I remembered as a child of 8, my first taste of "Char Siew" or barbecued pork belly my mother bought from a famous downtown noodle shop, Koon Kee. It was unforgettable.
Well, "Koon Kee" is still around three generations later. Its irresistible "char siew" was made using quality cut from the pork belly. The meat will be marinated with the sweetest syrupy sauce carrying a hint of soy, wine, molasses and brown bean paste. Roasted to perfection, dripping with juice, it was served sliced to even thickness together with a ladle of dark syrupy sauce. If you ask for "ta pau", it was simply wrapped in brown waxy paper with absolutely no frills(no cucumber or green onions). I eagerly awaited this brown package which my mother would bring home as an add on to a meal of leftovers.
Aside from the char siew, Koon Kee also served its famous giant water dumpling or shuei gao(the matriarch of Koon Kee personally made shuei gao every morning those days) along with poached chicken noodles and braised chicken feet mushroom noodles. Though it is uncommon nowadays, they served their dumplings and chicken with a small dish of yellow mustard together with pickled green chilies and soy sauce. A tradition which has not survive today. Of course, one cannot predict the quality of anything that has survived three generations. The roasted meat is at times overloaded with too much fat. Occasionally the char siew is dry and sinewy as well. Still, the queue hasn't diminish much too much and you may still have to grab the last chair on a busy lunch day.
Hung Kee, on Jalan Loke Yew, is the other old timer. They been serving barbecued meat like siew youk, siew pai guat, char siew, siew aarp with noodles for half a century. Their soup may be laced with MSG (tongue numbing time bombs) but their deletable wantons the size of ping-pong balls, fully loaded with generous amounts of mince meat made up for it. You may like to order "gorn low mean" instead. Anyway, friends of ours did some checking on Hung Kee and gave their thumbs up. The wantons are humongous and they actually could not finish the whole bowl. The moist 'char siew' has a wonderful taste of brown bean paste and caramel. Worthy enough to be plotted into their GPRS unit before they left.
The other mixed roast establishment that has withstand two world wars and boasts of marinade recipes still used by his great grandchildren is located at Lorong Yap Hin in Pudu. "Siew Aarp Fei" was the nickname bestowed on the ever smiling, jolly and rotund son of the Chinese migrant who inherited the recipe during the post world war II era. Their famous "siew ngor" or roasted goose hangs alongside roasted duck, chicken and barbecued pork belly. Senior "Mr Siew", sadly had passed away years ago. Nowdays, a younger "Siew Aarp Fei" his youngest son helms the restaurant. According to my mother who knows senior Mrs Siew Aarp Fei, the roasted goose is as delicious as it was in the 1950s. Surprisingly it was the watercress soup served free of charge which was the tasiest. Made with leftover bones and meat of the roasts and hours of simmering gave it the robustness of a true chinese soup. But by no means the meal came cheap, so be glad that the soup was free!
Forty years down the road, many new pork stops has been set up rivalling the old establishments. Some with the ambiance and the services of a 5 star eatery. Two of these eateries are located just a stones throw away from my backyard, Bangsar.
At "Vintry" or their newly opened sister outlet "The Rib" (located in Medan Damansara), you can start with their original roast pork "au naturel". Mildly flavored, balanced with the precise marbling of fat and finished of with the crispiest pork crackling. The meat is sold by weight so it is great for small eaters and can be cooked in different styles too. Imported meat from Netherlands are used in their sister outlet The Rib. If you are heading there on the weekends, be sure to make a reservation as it also double as a wine aficionados' watering hole.
Not too far away is the Checkers Bistro/Restaurant but unfortunately I have not been there yet. My foodie friend, David commented that the pork dishes there has better flavour and are cooked well.
Of course, pork outlets around Jalan Alor right down to ones in Klang has received high recommendations. Still, if you have little time and don't want to step out of Bangsar, hop into Bangsar Grocer non-halal Deli and grab some of their 'siew youk'. The price is reasonable and the meat is both tender and flavorful with bits of garlic with a hint of five spice seasoning. The "prove of the pudding" as the kids said, is the sound of the crackling when you bite into it. Little mini explosions similar to a particular candy.
Oink, oink for now till my next stop. Bon Appetit!
*siew aarp is roasted duck
*siew youk is barbecue pork(whole pig or portions)
*siew pai guat is roasted pork ribs, sticky sweetness similar to char siew
*ta pau means takeaway
