Over the weekend we were invited to this Nyonya restaurant for dinner by a family friend. He knew that we have recently been very taken with Nyonya food, thanks to a recent sojourn to Malacca that saw us rediscovering the joys of Peranakan food and ahem, old Nyonya jewellery. Hehe.

The shop is situated in SS2, on the Chow Yang side and used olden everyday stuff cleverly as display. On the outside, a wall is lined with all the newspaper cuttings featuring the restaurant and the chef, Ricky, a successful author of a few Nyonya cookbooks.

One of the appetisers we had was Pai Tee or top hats. The filling was tasty but the “hat” itself was thin, but tasteless and not crunchy enough. However with that said, I am glad it didn’t have the stale oil taste that many other versions I have tried has.

The Sambal Petai we had was rather tasty, though a tad more on the wet side. But it sure was a good accompaniment to the white rice.

The Sambal Tumis Fish was good too. Not too strong in the spiciness or sour notes.

We quite liked the Spicy Nyonya Chicken, which was chicken pieces deep fried and coated with this sticky, aromatic sauce, thanks to the thinly shred kaffir lime leaves. And an interesting twist was probably the addition of the mango cubes.

There’s also the “Tau Yew Bak” or braised pork with soy sauce and tofu (beancurd). Tender and flavourful and very much a favourite with the children. But i found something missing…. not sure what it was.

The “Ju Hu Char” or stir fried turnip with julienned carrots and sliced mushrooms was probably one of my favourites. And they even make deep fried popiah with this as the filling. Delicious.

I also loved the “Kerabu Paku Pakis” though I had a few “too raw” stems which were a tad hard to bite off.

The tofu dish was also tasty despite the messy look. Another crowd pleaser with the kids.
We ended the meal with some ang koo kueh and durian cendol. I was stuffed beyond belief so only had half a kueh and was glad to find it not too sweet. And those who had the cendol raved about it so I would definitely try that if I were to return.
Overall I would say that this place exudes a certain charm of homecooked food. And on hindsight, we were all glad that the food we had wasn’t too oily or heavy tasting. Plus the chef/owner Ricky was really quite friendly and obliging which the made the dining experience even more pleasant.
Restoran Taiping Ho Chiak
28, Jalan SS2/10, (Chow Yang side)
47300 Petaling Jaya
Tel/Fax: 603-7876 6648
other reviews;
- my jaded palate
- jules eating guide to malaysia