Review: Private Kitchen, PJ SS2

No. 20 Jalan SS 2 / 10
Petaling Jaya
Tel# +60 3-7874 8399
https://www.facebook.com/privatekitchenmalaysia

They used to occupy a restaurant in Damansara Uptown which was really the reason why I bought the GroupOn deal. On the appointed day and time, I made my way there. It didn't help that it was on a weekday right after office hour. Anyone who's familiar with that neighborhood would be well acquainted with the after-office hour traffic jam and I wasn't spared of that.

After making few turns around the perimeter, the restaurant was nowhere to be found. I had an inkling of an idea of where it was but it wasn't where my memory last recalled it to be. Of course, the traffic jam merely worsened the thought/memory process that I did what any men wouldn't do without bruising their ego:

excuse me, where exactly is your restaurant? 

Turned out that they shifted to the other side of PJ SS2 =_=""""

 Siu pak choi and thick rice noodles. Both of these are really fillers to any meal. Thankfully, they didn't give something that was wilted unlike some steamboat restaurants. 

Fish dumplings and enoki mushroom. The set came with few standard stuff which couldn't adequately feed the three of us. One plus point was the freshness of the ingredients.

 Bacon strips and  wantan. The former was an additional order because who doesn't love bacon?

 Homemade meat ball and chicken fillet. As you may notice, unlike your usual steamboat offering, they may have limited quantity but makes up for it with quality.

 Lo and behold, red pearl fish steamboat in fresh tomato and sweet corn soup.
You know that this was made to order because:

• you pick your soup base 
• they take ages to prepare it 
• it takes almost as long to cook at your table 

 Yes, that is a whole fish.
Certainly a very unique steamboat experience whereby you don't get the usual fishy, salty soup. Instead, the tomato base soup is quite appetizing. A very different take. And deep fried bean curd skin and bean sprouts? Almost foreign but definitely worth the risk.

Since we were still a little hungry, we ordered more food. They do have a rather expansive ala carte menu of rice, noodles, vegetable and meat. Be warned though, these aren't exactly cheap and I'd rate it as slightly above average for Chinese food.

 Smoked duck breast with mango.
An easy crowd pleaser, thanks to the slight tangy sweet mango .

Seafood fried rice.
So you have fried rice and then these fried rice. Of course, you can't compare the former with the latter since this one costs almost RM 20 (if not more). Still, one of the best fried rice. Ever. The texture of the rice, flavors and the eggs. Great combo.

Stir fried black pepper udon. What's it with the Chinese and these Japanese noodles? Anyhow, who cares when it ends up being so yummy on the plate?