Xiang Cuisine at Serdang Perdana 香菜馆
Today’s food blog entry is about a place a bit out of Cyberjaya. It’s at Serdang/Seri Kembangan area, around 30mins drive from Cyberjaya.
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| Classy Decor |
The restaurant visited is called Xiang Cuisine. Xiang cuisine 湘菜 refers to food from Hunan region, it’s located in central China. It is said that Hunan cuisine is one of the top culinary cuisine besides GuangDong food in China. This place is hard to miss, it’s directly opposite South City Plaza Shopping Center. The outside of the restaurant is decorated rows of bright red chinese lanterns.
Upon entering I was greeted by the friendly owner who looked at me as asked if I was a China mainland citizen which I replied I was not. I was also wondering why she asked this strange question. I later found out that this question was used to determine what dish to recommend, for local Malaysians she will recommend the less spicy and less oily food.
The owner recommended salted vegetable fish and signature black fungus cold dish. There was quite a wait as there were many customers that night. Food came and the verdict was positive, the sourness and the spiciness of the food really whets the appetite. 1 bowl of rice was not enough also.
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| Sour Vegetable Fish |
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| Hints of Sze Chuan Peppercorns |
The sour vegetables and fish really hit the right sourness and spiciness notes. Mixing the sauce with the rice is really match made in heaven. My only complain was it was a bit oily.
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| Marinade Black Ear Fungus |
The black fungus dish shines with hints of black vinegar taste.
For drinks I ordered barley tea, it's a Japanese version of Mugicha. There tea has hints of roasted barley taste.
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| Barley Tea 麥茶 |
I saw some people ordering the Ying Yang hotpot. Their hot pot is very unique, while it has got clear broth and the spicy broth, the soup is separated into 9 sections. What I understand is each sections can be used to cook different items.
After picking up the bill I did some small talk with the owner, apparently this place has been opened 6 months only and owner mentioned that the business was good as this area has a lot of students from China. I notice that also, maybe 50% of their customers at the restaurant that day were from China mainland based on the way their mandarin accent.
The meal prices are not hawker center prices but for the prices you pay you get maximum value. The price is absolutely worth it, I could barely finish the pickled vegetable fish.
I think this place opens until 11:00PM at night. I left the place around that time but there were still other customers eating.
