SFS vs FSF, at The Char Siew Street of Aman Suria

747 CS address

I remembered my first visit to SFS in Aug09, & the 50mins wait that followed our order, even though it was only 1130am.

We appeased part of our hunger with this; dry pan mee which was not the least memorable.

747pan mee

I almost changed my mind about the pan mee when my wan tan mee finally arrived.
It looked even less appealing and made the long wait seemed fruitless. Besides, I thought the portion was rather measly.

Though one is always preached not to judge a book by its cover, this one proved to be a spot on.

Aug 747 WTM2

1st thing I must mention about is the mee. Perhaps to some, it is considered ‘Q’, a term used to describe the elusive consistency where the noodles are both elastic yet tender.
To me, it just was dry & hard to the bite.
The sauce that it was bathed in neither excites nor spurred the jaded tongue.

The famed char siew can be merited a ‘good’, DEFINITELY better than most, yes I agree, but certainly would not be my PERSONAL chosen choice should I have any char siew cravings.

The wan tan (pork dumplings) were nothing to shout about either. Well, at least the soup fared better than Famous Seremban Favourite’s.

Aug 747 WTM1

I thought perhaps it was a bad idea to come on a weekend or maybe I’ve got a bad cut of char siew. Hence a re-visit is required. Or so I had vowed.

Anyhow, the dismal memory lingered on, & I never made it back.

But then again, when one is on the topic of char siew, the research is never complete if a comparison to the “other famed one” is not done.

So in Dec 09, I made it to THE Famous Seremban Favourites, with fellow foodie bangsar-babe.
This visit reminded me again that 747 or SFS, still awaits my 2nd visit.

The opportunity presented itself soon enough, when a friend told me of a decades old establishment in Loke Yew, named Hang Kee that serves the best char siew he had tasted. I immediately whisked him to Aman Suria and told him that these 2 char siew establishments has been supposedly the creme de la creme of KL char siew.

I then told him of my plan, to hop- eat on the “Char Siew Kai” (street of char siew) of Aman Suria, since there are 3 char siew outlets (another being the Char Siew Zhai) all within walking vicinity.

All in agreement, we started at 1030am at SFS. A tummy filler was ordered, & we braced ourselves for the notorious long wait.

So here I am back again in SFS/747 Char Siew shop.

Aug 747 WTM

Our tummy filler: A totally forgettable set of toast & eggs.

tummyfiller

My friends was amazed at the crowd & I could feel their anticipation growing.

Anyhow, after a 35min wait, I find myself staring at almost the same sad looking plate of wan tan mee as I had in Aug09.

SFS Char siew

Well, I consoled myself, at least I can pass proper judgment now.

All of us dug in, and while they was pleased, some said they had tasted better.
Myself?
Same verdict. The mee was stringy & the sauce was nothing near of a worthy-praise.

747 WTM

I think the problem lies in the cut. Certain pieces were almost all fat, and the others were too lean. Perhaps if I have gotten well-balanced tiers of fat & lean cuts I might have enjoyed it better?
Anyhow, marinate & texture- wise, it was still good char siew.

747CS1
747CS2

So, tummy still rumbling, we ambled over to Famous Seremban Favourites, and repeated the same order.

Before that, let me rewind back to my 1st visit to Famous Seremban Favourites, where I had one of my mid-week lunch with bangsar-babe & Shum.

So here goes FSF, ROUND 1, in Dec09.

Bangsar-babe, Shum & I polished off bowls of Hakka mee, which to me was absolutely good to the bite & doused in the mixture of concoction of sauce that wafted of lard yet wasn’t as oily as the famous Pudu one.

FSF hakka mee

We ordered a plate of char siew to share. It came with a small saucer of char siew sauce, which was a nice extra.

FSF charsiew2

SOFT, GLORIOUS meltingly creamy fat with lean parts that didn’t require much chewing.

FSF charsiew1
FSF charsiew marble

Heck, who are we kidding? One plate was like an appetiser. Hence the second plate.
This second portion was even better, simply cos it has well separated tiers of fat & lean meat.

FSF charsiew

Just for comparison, I took a picture of a single portion plate goes for RM4.50. Doesn’t look like much right? (this was someone else’s order by the way).
Do yourself a favour, just place an order of 2 straight up & save yourself the wait.

singleplate

We added orders of Sui Kow, which wasn’t fabulous but edible.

Nov bbabe - FSF1

The well-balance marinate, that was neither too sweet yet salty enough, gave the sticky shiny glaze that had many char siew connoisseurs drooling & moaning.
Parts of the caramelized crust at the edges of the char siew provided a pleasant smoky flavour.

FSF charsiew - sticky glaze

The soya bean that you should NEVER order. Trust me.

organicsoya

There you have it, my 1st visit to FSF. The 2nd visit (below) is with my hop-eat friends, in continuation from where I left off after 747 (my 2nd visit above).

Our orders of wan tan mee took less than 15mins, and while it was packed with customers, I noticed that FSF maintains pretty good crowd control; ie orders were taken not long after you are seated (no frantic waving of hands needed), the food arrived in reasonably good time, & even payment was efficient.

The wan tan mee tasted so much better here. The smooth & SOFT yet springy noodles went great with the accompanying tasty mix of sauce, albeit a bit oily.

FSF Aman Suria2

The char siew here won favours from my friends, and they declared it much much better than 747.

FSF WTM

Bill recognised me from my first visit & came over to chat with us. He admitted that the noodles might not be consistent since it is cooked on the spot & their foreign workers are not that dependable. Which is why he is always in the shop overseeing the operations personally.
The char siew however, are under strict quality control since it is prepared beforehand.

He then added a separate plate of char siew for us.

FSF char siew

Wonderful..

FSF char siew2

Luscious char siew with exquisite layers of fat.

FSF char siew1

Even the vinegared chilies & red chilli sauce is much better than SFS/747’s, although unnecessary. The fish ball soup is cooked with “ham choy” & hence tasted different from the wan tan soup base. The fish ball was bouncy enough, but lacked the fishy taste that bear testament of high ratio of fish meat used. The wan tan is not worth describing.

FSF Aman Suria1

I bought packets of chicken rice here for lunch before. My advice is, stick to the char siew.

chicRice

Random thoughts: I stared at this kid in amazement, and wondered if that would be what I might look like if I eat like this everyday ;p
I think he is the boss’s kid. Cute right???

fatkid

Here a map for those who haven’t been here.
Bill, as you can see, is a highly educated fella, with all the BBA, B, M & whatnots on his cards.
But like he said, the best one that describes him is the 3 words below those titles. LOL!

FSF Aman Suria

I don’t think I’m qualified to say that FSF is the best in KL, since I have not tried as many char siew places as some bloggers I know.
I do opine that the char siew I had by Ah Khai; shop inside Simon’s Delight, opposite Sea View Coffee Shop in Paramount Garden bought by Ciki & alilfatmonkey for Potluck at Nigel’s is very good, though some find it a bit too soft.

Anyhow, if the final verdict is to be only between SFS vs FSF, then for me I would prefer FSF.


This Post Has 26 Comments

  1. thule a.k.a leo

    hmmm… maybe I should hit FSF before claiming the best char siew can be found in 747 LOL!!!
    will give my verdict soon

  2. Wilson & Rachel

    My fav char siew is downstairs Hung Kee Restaurant. 🙂

  3. Sean

    great research! if this were a college research project, i'm sure u'd get an A! 😀 i haven't tried fsf or sfs, but i gotta somehow remember that u've recommended fsf…

  4. J

    Char siew showdown! 🙂 🙂
    (Cool….!)

  5. chickenluck

    This comment isn't to flame sfs' wantanmee but the first time i tried his wantanmee was when he was at the restaurant next to yong chew in the same area.

    It was terrible then. The sauce was out of this world in a bad way. not like wantanmee. He apologized cuz he was still testing the sauce out.

    Apparently the owner was in america for a long period of time and decided to come back to malaysia and open a stall.

    I'm suprised that the quality now has changed so much from last time (about 4 years ago). Still not quite my cuppa tea.

  6. J2Kfm

    I had FSF the other day. The Char Siew was still good, but something felt amiss.
    From the 1st heavenly, almost orgasmic experience. Really.

    Probably the cuts of meat, back then I was served with better cuts, proportionate ratio of fat:lean, and equal crunchy bits at the edges.

    the wantan, sui kow and noodles are not good. even the Hakka Mee was not as good as before. Funny he was serving them in some broth now, I prefer them dry.

  7. minchow

    Awesome post!! 😀 I was dragged to FSF one Sat morning (yes, on that same day when I realized Betty's wasn't serving fry-up brekkie anymore!), tucked into the Hakka Mee and stole some char siew from my friend's plate, and life was whole again! Two plates from the get go sounds about right!

  8. Steven Goh

    wao… the fat layer of the char siew looks succulent. Yummy… I wonder if taken dee will looks like the cute fatty kiddo… muahaha

  9. qwazymonkey

    Wow! That's alot of work gone into researching em charsiu! Go try more and tell us what's the verdict.

    Glad u liked Ah Khai's!

  10. SimpleGirl

    wow, professionally review of the char siew…here in Ipoh, I love the one in haewaytian, that's the best for me so far

  11. backStreetGluttons

    Goodness ! so much red meat !
    we already feel so strong just by looking !
    LOL !

  12. David Jr

    So detailed! Did you trey Char Siew Xhai a few doors away? Anyway, me = hungry now 🙂

    Still have that lunch to do with you.

    Regards,
    David

  13. Nic (KHKL)

    woah, char siew thesis! i give you A+! ;D what i dislike the most at 747 is the way they handle the customers. i think it's ok to wait, as long as they are systematic. i've been there a few times since last year and it's the same problem everytime. they wouldd miss orders and prioritize the take-away customers…sigh…on the bright side, the ckt here is pretty good. ;D

  14. babe_kl

    happy new year to you!

  15. Tummy Rumble

    was wonder what was SFS.. hahaha.. I MUST try it one day.. haha. I know that area quite well. I tried FSF, the char siew was not bad, but I personally think Meng Kee in Glenmarie (I requested for non-burn & less fat meat) is nicer.

    I just had the bidor duck noodles.. Drove up to ipoh from KKB.. The noodles was good, but definitely not worth the long drive 😀

  16. thenomadGourmand

    leo: Its a personal taste 😉
    But like I said, I havent eaten at all the other CS places so I wont say this is the best!

    W &R: tht's wht my friend said too! I must go & try soon.

    Sean: I tapau for u la! Since by the time u wake up the shop would have closed!
    A+ huh? Yeah man, if only i was this fastidious during my college days! LOL.

    J: We can go char siew hunting ovr the w-end if u want, Lots ard PJ area!

    chickenluck: Harlo!!
    Thks for droppin by!
    Wow, I didnt know the history. Thks for the heads up!
    Can u recom me a good place for wan tan mee then? I hv yet to find one

    J2kfm: Its too bad that I have not had the opportunity to eat the char siew back then. All outlets now seem to be droppin in standards!
    Yes, I didnt find the mee/sui kow/wan tan/chic tht good either. The char siew is your safest bet here.

    minchow: Heh, a good alternative frm the Midwest. I'm still in search for a really really good char siew tho!

    steven: LOL. Tht's what i was wondering too!
    Pg dont hv this type of char siew hor?

    qwazymonkey: Haha. I will I will! Got a list of 3 listed out di!

    simplegirl: When I'm in Ipoh u take me there ok!

    bsg: LOL! You guys work nearby right?

    David Jr: YES, I'm still waitin for our lunch!!
    Nope, havent done Char Siew Zhai yet

    Nic: Agree to all you just said! Its like total chaos!

    babe_kl: You too!! 😉

    tummyrumble: Pun Chun duck noodles also avail in Kota Kemuning Shah Alam, but hey, if u can get the real thing then why not? 😉

  17. Allie

    I like char siew leh! And that plate of char siew is making me salivating early in the morning. Bad you 😛
    I can never get such thick char siew here in Penang except in Canton I 🙁

  18. burpandslurp

    OMG. Now tHAT'S what I'm talking about, baby! Makes the noodles and BBQ pork I had in NYC so damn lame!!

    Oh, and good luck with your new blog! I'm so happy you are finally leaving the stupid blogspot!

  19. mimid3vils

    I've tried all the 3 char siu that u mentioned at Aman Suria, like the FSF the most 🙂

  20. Tummythoz

    Vote FSF for charsiew, Hung Kee for wantan mee.

    Think I'll skip trying SFS.

  21. thenomadGourmand

    allie: yup, char siew in Pg is diff frm here lohh…

    burpandslurp: Yes, saw the pic of char siew u had..haha..sorry la. doesnt beat wht we hv here!
    AArghh..stil lookin for template!

    mimid3vils: Ha! glad we got same taste! ;p

    tummythoz! Yea!!!

  22. Simon Seow

    Ah I misses the char siew in FSF.

  23. simply

    Oh no…the char siew looks so tempting. I must go try it this weekend. The top char siew and wantan mee on my list now is the one in High Key Restaurant in USJ 12. Let's see if this one can win the crown hahaha….XD

  24. thenomadGourmand

    simon: come come we go!

    simply: Serious??? I must go!! VERY SOON ;p

  25. caren

    The char siew at KLIA Fei Zai Yun Tun Mian (behind caltex petrol kiosk) is really good. the wanton and the noodles are ok but the char siew is really melt in the mouth with an excellent fat is to lean meat ratio. not too sweet but with lovely slightly charred taste. yums. must convince them to open a branch in a more accessible location

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