Kenny Food Cart @ Aman Suria

Timeless Comfort Food

There are some dishes that will always be pure comfort food, food that one can tuck into every day and not get tired of it. Just simple and no frill dishes, cooked over years from recipe handed down from generations. These are dishes that one automatically turns to when one feels restless or tired, when one craves for a taste of home cooking or simply when one wants familiar comfort flavours.

Kenny Lock’s father has been ladling bowls of Teng Chai Chuk since 1993 on Alisan street in the evenings. Regulars continue flock till Kenny decided to move into this new space at Aman Suria. Now diners can enjoy their signature Teng Chai Chuk in the comforts of the Kenny’s Food Cart.

Kenny’s Food Cart offer diners a minimalist décor with bright and cheery ambiance. Whether you choose from alfresco seats or the dining area with cool air-conditioning, the shop is spacious with a laid-back vibe. His father’s food cart is cleverly incorporated into the open kitchen space area as a reminder of how it all started.

Menu is straight forward with signatures of single dishes and a few rice dishes, soups, snacks and add-ons. Look out for Kenny’s specials of the day as he prefers to offer specials based on fresh produce.

Homemade Chrysanthemum Tea (RM2.50)

The Signature Teng Chai Chuk (RM9) is what everyone comes for. A piping hot bowl of smooth and creamy congee topped with crispy anchovies, roasted peanuts, chopped fried fish cake, crispy rice vermicelli, century egg and scallion, it’s a delicious sight to behold.

The delicate savory flavours are moreish and tasty. Each spoonful of the silky congee is further elevated with all the other condiment flavours and textures. Utterly comforting to the tummy…

Fried Fish Belly Porridge (RM10) is another dish to order. The same yummy congee is served with fried fish belly. The lightly fatty belly is so good that one may seriously consider ordering more of it.

If there is one must add-on, it’s the Fried Fish Paste (RM4 for 5 pcs). Made from scratch daily, Kenny keeps quality in check, using fresh fish paste, minimal seasoning and shapes these by hand before frying them. Super addictive whether eaten with the congee or o its own!

The Cantonese style Loh See Fun (RM8.50) has the silky and soothing flavours of eggy gravy blanketing slippery soft rice noodles with meat and vegetable. The generous finishing of crispy fried lard cubes, fried shallot and spring onion is what makes this bowl so tasty.

More familiar favorites and this one is decent too. The Fried Loh See Fun (RM8.50) had a lovely breath of wok hei. Simplicity prevails in the form of savory soy sauce, egg and veggies with the rice noodles.

The Signature Mushroom Pork Noodles (RM8) came doused in rich dark brown gravy with minced pork and mushroom, braised egg and some crisp lettuce. The thin egg noodles had a nice bite and the brown sauce tied all the rest nicely.

Kenny’s Fried Chicken (RM4.50) is scrumptious! Simply irresistible, the chick is crispy and very juicy with just the right balance of salty and tasty note. So good, this one also warrants another order…

Pork Chop (RM10) fans will also enjoy Kenny’s version. Well-marinated the unctuous salty notes is moreish yum. Very tender and mostly lean with charred edges, the pork chop is also very juicy and goes well with all the other rice and noodle dishes or on its own.

For some extra snacks, there’s also Wantan Soup (RM5 for 5 pcs) and Fried Dumplings (RM4 for 3 pieces). The Fried Dumpling win hands-down over the Wantan soup in my books.

A very enjoyable and affordable meal at Kenny’s Food Cart! Most dishes start from RM8 to RM10 and add-ons as well as snacks are also value-for-money. If you’re craving for comfort food, Kenny’s Food Cart is the place to be…

KENNY FOOD CART

K-G-11, Jalan PJU 1/43,

Aman Suria,

47301 Petaling Jaya

Tel: 03-7497 2199

Facebook: www.facebook.com/k.foodcart

Porco Macau Pork Chop Bun @ Lot 10 Hutong

The Ultimate Macau Pork Chop Bun

Head over to Lot 10 Hutong, the award winning food non halal food court, for more porkalicious bites! This round, Porco Macau Pork Chop Bun is stealing the limelight with its offerings of swine-ful delights from Executive Chef Fong, more well-known as Yoke Cheh or sister Yoke.

We paid a visit to the new stall that has garnered quite a storming rush of porky fans since its launch not too long ago. We like how Porco Macau Pork Chop Bun stayed minimal with its offering, choosing to focus on what they know best and that is their signature secret recipe of pork chops served several ways.

One can’t miss the stall with its huge signage of tempting porky buns!

Be prepared to queue for this as every order is made upon request but it’s ultimately worthy of the wait. Leading the pack is the classic Macau’s famous Macau Pork Chop Bun. Story goes of how a young women perfected her Portuguese pork chop and bread recipe from a Portuguese chef and the classic Macau Pork Chop Bun was born.

Despite coming from an IT education, Yoke Cheh traded her white collar job for her passion in the food industry and has never looked back since then. She nailed her pork chop recipes to tasty perfection and ensures quality control her own self daily for Porco Macau.

One gets a brawny and substantial piece of juicy lean pork chop, well-seasoned and utterly tender, sandwiched with a crusty bun upon order. Assured that no further condiments or sauces needed, this is the epic glory of what every Macau pork chop bun should be savored. Each piece of bone-in pork chop gets manual hand labor of tedious pounding to achieve its tenderness and it seasoned by Yoke Cheh herself with soy sauce and other special seasonings. The salty moreish flavours are addictive, sufficiently tasty enough to be enjoyed with the golden crusty bread with a tender flesh. Extra brownie points for the large pork chop peeking out from the bun for Yoke Cheh…

One bite of the Macau Pork Chop Bun (la carte RM13.90, set meal with a drink RM15.90) and you’ll be chasing more bites of this gloriously delectable pork chop!

So we know some Malaysians still argues that we need more to jazz up this pork chop bun. If you still insist, then opt for the Macau Pork Chop Bun Special Set (RM17.90) that has the classic version pumped up with fried Sunny Side up egg and sliced cheese. I daresay, this version is pretty darn amazing too because the one sided crisp egg with oozing melted cheese does elevate the deliciousness to new heights… ok, so you now know who that ‘some Malaysians’ are.

If bread is not your thing, then go for the Macau Pork Chop Noodles (RM13.90) where one gets the same glorious piece of porky chop paired with springy noodles laced with special soy sauce. These are no ordinary noodles as these are specially made with traditional bamboo-pressed techniques to achieve its springy texture. Again, you get just pork chop and noodles in an order and I concurred that Portuguese must really enjoy simplicity in their food.

This one was a tad over salty for me since the pork chop alone is already pretty savory and the noodles are just as savory as well. It is still yummy in every slurp of noodles and was pretty much a crowd favorite on our table that day.

I personally favored the Macau Pork Chop Rice with Egg (RM14.90) when I saw the glistening pork chop served with steamed rice, perfect Sunny side up egg and a bowl of curry sauce. The fluffy rice balanced up the salty notes of the pork chop very well, making it very easy on the palate. The egg with its soft molten egg yolk oozing out added lusciousness while the curry sauce heated up the taste bud with its light sweetness and robust spiced notes. It’s an overall combination of what every pork chop rice should be in my books.

I returned with my family again a few weeks later for this and my son gave his thumbs up for this dish too!

Porco Macau also offers Macau Curry Fish Balls (RM6.90), a side portion of bouncy fish balls cooked in non-creamy curry sauce. The dish is a classic one available on the streets of Macau as well as Hong Kong. This one was sufficiently decent and is much a pleaser with every one of all ages since there heat factor is rather mild.

We hope Porco Macau Pork Chop Bun opens up other outlets soon as we can’t seem to get enough of this porkalicious bites. Yoke Cheh mentioned that they might also add more to the menu later on once they settle down. Till then, it looks like we still have to queue for Porco Macau Pork Chop Bun if you’re a porky fan like me!

PORCO MACAU PORK CHOP BUN

Lot 10 Hutong, LG Floor,

Lot 10 Shopping Centre,

50 Jalan Sultan Ismail,

50250 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: +603-2782 3500

Website: www.lot10hutong.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pg/lot10hutong

Business Hours:

Daily 10am to 10pm

Epicuro @ USJ, Taipan Subang

Porky Brunch at Epicuro New Branch in Subang!

Following after its successful outlet of Epicuro in Uptown Damansara, Yugin and team has now opened their second outlet of Epicuro in USJ, Taipan area in Subang Jaya. We visited this new branch when it was only a few weeks old for brunch and also got a taste of some of the new dishes to be feature in their menu.

Words has gotten out pretty quick and the new branch was pretty filled up when we arrived. The restaurant was decorated differently from its original outlet but kept to simple, modern and a minimalist décor, sharing the same similarity to its original outlet in concept. The themed here was neutral and bright with spots of tiles on wall and bar to give the whole place a modern retro ambiance. This outlet also seats more with 60 pax as well.

The menu had a lot of repeats from its original outlet but we were assured that more new dishes are coming soon as they were still tweaking the menu. Though choices are not plenty, the ones available are sufficiently satisfying and scrumptious enough to warrant a return as always.

Cappuccino (RM10) is always a good start in the morning to get some adrenalin going…

Health conscious folks can opt for the healthy Crush Pure Fruit Smoothies that comes in Banana Pineapple, Citrus Goji-Ra, Jackfruit Twist, Super Spinach, Mango Fresh and Gua-Pel. I tried their Super Spinach and love how refreshing, thick and smooth the beverage was.

To kick off our brunch, we had their Big Breakfast with Scrambled Egg (RM26.90). A platter of hearty porky bacon, pork BBQ sausages, crispy hash browns, scrambled egg, sautéed cherry tomatoes and mushrooms and toast. Each element was well cooked, an effort that showed on the dish. The bacon was also not over crisp and had a good bite while the scrambled egg is creamy soft and delicious. One can also opt for Sunny side up egg if scrambled is not to your fancy.

Another wise option for brunch is Epicuro’s Waffle Brunch (RM18.90)! Yugin has nailed his waffle recipe to a T. Golden crisp waffle with a lightly chewy and tender inside is perfect with savory breakfast treats of bacon, pork BBQ sausage, Sunny side up egg and some greens. The light sweetness of the waffles goes so well with all the salty and savory ingredients, rendering an unforgettable brunch sensation for me.

Pasta is another wise choice at Epicuro as I had previously raved about how good their pastas are. At this outlet, one simply must try their Prawn Aglio Olio with Sauteed Spinach (RM24.90) and Mixed Mushroom & Bacon Aglio Olio (RM23.90).

Prawn Aglio Olio with Sauteed Spinach is a sublime treat of juicy sweet prawns jazzing up the classic aglio olio. Epicuro’s version also had cherry tomatoes, lots of herbs and a liberal sprinkling of crushed red pepper flakes and garlic. Flavours are big in this one and we all really enjoyed this a lot.

Another version of aglio olio but this round catered to bacon lovers is the Mixed Mushroom & Bacon Aglio Olio. This one is earthy with all the assorted mushrooms and bacon crisps sautéed with lots of added herbs and the usual suspects. The pasta here has a solid al dente bite too. At Epicuro, foodies like me will always be pleased as the pasta here are well-studded with lots bacons and other ingredients besides just pasta.

Kids and adults will also adored the Fish and Chips (RM19.90). Two thick pieces of crumbed fish are gorgeously crispy and golden with a moist inside. Served with the fish are spicy stick fries that turned out to be such a hit with us, so much so, we had to order this as additional side serving. It may not be the classic version but we are certainly enjoying this version a lot.

Our star of our brunch turned out to be Epicuro’s new item of Seared Pork Shoulder Loin. Now the first outlet already won our hearts with their creamy pork chops but we are still glad that Yugin is now offering another recipe of his famous technique for succulent and tender pork chops. This one uses pork shoulder loin and is pan seared till just right. The salty and moreish pork shoulder is divine in flavours and textures. A side of seared onions and potatoes together with steamed broccoli, carrot and radish gave the dish a healthy boost. Make sure to ask about this dish as it is still fairly new!

As said earlier, we can’t help but to order a side of Spicy Stick Fries (RM7.90)!

We thought a good brunch should deserve a sweet ending. So we had the Waffles with Homemade Ice Cream (RM15.90). Perfect waffles here again and this was made even better with Yugin’s homemade chocolate ice cream. The chocolate ice cream is also utter delicious as it has intense dark and rich bittersweet chocolate. Waffles are simply a Must-Order!

A new dessert of Homemade Raspberry Sorbet came with a surprise. Homemade, the Raspberry sorbet is intensely tangy and sweet with a burst of raspberry flavour. The additional crunch crushed biscuits, chocolate bits and chocolate sauce took the sorbet to new heights. Not on the menu yet but again, do ask as you may never know if Yugin has made a batch of this…

Tiramisu (with Alcohol) is one of Epicuro’s signature items. We never failed to order this at every visit to Epicuro. The one here is laced intensely with alcohol, making this dessert so addictive and sinful.

Looks like Epicuro USJ Taipan is going to do really well! Crowds are already in, the menu is still as stronger as ever and growing and diners are assured of scrumptious dishes that is pretty consistent on our many visits. With brunch now added, diners can enjoy Epicuro from breakfast to lunch or dinner. Go early as they tend to filled up pretty quick, especially the weekends!

EPICURO USJ

2A Jalan USJ 10/1J

Taipan Business Centre

47620 Subang Jaya

Tel: 03-80811182 (reservations available only on weekdays)

Facebook: www.facebook.com/epicuro.usj

Business Hours:

Opening hours: 10am-11pm (Tuesday till Sunday)

Closed on Mondays