KUALA LUMPUR, Sep 4 — When it comes to no-frills, honest-to-goodness Malaysian-Chinese food, it’s hard to beat Cheras.
The area is a haven of hidden, if-you-know-you-know places that feed different pockets of the community, many of which have stood the test of time.
By day, you can find excellent Teochew braised duck, curry mee, and roasted meats in and around the Yulek area; by night, neighbourhoods like Taman Connaught and Taman Taynton View come alive with restaurants and dai chows galore.
One such neighbourhood is Kampung Cheras Baru. It isn’t far from the Yulek area, and this almost entirely residential area is home to New Fook Kee Restaurant.
It operates out of a house, with the ground floor converted into a dining room.
Inside, it feels entirely like a restaurant, with the only giveaway being the chonky, rotund cat – the family pet – that is perched outside, occasionally receiving a pat from regulars.
Fook Kee is a family affair.
Most of the time, it’s the endlessly effervescent matriarch who takes your order, while the sons move in and out of the kitchen which is helmed by the patriarch the restaurant is named after.
But to call Fook Kee a dai chow is actually a slight misnomer – the restaurant considers itself a siu chow on account of its relatively concise list of stir-fried dishes and prides itself on Cantonese-style double-boiled soup, or dan tong.
Still, there’s plenty to enjoy, from familiar staples and old-school preparations to more creative, playful inventions.
Take Fook Kee’s signature water spinach (RM20), or kangkung. It’s rare to see a vegetable dish in the spotlight like this, but when it’s buried under a literal mountain of crispy garlic and dried shrimp, it’s easy to see why.
Simple as it is, the garlic and har mai are minced and fried into a fine, homogenous mixture that’s equal parts crispy, brittle and savoury, like salty Pop Rocks scattered over crunchy kangkung.
It’s a surefire way to get any picky child to eat their greens, and plenty of rice too.
Another texturally playful preparation is pork tendons fried with French beans (RM33), where the crunchy legumes are stir-fried in a sauce of fermented soybeans with tendons that turn out springy and snappy rather than slippery and gelatinous.
But what of the classics? Fook Kee’s sweet and sour pork (RM33) is considered a must-order: cragged, crunchy pebbles of battered pork coated in just the right amount of sauce that leans to the right side of tangy. Simple, but excellent.
And of course, there’s fish. Fook Kee offers six different types, from tilapia to catfish to snakehead, prepared 10 different ways, but the signature is tilapia (RM60/kg) done “Vietnamese” style.
What’s Vietnamese about it, nobody knows for sure, but it’s a mild, warming, sweet-ish curry, thick with aromatics and a light touch of coconut milk.
You can have your tilapia steamed or deep-fried; I’d say the latter is best with the curry.
Outrageously crispy on the outside, soft flesh within, and finished with a rich pour of curry, it’s another dish that demands rice.
Fook Kee is also renowned for its braised claypot dishes, the most sought-after being braised soft-shell turtle.
A bit of a throwback protein, it’s something my mother grew up eating often in Kuala Pilah, but alas, they had run out. As it’s prepared in very limited portions, they recommend calling ahead to book.
In its stead, braised lamb (RM42) was suggested, and what arrived was quite different from my initial expectation of yong lam pou.
Instead of being braised with fermented beancurd, this version was dark, sticky and full of spices like star anise to balance the gaminess of the lamb.
The flavour isn’t masked by any means, but it was remarkably well-balanced, so much so that even my mother, who is no fan of lamb, was able to enjoy it despite missing out on her turtle cravings.
We’ll be back for that, assuming the turtles co-operate.
New Fook Kee Restaurant
4, Jalan 17/42,
Kampung Cheras Baru, Kuala Lumpur.
Open daily, 12-9pm. Closed on Wednesdays.
Tel: 012-426 9232
* 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 musings on food and self-deprecating attempts at humour.
