Brunei Restaurant Review: Phongmun Restaurant

It’s amazing that Phongmun Restaurant is celebrating it’s 30th anniversary this year. I remember vivid memories of having dim sum here with my family as a little kid as I used to live in Kampung Ayer.

 

Besides dim sum during the weekends, I’ve also attended countless wedding celebrations here. Notice that this place is pretty child friendly as they got quite a number of baby chairs in this picture.

 

I would say Phongmun is a family restaurant, catering to weekends for the common tradition of a Chinese family having dim sum together and having quality family time together.

 

I guess because a lot of us grew up coming to this restaurant, we did not stop to appreciate some of the carvings and décor in the restaurant, which otherwise – we would marvel in awe if we were in a new restaurant or in another country. Have you ever stop to marvel at these dragon sculptures?

 

They also have a VIP room and these other traditional Chinese structures. Perhaps the younger generation need to drag themselves out of bed to have early Dim Sum, they didn’t really appreciate the ambience.

 

My camera doesn’t do justice for this beautiful sculpture in their VIP room. It’s quite a majestic sight!

 

Now Phongmum restaurant is not just about the Dim Sum ~ they do offer plenty of options when it comes to Chinese food. For starters, they have  Lunch Specials for every Tuesday: Chicken Rice and every Thursday: Suckling Pig w/ rice. While they also serve Charsiew/ Roasted Pork/ Roasted Duck/ Roasted Chicken from Monday till Friday. They are pretty popular during lunch, as there’s quite a big working population around Bandar Town area.

 

One thing you might not know is that they serve pretty good Chinese Fine Dining at Phongmun restaurant, or some might call these – Kung Fu Cuisine! For this post, I will highlight and show you some of their delicious, time consuming dishes that require real Kung Fu/Cooking Techniques. They usually require you to make advance orders for these dishes – usually one or two days in advance! Check out this huge Lobster Salad!

 

If it’s a special occasion where you want to celebrate – or a big client you want to impress – you won’t go wrong with this exquisite lobster salad. Confirm very ‘got face’. Beautifully decorated and bound to catch anyone’s attention.

 

Lobster meat ~~ oooh yes please!

 

This is the Double Boiled Chicken Ginseng soup – using carefully selected Kampung Chicken cooked with Chinese herbs and Ginseng. A very hearty soup with tons of health benefits!

 

Double Flavour Chicken or Bai Hua Xuang Wei Chi is a combination of two dishes: Buttermilk chicken cubes & Fish Paste topped with Crispy Chicken Skin.

 

The chicken skin is carefully taken out and turned into this crispy top for the fish paste. Yum! The headchef really showcases the technique of Chinese cooking in this dish that looked so simple.

 

Phongmun Signature Beancurd – The Phongmum’s version of home made seafood beancurd served in a thick gravy – unlike typical ones which is usually served with mayonnaise.

 

Braised Abalone, Winter Mushroom & Sea Cucumber served in Phongmun Signature sauce. This can be served on individual plates equally divided for your guests. Look at that delicious abalone! I bet you would love to take a picture with that now and instagram it!

 

#abalone #huatah #likealousai #finedining #foodadventures

 

Mei Ting and Poh Chuan enjoying their posh Chinese fine dining experience ~~

 

One of my favourite Chinese dishes - Braised Pork Knuckle with handmade Mantou – *slurps*

 

One simply does not say no to these gelatinous fatty pork – after longs hours of braising to absorb the flavours of the sauce and softened to a jelly like texture! Hubba hubba!

 

They are even better – served with your choice of steamed or deep fried mantous (all homemade by the dimsum chefs of Phongmun restaurant)

 

That awesome moment when you use the fried mantou to *kiap* (sandwich) the pork fatty part with meaty part with the oozing gravy ~~~~~~ OMG! HOW CAN YOU RESIST THIS! NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM!!! ATTACK!!!

 

Another Kung Fu dish for the night is this Steamed Chinese Pomfret, Qiling-style, with crispy fried fish bones.

 

The bones had been removed – fish sliced and arranged perfectly with ham, carrots and mushroom and served with sauce.

 

A beautiful dish that requires a lot of knife skills and preparation. Another great dish to impress your guests or to treat your loved ones.

 

The crispy deep fried fish bones are deep fried till cracker like texture and dipped with sauce for a good crunchy snack to accompany the fish – I have to admit I really enjoyed this dish. A dish that can put a smile on your face.

 

I’ve heard good things about their Yangzhou Fried Rice and I’m not disappointed. It’s pretty good and served as a good accompaniment tonight to the fine dishes we have.

 

We end our fine dining experience at Phongmun with a delicacy you often see in Chinese Wedding banquets – Sesame balls with lotus paste. I know a lot of friends who really loved these! ~~ bon appetit!

 

Phongmun restaurant does have other common Chinese dishes in their menu if you wish – but that’s for another blog post. This post mostly highlights the availability of Chinese Fine Dining dishes suitable for special occasions and weddings – or just a foodie culinary journey.

Good news:

Phongmun 30th Anniversary Promotion (1- 31 Mar)

15% discount off total bill for orders above BND$100 if you dine in during dinner time from 7pm – 10pm daily during the 1st till 31st of March!

 

Phongmum Restaurant

Opening hours: 7am to 10pm daily

Address: 2nd Floor, Teck Guan Plaza, Jln Sultan

Tel: (673) 2229591/ 2229562

Kota Kinabalu Food Guide: King Hu Restaurant, Tanjung Aru

One of my favourite and best Chinese restaurants in Kota Kinabalu is the famous King Hu restaurant; an old school style Chinese restaurant, not a fancy place, but a simple down to earth restaurant – don’t expect to be wowed by their service and their décor – the place is so old school that the lady boss still uses the Chinese Abacus to calculate your bills. You can hear the click cacking as she used the abacus when paying.

 

 

I must say that I’ve eaten in King Hu almost every trip to Kota Kinabalu and I’m loving it despite the ambience and meh service. Must always thank Dinoza, Sherina, Charlotte and Calista for always bringing me to this yummy joint~~

 

King Hu is famous for their ‘Peking duck’ or roasted duck. I would say it’s different from the traditional Peking duck, which has crisp skin and fat trimmed while the meat and bones would be used in two other dishes. The King Hu style if you noticed resembles a boneless roasted duck and the skin is not crispy.

As you can see from this second picture I took – it’s a meaty boneless kind of ‘Peking' duck’ – that Sabahans are proud of, enjoying family dinners and recommended to visitors. Peking duck purists might complain and said in a snobbish tone – “This is NOT Peking Duck!” (this actually happened when I uploaded a delicious picture of King Hu’s Peking Duck on facebook. I for one – really enjoyed my dining experiences here ( of course – disregard the service and ambience! )

 

They provide their home made popiah skin and plum sauce along with spring onions and cucumber/celery. My blogger friend Calista, the petite model will literally request for extra plum sauce and spread a thick layer to make a delicious plum sauce loaded duck pancake, while I prefer just a little bit. I love to enjoy the flavour of the duck more. Some just eat the duck without the carbs/skin ~~

 

The fun part of creating your own duck pancake – I like to put two three slices of of the duck with additional ingredients from the Chinese dishes King Hu are popular for ~~

 

Such as this special stir fried Sam See (three shredded) long bean, consisting of long beans, firm tofu and pork sliced into sticks and stir fried. I love to add this when wrapping the duck! Yummy!

 

Now here’s my biggest reason to dine at King Hu and order their ‘Peking duck’ – this delicious milky looking soup that uses the roasted bones of the duck. It’s simply breathtaking! The flavours of the roasted duck melds perfectly with the spring onions of this soup - I can simply drink a whole big bowl of this! *NOT ASHAMED OF IT AT ALL* – I personally would go with Calista as she’s too busy nomming the plum sauce and duck – and will be too full to have the soup – which means MORE FOR Yours truly ~~ *slurps* --- my mouth is watering as I’m typing this post! I want this NOW!

 

My friends usually would order their freshly baked homemade mantao (Chinese style buns) which can be eaten on it’s own – dipped in soup or mop up the sauces of other Chinese dishes.

 

King Hu is also famous for their pot stickers/Guo Tie/Pan Fried Dumplings as well as the steamed version. Pretty good and I never fail to order dish simply because I am a sucker for these. As you can see, not flat and pathetic like some of the ‘Guo Tie’ I’ve seen in certain restaurants – plump fatty ones ~~ hmmm … Calista would dip these in Plum sauce as well (she’s awesome in a plump…. I mean plum sauce kinda way – *she is so gonna kill me for this)

 

This Cold Cut Pork is another one of King Hu’s specialties. Kinda like a thick cut of ham ~~ supposed to eat with a warm soup or sauce.

 

For your daily dose of fiber, Sabahans recommend this simple steamed cabbage. A simple dish for those who love veggies – I have friends who absolutely loved this but I prefer the long beans dish. Give this a try though – for a person who doesn’t care for cabbage – this is one of the better ones.

 

Tofu with minced pork and mushrooms King Hu style ~~

 

Another dish my friends raved about is this Sweet and Sour Pork (Ku Lou Yok) – I have to say it’s pretty good but Thiam Hock in Brunei is better. The bill is pretty reasonable for the quality of food and if you’re from Brunei or Singapore, the exchange rate is simply delicious when you look at the bill ~~ pretty good value!

 

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King Hu is located in downtown of Tanjung Aru, famous for it’s beautiful beaches and also sunset bar. Look out for the supermarket, and King Hu should be nearby, since Tanjung Aru is on the way to the airport – it’s a good spot to have dinner for tourists if you arrive or departing. Click on the map above for driving directions from Imperial Boutec Warisan Square.

 

You need to grab a taxi here as it’s not within walking distance from the town – what I usually do is to enjoy the sunset at Sunset Bar, Shangri La hotel, sip some cocktails or beers in Tanjung Aru, then pop over to King Hu for dinner.

 

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Click on the map above if you’re driving from Sunset Bar, Shangri-La to King Hu restaurant!

Yes – the sunset is simply amazing at Sunset bar – weather permitted of course! Dinoza’s favourite spot! Thanks for always taking me here to relax bro!

 

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Click on this map above for directions from King Hu Restaurant to KKIA (Airport) – notice that it’s less than 10 minutes drive!