, The Gardens, 

Lingkaran Syed Putra, Mid Valley City, 

59200 Kuala Lumpur

Tel# +60 3-2283 2889

Each time I pass by this restaurant, it is almost packed. Sometimes with a queue formed outside. Typical Chinese food but in a mall, it wasn't one of those places I'd try but that I did for jl's surprise birthday dinner. For some reason, I am getting the hang of organizing surprises for birthdays. Wonder if mine would have any...

As we were there relatively early at 7.30pm, we didn't have to wait for a table but a line formed up soon after. The rest of them went in and got a table while I waited outside for the birthday girl.

sorry, I'm late. 
nw. lets go in.
huh? what? there's a line.
yes, yes. lets just go inside.
but... but... there is a queue here, for table.
come in already -_-"""

The look on her face when she saw the rest of the gang was priceless :D
And I call that mission accomplished.

The order of the night for our party of five. Not too much given how the portion was rather sizable.
Their menu has both ala carte and set meals. While not exactly cheap (average of RM 18), their set meals do come in a nice size that'll fill the average Joe up. As for the ala carte items, they make for great snacks and sharing.

Oolong tea RM 12.50

Refillable but for each additional cup, they charge. Either RM 2 or 3. Not that it really makes sense because why not I just share the cup then?

Papaya milk RM 8.80
Did you know that this combination (supposedly) will increase your breast size? Not speaking from experience as my chest is still far from being well endowed or even remotely endowed.

Hot milk tea RM 7.80

Given how Oriental their tea set was, I was pleasantly surprised by how cute my tea came in. The tea itself was also great. Rich and creamy, it slides down nicely especially on a cold night.

Sweet potato ball RM 7.30
This is one of their famous dishes which you ought not to miss.

It is easy to see why this is a clear winner with its deep fried crunchy exterior ...

... and a soft chewy interior. Not overly sweet filling, they make you want to pop one after another :D
Or maybe it's just my liking for deep fried and chewy stuff that makes this a winner by my books.

Taiwanese deep fried chicken RM 11.30

I had always skipped deep fried curry leaves because the thought of eating them was a strange one until teddy commented that they are actually rather yummy. Happy to report that these leaves were delectable with the slightly salty chicken bites that have been deep fried until slightly crispy. My only beef with this is it's tad bit dry on the inside and why no mayo??!!

Taiwanese style oyster with egg RM 15.80
Basically an omelet or ohjien (how my heart skipped a beat at the mention of that), this is similar to the Klang version with big juicy oysters nestled among the egg and starch. What was peculiar was the addition of cabbage and onion. The girls didn't particularly fancy this version but that is good because it meant more for me.

Dry udon beef set meal RM 22.80

The first set to arrive came with this appetizer of bacon roll, chili stir fried long beans and deep fried glutinous rice ball with peanut filling.

The beef was a bit on the dry side where as the noodle had a nice springy texture. What we didn't get is that slight alkaline taste to it. The nearest comparison would be Seremban beef noodle which is totally different from the Klang Valley version. While I don't dislike this, it certainly is an acquired taste.

Mixed porridge set RM 19.80
I didn't get to try this until towards the end which may have been a biased review since by then, it wasn't as warm and porridge should be consumed hot to fully appreciate its flavors. Nonetheless, it wasn't your run-of-the-mill boring porridge with tastes of carrot, potato and most notably, yam which turned it thicker. There were also bits and pieces of meat and seafood to make this dish hearty and downright homely. Somewhat unfortunate that it also tasted a bit oily. Otherwise, healthy too.

The appetizer for my set. I think they ran out of the bacon roll and substituted it with julienned mango and sea jelly. All of which are pretty standard except for the deep fried ball. Although it was really oil, the crispiness of the skin contrasted well with the salty chopped peanut filling inside. I liked this so much that I ate the others' too. So much so that they wonder how deep my love for it goes. 3 balls deep to be precise. Could have been 4 but the last one was already half eaten.

3 variety supreme diced chicken set meal RM 22.80
The rice came with some minced pork which added a nice touch to the rice. It was good enough to eat this on its own but it turned out to be an unwise decision which I came to regret later.

Also known as 3cup chicken, it is rather different from the other version I had before. This one had more gravy and thicker. Sweeter as well and best enjoyed with rice. Otherwise, the flavor may be just too strong on its own. Heavy with garlic and dried chili, it would have been nicer if the chicken was chopped up smaller.

Spare ribs set meal RM 22.80.
Similar to the Japanese pork rice, the meat cutlet was deep fried with a nicely sprinkling of spices to give it some heat. I like it that it wasn't oily.

All the set meals came with the standard appetizers and a bowl of soup which completed the meal nicely. A nice place to go for Chinese food.