Restaurant Woo Lan @ Brickfields

MmMmM... i haven't been blogging in either of my blogs very much. Call it laziness or busy-ness, i guess sometimes i too have the writer's block as to what to write. :P. Anyway, while i was looking into my camera to look for pictures to post up, i remembered the one we had at Woo Lan restaurant Brickfields. A long time ago, when i posted up good eats in Brickfields ( or lack of it ) Lyrical Lemongrass recommended this place to me. I actually only went like 2 months ago, when my colleague asked me to recommend a nice ( and reasonable place ) to eat for lunch. So i recommended Woo Lan. But dang it, it was tough to carry a camera that day and i decided, should i come back again, then i will bring my camera.

Not too long ago, i texted Mashi to tell her i tried Woo Lan, and since it is quite famous on it's own, we decided to try it for dinner. And actually i prefer eating here for dinner than lunch. Less parking issues and nice and relaxing. The restaurant is not so crowded in the evenings. We had a new makan member this time around, our colleague L joined us for the first time along with the usual makan crew of me, lil bro', Mashi & Becks.

I was raving to Mashi about 2 things over the last time i was here. One, i ate, the other actually i heard the place is famous for it. :) Fried pork or in cantonese is called "Char fah lam yuk". Fah lam yuk in pork is especially prized and tasty because it's layered with meat, fat, meat and fat, making the meat exceptionally tender. ( And fat, my mother says ) . I must say this is an excellent dish from the restaurant and the serving being slightly small for 5 persons, required us a second helping of it! The restaurant owner raised her eyebrows in some disbelief as we placed our second order.


The next was a rather unpretty dish that only goes to show, looks can be deceiving. Its fried mee suah but t is not the thin mee suah that you eat but a rather thickish kind that i am made to understand is only served during birthdays ( correct ? ). It looks like the cook just threw some scramble eggs and dumped some fried seaweed on the top of the plate. But no actually it tastes so much better than it looks. The noodles are actually tossed in a clear broth that is flavorful. The crunchy seaweed and egg combination gives it an odd and
somewhat tasty pairing. And it is not just noodles. Under this mess, there are prawns, squid and pork meat to boot with. Everyone gave their thumbs up on this dish.



I didn't have this the previous time i was here but this time i ordered it again. Its seafood curry, not using coconut milk ( for the health conscious folks out there ) but i doubt this is hardly healthy - look at the oil! And the contents, prawns, sotong etc all the seafood you can think of. I took a taste of the sauce and it's true there is no coconut taste. Suspect milk is used as a substitute. It's quite good actually and made even better if you have some rice to go with it.


Notice behind in some shots you see a green veggie? Poor green veggie. Doesn't get light of day when you have such stars infront. It was not to say it was not good but veggie is veggie.

Ah, the next is Mashi's all time favorite - Ohchien. I remember going to Melaka with her to sample the delights of Melaka Oh Chien ( which turns out to be more of show than delight ). She quite likes this dish, even remembered her smsing me when she was in Penang that she had good OhChien ( yes Penang one was pretty good in my books ) So, it is no suprise she jumped to try Woo Lan's version. ( Did we have 2 plates? i can't remember ... i think we did ) I must say i do like this version albeit not eating the Oh, but preferring the chien. The one in melaka had this starchy feel to it and not enough egg but Woo Lan's version had enough egg for me to like and the chilli sauce was a perfect partner to this dish.

So what's the damage after eating duplicates of a few dishes, not bad for the 5 of us, costs us about RM120+ with 4 bowls of rice and tea. Place is air cond and clean., service is moderate. I was also told this style of cooking is a more towards the Heng Hwa dialect group of the Hokkien people and the place has been around for ages. One of my users remarked that it was around when he was a kid which means 30+ years ago. Book for lunch if you have a big crowd, dinner seems ok. I think i can bring NY and JS here for a dinner trip as well :)

Restaurant Woo Lan,
19, Jalan Scott, Brickfields
03-2274-8368




View Woo Lan in a larger map