Nam Yu (red fermented tofu) is one of my favorite ingredients to marinate meat. I’ve used it for deep fried chicken wings and pork slices, and thought I’d give it a try in a recipe that has East meeting West - Nam Yu pork chop.
The idea is simple, using the Western cooking method utilizing griddle and oven, but marinate the pork with nam yu. The result turned out rather well, with the pork acquiring that sweet and salty flavor of nam yu, while not having to use oil (as with deep frying) and be able to retain much of the natural juice in the meat.
nam yu pork chop, a griddle is preferred
Ingredients:
Haze enjoying the nam yu pork chop, with some mushroom & lettuce
Cooking instructions:
The garlic and mushroom should be cooked in the oven with the fat coming off from the pork. The lettuce serves as a garnish as well as something refreshing between the bites. Give it a try!
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I can’t believe it took me so long for my first visit to Betty’s Midwest Kitchen.
I spent 3.5 years of my life living in Midwest in my early 20s. 2.5 years in Minnesota, and another full year in Ohio, so the meal at Betty’s definitely brought back some memory, allowing me to rekindle with the tastes I was once so accustomed to.
Betty’s Midwest Kitchen
We went to Betty’s on a Saturday for dinner without reservation, that was a mistake. The little restaurant was packed and we were the 7th group to be waiting for a table.
The host though, were true to Midwestern “niceness”, explained the situation to us, and asked us to wait patiently while taking our orders. So under the dim lights of the sidewalk, we inspected the menu and made our orders.
pork burger, pork chop with apple sauce, pork belly, pork chop with gravy
Some half an hour or so later, we were seated, and in 5 minutes, our food was served. The service was super efficient, that’s always a plus point.
Our orders were a pork burger (RM 12), 2 pork chops (RM 23), pork belly (RM 27.50), and 2 portions of pork ribs (RM 32.50 each). That was for 6 person, and yes, every dishes were of my favorite for-food animal. Lovely.
baby back ribs, Haze, KY, sister & Jerry
And the food were good! Real hearty American food. Properly grilled and deep fried, they are as original as you can get. The pork came in big chunk and were juicy too, it’s everything you want in a proper non-halal Western style dining without being pretentious.
If you want real American food that will clog your artery and make you one step closer to joining the Biggest Loser, this is definitely the place to go, they are so good. I will be there again, this time I’ll call for reservation go on weekdays! 
p/s: I think they don’t take reservations
Address:
Betty’s Midwest Kitchen
A-G-40, Jalan PJU 1/43
Aman Suria Damansara,
47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
GPS: 3.123161, 101.595329
Tel: 03-7880-0196
When adopted by a different culture and people, food often gets adapted as well. Bit by bit, the authenticity gets assimilated to the local taste, and after decades, you get something that bears very little resemblance to its origin. This however, does not mean that the end product is necessarily inferior.
Two such cases on the opposite sides of the world are Chinese food in US, and western food here in Malaysia. You can’t find General Tso’s chicken (my fav!) in a traditional Chinese restaurant here, nor can you order chicken chop with Hailam sauce in Washington DC.
Freddy Western Food at Restaurant Millenium 86
Which brings us to today’s topic, Freddy Western Food, comes with awesomesauce, literally.
We discovered this stall by chance one day when Kerol ordered chicken chop from this stall that looked surprisingly… clean. Her verdict was very positive, and if Kerol said it is good, it must be, she’s got one of the fussiest tongues among the gang.
pork chop with hailam sauce, chicken chop with mushroom sauce,
pork chop with mushroom sauce, lamb chop with black pepper sauce
A couple nights ago we headed over to give this place an introduction to Suanie since she just got hit by a chicken chop phase (to go along with her Teow Chew porridge and pan mee phase concurrently)
I had the pork chop with hailam sauce (RM 9), Haze ordered lamb chop with pepper sauce (RM 9.50), Horng had pork chop with mushroom sauce (RM 9), and Suanie, of course, ordered chicken chop with mushroom sauce (RM 8.50).
While the pork could be just a bit juicier (due to the cut, I think), the sauce was really, really good. Good enough to overcome the slight dryness of the meat. Suan was very happy with her chicken chop, as does Haze with her lamb chop that came with a bit of bone marrow too.
There’s another secret under the meat – mash potato with freshly fried bacon chips. The little touch really made the dish yummy max!
Horng, Suan, Haze, and KY
While there are other more famous Western Food stalls such as those in SS3 near Shell petrol station, this is the first one of this kind that I found worthy of a blog post. Give it a try, I think they serve pretty good spaghetti too!
map to Restaurant Millenium 86 at Sea Park
Address:
Restaurant Mellenium Eighty Six
Jalan 20/22,
Taman Paramount, Petaling Jaya
GPS: 3.108099, 101.623983
When #porkgang was first initiated, we met each other almost exclusively only over dinners, and there were almost always pork involved. One of our earliest dinner meet was at Ribs@Oasis. This happened late last year, but I had somehow forgotten to process the photos until now.
Better late than never anyway.
Ribs serves a variety of Western food with a strong dosage of swine, just the way we like it. Situated just a couple minutes away from 1-Utama shopping complex, parking spaces aren’t hard to come by. However, getting there can prove to be a bit of a hassle on weekday evenings due to traffic.
Seating areas are mostly indoor, but there are limited tables near the sidewalk for those who prefers alfresco dining.
grilled pork loin chops
Anyway, lets get on with the food.
My eyes were fixated on the grilled pork lion chops (RM 30.50) when I saw it on the menu. It simply says “Chef Lee’s special recipe, served with braised cabbage and tangy apple sauce”
When the pork chop came, it did not disappoint at all. A huge slab of pork with a layer of fat around the edge, grilled to perfection with the fatty layer glistering and the leaner part still juicy, add a bit of that apple sauce, perfecto. I’d order it again on my next trip, no question.
grilled ribs, deep fried pork chunks, pan fried butter fish
Since the name of the restaurant is called Ribs, it goes without saying that we had to give it a try. Kim ordered a big slab of grilled belly Oriental pork ribs (RM 32.90) that came sitting on a generous serving of mash potato. I took a bite, and while it was pretty good, it wans’ t really overly impressive to be honest.
The deep fried pork chunks (RM 12.50) though, was really awesome and would serve as perfect beer food. The taste a little similar to the deep fried “nam yu” pork from Pan Heong at Batu Caves, but slightly more batter and crunchier, it was really good.
One of the ladies ordered the pan fried butter fish (RM 21.90) instead of something porky and gave the dish a huge thumbs up. Good to know Ribs@Oasis knows how to please your friend who wants to maintain her figure.
Eric, Horny, and Gareth ordered the bacon pork & reverse pork burgers
Then there are the pork burgers.
Ribs@Oasis offers quite a few types of pork burgers. The usual, with bacon, with grilled pineapple, or if you so prefer, the ultimate reverse pork burger too (RM 20-29.90).
The shiny bacon, caramalized pineapple, and that big juicy home made pork patty ought to make any pork burger lover droll like a hungry puppies. Gareth rated this as good as the Cristang’s pork burger but totally different at the same time, with a completely different taste and texture too, but equally agreeable to the taste buds.
banana fritters, ice cream, molten chocolate cake with haagan daaz
Then there’s the desserts. I can never really understand the idea of over stuffing yourself at dinner, and yet still order desserts, but apparently suanie , jaclyn, cheesie, and kim do, and that’s why they ordered desserts.
The ice creams were from Haagan Daaz, and hence they were pretty good. I had a bite of the banana fritters and found it to be too huge, it was not exactly great. The molten chocolate cake though, was quite delicious. Forgot how much they were priced, but I remember them to be pretty reasonable.
founding members of porkgang, and 2 of horng’s lady friends
Ironically, the ribs at Ribs@Oasis might not be the dish to order, but the other pork dishes – especially the pork chop and burgers, does make the place worth a visit or three despite the traffic.
We had wanted to hang out at the place a tad longer, but unfortunately they observe the “normal” closing time by around 10 ish at night. I’d wish they open later and sell more drinks though.
Address:
Ribs@Oasis
2 Tengkat Bandar Utama,
1-1 BU4 Oasis Complex,
Petaling Jaya, SELANGOR 47800
GPS: 3.150219, 101.609912
Tel: 03-7729 8921
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Bangsar is one of the places I haven’t really explore that much as far as food goes, so it was a good opportunity for me to head there with my buddy Horng when I was informed of Ronnie Q restaurant and pub‘s involvement in the Guinness-infused Christmas main course promotion.
Ronnie Q, a proper English pub
If you haven’t found out already, there are quite a few restaurants that are running the same Guinness-infused Christmas Menu (including Cafe Chulo at Jaya One I wrote about earlier, and more to come on this blog).
The promotion is pretty simple:
order main course, fill in voucher, gets a free Guinness Draught and a RM12 coupon too
As a restaurant/pub, Ronnie Q carries a pretty small but sufficient menu. Shepherd’s pie, ribeye steak, chicken chop, fish and chips, chicken boxing, burger, fish fingers, all the classic English foods
For the promotion, there is the Guinness-infused lamb chop, pork chop, and Hainanese pork chop. Horng and I decided to skip the poultry and went for lamb chop and pork chop instead. We also ordered deep fried calamari as appetizer.
deep fried calamari and 2 pints of Guinness Draught
The combination of deep fried calamari with Guinness turned out to be excellent. The big, fat, and juicy squid ring’s saltiness paired with the slight bitter after taste of Guinness Draught brings out the flavor of the seafood even more. Brilliant.
Guinness infused pork chop and lamb chop
The pork chop and lamb chop didn’t disappoint either. The sauce clearly carries a pretty distinct and yet subtle hint of Guinness in it. I do think while being a little unorthodox, the extra ingredient does add character to the otherwise pretty simple dishes that were served with potato wedges, baked beans, green beans, and some sliced mushrooms. The portions were rather generous too.
Ronnie Q is located in the heart of Bangsar Telawi area
An appetizer, two main dishes, and two pints of Guinness Draught at Bangsar, I would think the bill might be a little steep, but when the server handed me the bill, it was only RM 60.95. I almost couldn’t believe it, a very, very good deal indeed.
Good food, great drinks, and of course, as an added bonus, you get to sit alfresco and enjoy watching the ladies walk by the busy street that is Bangsar Telawi 2.
Address:
32, Jalan Telawi 2,
Bangsar Baru, 59100 KL
GPS: 3.131721, 101.671815
Tel: 03-2282 0722
