For those on a road trip to Genting Highlands, a stopover for food at Gohtong Jaya is highly recommended. Gohtong Jaya is a small town at the foothills of Genting Highlands, about 5 km before Resorts World Genting, located on the peak.
Row of shophouses offering good and cheap local food at Gohtong Jaya. A perfect place to stop by for lunch before driving up to Genting Highlands.
This small town was erected and named after Tan Sri Lim Goh Tong, the founder of Genting Group. It houses several shops, apartments and more importantly, a row of restaurants offering good and cheap local food.
On our way to Genting Highlands, we had lunch at a Chinese restaurant called Restoran Chuan Kie. This is one of the more popular restaurants in Gohtong Jaya.
This restaurant is so popular that they had opened a new branch along the same row of shophouses. We went to the new branch for lunch as it was bigger and less crowded.
The four persons in my travel group shared the following dishes:
The fried pork belly slices is the restaurant’s signature dish. It seemed that everyone ordered this dish at this restaurant. The pork slices were deep fried till crispy (like bacon) and then coated with a sweet sauce. Highly recommended.
We also like the stir-fried rice noodles, where we could taste the char, smoky flavour of the hot Chinese frying pan or wok.
The salty tasting chye por balances well with the tofu. Personally I found this dish a little too salty for my personal liking but most people will like this dish.
After our stay at Genting Highlands, we actually returned to Gohtong Jaya on our way home and ate at Restoran Chuan Kie again. This time, we went to the main restaurant instead of their branch.
Once again, we ordered their signature fried pork belly slices in special sauce and stir-fried been hoon since we enjoyed these dishes very much when we ate their branch on our way to Genting Highlands.
These are some of the other dishes to try at this restaurant.
Stir fried Tian Qi leaves (田七菜) with chopped garlic. The stir fried Tian Qi leaves (田七菜) tasted quite good with smooth slippery texture when stirred fried in this manner. Tian Qi, also known as Notoginseng, are valued for their pharmaceutical qualities, especially for the blood and circulation.
Fresh Tian Qi leaves are not commonly sold back home, so it was a good idea to try this dish at Gohtong Jaya. I saw fresh Tien Chi leaves being sold in the several provision shops in Gohtong Jaya and it was tempting to buy some to bring home.
Petai, also known as Stink beans or Bitter beans, are widely consumed in Southeast Asia. They are supposed to be good for the health but I find them too bitter. My travelling companion, who likes to eat petai, told me they would make the urine stink, hence the nickname.
The restaurant also offers some exotic meat like ostrich. We ordered the ostrich with spring onions.
The meat of the ostrich was tough, like low quality beef. So, it may be better off to eat stir fried beef with spring onions instead.
Other simple and tasty dishes include the home made braised tofu with Enoki mushrooms and the stir-fried bee hoon (rice noodles).
The stir-fried bee hoon (rice noodles) is even more delicious when garnished with red or green chillies and chopped garlic that are placed on each table.
Overall, our meals at Restoran Chuan Kie has been value for money and met our expectations. We will be back, if we were to pass this way again. There are other similar Chinese restaurants offering cheap and good food in this small town as well.
Gohtong Jaya is also an excellent place to buy local produces like the Bentong ginger and of course the seasonal local fruits like the Musang King or Mao Shan Wang durians, which are grown in the plantations nearby.
To find out more about enjoying durians and mangosteens in Malaysia, check out this post: Enjoying the King and Queen of Fruits at Genting Highlands.
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