Country Barn

We were there for some drinks, music and good food. And we got them all.


The place was the Country Barn pub in Subang Jaya on Jalan USJ 11/3. I have known this place for quite some time. The proprietor is an old home town friend.

The place is basically a pub. It has different live bands playing of different days of the week. The theme is always oldies and country, and it attracts a mature crowd.

And it serves good food too. Good Portuguese food. We started the evening with some drinks and progressed on to dinner.

Our first dish was the devil curry. They labeled it as 'Debel Curry' in the menu. Although small in portion, it was rich and delicious. Contrary to the devil's reputation, it wasn't too hot. I enjoyed it.

The cincalok (a Malacca shrimp paste) omelet was also good and tasty. I have tried cincalok omelets in other restaurants in Malacca and I did not like them. They were too salty. Country Barn got their omelet just right.

We also enjoyed the brinjal (egg plant) cooked with onion and chili in a dark soya sauce.

Our order for a humble plate of cabbage turned out to be very pleasant. It was stir fried with chicken meat, Chinese fungus (云耳) and carrot. Good.

The prawn fritters came out piping hot and crispy. Very suitable with beer.

We also ordered a plate of fried mee-hoon. It was with some chicken, shrimp and adequate vegetables. Great.

As you can probably see, dinner was sumptuous. After an hefty meal, we settled down to enjoy the music. The group that evening comprised 2 ladies and a guy. I did not catch the group's name. They were not bad. But I have heard better singing in Country Barn. 

 

Our daughter was curious about margaritas. And as it turned out, she didn't like it and it was pushed to me. It was actually quite good. Very refreshing. But at RM20, it was a rather expensive curiosity.

We enjoyed our evening at the Country Barn and will be back for many more. The food they serve is not just Portuguese and local stuff. They also serve some western makan and the usual pub tit-bits. You can visit their rather poor website that has been under construction for quite a long time.

Teochew braised duck

I have a liking for duck meat. I much prefer it to chicken. I find duck more gamy and has a better flavour and texture. In Malaysia, the most popular duck preparation is roast. It is not that I do not like roast duck. There is another preparation that I like more.


In PJ SS2, there is a duck rice stall that served Teochew braised duck. The stall is in Okay coffee shop located at the junction of Jalan SS2/10 and SS2/21. It is on the same road as the SS2 Kayu Original Nasi Kandar Restaurant - but at the other end of the road.

The stall is named Teo Chew Stewed Duck (潮州卤鸭). But the name is really a misnomer. The duck they served is not stewed. It is braised.

 
They used to be at another coffee shop directly at the back of Okay on Jalan SS2/6. However that coffee shop has since closed and converted into a Chinese restaurant; and the stall moved to its present location.

I have known the stall for many years. It is still operated by the same guy. He used to chop and and dispense the meat. But he doesn't do it any more. His place is taken over by a young man, presumably, his son.

Beside braised duck meat, the stall offers braised duck innards (gizzards and intestine), duck feet, braised eggs (chicken eggs), braised tofu, kiam chai (咸菜) or salted vegetable and braised peanuts. All these are Teochew offerings.

The duck meat is truly very nice. The Teochews really know how to braise their ducks. It is served with an aromatic sauce which goes very well with the rice.

The gizzard and eggs is also a must if you ever get to eat at this stall. The gizzard has the nice "crunchy" texture. The egg is delicious. I wonder if it would be better if they serve duck eggs instead.

The kiam chai (咸菜) is so simply cooked and yet so delicious. It complements the meal very well.

The braised tofu is another simple and delicious dish.

I like the rice in this stall. It is not plain white rice. It is flavoured - something like the rice we get at chicken rice stalls, only the flavouring is not the same. It is lightly oiled and has the aroma of the duck sauce.

The chilli sauce they provide is also very good. Most suited to the duck meat they serve.

I love braised duck. Unfortunately there are not many makan places in the Klang Valley offering this Teochew fare. But... at least there is one. And not a bad one at all. This stall used to do roaring business at its previous location at the back. Since moving here, I see that the stall is a lot more quiet. I hope they stay open for a long time. I hope they won't deprive me of Teochew braised duck that I occasionally enjoy.

Hainanese Yut Kee

Yut Kee is probably one of the best known Hainanese coffee shop in Kuala Lumpur. It has been featured in many magazines and much has been written about it in blogs and websites. I googled it and the list was endless.

 

This makan place is located on Jalan Dang Wangi in KL. It is at the corner of a row of old shop houses. Getting there is easy, It is not too far and on the opposite side of the road from the Dang Wangi police station. Around it are ample parking places.

The proprietor (with dark t-shirt, white collar below) told me that his shop is 82 years old. It was set up in 1928 and apparently over the decades nothing very much has changed. 

 

It is a family business that has been handed down to him through several generations.

 

There are several things in the shop that are legacies of its historical past. Like this antique safe..

... and this fan and radio.

The place is often packed and sharing a table with some strangers is the norm.

 

The place serves a good variety of food. The choices are all written on the wall.

Perhaps their most famous and popular offering is the roast pork roll. It is pork belly, rolled and roasted with the skin to a perfect golden brown.

 

It was served with an apple sauce, in thin slices. The skin was absolutely fabulous - crispy and aromatic. The meat was soft and succulent and does not have too much fat. Roast pork par excellence. 

I had a bowl of beef noodle in soup (牛肉麵). It was good with plenty of beef together with diakon radish. The soup was just nice - very pleasant. The only problem I had was that they did not use the normal yellow mee. Instead they have the fat mee which really is not suitable for beef.

 

The roti babi (pork bread) was delicious. It was pork with onion stuffed in a baked bun. The pork stuffing was very well done and the bread was oven fresh.

We also ordered a plate of char siew rice (叉烧饭). Nothing much to write about. Quite ordinary.

The beef curry mee was rather oily. But it was delicious. The curry was thick and rich. The portion of beef was generous. Again, the mee was not suitable. The normal yellow mee would had been ideal.

The Hainanese mee was great. It was fried with good portions of pork, fish cake, vegetable and topped with nice big pieces of chu yaw char (猪油渣). The lard in the noodle was very evident and that made it really delicious.

We also had a plate of fried mee sua (面线). It was another plate of worthwhile delicious noodles.

No visit to a Hainanese coffee shop would be complete without the kaya toast. It was old coffee shop bread, served with a small tub of butter and kaya.

 

The place also serves a nice kaya roll. I like the rolls very much. It is soft and fluffy. The kaya complements the roll very well. But it must be eaten fresh. After a couple of days, its goodness diminishes. We normally tar pau it back whenever we go there.

Yut Kee is an heritage of sort. This is a true bred Hainanese coffee shop. There are not many places like this left in the country. While it is still around, it is to be appreciated and enjoyed. I hope it will be around for another 82 years.

Subang nostalgia

Three old work kakis met up one weekend evening to reminisce at an equally old makan joint at Kampung Subang. The place was Choong Foong Seafood Restaurant. This restaurant is perhaps as old as Subang airport. It used to be located at the end of a row of single storey shop houses, right at the end of the Subang airport runway. It was a popular makan place for airline employees including some expatriates from Australia and New Zealand. Many years ago, the restaurant relocated. It is now in a spacious site about 2 km away.

The front of the new place is huge car park. Behind the restaurant is more land and a house which is the residence of the restaurant owner. The main entrance is at the side and it leads into a really big air-conditioned dining hall.

The restaurant is typically Chinese in decor. It is so big that it is partitioned into separate sections and I estimate that it can easily accommodate 100 tables or more. We arrived quite early that evening and already the place was pretty packed and we had to seat ourselves on a table towards the back.

 

KP brought a bottle of Chivas. I wished there was more of us so that we could order a greater variety of dishes. However, in spite of our threesome, we went ahead and ordered to our content.

The first dish was the satay prawns. Oh.. the satay prawns. It was so very nostalgic. It was one of our favorite dishes during our days at the end of the runway. And it tasted exactly the same as before. The sauce on the prawn made it so very good. The prawns were good size, and it was very enjoyable.

The pei pa (琵琶鸭) duck was another most delicious dish. This dish is similar but not the same as roast duck. The skin was crispy. The aroma of the duck meat stood up from the normal roast. The portion we order was insufficient. I did not quite have enough.

The lor hong chai (罗汉素) was an assorted vegetable dish. Nothing very much to shout about. But I enjoyed it nevertheless.

Finally it was the steamed fish. It was the belly of a fresh water fish steamed in a spicy soya sauce with some soft tofu. The fish was very fresh. The sauce was delicious. We picked it to the bare bones.

For dessert, we ordered Chinese pancakes which was rather ordinary...

 

... and a sweet starchy broth of snow fungus (雪耳), water chestnut, gingko nuts and perhaps 1 or 2 other ingredient that I do not remember. I did not like the broth.

The fruits were compliments of the house.

It was a most delightful evening - good company, sumptuous food and of course the Chivas.

Oh yes... How do you get there? It is difficult to guide you. I could not find it in Google Maps. I can only provide the address. It is at No. 8, Lorong 1D, Kampung Subang, 40150 Shah Alam. Good luck.

安 心 Pork Shop

安 心 (An Xin) means 'peace of mind' in Mandarin. This is the name of a chain of pork shops in the Klang Valley. The name supposedly assure you of worry-free consumption of their products. They are totally different from the pork sellers in the traditional wet markets which, I must admit, are sometimes dubious on the quality and hygiene of the meat they sell.

The shops are indeed clean, comfortable and hygienic. The meat are kept in controlled refrigerated environments and appear fresh, safe and professionally prepared.

An Xin promotes their meat as Pearl Pork (珍珠肉) which they claim are from accredited farms where the pigs are nourished with natural feeds that are free from beta agonist and antibiotics. They also boast of high quality control in their abattoirs and processes. You can watch their promo video here.

 

As far as I know, there are currently 8 outlets in the Klang Valley and Selangor - 4 in KL (OUG, Cheras, Kepong Baru and Sri Hartamas), 2 in Petaling Jaya (Taman Megah and Puchong) and 1 each in Subang Jaya and Rawang. The shop that I patronize is in Taman Megah  on Jalan SS24/13. 

An Xin also offers what they call free range pork, which are from pigs that not confined in pig pens but are allowed to run free. They are not unlike ayam kampung. They claim that the meat is leaner and tastier. This free range pork is about 30% more expensive. I have tried the free range pork and very honestly, I cannot taste the difference and I do not think it is worth paying the extra for it.

Besides pork, the shops also sell pork related products like ham, bacon, roast pork, sausages and sweet meat. The roast pork in the shop are limited and do not look so good. I have tried their ham and bacon, and I did not think they were very good. There are definitely better ham and bacon in other shops. So I confine myself to just buying pork in An Xin.

I believe I do get some degree of comfort from their pork.