Puchong’s Fourteen Steam Roll serves up classic Cantonese ‘cheung fun’ and roasted meats, with surprisingly good ‘char siu’

PUCHONG, Sept 29 — Despite its name, Fourteen Steam Roll in Bandar Puteri Puchong does not serve 14 varieties of cheung fun — it actually serves 18.

The name comes from the original shop’s location, Restaurant King, in Puchong Batu 14.

Both locations specialise in a peculiar combination of cheung fun and Cantonese roasted meats, including siu yok, char siu and roast duck. The newer outpost, which opened earlier this year, features brightly lit, air-conditioned digs.

The inner dining area is quite small, so there is an extended outdoor seating area. — Picture by Ethan Lau

Self-styled as the “king of stone-ground rice noodle rolls” (石磨肠粉王), the restaurant proudly claims to make its cheung fun the traditional way, using a stone mill to grind the rice batter.

Of the 18 types, we mostly stuck to conventional fillings: prawn (RM9.90), char siu (RM9.90) and fried shallots with dried shrimp (RM8.90).

You can get slabs of roasted duck or char siu (or both) unceremoniously slapped on top of some plain cheung fun, but we opted for the mixed three platter (RM58) instead, which includes siu yok, char siu and roast duck.

First things first: the rolls were smooth across the board, silky and slippery without a hint of lumpiness or stodginess. The self-proclaimed title is well-earned.

Firm bits of prawn always make for a good filling, while the chilli oil on the side was a great addition.

Prawn 'cheung fun' is a classic filling. — Picture by Ethan Lau

The roll is smooth and tears if you're clumsy and trying to take a photo. — Picture by Ethan Lau

The char siu didn’t quite work for me - they used their own darker, stickier and fattier version, which didn’t capture the flavour profile of the red variety.

The red style’s sweetness and drier texture lend themselves better to cheung fun filling, which this version just couldn’t replicate.

The roll with fried shallots and dried shrimp ended up being the tastiest one we ordered, a lovely blend of sweet and savoury, crunchy and smooth, with generous amounts of salty har mai filling out each roll.

Fried shallots and 'har mai' make for a great 'cheung fun'. — Picture by Ethan Lau

Now, onto the roasted meats. The siu yok had that classic crispy crackling, with four tender layers of fat and meat.

Don’t count your calories here. The flavour of five-spice wasn’t particularly strong, but the pork was seasoned to the hilt.

I can think of few things worse than unseasoned pork, which usually ends up tasting even porkier and unpleasant. Season your meat, people!

The mixed three platter of roasted meats, including a surprisingly good 'char siu'. — Picture by Ethan Lau

The roast duck was ridiculously moist, which meant the skin wasn’t glassy and crisp, but it was hard to complain.

The char siu proved to be the most intriguing and ended up being the best of the trio.

The menu mentions tangerine peel, commonly used to counter any off-odours from the pork. It’s usually subtle and difficult to identify, but the aromatic, bitter notes were surprisingly pronounced here, which was the cherry on top of the tender meat and slightly sticky, caramelised exterior.

The snazzy shopfront. — Picture by Ethan Lau

Fourteen Steam Roll 石磨肠粉王 @ Bandar Puteri Puchong

64, Jalan Puteri 5/8, Bandar Puteri, 47100 Puchong, Selangor

Open daily, 8am-8pm.

Tel: 019-218 2338

* This is an independent review where the writer paid for the meal.

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