The Malaysian Insider :: Food

Posted: 22 Jul 2011 05:43 PM PDT

Mui Choy Kau Yook is as Hakka as you get. — Pictures by Eu Hooi Khaw

KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 — When our friend J suggested an eating jaunt to Seri Kembangan on a weekend, we were all for it. With her exacting high standards in food, we were sure we would be on to a good thing. So there we were at Restoran Chen Fatt, a place that has been around for 40 years!

It's a place for hearty Hakka food and J rattles off the order: Mooi Choy Kau Yook (braised belly pork with preserved vegetables), Tofu Kang which she refers to as fake shark's fin, Por Loh Kuat (pineapple pork ribs), Chee Pau Kei (paper wrapped chicken), Assam Fish and Mango Tofu.

The well-balanced flavours in this Assam Fish makes it a winner.

Now that's a lot of food for four women. But the two of us discovered they also had Chicken in Rice Wine, and yes, we wanted that as well. It was a feast!

First, the Tofu Kang is a thick broth of mashed beancurd, lavish with crabmeat and mushrooms. There's a lovely aroma of wine as you stir the broth. It's so good that you would want a second helping.

No meal in a Hakka restaurant is complete without Mui Choy Kau Yook. There's a certain finesse about this pork dish with robust flavours. It is the light-coloured mui choy or pickled mustard that's used to cook it.

It's just slightly sweet, but still strong with mui choy flavour that imbues the belly pork it's been stewed with. Bite into a slice of tender meat, with the fat almost melting on it, and savour both a little saltiness and sweetness. It tastes just wonderful. I had two pieces of this.

The Mango Tofu is fried cubes of tofu tossed kerabu-style with fresh mango strips, onions, cili padi, lime juice and thin deep-fried pieces of cuttlefish. This perfect balance of sweet, sour and hot — you enjoy the tart mango with the crispy yet soft pieces of tofu. When J commented the cuttlefish was not crispy enough, a bowl of fried cuttlefish appeared — thoroughly crisp! That's service for you.

Chee Pau Kei or paper-wrapped chicken is a speciality in Seri Kembangan. There has been much debate about who (in a particular family long known for this dish) makes the best one.

Chicken in Rice Wine was absolutely yummy... sweet, hot and zesty.

We thought Chen Fatt produced a pretty decent chee pau kei. I unwrapped mine to the stirring aroma of ginger, which had got into every fibre of the chicken drumstick. The smooth and firm meat fell off the bone; there was a honeyed taste to it without being too sweet. It was so good.

We gave an "A" for presentation to the Pineapple Pork Ribs, which appeared in a hollowed-out pineapple. We got meaty ribs with a bit of belly fat attached to it, which made the pork more succulent and not dry when cooked in this fashion. The meat glistened with the sweet and sour sauce it had been cooked in, as did the juicy chunks of pineapple.

The Assam Fish was a red tilapia cooked in a light assam curry together with ladies fingers, cabbage and tomato. It was not just a pre-cooked assam sauce poured over the fish.

The flavours of the curry got into fish, in a mellower way, and it tasted all the better for it. I loved it that there was cabbage in it and of course ladies fingers. We didn't finish the fish and I packed the rest of it home for dinner, and it was still good.

I must have my Wong Chau Kei or Chicken in Rice Wine if I know it's on the menu. So we had this large claypot of kampong chicken in wine still bubbling brought to the table. We paused to breathe in all these gingery, winey aromas.

I liked it that the wine was slightly sweet, and the ginger was chopped into tiny bits so that the hotness got into the wine, and you could eat all the ginger (it's good for you!).

Pineapple Pork Ribs tasted as good as it looked.

There's wood fungus in the stew and the balance of flavours was so perfect. I wonder if they do this ginger egg omelette in wine, too, that women in confinement usually eat.

After all this food, J still asked us whether we would like to try the Yat Har Liong Mei (prawns that have the head steamed and the body fried in superior soya sauce). We said no, but would definitely come back for this one, the Kiong Yoong or Ginger Steamed Fish, Lin Chee Ngap (like an eight treasure duck) and steamed Yim Kei.

We paid just RM150 for all the food we had, including takeaways of Paper Wrapped Chicken and Mui Choy Kau Yook.

Restoran Chen Fatt is located at No. 1487-B, Jalan Besar, Seri Kembangan, 4330 Selangor. Tel: 03-8948 6673.

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Jumaat, 22 Julai 2011

The Malaysian Insider :: Food

The Malaysian Insider :: Food

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