PETALING JAYA, July 12 — As a self-professed bak zaam gai (white cut chicken) fanatic, I’m often sent recommendations by friends and peers eager for my verdict on their local spots.
Truth be told, not all of them pan out. But such is my enjoyment of the dish – I’ve been described as an iPad kid, but with the tablet swapped for white cut chicken – that even a halfway decent version can salvage an entire meal if the rest of the dishes fall short.
Thankfully, that wasn’t the case at The Home Cooking Dishes in Sungai Way.
Like most of the good eateries in the area, it operates out of a house. Yet another win for nominative determinism!
It’s a small operation, open for lunch daily and adding dinner service on weekends.
Much has been made of its to dei char siew and poached kampung chicken, both online and in the newspaper clippings hanging around the restaurant, so I was especially keen to try them.
Beyond those two, there’s a small, rotating menu: fish, tofu, vegetables, the usual suspects. Siew yoke is a Friday-to-Sunday special.
But first, it bears mentioning that this is a very popular spot, and getting a table requires more than a wink and a smile.
My first attempt to walk in on a Sunday night was, frankly, embarrassing: at half past five, there was already a crowd standing around the entrance waiting to get in.
Pure amateur hour on my part.
I returned, determined, on a Friday at 11.15am sharp, and succeeded; the place filled up soon around noon.
In addition to the kampung chicken (RM38.90) and roast pork (RM28.90), I ordered claypot kangkung (RM18.90), pineapple tofu (RM15.90) and braised grouper with bitter gourd (RM48.90).
You’ll notice there’s no char siew (RM28.90) in that lineup. It wasn’t available that day, so I had to come back again.
It’s best to call or WhatsApp ahead to check before planning a visit. When I finally did try it, though, I was left underwhelmed.
See, I like my char siew dark and intensely caramelised: a thick, dark bark around the outside, soft fatty meat in the middle.
This version lives up to its name – to dei means “dragging on the floor,” referring to pork belly so fat it touches the ground – and the fat-to-meat ratio is spot on, but there’s little caramelisation to speak of.
That rich, toasty sweetness I crave is missing; instead, this leans largely on the sauce for its sweetness.
Folks who prefer their char siew in this style will enjoy it, but I was left wanting more.
Luckily, salvation came in the form of roast pork — as it so often does.
Listed as ha beng siew yoke, the name refers to crackling supposedly so thin and crispy it resembles a prawn cracker.
Here, too, the dish lived up to its name — and unlike the char siew, I loved this.
Thin, crispy crackling that shatters like glass, soft meat, just the right amount of savouriness, and a sharp chilli sauce on the side: this was the true star of the show.
It’s not often that a dish outshines white cut chicken for me, but the siew yoke here is the real deal.
The poached kampung chicken, meanwhile, was smooth enough, flavoured mostly with sesame oil, crispy garlic and seasoned soy — though the lean meat meant the mouthfeel was firm and taut rather than slippery and jelly-like, which is my personal preference.
Of the rest of the supporting cast, the claypot kangkung and pineapple tofu were the most impressive.
The former had chunks of prawn scattered throughout; the latter used the tart, fruity qualities of pineapple to perk up what would otherwise be a run-of-the-mill tofu dish.
The braised grouper with bitter gourd, meanwhile, was restrained enough that the gourd’s earthiness still came through — depending on who you ask, that’s either a good or bad thing.
For a restaurant so intent on serving a taste of home, The Home Cooking Dishes mostly delivers.
The char siew, I’ll let someone else champion. The poached chicken and everything else were good, but I’m still thinking about that siew yoke: crackling that shattered clean, meat that was gone too fast.
That alone is worth the wait outside the door, and worth going back for.
The Home Cooking Dishes
Open Monday to Friday, 11.30am-2pm; Saturday to Sunday, 11.30am-2pm, 5.30-8pm. Closed on Tuesday.
Tel: 016-677 3200
* This is an independent review where the writer paid for the meal.
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* Follow Ethan Lau on Instagram @eatenlau for more unfiltered takes on food and wine.
