Da Gan Guo 大幹鍋 at MH Avenue, Setapak KL – A newly opened restaurant situated in an unassuming location but churn out delicious, bold flavours Chinese delicacies! The building itself doesn’t have much foot traffic, however, worth visit for “sweats dripping down your forehead yet you can’t stop eating” spicy feast.
The restaurant is famous for food with influence from China, at the same time complete with items which showcase local Chinese specialties. Big menu but many of them don’t go far from being spicy – Sour & Spicy Grilled Fish with Seafood, Stir Fried Squid & Prawns with Spicy Sauce, Grilled Fish with Spicy Sauce, Stir-Fried Ma Lat Baby Lobster and Salt & Pepper Frogs, just to name a few.
Dishes are served over stainless steel tray.
Pork Tripe Soup with Chicken RM35 small, RM55 medium, RM85 large
“Heats up” the body with Pork Tripe Soup, or more known as “Zhu Tou Tong” in Cantonese. Da Gan Guo’s version is added with chicken, more ingredients and more flavourful. Extra peppery but soothing. Great on a cold, rainy day.
Sour & Spicy Grilled Fish with Seafood RM158 ( Ma Yao/ Red Snapper) + RM10 (Grouper Fish)
A huge pot of seafood goodness with lightly deep fried grilled fish at the center, dressed in a bed of tangy, sourish broth boiled from tomato, further flavoured up with herbs and spices. Squid, clams, prawns, taugeh, sour cabbage make the platter more aplenty, sufficient to serve 4 pax.
You can choose to have 0%, 10%, 30%, 50%, 70% or 100% of spiciness. Mid level should be fine but if you were adventurous enough, you can always go beyond 50% for challenging spiciness but still, not suggested if your stomach couldn’t take it.
Hot & Spicy Chicken RM35 small, RM55 medium, RM85 large
Hot & Spicy “Lat Zi Gei” we had in some Chinese restaurants are usually overloaded with dried chilli, think about chilli as the main and chicken as side ingredients. LOL. Da Gan Guo makes some changes to the traditional style by having a balanced proportion of chilli and chicken. Despite the amount of dried chilli still liberal but at least, we got more meat to munch on. Plus, instead of being dry & tough tiny chicken cubes, Da Gan Guo gives bigger chunks of tender and juicy meat, coated with pepper salt and additional spiciness from dried chilli.
Grilled Fish with Spicy Sauce RM88
Grilled Fish with Spicy Sauce, similar to Sour & Spicy Grilled Fish but falls on “Ma Lat”. The bed of red hot broth looked really spicy but thankfully, we found it pretty manageable just tongue numbing after having too much of the soup, due to the “Ma La”effect.
Signature Deep Fried Edible Frogs RM58 small, RM88 large
The only non-spicy dish we ordered but received positive feedback from everyone. Tender frog meat asides, we enjoyed the starchy sliced potato and lotus root lightly coated with aromatic sauce.
Stir Fried Baby Lobster with Ma La Sauce RM108 small, RM15
Gets your hand dirty with Stir Fried Baby Lobster with Ma La Sauce, a more premium dish on Da Gan Guo menu but considered affordable in price, as it is huge in portion. Other recommended selections include Fried Seafood with Sambal, Premium Stir Fried Prawn with Spicy Sauce, Chicken Herbal Soup, Stir Fried Dory Fish with Beef, and Signature Deep Fried Edible Frogs.
In short, an ideal place for family lunch and dinner, or friends gathering. Like their food with big flavours, heaped with plenty of herbs and spices concocted to right balance. Like food that pack a punch and can make you easily emptied bowlfuls of white rice? Da Gan Guo is the place for you.
Photographer: Summerkid
Write-up: Summergirl
Da Gan Guo Resturant 大干锅
(opposite to Sweet Forest Cafe)
G-2, MH Avenue, Jalan Genting Kelang,
Off Jalan Bunga Kantan, Batu 3 1/2,
Setapak, 53300 Kuala Lumpur.
Contact: 03 – 4031 7823/ 010 – 824 6000/ 017 – 343 1869
Opening Hours: 11AM – 3PM; 5.30PM – 11.30PM
