KUALA LUMPUR, May 20 — Our appetite for all things barbecue is growing. In recent years, barbecue specialists have been popping up all over the Klang Valley.
This includes food truck venture Mom’s BBQ run by brothers Khairulanwar (Anwar) and Aminuddin (Amin) bin Yahya. Trading out of Sedap @TTDI, we can’t enough of their tender, juicy beef brisket, pulled lamb, beef ribs and pastrami.
So what is it about barbecue meats that sends us into a frenzy of gluttony? “Barbecue is essentially taking tough cuts of meat and through the alchemy of wood, fire, smoke, time and most importantly passion turning it into something otherworldly. It’s much harder than it looks,” said Andrew Knowlton, former deputy editor of food magazine Bon Appetit.
Just don’t expect your typical backyard BBQ where you slap some meat and sausages on the grill. This is food, cooked low and slow, in a custom-made smoker known as Betsy!
Walk up to Mom’s BBQ’s food truck to order your choice of barbecue items, made from halal certified meats. Choose between a sandwich or their sets served with a choice of three items from a selection of white bread, potato salad, coleslaw, rice and gravy, and pickle and onion. “We serve sandwiches so people can get a snack-sized bite and don’t have to commit to a full meal. Our meat sets are designed so people will be full,” explained Anwar.
Their bestseller, the beef brisket, is cut to order at the counter. What’s not to love as you get a chunk of tender, moist meat. Anwar insists it’s a secret how they achieve that texture. “It took a year and a half of blood, sweat and high cholesterol to get to this point and we won’t be giving that up just yet. The one thing I will say is that the key to successful barbecue is consistency and that is something that is incredibly hard to achieve.”
He explained that as every piece of meat is sized differently, there will be slight variations. Other variables include the weather, the volume of meat smoked that day, varying temperatures, the size of the coal pieces they use, and the list goes on.
Nevertheless, the brothers strive to ensure the beef brisket is tender, moist and flavourful.
Their offerings include pulled lamb — succulent meat so tender that you can use tear it apart easily and toss it with their homemade sauce. For a “wow” effect, there is also their bone-in-beef ribs. Wield one like Fred Flintstone to enjoy the meat.
Admittedly, it’s not as tender as the brisket but it satisfies our inner caveman.
Earlier, chicken was on the agenda but it was scrapped from the menu since it still is not perfect. What made the cut was pastrami, their latest menu item. This was introduced out of necessity — a way to use oddly-shaped slabs of meat unsuitable for their brisket.
It takes more work too as it’s brined for 10 days before it is smoked. The pastrami is served on rye bread with mustard: a classic pairing. Another way is the Reuben — pastrami on toasted bread with Cheddar, sauerkraut and Russian dressing. Aside from the barbecue fare, you also can order sidekicks like their super mac and cheese, served with its blowtorched, melted cheese crust.
Prices for their sandwiches range from RM14 to RM20. Try out Anwar’s favourite, the beef brisket sandwich (with extra meat, of course!) with its rich, beefy flavour served on sweet, soft supermarket sourced white bread, sour pickle, sharp onions and a homemade white sauce.
“This is the culinary influence coming through where all flavours must be balanced and it is this balance of flavours, smells, sight and textures that will ignite your senses and make you go... mmmmmm!”
For their sets, it’s RM20 for the beef brisket, pastrami and pulled lamb. With the beef rib, this is charged based on market price. Each portion of meat for the sets is around 100 grams; a size that fills you up at a price that won’t break your wallet.
Anwar believes that, “Barbecue is food for the people. It is not something that you’re supposed to go broke eating.” In Texas, he explained, barbecue was a way for butchers of German and Czech ancestry to make use of meat that was too tough to sell.
It is given new life, where it’ll be smoked over low temperatures for long hours until its tender and flavourful. “Barbecue became a food that was meant to be inclusive and accessible to everyone of all races and social status alike. Our pricing policies follow these footsteps and we try to keep them as low as possible.”
Like all food entrepreneurs, Anwar doesn’t have a formal culinary education. Instead, he holds a degree in logistics and supply chain management which he never used. The 31-year-old’s resume features stints in the biodiesel industry, media and even time working as a deejay. What he brings to the table is his passion.
Since young, Anwar’s life has been intertwined with food. He remembers tasting all kinds of food in Australia, developing his tastebuds from meat pies, fish and chips to sushi rolls. When he returned home, he realised the Western food here didn’t make the mark. Disillusioned with the burgers available, he toyed with the idea of creating a perfect burger. However, earning a living took precedence over his dreams.
The turning point came when he took a trip to UK and America. “I was eating my way across unexplored lands for a month and half guided by the incredibly detailed food doctrine written out for me by my great friend, Chad Koeplinger, a true lover of food, well respected and one of the most travelled people in modern cuisine and I don’t say that lightly.”
Anwar’s edible journey saw him hitting iconic places like Katz’s Delicatessen, Peter Luger Steak House, Keens Steakhouse, and Five Guys. Barbecue also topped his list of must-eats in the US. Previously, he had voraciously fed on barbecue via the small screen, being a fervent fan of food channels in the 2000s.
He travelled to Austin, Texas — the temple of barbecue — to pay his tribute. “I ate it three times in four days and at three different places and although I enjoyed it at the time, I must admit, I thought it would be better.” He tried his luck at Franklin’s, touted as the best barbecue place in the world. “We showed up at 10am and were told we were too late to be getting any food, even though they hadn’t even opened yet!” He did visit La Barbecue, where the pit master used to work for Franklin’s. For him, the beef rib was the stand-out item.
That trip shaped Anwar’s future. “It was on this trip that I decided I wanted to pursue food as my life’s work.” Unsure about how he planned to go ahead, he returned to work. About two years ago, he chanced upon a smoker in a hardware shop and thought why not? “The idea of transforming the cheapest, toughest cuts of meat into these beautiful morsels that would melt in your mouth just mesmerised me,” explained Anwar.
After one and half years playing around with the smoker himself, Anwar recruited Amin as his wingman. Armed with a Masters of engineering in aeronautical engineering from Imperial College, the 26-year old stepped in to design their custom-made smoker.
“The smoker we had at that time was a basic one, and while it got the job done, it wasn’t consistent,” explained Anwar. It was also cheaper to build their own smoker, which uses a reverse flow design. It took around 10 days for a local welder to build their smoker. “Her name is Betsy and she’s good for now cause she’s a big mama,” said Anwar.
When it came to opening for business, they chose a food truck since it was cheaper to test out barbecue’s feasibility. “We didn’t even know if people would buy our food before we started,” said Anwar. His contingency plan was should this barbecue concept fail, he could roll out another business concept with just a new paint job. Luckily for all eaters, it didn’t come to that.
Their debut was a barbecue pop-up at Riuh in November last year, a choice selected as they thought the APW Bangsar venue was cool and Riuh’s website was the best looking! The response was phenomenal. They sold out within three hours.
What made the whole experience even more special for Mom’s BBQ, was how the Riuh organisers pitched in to ensure their stall was not empty with store-bought roast chicken until the event was over. “Since then we have become one of their anchor tenants and you will see us at every Riuh for the foreseeable future and it is a great honour to be able to say this,” explained Anwar.
What has also amazed them is the overwhelmingly positive feedback received. “We definitely don’t consider ourselves chefs and even more so do not consider ourselves pit-masters, even though we do all the cooking and come up with the recipes ourselves. We’re just two brothers on a journey in food.” Through that delicious connection, they have turned customers into friends and even reconnected with many old friends from the past.
Currently, their short-term goal is just focus on lunch and dinner, while maintaining their standards. It’s also their long term dream to open a full-fledged restaurant. This will give them the freedom to experiment. More space is also welcomed, since they have hit their food truck’s capacity.
Anwar is adamant that they need to walk an independent path, in the future. “We are going to keep this as DIY, as possible. No investors. No loans. Our way, all the way. Because of that we literally need to save up for a restaurant like people saving up to send their kids to college.”
If you prefer, hit them up for a catering gig, where you need to order at least 40 portions of meat which easily can feed a party of 20 people. As they cook say one whole brisket or lamb shoulder, they cannot accommodate half portions since it affects their cooking process. If you order is less than 40 portions, this will be taken out from their quota cooked for their food truck and delivered for a small fee between RM10 to RM30, depending on the distance. Delivery is not always available since they do have a lack of vehicles and manpower so check ahead. You can place your orders via Instagram, Facebook, email or WhatsApp.
And for all you curious cats, their name is a nod towards American culture and of course, to their mother. “We didn’t want a cheesy name with the words ‘Meat’ or ‘Smoke’ in it. We wanted something that was easy to say and easy to remember. After a while trying to think up a name we thought Mom’s BBQ might sounded cool,” explained Anwar. Even their father is not left out, as their registered company is called Pops Mobile Kitchen.
In this growing sea of barbecue specialists, Mom’s BBQ believes they have a different proposition compared to the others. While they admit the heavy influence of American barbecue, they believe they can evolve their offerings with some local elements. “We most definitely have our own identity. We are unique and don’t follow rules. We want to stick out and be different and as a consequence be unmissable whether you see us in real life or online.”
Mom’s BBQ
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/momsbbqkl/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/momsbbqkl
During Ramadan, check on their social media accounts to track where they will be located.
