Vinegared Pork Knuckle
My dinners with Kenny Mah and the Devil Wears Prada are always spontaneous and generally take place in Taman Desa or Old Klang Road where they live. The thing about living in Shah Alam is that I get used to driving long distance, and any distance under 35km is a mere walk in the park. The passport jokes are stale although I admit I sometimes indulge in it to tease my lesser neighbours (yes, my friends in Klang). I once decided to have lunch in Klang at my parents’ place, and ended up taking an entire hour to get there from my office in KL. By the time I arrived, the food was cold, and my parents had gone ahead and finished lunch without me. I’ve since resolved never to go to Kajang or Klang on a weekday unless it is a matter of a luscious slab of char siew.
It was a choice between Wai Kei and Sanuki Udon. I was leaning towards Sanuki (because the owner makes me smile *blush*), but when Kenny mentioned Vinegared Pork Knuckles and Ginger Wine Chicken, I allowed my carnal desire for the flesh to be doused by my carnal desire for food. I’m easy that way.
I’ve had a weakness for those two dishes since the day I ate up all my friend’s post-natal confinement period food. Her confinement lady was not amused and I wasn’t allowed entry the next day.
We ordered a large claypot of ginger wine chicken and a smaller portion of vinegared pork knuckles. To supplement our diet, we ordered some stir fried yau mak with garlic, a tofu dish which the proprietor said was homemade, and some yong tau foo as an afterthought despite the proprietor’s protests that we had already ordered enough for three.
The ginger wine chicken came with generous portions of julienned ginger, wolfberries and even bits of fried omelette. Unfortunately, it also came with a generous portion of alcohol. Unlike the usual sweetness associated with yellow rice wine, this one was harsh on the palate and we left most of it uneaten. The vinegared pork knuckle was a lot more edible, possessing a lovely sweet and sour taste, its nectarous sauce good enough to drink on its own. However, the insufficient portion of old ginger in the recipe failed to make it a memorable dish for us. Our favourite dish that evening was the beautifully fried plate of yau mak (lettuce), a simple yet addictive dish.
The homemade tofu was nice with bits of pork and vegetables in it, but it was not outstanding. We liked the yong tau foo which the proprietor said was adjusted to suit the tastebuds of his clientele; in the past, it used to contain pork and salted fish in typical Hakka fashion but the recipe has since been adjusted to contain just fish paste. Simple and wholesome.
Restoran Wai Kei (near Taman Desa exit)
4 1/2 Miles, Old Klang Road, KL.
Tel: 013-391 8269 / 016-227 6210
Closed Mondays.
Ginger Wine Chicken
Homemade Tofu
Stir Fried Yau Mak
Yong Tau Foo
I have a Thai friend who is really a very talented self taught chef.. he just started on his blog.. hope you give him the support 🙂
http://baimohn.blogspot.com/
oh ya, i remember eating ginger rice wine chicken and black vinegar pork knuckle quite regularly during my post-natal confinement too. also had a lot of white pomfret with sesame oil. but i had to avoid yau mak, yong tau foo and chinese cabbage though, because all that was supposedly bad for blood circulation and breastfeeding.
Leon: will do!
Sean: didn’t you tell me that you weren’t planning on breastfeeding? You said it would make your boobs sag.
What kind of camera did you use for these photographs
You have no idea how glad I was that you ordered the yau mak, hehe. I think we all tried to polish that off first! Hehe.
And when exactly was Sean preggers, again? 😛
So in the battle of Man (Sanuki Udon chef) and Food (Vinegared Pork Knuckles, etc): Food won? Lol
J <— Has been watching too much Man Vs Food.
ROFLMAO.. Sean really should start breastfeeding so he can develop some breas.. i mean, pectorals 😛
YTF YTF! we all scream YTF! i am so eating YTF for runch 😛
Everything looks good, except that vinegered pork trotters…ewww.
Glad to be reading about a place I can finally afford on your blog. Hehehehehehe *evil laugh*
I was wondering what camera model you used for the photography? All you pictures are so fine and nice.
Krug: Pics were taken with a Canon EOS 550D and a 50mm lens.
LFB: The yau mak would have been better with fu yi, but you guys wouldn’t allow me to order it. Bleh. You mean you didn’t notice his baby bump that day when you met him? Blind.
J: What’s this Man Vs Food? Some Chinese show ar? Of course food wins, right? (sorry, BE!)
cumidanciki: Why does Sean need breasts? His are big enough. Yar, YTF YTF, we all scream YTF (and Udon!).
A Lil Fat Monkey: You have bad taste. How to be my BFF? Oh, I forgot to mention that LFB belanja’d us that night. Awwww.
wyyv: It was a Canon EOS 550D with a 50mm lens (rarely used). 😛 😛 *cough Kenny Mah*
No, it wouldn’t have. I no likee fu yi. But you are a gracious guest and amended your order of yau mak to be sans fu yi. Lubs you.
And @wyyv: Don’t listen to her! I so do use that camera! Last time I used it, Her Majesty Queen DSLR got a brand new passport photo from it! 😛
Whoo. i love wine chicken too.
I had a good one in 1u, Oriental’s Craving once.
Lemme ask from my mum for her home made wine, so i can cook some. I am feeling post natal now.
LFB: Fu Yi is KING. Life without Fu Yi is like life without Kenny Mah. Oh, true dat (about passport photo). I need to borrow that pic, mah King.
chaokar: Still waiting for invitation. Dum de dum…..
ROFL about you being banned by your friend’s confinement lady – so farnee lah! Aaww… too bad about that wine chicken – that photo looked darn good, though.
Hmm… come come, let me cook & serve you some decent wine chicken at Shah Alam – surely that will be a super stroll in the park for you? 😉
Pureglutton: Thanks for the offer! I promise that I’ll finish up everything, so I suggest preparing double the portion. hehehe.
I’m no confinement lady but some decent Wine Chicken and Vinegared Pig Trotters shouldn’t be a problem. But, but your social calendar is so full with super-glam appointments, I’m afraid my humble grub offer will be placed at the very bottom of the list… and maybe next year only you will be free lah, hehe!
Pureglutton: Sorry lah, August is always a busy month. You are a damn terror cook, okay. I shy to ask to makan at ur place ler.
PGlut: Yar, next year, next year! Preferably in Jul/Aug!! 😀 So far the only good WC and VPT are all homemade. *hint hint*
LL: Why you never suggest this place when we were deciding where to go for dinner?
Time to put the GF1 away ler. Can give to GFAD for safekeeping.
Whenever I feel homesick and down, I always make ginger omelette with woods ear and wine soup. Soothes the tummy and soul.
LL: Aiyarr… dun say laidat la… what’s so shy shy wor? Anytime u wanna makan, just holler la… like the chinese say “it’s just a matter of laying out another pair of chopsticks!”
Gfad: Aiyor, u mean u will only be back next year kah?? Next Jul/Aug is such a long time away la!
gfad: I dunno who is worse at acronym-ing, you or FBB. Errrr, this place was suggested by Kenny Mah. I just fumble my way through Old Klang Road. Don’t insult my GF1 ar. It’s served me very well. 😀 Eh, your soup sounds delicious. Care to share the recipe? (for the days when BE is not eating in coz he dun drink no soup)
oh my porkkkkk i wantttt
can u explain more on the location? I cant imagine where is the danau desa exit
KY: You always want pork wan!
sim: If you come from KL (Fed Highway) heading towards OUG on Old Klang Road, this shop is located just after the Taman Desa exit (first set of traffic lights, I believe) on the right side of the road. This means that you have to do a U-turn further down, after the Taman Desa exit, to get to that side of the road.
BE is a man’s man. It must be whisky and steak all the way, no wimpy soup or quiche for him, eh? 😀
Acronym-ing is good – reduces carbon footprint (type less, spend less time on computer, save power, therefore reducing energy consumed..)
Soup is exactly like WC, ‘cept chicken is replaced with egg. Fry ginger in sesame oil, add egg, scramble a bit, add sliced wood’s ear, stock and boil a bit. Then add in glutinous wine and/or Stone’s ginger wine and/or brandy. Kau tim!
Gosh, you had me at Ginger Chicken Wine!! Looks lovely!
You know, I dun mind eating the chicken dish but not the vinegared knuckle not even during confinement :p
gfad: Thanks for the recipe! Seems simple and wholesome and ingredients are easily obtained here! Yay. Now to wait for BE to go out of the country again. 😀 Btw, I like your skewed sense of logic.
neko-hime: hahaha. You’re just like me. 🙂
babe_kl: But but but. What’s wrong with vinegared knuckles??
i’m with sean, after my fourth child, i kinda overdosed on confinement food… though i still like rice wine chicken. and trotters.
They opened a new branch in DU recently… nothing outstanding there as well… But they have wifi.
FBB: Can we do a confinement themed party at your place one day?
jason: Wifi’s better than nothing, I suppose! 😀
*sniggers*
I kinda like the sound of that – “Life without Kenny Mah”… at least dun have to spend time photoshop pics to blog. 😛
Thank you for all your wonderful posts about life back home. It’s great to have your blog to draw on when one gets homesick out here in HK. So glad I decided to hold on to my M’sian passport! Will surely check out Wai Kee next time am home.
This place is literally next to my site… been having lunch there at least once a week for the past 12 months.
Usually order “min si” fish head, fu gua chicken, YTF, yau mak, curry mix vege…