In praise of silky, smooth porridge with various toppings as served at Taman Daya’s Street Porridge 

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 6 — Congee. Rice soup. Porridge. Whatever you call it, it’s got a bad reputation as “sick people food”, which it can’t shake off.

Thankfully Street Porridge, a wildly popular stall in Kepong, is spinning that underappreciated dish into an impressive powerhouse with the clever use of toppings. 

Porridge in its pristine pale form gets a dramatic makeover with a golden yellow hue, as it’s mashed up with its more glamorous cousin, sang har mee. 

Poached chicken with lots of fried garlic is found on almost every table. — Picture by Lee Khang Yi

Using freshwater prawns, three in total that are split into two, revealing its rich, orange roe, it’s cooked with the smooth, velvety-textured porridge over a low fire for three to four hours, using jasmine rice. 

Your nose will pick up the heady crustacean aroma the moment the claypot porridge hits the table. 

Some dishes like the Kungpo Farm Frog is cooked 'á la minute'. — Picture by Lee Khang Yi

It’s so strong that it lingers in my car even a day after I packed some home.   

At RM32.50, that claypot could easily feed three adults or perhaps one ravenous one. 

While it’s not exactly your usual everyday meal, it’s still an affordable luxury for a one-time treat when the paycheck comes in. 

In its porridge form, the richness of the freshwater prawns seem to stretch out its flavour better with the soft cooked grains versus its desperate attempts to cling on to the noodles in sang har mee. 

Velvety porridge is slow cooked for three to four hours (right) and the place is busy (right) even though it's only 5pm. — Picture by Lee Khang Yi

This stall can’t claim it’s the inventor for this dish as this type of porridge is also found at Pan Heong over in Batu Caves that offers it, together with its rich egg-laden sang har mee. 

Should prawns not be your thing, there’s a long list to select from like the typical fish, minced pork and century egg or even a farm frog, relished for its smooth flesh. 

On every table, there’s their quarter sized poached chicken (RM15) with its impossibly bright yellow skin blanketed by the golden nubs of fried garlic and soy sauce. 

The sauce and garlic may be superfluous if you’re eating it with a flavoured porridge but it pairs better when accompanied with plain porridge (RM5) 

Inside a compound, one can easily park the car right next to the stall. — Picture by Lee Khang Yi

A big surprise is the texture of the chicken as that yellow skin often signifies a road runner chicken with muscles that make the meat tough but here, the meat is juicy and tender, making you reach for each piece until it’s all gone. 

Perhaps the next round, I’ll go for the Kungpo Farm Frog, spiked with heat and saucy to be relished with the smooth porridge. 

As I looked up from my porridge meal, I spied the next table where serious food worship was taking place, one spoonful at a time, as this teenager was slowly scraping every morsel of the claypot until it was clean and every prawn was eaten clean of its sweet meat. 

No wonder this place is packed all the time, it’s truly a temple for porridge lovers. 

There's no big signboard except this moving signage outside the restaurant. — Picture by Lee Khang Yi

Street Porridge

1, Jalan Daya 14, 

Taman Daya, 

Kepong, Kuala Lumpur.

Open: 4pm to 12am or until food runs out. Closed on Thursday. 

Tel: 017-693 1633

538, Jalan E 3/7, 

Taman Ehsan, Kepong, Kuala Lumpur

Open: 4pm to 9pm or until food runs out. 

Facebook: @StreetPorridge

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

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