Lao Ma Zi 佬妈子家乡小菜@Lot 10 Kawasan Landskap & Nursery Tropicana Selatan — Restaurant in Petaling Jaya

To those who are familiar with Tropicana, you'd definitely know about Lao Ma Zi, a restaurant located off beaten track.. hidden amongst countless nurseries and fish farms.

They used to operate in Jalan Ipoh before moving to Tropicana. Look for the sign of a grandma caricature with a roaster as they don't have signboard. You'd be greeted by the clucking sound of the huge imported Brahma chicken as you enter the premise. Limited tables are available in the air-conditioning section so do make reservation in advance.

◾Smokey Platter is my favourite dish to order everytime I come. Lovely smoked pork belly and duck arranged nicely on either side of the plate, separated by smoked lychee & braised peanuts. The pork belly contains more fat amount than the duck, but the savoury flavour of both meats were further enhanced by the smokiness. ◾Salted Egg Lotus Roots - not many restaurants do this dish, and this lotus root which I like to drink as soup (since I was a young boy) was deep-fried and then stir fried with the sweet & savoury salted egg yolk, resulting in each and every piece covered in the delicious sauce. ◾Dong Po Braised Pork Belly - darker colour than expected but we need the sauce to appease the young ones so they did not disturb us. ◾deep fried pork belly - crunchy, addictive snack to get the dinner going early. ◾ vegetable

Ordering was made easy as they'd send you the menu via WhatsApp and you pre-order your dishes so that you don't have to wait too long when you arrive at the restaurant.

Unconventional location which you'd have to drive through a gravel path with no proper parking spaces - park whenever you can squeeze your car in without blocking...

Before you come, you have to: Make the booking (done) Pay a deposit of RM200 (online transferred) Pre-order your food (done)

What pissed me off was the sitting arrangement and the cashier attitude. When we arrived at the restaurant at 6.30pm, Juliet (cashier) directed us to a rectangular table which can fit for 6 pax, I told her there were only 3 of us, so we want a smaller table, let other big group occupy the big table. She refused to change for us, reason being our dishes were big and required a lazy susan. Fine!

The food were ok, nothing to shout about. Our total bill was RM186, and she refused to return the balance of RM14 to us by cash, she said their system don’t allowed her to do that, bla bla bla. She will only be able to return the balance of RM14 (online transfer) after she closed the shop. This is totally unacceptable and ridiculous to us. Already paid the deposit, why still wanna hold my balance? Tak kan an old schooled restaurant didn’t even keep some petty cash? Until my husband insisted to get back the cash, then only she paid us back by cash reluctantly.

And by the time we left the restaurant (7.30pm), there were still many other tables unoccupied 🙄.

This will be my first and last time to this lousy restaurant, especially with this kind of...

All good remarks read n must make a try . Like some said waize will not reach .. each time said arrived destination n no entrance . After many times n though of giving up n final try to try another way . Finally reached n delighted . We were given air con place , 2 of us n recommended to try their wine egg , smoke Pork n Lao. Ma Xi Taufu total RM71.50. Food so so . The Taufu mix with fish paste n not really Special .the wine egg n smoke Pork (I think mayb duck will b better) ok only . We could not stand the hot n sweat n breathless becos they only switched in aircon with big group . Only fam . We quickly went off . Infact tried to order for 6 on Sat but was given outside n told us we have to take either 6 or 615pm and next 8 or 815pm . If u wish to stay on chatting after Makan , this is not the place becos only give 2 hours to eat even food came late or friend's cane late n once your time up n have to give to another round . Won't like to sit outside at night fear of mosquitoes n get dengue with plants...