Come Eat With Us: Tu Loong Restaurant

So many new restaurants have opened lately it's hard to keep up. Thing is, most of the restaurants are off-shoots from KL, which is hardly a place for good Chinese food (except for some old coffeeshops and a few better restaurants).

Tu Loong opened 3 weeks ago in Warisan Square, a new shopping point in KK. The first time I went was Monday (today's Wed) but I forgot the camera. Today we wanted to try the new Chinese restaurant at DJunction but it was so full they couldn't take anymore reservations. It was our third attempt to eat there since it opened last month. Tu Loong was better; it was full but we got a table after a 2-minute wait. Tu Loong specialises in 'la mien' or hand-pulled noodles and other Shanghainese dishes. A bowl of plain soup noodles is RM10 (US$2.90). Add a few slivers of meat and its RM14 (US$4.00 ) which is close to what you pay in Hong Kong , one of the most expensive cities in the world. The reason it appears is that the chef and cooks are from China.


Jacai pork noodles

The noodles were el dente and fresh but would be better if they were finer and really at RM14.00 (US$3.4) a bowl, it's a rip-off. Soup noodles in KK are usually RM4.00 (US$1.20) per bowl in coffeeshops (no air-con) and more in air-conditioned places.

Xiaolongbao

This was quite good but only one out of the four little baos had soup in it. You can spot it: its the lower right one. At RM8.00 (US$2.30) for 4 tiny baos, this is expensive because other places usually charge RM6.00. My niece said the bao skin's coarser than those she'd eaten in Shanghai.


I'm so happy the whole family has learnt to be patient while I snap photos for my blog. I'm still embarassed about whipping out the DSLR when the food arrives so until then I'll be using my little spy camera. Wey took this pic to make up for digging into his pork shank noodles (strong 'porky'-flavored soup with slices of fatty pork cut so thin you can't really taste anything but the fat) before I could take a pic.


Pan-fried bao

These were good. I would eat more if not for the fact that they were RM6.00 (US$1.70) for 3 small baos.

Generally the food in this Shanghainese restaurant is almost as good as it gets in KL and Singapore (definitely not Hongkong or Shanghai standards) but the prices are too high, especially in KK, for what is considered ordinary everyday quick snacks and meals. The service was okay (although I find the waiters scruffy-looking) but the food took >20 minutes to arrive. We rate it 7/10.