By SAM CHEONG
WHAT made me go back to Salak South Garden? Well, one reason being the decades-old coffee shops and stalls offering good food.
The other was a special invitation from my makan kaki that I couldn’t refuse.
Two decades and still going strong: Tian Hong coffee shop has the best char siew in the entire neighbourhood.
The eating pal in question was Lawrence Leong who runs a business in the area and the man had been giving me plenty of feedback on the good eateries in Salak South Garden – particularly two coffee shops offering roast duck and char siew in Jalan Hang Tuah 2 and Jalan Tuanku 2.
For starters, I checked out ‘Chicky and Ducky’ roaster that offers ‘siew ngap thui fan’ (roasted duck thigh rice). The stall is located at the Tim Won coffee shop and is owned by a couple.
One of the guys known as Ah Kit said the roasted pork and duck were the speciality and recommended the duck thigh cooked using the family recipe : a special brown sauce.
At RM7.50 per plate, I would say that the taste and flavour of the roasted meat was acceptable. My buddy Leong said the best part of the duck was the neck.
”Wah! You serious ah?” I asked.
“Well, you see, roasted duck connoisseurs in Hong Kong would take it with its fat removed. So, it’s the skin that is crunchy and sweet tasting,” he explained.
For me, the fattest part of this particular bird is the neck and it’s the duck thigh or breast that are the choice morsels when it comes to savouring roasted duck.
”Eh, keep it light ah! We are going to check out another joint,” said Leong. I spoke to one of the stall owners at the coffee shop who mistook me for a civil servant.
Tasty offering: Tong San’s stir-fried prawn noodles.
So, in order not to blow my cover, I told the trader that I was a field researcher for the Inter-national Society for Siew Ngap Studies (ISSNS) and was at the eatery on a census-taking mission.
”Wah! Like that also can ah?” said the confused stall owner. I told him that I made up the ISSNS story and got a slap on my shoulder as a friendly gesture from the man.
From roast duck, the trail continued to Jalan Tuanku 2, which is about a five minutes’ walk from Tim Won coffee shop. Leong pointed out a double-storey shop lot with a crowd queuing outside its premises.
It was noon and people were already packing the eatery. Now, this felt as if I was transported into another world. I could see roast chicken, siew yuk and char siew hung on a rack with workers busy chopping away roast meat and scooping rice for their customers.
Here, we made our way to a small table at the rear section of the shop. I observed the interior, which reminded me of shop lots built in the early 70s.
A decent fare: Duck thigh rice at Tim Won coffee shop.
”Ah, Chinese coffee shops are not interested in ambience and decor lah. It’s the quality of their food that matters,” Leong elaborated.
The place was a real dump and the sour expression of the lady running the show said a lot about her PR skills but this didn’t deter customers from crowding the restaurant.
Service here was prompt as our char siew rice arrived minutes after we placed an order. And I must say that the Tian Hong coffee shop has the best roast pork in the entire neighbourhood.
Their quality could rival that of Yoke Woo Hin and Overseas restaurant. At RM8 a plate, the owners of this coffee shop meant serious business. Good food don’t come cheap and if it is cheap, doesn’t mean it would be good.
Our second pit stop in the Salak South Garden food marathon proved to be a satisfying experience.
I asked the lady owner about the coffee shop’s background and she told me that she has been working there since her mid-20s.
”Aiyah! Now ah, I am already 60 years old lah. So, you can imagine how long we have been here,” she said with a laughter.
Well, just when I thought I was all ready to pack up and head back to the office, my eating pal told me it was not end of the journey yet.
As a matter of fact, Leong was just getting warmed up. We took a break at Nelson’s char koay teow stall where we were offered free top-up for our sugar cane juice.
There, Leong pointed out that there were several more good food outlets, but since the offering was similar in nature, he picked the best of the lot.
After a good 20-minute break, we proceeded to Tong San restaurant, a family owned food business that has been in the game for nearly three decades.
Inviting: At RM8 per plate, Tian Hong’s char siew rice mean serious business for roast pork lovers.
Here, the house dishes are fried prawn noodles and their fried rice. At RM48 a plate for the prawn noodles, the shop is perpetually packed during lunch hour.
To get a taste of at least six dishes, Leong called for reinforcement. His friends arrived 30 minutes later to fill the dining table.
And as previously indicated, we had ‘sang har meen’ (prawn noodles) and other noodle dishes.
The orders arrived promptly and I went on to savour the different variety of noodles.
For me, the prawn noodles fell short of my expectation. But the saving grace was Tong San’s fried rice. Now, this came as a big surprise because it was tasty and laden with choice ingredients like fish cake, fried anchovies and prawns.
The average price for a dish here is from RM5 to RM50. So, you have to make your choices carefully.
That said, my eating marathon ended with some yow char kuai (Chinese crullers) from Leong’s favourite stall at Jalan Hang Tuah.
Since there’s hardly any public transport to this part of Kuala Lumpur, I would suggest car-pooling.
To get there, you can use the New Pantai Expressway or the Besraya Highway.
Now, if you have a cell phone that is equipped with a Global Positioning System (GPS) navigator, key in the following coordinates: Tian Hong coffee shop - N 03 05” 025’, E 101 41” 773’ and Tong San restaurant - N 03 05’ 017”, E 101 41” 764’.
You can also use the GPS coordinates with Google Earth to find a Geographic Information System interfaced map of the locations provided.
So, have a good makan and happy hunting!
