I actually tried this halal bak kua (BBQ meat) a couple months ago but kept forgetting to post it until a reader emailed me the other day, the content goes:

MK wrote:
do u have any idea where to get halal bak kua in KL?

and then I replied:

No halal bak kut teh as far as I know, but there’s vegetarian bak kut teh that has similar tasting soup you can find at Taman Mayang, near the old Lim Kok Wing building. It’s a stall by the roadside that’s very near to William’s mamak stall, operates during lunch time.

Regards,
KY

Which was a wrong answer because MK was asking about bak kua, not my favorite Chinese Malaysian food, bak kut teh. So I had to sent another email to the friendly reader who politely pointed out my mistake…

my ex-colleague Abby likes the beef bak kua

Anyway, this particular stall selling halal bak kua called Grilled to Perfection is situated at the basement food court of Pavilion KL. Just a stone’s throw away from it’s non-halal counterpart Kiew Brothers that sells bacon bak kua I posted about a couple months ago.

The stall offers three types of BBQ meat: sliced beef, sliced chicken, and sambal chicken. You can also have them in rounded coin shapes instead of sheets as well. They are priced at RM 72-75 per KG, very similar to the market price of the non-halal versions

the three types of bak kua, sliced beef, sambal chicken, and sliced chicken

As for the taste, I find that the beef bak kua (the only one I tried) was a little dryer than what I am used to, possibly due to the relatively leaner meat as compared to pork. However, it does taste like bak kua, and to my ex-colleague who has never tasted something like this, it was a revelation.

So far this is the only place I’m aware of that sells Halal bak kua, so if you don’t eat pork and want to try out this Chinese delicacy, Pavilion KL is the place!

Address: (Corporate, stall at basement of Pavilion KL)
No. 73, Jalan Cemerlang,
Taman Perindustrian Cemerlang,
81800 Ulu Tiram, Johor
GPS: 3.148872, 101.713368
Tel: 03-5891 0934

Tags:  bak kua,  bbq meat,  Bukit Bintang,  food-court,  halal,  KL,  pavilion

Posted by KY | 19 Comments »

While the KLCC area offers quite a variety of lunch choices, one eventually gets tired of them, that is when we decided to head down to Bukit Bintang area to hunt for something more satisfying and ended up at Ka Soh (家嫂) Restaurant. This little restaurant actually sits right in a parking lot opposite Ritz Carlton hotel.

big prawn *drools*

The place is famous for their fish head noodle, but for this session, we decided to go for their dishes with steamed rice. For the two of us, we ordered some big prawn with dark sauce (明虾), a tofu dish, and fried Hong Kong choy sam (菜心) vegetable. A standard dish of delicious achat (pickled vegetable with crushed peanuts) was served as appetizer.

The food didn’t arrived in less than 15 minute’s time and were served pretty much all at the same time. Taste wise, they were all excellent, the prawn very fresh and sweet, and the brown sauce was probably just a simple combination of dark soya sauce and some other seasoning; but proved to be very effective as the compliment to the succulent seafood. The tofu too was very smooth and the sauce not over powering. Lastly, there must be something about Hong Kong and Chinese vegetable that is just so juicy and sweet (”organic” fertilizer maybe?) that made the simple choy sam dish so delicious.

The simple trick to ordering is to provide a varying texture and taste across the dishes. In this case, the firm texture of prawn, the smooth tofu, and the slightly crunchy vegetable, we also have the taste of seafood, fresh vegetable, and the more subtle tofu.

three dishes and an appetizer

This wasn’t a cheap lunch (their fish head noodle would be cheaper), the meal costs a little over RM 30 per person. However, the 6 big prawns were huge and would probably cost over RM 10 each if you order them from the mamak stalls. Locals usually aren’t ready to pay this type of price for Chinese food but will happily shell out more for foreign cuisine, which is somewhat of a puzzlement to me. This place is totally worth it though, you will find photos of celebrities dining there on the wall as a testament to the good food served here.

Ka Soh is just right opposite Ritz Carlton Hotel

Address:
205, Jalan Bukit Bintang,
55100 Kuala Lumpur
GPS: 3.147619, 101.715835
Tel: 03-2148 2207/3207

Other Branches:

• 136, Jalan Kasah, Medan Damansara, 59490 KL (03-2093 0905)
• no. 59-G, The Boulevard, Mid Valley City (03-2287 6328)

Tags:  Bukit Bintang,  dining,  Ka-Soh,  ky,  lunch,  prawn,  ritz-carlton

Posted by KY | 5 Comments »