Teo Chew Lor, 1 Utama

Address:
LG113, Lower Ground, 
1, Lebuh Bandar Utama, Bandar Utama City Centre
Bandar Utama, 47800 Petaling Jaya,

Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

Opening Hours:
Should be 10am-10pm, daily

Time Visited:
Around 10:45am on a Sunday

Attire worn:
Casual

Item(s) Ordered (Photos taken as inconspicuous as possible with my phone):
The Mixed Platter with Kway Teow Kia set (set is with half braised egg, salted vegetables and Chinese Tea for an additional RM2.80).

I remember one fine night, I was strolling along at 1 Utama and was on my way to try out this place for the first time. But upon my arrival, I was shocked to see the amount of people eating at the place and instantly knew that it was impossible for me to try it out on that day and so I moved along to McDonald's instead.

But this small restaurant sparked my interest and I was determined to go back there and try since their food looked so delicious. This morning, as I was once again strolling along 1 Utama thinking of what to eat, I passed by this shop once again and it looked like that there's a chance that I could eat here since it's still early and there's not many people crowding the place yet. After a round of walking the floor, I returned to find that the place started to fill up with people and I was thinking, it might be still possible and started to line up to order. Yes, this place is self-service and you have to order at the cash register and get your number, a nightmare for lone diners like me if a place is so popular and packed with people most of the time. But this fateful morning turned out to be just fine.

The place is a family run business from what I observed with the mother handling the orders and cash register and help out with the food preparation when there's no one at the counter to order and pay. I originally thought that foreign workers were the ones serving the food and drinks but it turns out that the grandma of the family does that with one of the sons chipping in. The Father seems to be at the back. I'm not sure what he does over at the back there but I did note that a worker at the back washes the dishes. And yet another son (I presume) is also behind where the mother is and is the main man preparing the dishes by plating the meats and stuff before producing it to be served.

One thing I would have to say is that their food preparation takes quite a long time. I'm not sure why. Maybe because it's still early and not everything is 100% ready? But then again, I doubt that's the case so all they need to do is probably boil my noodles and just plate the rest of everything and chop up certain meats and eggs and vegetables. With the amount of customers they get sometimes, this waiting period could very much be a hindrance for them because their customer turnover isn't fast enough if that's the case. Anyway, to me it's a normal waiting period like in a hawker restaurant whenever it's lunch period.

When the food arrives, it looks so tempting and delicious. The noodles although were provided with a nice tone from the soup, it did nothing for the taste. The noodles had no taste at all. Zero. Even with the soup. But then again, this could be the charm of this dish as well. Without the restraint of a doughy taste from the noodles and soup, the meat becomes the hero of the dish very much highlighting it at a very high pedestal. The mixed platter consists of braised tofu, tofu pok, pork intestines, pork stomach, braised pork and a sliced of braised egg. It may sound like a lot but then again, it's just a tiny dish containing all of these things in it. All I can say is that the mixed platter is full of different ingredients but is just a small dish. The half braised egg together with the salted vegetable that comes with the set were not an impressive order. I should've skipped that and just ordered the Chinese Tea even though the set is just RM1 more.

Anyway, I'm very satisfied eating the meat because that certainly can satisfy my pork cravings at any day. It just isn't very filling and I doubt even a bowl of rice is any different from the Kway Teow Kia.

Total Wallet Damage:
RM11.80. The Mixed Platter with Kway Teow Kia costs RM9 and making it a set with the half braised egg and salted vegetable and Chinese Tea costs an additional RM2.80. This means that there's no service charge imposed. I'm not sure if there's a 6% GST involved in the price but if there is, it's already included in the menu price.

Final Verdict:
7/10. I'm a little bias towards this dish due to the fact that I'm a pork lover. However, I must say too that this place is not really a suitable place for a lone diner like me because they have very limited place and with the number of people they're getting sometimes, it's not wise to order your food at the counter and not having someone to book a table for you.