To be frank, I never did grow up with pork belly with salted fish dish, I supposed it was a dish that wasn’t particularly popular up north in Penang where I grew up, that or my family was not privy to the greatness of this combination during that time.
My first time having this was at Lucky Loke restaurant over a decade ago and been a fan ever since.
pork belly with salted fish
A few days ago, I finally recreated this dish in the kitchen, and it turned out to be pretty simple and rather delicious as well!
Here goes the recipe –
Ingredients:
Pork belly 300 gram, remove skin, marinate with equal portion (2 tablespoon) of cooking caramel, rice wine, and oyster sauce
3-4 bulbs shallots, cut in quarters
2 inch ginger, thin sliced
6 dried cili, fresh cili (optional)
3-4 clove of garlic
spring onion for garnish
2 table spoon salted fish, cut in small chunks
3-4 tablespoon cooking oil
it’s a stirring and frying affair
Cooking Instructions:
heat up pan, fry garlic and salted fish
add dried cili & shallots, fry till fragrant
add pork, medium heat, cook 5-10 mins depending on thickness
add fresh cili & spring onion last min
Result was fantastic and require no additional seasoning, now I just need to get me a small claypot to complete the look & feel properly instead of using a frying pan and serving bowl.
Klang is always going to be associated with bak kut teh, but after a big hearty meal, it is only natural that one starts to look for desserts, and one great choice by Klang town is the famous Regent’s pandan layer cake.
Regent Pandan Layer Cake Shop
The shop is located just a few minutes walk away from the Klang KTM station as well as the one of my favorite kopitiam – Chong Kok. It’s an old school bakery a set up that will not look out of place from a photos taken in the 90s.. my guess is not much has changed since it first opened in 1977.
While the shop does offer a few types baked goods, the star here is their layer cakes. These come in a few varieties, the classic is pandan, but you can also have corn, yam, pandan + corn, pandan + yam, and during the king of fruit’s season – durian.
these pandan layer cakes go so well with a cup of hot coffee
5 layers of chiffon cakes alternate with equal appearance of kuih-like jelly is what you get here, a 250 gram portion goes for RM 13 for original flavor, and durian was RM 22 (price list below).
It’s a treat of alternating texture of spongy chiffon and silky jelly, with a balanced taste that isn’t overly sweet. The cake is best served slightly cold and with a cup of hot coffee.
durian or pandan? what’s your choice?
These cakes run out early especially during weekends, call ahead to make sure they have it in stock, I don’t think you get to book ahead tho..
Address: Regent Pandan Layer Cake Shop 70, Jalan Raya Timur, Kawasan 1, 41000 Klang, Selangor GPS: 3.040891, 101.451933 Tel: +603 7876 6417
Nasi Kandar is one of those dishes that is perhaps taking a back seat when it comes to our national identity, everyone associates nasi lemak with Malaysia, bak kut teh with Klang, but most may not know that nasi kandar originates from Penang, with vendors on foot balancing a post “kandar” on their shoulder carrying rice & various other (usually) dishes such as mutton curry, fried chicken and so forth.
Kok Siong nasi kandar, Puchong
It is also one of the many must-have dishes when one visits Penang, the state where I grew up. For those who are in KL though, there are always Kayu & Pelita that littered pretty much the entire Klang Valley. These places offer decent enough nasi kandar, but the usual complains would be price, and sometimes the lack of confidence in hygiene standards.
For those looking for something different than those chains, there’s Kok Siong Nasi Kandar in Puchong.
Situated in Puchong right next to Tesco Extra hypermarket, this is perhaps one of the only nasi kandar places that is run by Chinese instead of traditional mamak vendors. Apart from that, the dishes offered are actually very similar, and pork free. If you’re looking for chasiu nasi kandar, well, you’d still have to assemble it yourself, probably at home.
squid with extra petai, fried chicken nasi kandar
We tried their squid with petai, and a piece of 1/4 fried chicken in two plates, with plenty of curry over rice. The dish is also served with papadem (as usual), and plenty of crispy bits on top, which I really like.
The squid is your typical mamak style that’s slightly on the harder/more cooked side, and does taste proper. Chicken was well cooked with crispy skin and juicy meat, but what I really love was those petai with ikan bilis, absolutely pungent and super delightful.
mixing up the different curry is the way to go
Fans of nasi kandar should find this place quite satisfying. As the “kitchen” is pretty much an open concept, cleanliness isn’t a dodgy affair. Price wise I thought they were neither cheap nor expensive, while a “standard” plate of nasi kandar with fried chicken should be RM 8, the bigger piece of chicken we ordered actually carried a higher price, so if you’re on a budget, do ask ahead.
Address: Restoran Kok Siong Nasi Kandar 45, Jalan Bandar 16, Pusat Bandar Puchong, 47100 Puchong, Selangor GPS: 3.036115, 101.616258 Hours: lunch
Klang will always be associated with bak kut teh for most people, and while that is certainly true since the region has something like 300-500 bak kut teh restaurants, there’s another hidden gem that most may not know about – them fried chicken!
Klang Jaya fried chicken
After I posted about Yummy fried chicken located at Bandar Puteri Klang on social media, I was made aware of this Klang Jaya Fried Chicken by quite a few people who are from Klang and are familiar with this whole fried chicken scene, without hesitation, I knew we were going to have to check it out.
As it turned out, Klang Jaya fried chicken used to be a stall by the roadside, but has since moved to occupy a shop lot by itself several months back. Google map may still have the old address in the database but the one below on Jalan Selampit 21 would be the right one.
While most yoyo ice and fried chicken places like Nijia opens operates mainly on day time, Klang Jaya fried chicken caters for dinner and supper crowds. We got there by 6:30 or so and started picking our poisons right after checking in our location thanks to Covid measures.
fried meehun, fried chicken, nasi lemak, and fishball on skewer
Fried chicken is priced at RM 3.60 per piece, additionally, they also offer fried meehun and nasi lemak (RM 1.60), as well as fried fish ball, red bean soup, and a limited choice of drinks (see menu below).
piping hot fried chicken!
I had thigh and drumsticks here, and these fried chicken were served piping hot, with crispy skin and rather juicy meat. They were super delicious, and though I thought the extra cut on the chicken thigh sorta made the meat slightly less juicy, it wasn’t a deal breaker at all. Meehun goreng here was pretty good especially with the curry sauce, with nasi lemak presented as a decent alternative too.
As for those fried fish ball and other items on skewers.. I’ll give them a miss next time.
Overall, it was a very satisfying meal indeed, and definitely somewhere I’d be looking forward to returning.
Address: Klang Jaya Fried Chicken Jalan Selampit 21, 41200 Taman Klang Jaya, 41200 Selangor GPS: 3.007844, 101.444584 Tel:+6012 250 0766 Hours: 6-11pm
Always on the lookout for a good bowl of ramen, I was recently intrigued by taufulou’s rave reviews about Ichikakuya Ramen, probed into it a little bit and realized that it is located at UOA Business Park, that big office building across from SS15 over Federal Highway, which is quite a convenient place for me to get to, so I thought we’d give it a try.
Ichikakuya Ramen at the Podium, UOA Business Park
The brand Ichikakuya is from Yokohama and is a relatively new establishment from only about 5 years ago, the branch at UOA Business Park is the first in Malaysia.
The menu is pretty straightforward, choose between normal or red iekei (spicy) soup that’s either soy or salt based, and you can also opt for more chasiu (pork), soft boiled eggs, spinach, bamboo shoots, green onions and such. Additionally, they also have a few types of rice bowls if ramen isn’t your thing.
What makes Ichikakuya stands apart from other ramen places is the ability to customize the taste and noodle doneness in the following way:
We went for soy sauce soup and red iekei ramen, with normal noodle, strong taste, and extra chicken oil. I guess the “purists” will want to go for hard noodle, but to be frank I’ve never really enjoyed al dante noodle in pretty much any noodle dish.
The chicken oil and soy base soup reminds me of those equally good soup base from marutama, the wheat flour noodle carries a unique texture that went very well with the soup as well. The spicy version does come with a bit of a kick, not something that I’d call “hot” but should satisfy those who enjoys spicier food.
Overall, with the vege, seaweed, egg, and everything else, the ramen was as good as any I’ve tasted, well balanced and certainly delicious.
chasiu, egg, and soup all comes together
As for the gyoza, they were perfectly ordinary and would be something that I probably won’t order again. Price of ramen starts from RM 18.00 to RM 32.50 depending on how crazy you want to go.
Address: Ichikakuya Ramen Unit 1-3A, Level 1, Tower 3, The Podium, Uoa Business park, No. 1, Jalan Pengaturcara U1/51a, Kawasan Perindustrian Temasya, 40150 Shah Alam, Selangor GPS: 3.086171, 101.586808 Tel: 014-958 3884
