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
