Tasty Porridge

We were in the mood for some porridge. Honkee immediately came to mind. But we could not find them any more. Their outlet in PJ Uptown was no longer there. So was their branch in USJ10, Subang Jaya. Both had closed shop. We wondered if Honkee, Klang Valley wide, had finally called it a day. While we cruised USJ10 with blank minds, wondering what to have for dinner, we stumbled on this place - Tasty Porridge.

The place is located on Jalan USJ10/1C, opposite the car park complex in USJ10. It was just our luck, our crave for porridge was not to be in vain. But the place was packed. This apparently was a popular makan place. We were going to find out if their food was that good to attract all these people.

Porridge was obviously the mainstay of what they had to offer. But they also served rice. And there were quite a number of dishes that went with rice - including, of all things in a porridge shop, fish head curry.

We came for porridge and we stuck with that. I ordered a bowl of my favourite - the pork innards porridge (chu chap chok - 猪杂粥). It was good. The porridge was typically Cantonese (Hongkong style), boiled to a gruel. In my bowl were adequate variety of pork innards. On top were pieces of deep fried pork intestine. These fried intestines are absolutely my favourite - one of the reasons why I love this pork innards porridge. But I found the fried intestine insufficient. I wish they had been more generous on that. Still I enjoyed the porridge. It did not disappoint.

My wife's choice was rather unique - minced pork and salted egg. I had a taste of it. It was good. The salted egg blended very well with the minced pork and the porridge was flavourful. She liked it enough to order it again on a subsequent visit.

The yew char kueh (油炸鬼) to go with the porridge was surprisingly good. It appeared freshly fried, still crispy and not at all soft or flaccid. Dipped into the porridge, the crispy YCK tasted very good indeed. I was impressed that the shop serves such fresh YCK. I think they made their own YCK as against buying them off the street which by then would be limp and totally not the same.

On the table were various condiments - sesame oil, pepper, fried shallots in oil and soy sauce - to complement our porridge.

We liked the porridge so much that we re-visited the restaurant a couple more times. And each time we ordered one or two side dishes. This salty chicken dish had a thumb-up in the menu. And indeed, it tasted very good. It was served piping hot in a claypot. The aroma was mouth-watering. The sauce was salty and tasty - with some goji (wolfberries). And the chicken meat was tender.

This mui choy stewed pork (梅菜肉) also had a thumb-up. And it too was served hot in a claypot. It was a very well done. The flavour was really good. They blended the mui choy (梅菜) very well with the meat. It was not at all salty. The belly meat had some layers of fat in it - sinful but what good meat is without some fat?

This soft tofu (水豆腐) is more suited for rice. But we had it anyway. It was quite ordinary. 

So was the blanched vege. There was a good amount of deep fried shallots. Certainly made a difference to the flavour.

This place is a porridge haven. Besides the pork innards, and the salted egg and mince meat, they have a good variety of other porridge flavours. And if your dining partner is not in the mood or dislike porridge, there is always rice and dishes for him or her.