Chinese cuisine, authentic or to suit the local..?

 I have always wanted to be a restaurateur. It's been forever, unfortunate enough, I am not good at cooking. The best thing I can cook is nothing. Even the simple instant noodle will taste strange if I am the one preparing it. Anyway, that doesn't deter from me being quite particular about my choice of restaurant and food.

I have always like chinese food. With the availability of halal chinese cuisine nowadays, it's convenient just to drive to the nearest muslim chinese restaurant. We used to live in Kuala Selangor, and during those years, my family has always been the regular customer to a local restaurant there. The restaurant was run by a husband and wife. The wife was a Muslim convert. They serves many chinese cuisine specialties. And my favorite was their 'Crab meat soup' and 'Singapore glass noodle'. Till to-date, I haven't found any other restaurant that can prepare a better 'Singapore glass noodle'. There were many times, that my parents been asking the couple to move to Klang Valley and start a restaurant here but they refused stating, they wanted a quiet life back in Kuala Selangor. I guess, there are still people that appreciate life more than they appreciate money. I hope to be one them , ;)....

But I'm not going to blog about them today, I'm going to write about Restoran Hj.Sharin Low in Section 7, Shah Alam.

I used to be stranded in front of this outlet in Jalan Ampang in a traffic congestion. It looks like an expensive restaurant to me, plus, I came across it's wedding banquet promotion which stated '....from RM499...', and that amount will difinitely poke a hole in my pocket. So, the first time I was invited for a dinner at this restaurant in Sect.7 Shah Alam, I was quite excited about what will be served at this outlet. Blame me, I put quite a high expectation..

My first time here, I went for 'Singapore glass noodle'. The menus was ordinary to me, there was nothing special or extraordinary on the menu list. You shall find 'Chicken Kong Poh', 'Hailam Noodle', all sorts of Yee mee, 'Cantonese kuey teow', 'Shark's fin soup', BBQ style chicken rice, Szechuan style fried rice and sorts of braised duck and steam fish. I'm expecting more than that from Hj.Sharin Low (or maybe I have to go to Jalan Ampang outlet for a more detail chinese cuisine specialty). What they have in Shah Alam were mostly soy-sauce based. A really thick soy-sauce. My second time here, I ordered 'Cantonese kuey teow' and again, I was a bit upset by with the dish. It's a bit bland and too much chicken meat doesn't justfy the prawn and slices of fishcake sweet juice. My guess was, they didn't use fresh chicken meat and prawn.

'Singapore style glass noodle' is a bit salty and they use BBQ chicken meat which were a better solution is they are using a freshly sliced chicken meat

The 'Cantonese kuey teow' was quite ok but need improvement in freshness

My barley drink - warm as I wanted

This is coffee obviously....;)

Teh tarik

Blatant lies told by her face when saying 'mmhh, sedapnye...'.

I can't find any mantou or dumpling in the menu. Maybe I missed it, chinese restaurant should have it. I decided to have a look at drinks. Chinese tea is something I always have but since I found that most chinese restaurant serves bland chinese tea, I chose not to delve deeper. I had a glass of warm barley, Aiman tried the hot coffee, Amirah tried the teh tarik and Aishah tried the fruit juice. The verdict : they serves good barley. Although barley drink sounds simple to prepare and taste, it has been the most intriguing drink besides tea and fruit juices. Some restaurants serves barley with a gooey texture and most mamak's serves their's using the artificial barley flavor extracts. The amount of sugar plays a vital role in producing a good quality of barley drink. You can't put too much sugar and yet too little sugar will result a very dissappointing barley drink. I like my barley drink I had here. The barley was probably fresh since no gooey texture exist, the sugar was just the right amount and it's warm as I wish. The coffee was really black and thick with just the right amount of sugar and perfectly hot just as Aiman wanted. But the teh tarik and fruit juice was somehow, dissappointing. It's a strong word I know but it's what I felt about those two. The chelated teh tarik was having insufficient amount of condensed milk and the fruit juice, it was not fresh. You can taste the sourness.

Anyway, still, it's unfair for me to review the restaurant as 'did not meet my expectation'. I am not a professional food critic. This is just an honest opinion of mine. I would love to see the restaurant serving a real chinese cuisine. I am sure there are many people, the Muslims in particular, need to be catered to a halal chinese cuisine. I, myself, would love to have a halal deep-fried mantou, pan-fried water chestnut cake, Nematalosa, the Shandong and Fujian style cuisine. Maybe in China, they are using pork as the main meat character player, but it can always be substitute with chicken and beef. I wonder if they could serve Uyghur cuisine here...mmhhh, ....Maybe. I will visit it's other branches to have a look at their menu. Maybe different outlet cater to different cuisine. Tahniah Hj.Sharin Low! Those would love to visit the outlet can do so, they are locate at :-

Group of Hj Sharin Low Restaurants

by Hj Sharin Low Grand Restaurant on Sunday, November 25, 2012 at 10:25pm ·

Latest outlet at Berek 12, Jalan Abdul Kadir Adabi, 15200 Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia. Tel No.: 0111-292 6338 (Bro. Mohd Fadzil Ng)

Our group of restaurants are as follows:

RESTORAN MUKMIN
1. N0. 20, JALAN NELAYAN, 19/B, SEKSYEN 19, 40000 SHAH ALAM SELANGOR TEL: 012-3436617

RESTORAN HJ SHARIN LOW
2. NO. 1&3, LORONG WANGSA 5A, BUKIT ANTARABANGSA, 68000 AMPANG SELANGOR. TEL: 03-4106687
3. GROUND FLOOR, WiSMA CHINESE CHAMBER, 258, JALAN AMPANG 50450 KUALA LUMPUR. TEL NO. 03-42515457
4. 33,JLN SG 3/10, TAMAN SRI GOMBAK 68000 BATU CAVES, SELANGRO DARUL EHSAN TEL: 016-6887800
5. LOT. G-13, HARBOUR PLACE, LOT 6683, PERSIARAN RAJA MUDA MUSA, 41200 KLANG SELANGOR. TEL:019-3566883
6. LOT 5072, WISMA ARMA, JALAN SG MERAB 43000 KAJANG SELANGOR. TEL: 017-2480092
7. 14, PERSIARAN GREENHILL 30450 IPOH PERAK TEL: 05-2412472.
8. NO.7, JALAN PLUMBUM, Q7/Q, SEKSYEN 7, SHAH ALAM, SELANGOR TEL: 017-2851993
9. NO. 24, JALAN DURIAN EMAS 3, BETARIA BUSINESS CENTRE, 70400 SEREMBAN, NEGERI SEMBILAN TEL:012-3731999
10. NO. 3, JLN PJ 3, PEKAN JITRA 3,06000 JITRA, KEDAH TEL:019-4637642 (AZMI) 019-5065723(ABU)
11. No. 6, 8/23E, TAMAN DANAU KOTA, OFF JLN KLANG GENTING, 53300 SETAPAK, KL TEL:03-4142 6995
12. B-26, TINGKAT BAWAH, LORONG TUN ISMAIL, SRI DAGANGAN 25000 KUANTAN PAHANG TEL: 013-3986818(MAZLAN), 019-9162349(AZHAR), 017-9824181(SHAMSIAR)
13. No. 26, JALAN PJU5/21, 'THE STRAND', KOTA DAMANSARA, PETALING JAYA. TEL:012-54211800
14. 46, JALAN PADI 1, BANDAR BARU UDA, JOHOR BARU. TEL: 016-7461673 (LINA)
15. JLN KH. ABDULLAH SYAFIE, NO. 15, KAMPONG MELAYU BESAR, TEBET, JAKARTA SELATAN, INDONESIA. TEL:+6281317133510 (Yanti)
16. HJ SHARIN LOW EXPRESS, KOMPLEKS AKADEMIK A/KOMPLEKS MAHASISWA, 43400 UNIVERSITI PUTRA MALAYSIA, SERDANG, SELANGOR
17. SUITE-4801-0-8, CBD PERDANA, JALAN PERDANA, 63000 CYBERJAYA SELANGOR (BEHIND RESTORAN SABA) TEL: 013-3714128
18. BEREK 12, JALAN ABDUL KADIR ADABI, 15200 KOTA BHARU, KELANTAN TEL: 011-292 6338 (Bro. Mohd Fadzil Ng)
You may also contact Hj Sharin Low at Tel No.:012-373 1999.

• Note : list was taken from their facebook note.