Poh Chi Lum

Update: This business has ceased its operations.

Besides Wei Wu Guan Cafe at Burmah Road, another martial arts-theme restaurant opened its doors recently. Located at Irving Road (Jalan Irving), Poh Chi Lum Restaurant (宝芝林餐馆) is away from major traffic corridors. Therefore it was a coincidence for us to spot it by chance.

Poh Chi Lum (宝芝林) refers to the martial art school in Foshan (佛山), Guangdong Province (广东省) founded by the famous Chinese martial artist Wong Fei-hung (黄飞鸿, 1847-1924). Perhaps not surprisingly, his imagery appears as part of a wall mural in this restaurant.

While Wei Wu Guan Cafe tends to depict unarmed and inner-energy (内功) martial art techniques, Poh Chi Lum Restaurant goes all the way out to display mock weapons such as sword (剑), sabre (刀), dagger (匕首), nunchaku (双节), guandao (偃月刀) etc.

Apart from the weapons, the dining area looks pretty simple and contemporary. Don't expect to see wooden square tables with wooden long benches on all sides.

We ordered two types of herbal set meals: PCL Ling Zhi Herbal Soup and PCL Fleece Flower Root Soup. Each set includes some vegetable sides, rice, dessert, fruits and drink.

The PCL Ling Zhi Herbal Soup (宝林芝灵芝安神养气汤, RM19.00) is made from ganoderma (灵芝), a type of mushroom prized for its rejuvenating powers in traditional Chinese medicine. The soup is claimed to combat insomnia and relieve tension.

However, the taste of the soup is overwhelmed by the red dates. This begs the question how much ganoderma is used in the first place.

As for the PCL Fleece Flower Root Soup (宝芝林首乌炖鸡汤, RM20.00), the active ingredient in the chicken soup is the Chinese knotweed (何首乌). According to traditional Chinese medicine doctrine, this plant has anti-aging properties and can improve the flow of "qi" (气).

Indeed, the soup possesses some herbal taste, but not strong as strong as we imagined. As for the chicken, it is boiled sufficiently until the flesh is soft and tears off the bones easily.

The vegetable sides (小菜) are quite a disappointment because they lack of flavor. I think the gravy is simply too watery.

The rice is garnished with some minced meat. It is better to have some kind of sauce in place of simple minced meat. For example, braised meat sauce is a better option.

The dessert is the Gui Ling Gao (龟苓膏). The taste is acceptable but not too special. At least, the taste is not overwhelmed by the sugary syrup.

For fruits, each set meal includes a couple of watermelon slices.

As for drinks, Longan Ginseng Tea (龙眼人参茶) is served either hot or cold. The drink is quite nice but the ginseng flavor is just mild. I prefer to have this drink hot because this is where the taste buds are more receptive.

Despite its theme, the menu at Poh Chi Lum is best categorized as "fusion" as there are both Western and Chinese dishes. We were told that the menu will be expanded after Chinese New Year.