Chinatown Food Court @ Tanjung Malim, Perak

Chinatown Food Court has been around for about a year and a half now. This food court is located in Taman Wangsa Setia, which is a relatively new housing estate that's located along the old trunk road heading towards Behrang. This has been a place that I had always wanted to visit but never got a chance to visit, primarily due to it's location which is a little off from town. As I was back rather early from work this evening, my Dad and I decided to head here for dinner. 

Chinatown Food Court in Taman Wangsa Setia

Ample Of Parking Spaces

The Place Was Clean

HBO Playing On The Big Screen

For those who are familiar with Restaurant Hou Hou Kee, this food court is just a stone's throw away from that restaurant. I did check with some of my friends but it seems that this place is not favoured by any of them, their feedback too didn't seem quite good but I was willing to take the risk anyway. After all, taste buds can differ from one to another. The place was not too crowded and sadly, there were only five stalls in the entire food court. Being relatively new, the place was clean and it seemed that most people were here just to have some beers and only a handful were seen eating. 

Some Of The Stalls

Chinese Tea @ RM 0.50

I kept walking around in circles and every stall seemed to be selling more or less the same thing. Variety was something that lacked here. Being disappointed, I returned to my table and ordered my drink first. Both of us had some Chinese Tea and this was priced at RM 0.50 per glass. That's considered expensive for Tanjung Malim. The going price around here is 30 cents per glass and this was almost double the norms. I understand that the price is much more in Kuala Lumpur but this is Tanjung Malim after all and this is the going price around this part of the world. 

The First Stall

Char Kuey Teow @ RM 6.00

Char Kuey Teow @ RM 6.00

We then decided that perhaps we should give each stall an opportunity. We agreed that we shall order one dish at a time from each stall, and share this between us. At least then, we could say that we had tried all the stalls here. So, I ordered the above Char Kuey Teow from the first stall. This was priced at RM 6.00 per plate. Once again, the norms around town is RM 4.00 to RM 5.00 per plate and therefore, this is considered expensive. The Char Kuey Teow look very unappetising too. The portion was decent and this came with some Fish Paste, Bean Sprouts, some Cockles and two medium sized Shrimps. The taste was just horrible. The dish was extremely salty and to the extent that a few mouthfuls was all that we could tolerate. Being not able to bear the torment anymore, we just left the dish aside. The Char Kuey Teow too lacked the 'wok hei' that's expected out of it. A dish that was surely not edible and I would rate this at 1/10 . 'Terrible' is indeed the word! 

The Second Stall

The Only Stall That Had A Little More Variety Compared To The Rest

Chee Cheong Fun @ RM 2.00

Chee Cheong Fun @ RM 2.00

Sweet and Chili Sauce

Having been extremely disappointed with the previous dish, I then moved on to the second stall. Here, we ordered some Chee Cheong Fun. I usually prefer the rolled version but she only had the flat ones. Having had not much of an option, I just went along. This was priced at RM 1.00 per piece and having taken two pieces, the dish was priced at RM 2.00 . This was decent, indeed a true savior from the earlier one. The sauces were nice, though not excellent and overall it was a good dish. I would rate this at 7/10 . I also wanted to try her Yong Tau Fu but it seemed that her Tofu and other variety were all the factory made stuffs which I don't quite like. Well, we were glad that at least we had something decent here that filled our stomach and saved us from hunger.

Prawn Mee @ RM 5.50

Comes With Two Shrimps

We Asked For Mee Hoon / Mee

Quite Watered Down Broth

Light Flavoured Broth

Moving on to the third stall, we ordered a bowl of Prawn Mee and this was priced at RM 5.50 per bowl. Once again, this was more expensive than anywhere else in town. I asked for a mixture of Mee Hoon and Mee and she served exactly that. Good, and that was as far as the the 'good' goes. The broth itself was horrible. The most important ingredient in a Har Mee dish is the Prawn Stock and that lacked completely from this dish. In fact it may seem weird but the broth actually tasted like some Asam Laksa that's been diluted with some clear soup. Seriously, it did taste like that. In short, this was the worst so called 'Prawn Mee' that I have ever tasted and I would rate this at 2/10 . Even the shrimps seemed to be old stock and tasted very odd.  

Did we move on to the next stall? No! We just decided to head back into town and have a real dinner instead at one of our usual restaurants. This was just horrible to the extent that it made us conclude that we would never return..... at least for the next ten years and provided the place still exists then. Now I truly understood why my close friends were trying their best to discourage me from coming here. My apologies guys' for not listening to your advice. I guess.....curiosity does kill the cat......

Address: Chinatown Food Court, Jalan Setia 1, Taman Wangsa Setia, 

                35900 Tanjung Malim, Perak, Malaysia.

Opening Hours: 1600 - 0200 Daily