Taiwanese Porridge at the Copthorne Tg Bungah

It's been a Taiwanese weekend!

Occasionally it's nice to chill out with some home cooking, particularly if it's not mine(!), so I like to go to the Copthorne Orchid's Hua Ting Chinese Restaurant in Tanjung Bungah. There they serve up a reasonably-priced Taiwanese Porridge (congee) with a good spread of dishes and condiments. Although it's called Taiwanese, it's more local Hokkien I think, but that's not a complaint at all.

Usually there are three pots kept on the boil: plain, sweet potato and a savoury like minced pork or chicken, and lots of salted egg, pickled vegetables and pei tan (century egg).

Savouries include steamed minced pork and egg custard (delish), taufu, chicken, fish etc, and there's usually a good selection of vegetables too, fried, braised or in oil. There's also usually a fried noodle and/or rice. For RM17++ it's actually very good value, hence it's popular with large families and groups of friends. You'd never be able to cook all this for that price at home. Just think of the trouble it's saved you.

I get somewhere easily accessible, with free parking, air conditioned and clean, so it's usually somewhere I meet up with friends to have a chit chat and catch up, and not worry about how much I eat! My only gripe is that they should occasionally include a spicy dish like a curry or sambal, as I've kept telling Chef - however, not only did they not do that - they, to my dismay - stopped doing it during the week and only open during weekends and public holidays for lunch! Ai yo!!!

My plea to readers is - please frequent it more, as demand may cause them to re-open during the week. It's really a great place and I would hate to see it close down.