The Wok - Revisited

This is our second visit to The Wok @ The Strand, Kota Damansara after a lapse of 8 months. For the first visit's review (which gives a background and directions to the place plus the different orders we had), please click here.


I had a craving for some nyonya food and wanted to try The Long Table at Kelana Jaya, but we were running a bit late (read: hungry) coupled with the fact that hubby wasn't sure where the restaurant is located. (Google map failed to show the street number, or any of the landmarks nearby.) Since Kota Damansara is like a stone's throw or two away, it made more sense to revisit The Wok. Besides, we had wanted to try the other items on their menu the last time we were there.

Gulai Tumis Stingray - RM18 (S)

The first item I ordered was the gulai tumis. I am a die-hard fan of gulai tumis, so when I say it's superb, my opinion is skewed and biased. In Penang, it is pronounced as goo-lye two-mee, which means fried curry, literally. It is a sourish curry, and the freshly blended paste is fried till fragrant before water is added to it and boiled. 


I love gulai tumis so much that I took the trouble to learn how to make it from my grandma. This reminds me that I have never blogged about it....*note to self: must remember to blog about my gulai tumis*.

Perut Ikan - RM10 (S)

Ever since I introduced hubby to perut ikan, it has been his favourite nyonya dish. At each and every nyonya restaurant we go to, he must have the perut ikan. Even if we had ordered this at our earlier visit. The dish hasn't changed from when we last visited, so I shall refrain from repeating myself. To find out what it tasted like, please visit my earlier blog post by clicking here.

Lor-bak and tau-knua - RM12 (S)

The lor-bak (deep-fried meat wrapped in spring rolls) was excellent. It's not what you get from coffee-shops. The skin was crispy and fragrant while the pork inside was tender and moist. The tau-knua, which is a hard tofu, was great, too. I'd say this item is a must-have.

Jui Hu Char - RM12 (S)

Jiu Hu Char is another favourite of hubby's when it comes to nyonya food. It is fried turnip slices with cuttlefish. It is eaten wrapped in lettuce leaves. 

Dessert, clockwise, from top left: 

Mango chendol x2 (RM5 each), jelly (complimentary) 

and sago gula melaka x2(RM4 each).

Hubby and I had the sago gula melaka while my MiL and SiL had the mango chendol. Hubby tried to get some feedback from them by asking them to compare it with the durian chendol we had in Melaka. Unfortunately, MiL and SiL did not remember what the durian chendol in Melaka tasted like. Since we had the sago gula melaka at our previous visit, I shall not blog about this item again. 


The complimentary jelly was unexpected and a very nice surprise. Nice as in the gesture and the taste.


It was a lovely meal and it looked like I might never get to try The Long Table as at the end of the meal, hubby said "The Wok is great, there's no need to travel so far to Kelana Jaya."


Address:
The Wok Cafe
26-G, Jalan PJU 5/21
The Strand Damansara
Kota Damansara
Tel: (03) 6142-7388
(Turn left at the junction behind CIMB bank)

The Wok Cafe @ The Strand Damansara

Born and raised in Penang, I have a penchant for Penang nyonya food. There aren't many authentic Penang nyonya food in KL. There are more sub-par ones than there are good ones. I am therefore, on a permanent quest to find that perfect, authentic restaurant. 

Authentic here is defined as a replicate of my grandma's cooking. She was one woman who cooked like nobody I know, and her skills are surpassed by none in the nyonya food area. That is not surprising, as she was brought up in a home where her father had employed a professional chef to cook for them, and from whom she had learned the skill as a kid. Yup, born in 1917, she was brought up in that era's decadent lifestyle of having a chef with a few cooks, drivers, home tutors, servants and a lady's maid to attend to her.

The Wok Cafe is nowhere near my grandma's level, but is on par with Tanjung Bungah Restaurant in Chow Yang, SS2, another restaurant whose owner came from Penang. However, with its quaint furniture and deco, The Wok has a cozier ambience. The gold engravings on the doors and partition screens plus the signboard made me feel like I was back in my grandparents' house. My grandfather had an engraved sign with "The Lee family" in Chinese character above the door too.

The infamous Rose Chan 

The place was crowded when we arrived, and there was some confusion amongst the limited number of staff. We had to wait for a while before our order was served.

Perut ikan - RM10

Perut ikan literally means fish stomach although none were used by The Wok Cafe. While it was enjoyable, I still think no one can cook this dish as well as my grandma. The extra ingredients to give it a cuisine touch were missing. I suppose it's not possible to make it the way my grandma did and charged only RM10 for it.

Assam fried prawns - RM24

The prawns were succulent and sweet though the assam flavour was too subtle to be detected (again, using my grandma's cooking as the benchmark). Still, I liked it enough to lick the gravy off the shells.

Otak-otak - RM6

Very dry and without much flavour, the otak-otak was a disappointment. The best so far, is still the one in Penang at Song River, Gurney Drive. Following closely behind is the one at Taman Tun Dr Ismail (KL) wet market.

Sago gula Melaka - RM4

The sago gula Melaka was one of the better ones I've had. The gula Melaka, or palm sugar, was undiluted and fragrant. We ordered one each. The next time I'm there, I'm gonna order two for myself. I love sweets....sago gula Melaka, trifle, caramel pudding, chendol.....you name it, I love it.

Overall, considering I could not order my grandma up from the grave to cook for me, I would say the food was decent, I enjoyed it, and I would go back again to try the other dishes on their menu.

Update:

We have since visited The Wok again, and ordered other items on the menu. To read the updated post, please click here.

Address:

The Wok Cafe

No. 26-G, Jalan PJU 5/21

The Strand Damansara

Kota Damansara

47810 PJ

Tel: 012 - 275 0396 / 012 - 263 5460

(Turn into at the CIMB junction, and at the T-junction, turn left.)