It is the holiday season now and if any of you guys have already done the mall hopping + christmas decor sight seeing + shopping and not planning on travelling anywhere, why not take a 45 minutes drive to Ulu Yam and enjoy good chinese food?

The drive to this restaurant was a joy. A journey through the back roads, with loads of greens and a glimpse of the slow and simple lives of them rural people. The houses there have no gate or security whatsoever, the people are really friendly and nice and you tend to find little shops here and there that offers unique biscuits and crackers that isnt always available here in Kuala Lumpur. Truly enjoyable.

** If you guys are like me, planning to spend the whole day away from KL, then do keep in mind that about 30-45 minutes away from this restaurant is Genting Highlands.

I did not want to go all the way up, so I stopped at the Awana/Genting Highlands Premium Outlet – which was like a mini mall by itself, a good place to do shopping. They carry discounted variety of clothing brands ( high end to medium end of the spectrum). Guess what I bought though? Bed sheet and pillows, lol. Akemiuchi was on sale, how can I resist? Okay, well, literally every outlet there has ‘sale’ but it was raining heavily and this place was not fully covered, so I did not feel like trying cloths on while i am wet, get what I mean? So, anyways, I bought those sheets and pillows and then decided to drink a cup of hot chocolate at Dome. Since it was a rainy day, the mist was superb. Literally can feel it hit you. Certainly not a sensation you would feel everyday.

For those of you who do not know this – attached to this premium outlet is the Awana Skyway, which provides you the cable car service up to Genting Highland Resorts and Hotels (Sky Avenue). If you guys have plenty of time to kill and the whether looks mighty fine, then go ahead and utilize the cable car service. It offers you a stop at the Chin Swee Temple. This Chinese Temple is awesome, if you don’t intend to pray, then at least enjoy the picturesque view of Genting that it offers. Truly beautiful.

Okays… now, back to Hock Lay Restaurant.

So, the restaurant resembles the usual Chinese restaurant. Round tables here and there with red plastic chairs all around it. Plenty of room and it is able to accommodate a large crowd. However, what makes this restaurant different from other Chinese restaurants is that this restaurant has an open concept? AS you can see from the images above, except for the side that is attached to the house, every other side is open – there are not four walls. This was awesome because you can literally sit there, feel the wind blowing, watch cars driving pass and observe rural life, the community and the people itself. Awesome. Another difference is that this particular restaurant offers Tom Yum in a coconut and it is really good. You wont find many of those around.

Tom Yum Coconut, 40 ringgit + Kangkung, 6 ringgit + Chicken Kicap, 10 ringgit

Yessssss, the tom yum coconut cost 40 ringgit, but believe me – it is worth every penny. Actually, 2 people can share one coconut. In each coconut, you would get 8 large king prawns, among other things. You could just add on a plate of rice and there you go – a satisfying main meal. The taste of that tom yum soup is the bomb! It is packed with heat, plenty of spice with a tinge of sweetness – I could just slurp it up all day, no joke.

The Kangkung and Chicken were just additional dishes we ordered, just simple because we were greedy, lol. It is not every day that I take a road trip, so you can bet that I intend to fill my stomach till it feels like it is going to explode.Pure gluttony, right? Anyways, compared to the tom yum coconut, the other dishes were priced decently. The Chicken Kicap was yummy – small pieces of boneless chicken with onions, bell pepper and chilli that is covered with sweetish kechup, definitely a yummy dish especially when eaten with rice.