When it comes to good and cheap food, Salak South Garden is a place that is begging to be discovered. I found out about this place from my friend Lawrence Leong, who owns a small business there.
Hard at work: Nelson at the wok.
But prior to my visit, the namesake was a place that gave me the impression that it was far and away. This stigma had remained in my head since my secondary school days when a schoolmate had told me that he lived in Salak South.
Each time he mentioned the place, my reaction was: “Wah! So far ah?” That was back in the 80s when the road transportation link was not as good as it is today.
Now, this idyllic residential area is like a worn-out human heart – full of inner and outer ring roads bypassing its surroundings.
To get there alone, you will need good navigational skills. I'll get to that part later. So, what is good here? Well, there are many thing; let me start with two makan places in a specific area within this suburban setting.
Cheap and good: Nelson's 'masterpiece' char koay teow is priced at RM3.50 per plate.
Okay, first – there is Fatty Mok's Hakka Yong Tau Foo shop off Jalan Hang Tuah 1. According to my friend Leong, this eatery is well known for its curry laksa, yong tau foo (stuffed tofu and vegetables) and chicken soup noodles.
So, with that in mind, I made the necessary arrangement to catch up with my makan-kaki (food buddy) at his office.
But, I was not so lucky because there was a production hiccup in his daily schedule. “Sam ah! Eh, you carry on lah, mention my name to the shop and they'll know what to do. I cannot join you lah, sorry ah!” he apologised.
With or without Leong, I was determined to check out Fatty Mok's curry laksa, so when I got there after parking my car at the road kerb, I wasted no time in telling a Myanmar worker there what I wanted.
Service was prompt and as my bowl of noodles was delivered, I went snapping away with my pocket camera. While I was at it, the diners around me watched my actions closely.
I caught wind of two guys behind me having a conversation on a lone diner having his laksa and snapping away with a camera.
Good laksa dish: Fatty Mok's curry laksa.
“Eh, mutt yeh yan ah?” (in Cantonese: who is this guy?) one of the patrons asked. It felt intrusive, but a man has to do what he has to do when it comes to getting the job done.
Now, Fatty Mok's curry laksa, in my humble opinion, fulfilled my criteria for a good laksa dish. Why? The gravy is creamy and tasty, there are enough cockles for you to lose count, plenty of taugeh (bean sprouts), fresh tau foo pok (fried bean curd) and – best of all – enough char chee phei (deep-fried pig's skin).
A small bowl costs about RM4 and my complete meal cost only RM5 with a chilled glass of soya bean milk thrown in. Besides curried noodles, the shop is also known for its ching thong meen (soup noodles).
I would recommend this if you want something less spicy and well, having tasted it in an earlier session, I would say that the soup noodles are as good as the laksa offered by the shop.
Moving on, there is another stall located nearby which came highly recommended by Leong. And, his instruction was simple: “Go across fei loh Mok's and look out for the chap fan stall.”
He was referring to Nelson's Char Koay Teow and to the untrained eye, it is not easy to locate this stall. Which was why I brought my hand-held Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver to lock-in the coordinates of the fried noodles stall.
Anyway, I made my way to the stall and the first thing I noticed was a hidden signboard that read: “Nelson's Char Koay Teow, open 8am–4pm, closed on Sundays.”
My immediate reaction was: “Yat teep kuai teow meen, tor-tor ngar choy” (a plate of koay teow and mee with plenty of bean sprouts).
Dumbfounded, the stall owner paused for a moment and then he went to work right away when the order was made. I watched as Nelson, the stall's operator, started stirring and clanging away at his wok.
It took less than five minutes for the noodles to be served on a plate lined with a piece of banana leaf. And, what I noticed was the hallmark of good fried noodles.
My father, who used to run a Hokkien mee stall at Lorong Bunus, off Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, had taught me the finer points of identifying a well-done dish.
He said the noodles should not be too flat; it must have body and flavour and it should not be soggy or over-fried. What I saw at Nelson's was a masterpiece.
The char koay teow was tasty and rich in flavour. There was a generous serving of cockles to go with it and to nail it in the head - plenty of chee yau char (pork rind) was added.
And, at a price of RM3.50, it was unbeatable. The extra plate of noodles on top of my curry laksa at Fatty Mok's made my day. Soon, I would join my colleague Stuart Michael in his Beginner's column as a prime candidate for weight loss and management. By the way, I congratulate Michael for raising funds to support a charity home.
Okay, back to Salak South Garden. To get there, take a drive on the New Pantai Expressway, take the right exit to Jalan Kuchai Lama and when you approach the Ajinomoto junction, turn left and head straight for about 800 metres.
Once you get to a traffic light junction, turn left and take the left exit towards a hill slope and you are there. For those who navigate with their automobile GPS receivers, key in the following coordinates: Longtitude: N 03 05” 062', Latitude E 101 41” 687' and your navigator will do the rest to get you there. Good luck and happy hunting!
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