Wednesday 19 June 2013

Pak Hailam Kopitiam @ Kepong Baru, Kuala Lumpur

Located in the rustic settings of Kepong Baru is this nice restaurant serving good Hailam food called Restaurant Pak Hailam Kopitiam. Honestly, I have never heard of this restaurant chain until today and I was surprised to learn that they have a total of nine outlets in the Klang Valley and one in Ipoh, Perak. It's brand ambassador is Misbun Sidek and this restaurant has Halal status. I also learned that King's Confectionery chain of bakery belongs to the same franchise owners. That's just a brief background on the group and more information is available in their website which link I shall be providing towards the end of this blog. Now, coming back to today, just after our marketing was done in Kepong Baru's market, we decided to head here for lunch as we were already in the vicinity. 

Restoran Pak Hailam Kopitiam in Kepong Baru

Some Ongoing Promotions

Outside Seating Space

Inside The Restaurant

Inside The Restaurant

The restaurant is located in a location where parking can be difficult mostly and you would need to go in circles looking for a parking bay. The restaurant itself, has a very nice set up and is spacious. There is an external seating area and of course and internal one too. The weather today never permitted anyone to sit outside and we were all seated indoors and even with the air conditioning, it was quite stuffy and I doubt if this is the usual case other days as the weather was around 35 Celsius when we were there this afternoon. The staffs were mostly Bangladeshis and there was one other local staff. Though they were foreigners, everyone spoke good Malay and they were friendly and attentive to the customers. We took our place at a table that was located on one far end of the restaurant that was just below an air-condition duct. Within seconds, we were handed the menu by one of the waiters.

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu

The Menu
Their menu did have some great food on it and the above photographs are just some of the pages from the menu. It had dishes from a range of Hainanese, Chinese, Malay, Malaysian and Western Cuisine. The only omission was Vegetarian dishes. They did not have any vegetarian dishes and most kopitiams today have a number of vegetarian dishes to attract that segment of the market and this is a setback for this restaurant. Otherwise, the options were great. By right, we would have to place the order through a chit like any other kopitiams but the waiters here were quite flexible that they just accepted verbal orders. 

Ice Lemon Tea @ RM 3.50
As the weather was just too hot, I ordered the above Ice Lemon Tea for myself. Priced at RM 3.50, it was just perfect for this hot weather. The drink was fixed perfectly and I would rate this at 9.8/10 .

Wholemeal Chicken Pau @ RM 2.50

Closer Look At The Filling
The above Pau is one of their signature dishes here. It comes in four different fillings i.e. Chicken, Red Bean, Custard and Kaya. The Chicken Pau is priced at RM 2.50 each and the rest at RM 2.00 each. I was expecting the Chicken Pau to taste like the Curry Chicken but it tasted like Char Siew Pau which was great. Being wholemeal, they Pau itself was soft and fluffy and served hot. I have never tasted a better Chicken Pau that mimics the Char Siew Pau in taste. I would rate this at 10/10 . 

Fried Meehoon with Curry Chicken @ RM 8.50

Closer Look at the Curry Chicken
This was the dish that I had ordered for myself and I found it to be really good. The noodles were really well done and it was soft and not hard and stiff like the ones we get in some places. It comes with a layer of fried eggs and cabbage and some Curry Chicken. The Curry Chicken too actually had real chicken and potato's and not just plain gravy. The gravy itself was another thing worth mentioning here as it was very well done. All the spices were perfect. Although they list this as a spicy item in their menu, it was nowhere close to that for me but it was a very good dish. A highly recommended dish here. My rating for this would be 9.5/10 .

Curry Laksa @ RM 9.50
This was Angie's order and this is indeed the best Curry Laksa (Curry Mee) that I have tried in any kopitiam. The curry was thick, full of flavour and delicious. It was so good that I could personally drink two bowls of the curry. You can also choose your noodles and it comes with some long beans, tofu, potato's and two medium size chicken. An excellent dish and I would rate this at 10/10 .

Cocktail Sausages @ RM 6.90
This is one of the side dishes that we had ordered. Nothing great to mention here as it is the standard frankfurters that has been fried but what is worth mentioning is that it was no cheap frankfurters and they did taste good and it was served hot. It was also fried to the right level and I would rate this dish at 8/10 .

Fried Wantons @ RM 5.50
I am not sure if these Wantons were homemade or they were purchased externally but this dish seemed just above average to me. The Wanton skin may be slightly harder than it should be. Preparation wise, it was fried perfectly, was crispy and no oily after taste. Still, something was just lacking in this dish but I can't quite figure out what it is. As a matter of personal taste, I would rate this dish at 6.5/10 .

Fruit Boat @ RM 9.90
Finally as desert, we ordered the above Fruit Boat. It was nice and the presentation was also good. I just found the Chocolate ice cream to be a little bitter, not sure which brand of ice cream they use and there were flakes of ice found in both the Vanilla and Strawberry ice cream. Must have been stored in temperatures lower that what it should be or may have been a slightly older stock. Nevertheless, it was still nice and as such, I would rate this at 7.5/10 . 

In summary, this restaurant does serve some excellent dishes like the above Chicken Pau, Fried Meehoon with Curry Chicken and the Curry Laksa. I am sure that they would have more great dishes here as their menu has an array of items to offer. The staffs are very friendly too and I find their service to be pretty good. I would definitely come back here soon to try some of the other dishes and would bravely recommend this place to others. 

Address: 55, Lorong Bangau 2, Kepong Baru, 52100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Opening Hours: 0830 - 2200 Daily


Telephone: +603 6272 0016 & +6012 612 8018 

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