PETALING JAYA, June 30 — If you're looking for some adventurous eating while you're stuck at home, try this head to tail Sate Babi DLL by Chef V Kor. It's a riot of textures that range from juicy meat, crunchy bits and lovely gelatinous parts to savour.
As I understand from reading Google reviews, the chef cut his teeth in China and Australia. He used to operate an eatery at Cheras where he served this signature satay and a unique crab bak kut teh. With the closure of his restaurant in May this year, he just started grilling up his signature satay in PJ SS2 from the middle of June.
The head to tail pork satay or "DLL" which stands for dan lain-lain is available as a platter set for RM20. You get 11 sticks to savour the whole hog in its glory. There's one stick of the nose, ear, tongue, cheek, shoulder, intestine, stomach, rump or back meat and stomach. You also have two sticks of the highly sought after pork belly. This comes with their peanut sauce, cucumber, onions and refreshing pineapple.
If you wish to order individual sticks of the various cuts, it is RM1.80 per stick with the exception of the intestine, stomach and pork belly cuts which are RM2.40 per stick. All the sticks come marked. They even give you a list of the various cuts with the markings so you can figure out what you're eating.
There are also other types of satay but they require a minimum of 10 sticks per order. You have a chicken sumo XL, perch fish (which has a nice firmer texture), seafood (a mixture of prawn, mussels and squid), bacon and kambing XL There's also vegetarian satay where the chef uses tofu and tempeh which is RM1.40 per stick. Prices for these varieties range from RM1.80 to RM2.50 per stick.
As the satay needs to be marinated and prepared, you have to pre-order the satay one day ahead. You can either pick up the food from their location at SS2 Chow Yang area or get it delivered to your house by a third party delivery service provided you pay the charges.
I sampled the platter one evening and it arrived still warm. On its own, the satay is tasty as it's marinated in a dark brown sauce which has a nice savoury soy flavour. Pair it with the peanut sauce for a mildly spicy and nutty flavour.
They are generous with the portion of peanut sauce that has a nice deep roasted nutty flavour. I liked the addition of fresh pineapples too as it helps cut the richness of the pork cuts plus the peanut sauce.
I had fun sampling each part. I started with the nose that was soft and gelatinous with a crunchy bone at the end. Then there was the crunchy ear. As some parts get caramelised with the grilling, just take your time to chew as you will get to taste all the flavours.
I loved the fatty cheek that melts in the mouth. To balance out the various textures, I took different bites of various sticks. For instance, the leaner pork shoulder meat goes well with the sauce and it's delicious balanced out with the fatty cheek.
You get a deeper appreciation for each part of the pig as you explore. For instance, who knew the rump has so much flavour and it is tender too. I liked how they skewered the pig tail too. You can slowly eat it off the bone to get the skin and the meat. Out of all the parts, my least favourite was the intestine as it was a long piece that was skewered which made it a bit hard to eat. This one was also slightly chewy.
The pork belly cut was interesting as they kept the rind on. As the rind was slightly caramelised, there's a crunchy element to complement that tender meat and fat. Even the stomach cut was a delicious one with a slight crunch from the bone, especially when you get the caramelised edges.
Sate Babi DLL by Chef V Kor, SS2, Petaling Jaya. Open daily: 4pm to 8pm. You can WhatsApp 011-11443328 to place your orders. Instagram: @chefvkor Facebook: @chefvkor
