KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 — We’ve all had this experience. You’re hanging out with friends, talking about where you like to get your nasi lemak, your char kway teow, and then you hear that dreaded phrase. “Wah, so far? Cannot lah.” 

I’ll admit, I used to think little of people who consider themselves “foodies” and weren’t willing to drive for food. 

But I’ve come around to recognise the persuasive powers of the two P’s — parking and petrol. I sympathise now.

For years, there’s been one place I haven’t gone out of my way for. Not for lack of fondness — the stall in question, a storied one in OUG, does a version of pork noodles unlike any other. 

It’s a matter of proximity. I’ve long preferred a kopitiam in SS3, mere minutes from home. 

And yet every time pork noodles come up in conversation, I can’t help myself. I’m off telling people about the one-of-a-kind seafood pork noodles at Restoran Sun Sea, usually met with a chorus of “Seafood? Wow!” followed closely by “OUG? Wow…”

Well, do I have news for you. These famed pork noodles are now available in Desa Sri Hartamas, of all places, at the newly opened Duo Dining. 

The name nods to its dual concept: pork noodles by day, casual grill by night. 

It’s by no means the first spot to lift a famous hawker dish into an air-conditioned dining room, with a nighttime menu tacked on to justify the rent. 

But in a neighbourhood this bereft of good hawker food, it could be a shrewd opening.

Duo Dining is located in the cul-de-sac behind SOULed OUT. By day, it serves both fish noodles and the aforementioned pork noodles, which it proudly brands as “OUG Seafood Pork Noodles”. 

The ambience is way too dim for its morning offerings, but on a recent Saturday, not one patron seemed to care. Everybody was there for the signature seafood pork noodles (RM14.80), likely similarly pleased at how painless parking was, and how easy it was to get there from wherever in the Bangsar/Mont Kiara/Petaling Jaya triangle they came from. I know I was.

I added an egg (RM2) to my bowl, as I always do, and it arrived smelling just as sweet as I remember it in OUG. 

That sweetness is something of an identifying characteristic of these seafood pork noodles: pork slices, liver and barely-cooked minced pork float alongside squid and prawns, the seafood giving the broth a significantly sweeter edge than a pure pork broth would. 

Compounding that is some cabbage. The result is a bowl of golden brown-ish, clear broth that’s supremely sweet rather than intensely porky — exactly as I remembered it. 

It sounds counterintuitive, but for people who don’t enjoy an overly porky flavour profile, this is the perfect bowl of pork noodles. 

And if you live on this side of town, you no longer have to head down to OUG to find it.

Whether the pork noodles hold up against Sun Sea’s original is almost beside the point. 

Desa Sri Hartamas is full of Japanese and Korean restaurants and not much great hawker food, and Duo Dining’s real bet is that in a neighbourhood built on yakiniku and whatever the current K-flavour of the month is, there’s still room for a good bowl of pork noodles.

Duo Dining

2, Jalan 30/70A, 

Desa Sri Hartamas, Kuala Lumpur.

Open daily, 8am-10pm.

Tel: 016-333 0084

Facebook: Duo Dining

Instagram: @duo_srihartamas

•    This is an independent review where the writer paid for the meal.

•    Follow us on Instagram @eatdrinkmm for more food gems.

•    Follow Ethan Lau on Instagram @eatenlau for more unfiltered takes on food and wine.