Sungai Siput’s Hai Ying Restaurant brings stellar homemade pork meatballs paired with a bowl of beef brisket soup and yam rice to Bandar Menjalara, Kepong

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 2 — In 1948, Liew Foo Kuai began making pork meatballs from scratch at Hai Ying Restaurant in Sungai Siput.

These weren’t just any ordinary meatballs.

Smooth with a supple bite that tasted solely of the meat used to form it, the meatball was truly his commitment to creating the best product.

Back then, fresh pork was scarce in the town but Liew insisted on driving about 20 kilometers to Kuala Kangsar at midnight, to select meat from freshly slaughtered pigs.

It was a race against time to bring back the meat in tip top condition to ensure the meatballs would have their distinctive chewy texture.

Beef Brisket Soup features a slow-cooked broth using beef, pork bones and ginger, served with beef brisket, tendons and tripe that can be paired with their homemade spicy ‘sambal’. — Picture by Lee Khang Yi

Once he returned with his wife, they would make the meatballs and serve them at their freshest to their customers early in the morning.

His son, Liew Shan Yi, recreated these meatballs after many experiments, basing the recipe on his taste memory of his father’s work.

Now, the third generation has opened an outlet in Kepong, making the meatballs on-site using the same inherited techniques.

Their freshly-made Pork Meat Ball (RM1.60 per piece), fashioned without fillers or preservatives, has a bouncy texture and the unmistakable meaty aroma.

Yong Toufu and Toufu Puff (left) features a pork filling. Fried Wantans (right) are crunchy bites stuffed with the same pork filling. — Picture by Lee Khang Yi

It is served with a clear, sweet broth made by slowly cooking pork bones over a low fire, which complements the meatballs.

The menu also includes Yong Toufu (RM2.50 per piece) and Toufu Puff (RM2.50 per piece), which are smooth beancurd and beancurd puff stuffed with the pork filling.

Beef Brisket Soup (RM14.90) features slow-cooked beef brisket, sliced tendons and tripe paired with a clear broth made from beef, pork bones and ginger, all simmered slowly over a low fire.

Springy egg noodles (left) are tossed in dark soy sauce and paired with various toppings. Curry chicken (right) with large chunks of chicken is served with soft cooked potatoes and a fragrant curry. — Picture by Lee Khang Yi

Usually served with a choice of noodles, the menu has expanded to include springy wantan noodles that can be ordered with charcoal-roasted char siu, a homestyle chicken curry, rich with santan and soft-cooked potatoes or braised chicken feet and mushrooms. There’s also a curry noodles soup version.

For variety, Yam Rice (RM4.50) served in bowls, features heaped brown soy sauce grains dotted with fried shallots and a subtle taro taste.

A bowl of Yam Rice can be paired with the Beef Brisket Soup and their signature Pork Meat Balls. — Picture by Lee Khang Yi

Flavours are much cleaner here especially with the broths but if you’re craving a spicier, tongue tingling taste, look for their homemade sambal to dip everything you eat.

Since the restaurant serves breakfast from 6am, they also offer butter kaya toast with half boiled eggs.

To keep up with modern tastes, they also offer an assortment of crunchy bites like Fried Wantans (five pieces for RM5, 10 pieces for RM8) and fried beancurd skin served flat or in rolls.

Started in 1948, that home style taste from Sungai Siput is recreated at their restaurant in Bandar Menjalara. — Picture by Lee Khang Yi

Hai Ying Restaurant

75, Jalan 5/62A,

Bandar Sri Menjalara,

Kepong, Kuala Lumpur.

Open daily: 6am to 5pm

Tel:011-10602623

Facebook: @Haiyingrestaurantkepong

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

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