IPOH, Dec 7 — Some dishes, elaborate in their presentation and conception, basically sell themselves.
Each element comes together like a work of art on a plate, sometimes to the point that it feels like a shame to eat it.
But there’s also something satisfying about dishes that are, for all intents and purposes, just slapped onto a plate, naked and proud of what they are.
They make no attempt to embellish or dress up, and remind the diner of the carnal appeal of experiencing something with their mouth.
Wong Kok Seafood Restaurant in Ipoh has one such dish. It’s a braised sang har sang mein, and it is the restaurant’s calling card.
Unlike typical sang har mee, where the noodles are fried to a crisp before being smothered in a thick, eggy gravy, these are braised in a rich, intense sauce made almost entirely from freshwater prawn tomalley.
The result is a plate of soft, spongy noodles ideal for mopping up every last drop of ultra-savoury liquid, without the distraction of an eggy cornstarch slurry with ginger and spring onions.
It’s a dish for those who truly love the flavour of freshwater prawns, pushing the limits of feeling jelak without crossing into cloying territory.
Four prawns, which are good for a table of eight, will set you back RM210.
Wong Kok’s facade — and frankly, its interior too — wears its age, even though 20 or 30 years is nothing in a town like Ipoh.
The restaurant sits on Persiaran Tokong, and it’s fair to say it lives in the shadow of its much swankier and more renowned neighbour: Tuck Kee Restaurant.
This popular spot becomes even more sought after during Chinese New Year, when hordes of people crowd around its entrance.
But just because it could do with a little sprucing up, doesn’t mean the digs and food at Wong Kok are lacking in any way.
So much of the cooking at Wong Kok is about letting the food speak for itself.
These range from the handmade fish balls (RM1.80 per ball), served in a rustic fashion, meaty and craggy with an outstanding chilli sauce, to the rather plain-sounding cold tofu with soy sauce (RM32), which is a stellar version of the homestyle classic in every aspect: the tofu is smoother than a baby’s bottom, the seasoned soy sauce a sweet, savoury proprietary mixture that sticks to your lips like caramel, and the whole thing is showered in crispy baby anchovies.
It’s honestly incredible, and in the words of a friend I sent there, he’s “never tasted tofu this good.”
The most robust dishes are the most satisfying.
Ginger fried chicken (RM45 for half a chicken) comes as thick hunks of chicken with paper-thin wafers of ginger, deep-fried to a crisp with a mildly stinging finish.
Even the commonplace har mai sang cheong (RM40) gets a super-sized boost in flavour with a mountain of crispy lard and garlic.
But the dish that takes the crown has to be the stir-fried fish head (RM70), bits of lightly floured and shallow-fried fish meat tossed with a medley of onions, garlic and ginger before being baptised in crispy lard. It’s unapologetic, full-frontal flavour that smacks you across the face with its force.
Restaurants like Wong Kok do what they do with an almost stubborn directness, intent on letting the product speak for itself even when they are quietly innovating, coming up with their own takes on dishes like the braised sang har sang mein.
Keep an eye out for Wong Kok’s Chinese New Year set menus for next year, which they usually publish on their Facebook page around this time.
Wong Kok Seafood Restaurant旺角涎香海鮮樓
11, Persiaran Tokong,
Taman Hoover, Ipoh.
Open daily, 12-2.45pm, 5.30-11pm
Tel: 05-243 5431 / 012-507 9690
Facebook: Restoran Makanan Laut Wong Kok
*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 occasionally self-deprecating humour.
