Teochew House in Mont Kiara’s Steppes offers finer Teochew dishes and a superb sweet and sour pork

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 30 — Mention Teochew cuisine and what comes to mind are usually these three dishes: Teochew porridge, braised duck or the light and clean flavours of Teochew steamed fish accentuated by sour plums, ginger and tomatoes.

Enter Teochew House: a casual offshoot of the posh Upper Palace Teochew located in The Exchange TRX that offers a different perspective of the cuisine.

The restaurant at Steppes continues Upper Palace Teochew’s mission to champion the finer details of the cuisine, offering staples like noodles served with braised beef and tendons, fish balls, prawn wantans and rice bowls with braised pork trotters or braised goose for quick lunch breaks or family-style meals for leisurely dinners.

On paper, separate menus exist for lunch and dinner, though some favourites overlap. You can also add items from the extensive dinner menu to your lunch order.

There’s also a secret menu, known only to regulars, where you can order the freshest catch delivered daily, whether it’s a particular type of fish cooked to your preference or even crabs to enhance your porridge’s sweetness.

You can’t go wrong ordering the Teochew Oyster Porridge (RM38.80), which diners love for its soupy porridge with soft whole rice grains mingling with plump oysters, minced pork, sliced mushrooms, preserved radish, greens and dried prawns.

For the Teochews, the familiar, simple flavours are reminiscent of home cooking, which they recognise immediately, while non-Teochews appreciate the warmth of the sweet, clear broth and fluffy grains that can be eaten with other dishes.

Pan-fried Teochew Oyster Omelette (RM32.80) can be seen on almost every table, resembling a pizza that servers cut into wedges using stainless steel pizza wheels.

A layer of puffy crispy egg with a light crunch hides plump oysters and chopped greens cradled in the fluffy cooked eggs.

On a good day when the kitchen isn’t overwhelmed, you get a beautiful golden filigree crust dotted with chopped greens as juicy oysters peek through.

During peak hours, however, there’s a possibility of getting a dud — an over-fried omelette with hard oysters — which we encountered during a weekend dinner. Hopefully the kitchen can eliminate these uncertainties over time.

You may think we were mad to order classic dishes like Sweet and Sour Pork with Pineapple (RM58) and Steamed Pork Patty with Preserved Radish (RM58) instead of more Teochew-style dishes but there’s an important Hong Kong connection: Upper Palace Teochew partnered with Hung’s Delicacies from Hong Kong to introduce these items on the menu.

So we took a chance when we saw them on Teochew House’s menu. Our guess hit the bullseye; the sweet and sour pork was superb and definitely ranks as one of the best in town.

Eat each nugget the moment it hits the table as inside the light crust, you get layers of pork rolled that are juicy as you chew on it.

The pork patty was also good, offering a soft, fluffy texture because of its high fat-to-meat ratio, peppered with chunks of water chestnut and topped with preserved olive leaves.

Chicken and Pork Soup with Hairy Fig (RM88) was another big surprise; a friend who had tried hairy fig root before insisted we order this for dinner.

That became a stealth winner as the hairy fig root imparts a sweet coconut-like aroma to the silky broth.

Don’t ignore the soup’s dregs either, as they aren’t dried out but remain juicy and infused with the herbs’ flavour, making us fight for the chicken meat.

The Teochews are experts at handling seafood, which includes curing it Sheng Yan style to enhance the seafood’s texture and sweetness.

Teochew Marinated Raw Sea Prawns (RM38) is a fine example of the method where tiger prawns are infused in Shao Xing wine, soy sauce, garlic, Sichuan peppercorns, coriander and other spices until they achieve a firmer texture infused with the marinade’s flavours.

The traditional braised items use goose meat, web and wings, various parts of the pig — from its jowl, belly to its ears and intestines — and cuttlefish, braised in a master stock rich with soy sauce and infused with spices

A special breed of goose, known as the Lion Head or Shitou, is used, as it is prized for its rich, flavourful meat, head, and liver.

Braised Lion-Head Goose Meat (RM58.80) has a deeper flavour from the spices and tender meat while the Braised Pork Jowl (RM38.80) has more bite and is paired with a lighter stock.

For lunch, the Pork Trotter Rice (RM32.80) is served in a bowl where the soft, tender meat accompanies rice drenched in the braising liquid.

For a complete meal, an assortment of greens with different textures was added to the table like the crunchier Stir-fried French Bean with Minced Pork & Preserved Olive (RM32) and a softer Baby Cabbage in Rich Chicken Broth (RM33).

Dessert choices are limited to only three items.

The classic Teochew Yam Paste with Gingko Beans (RM12.80) has an enjoyable smoothness but without the essential lard for flavour and a silkier mouthfeel, it feels like a cheat dessert.

On the healthier side, the Water Chestnut and Mung Bean Sweet Soup (RM10.80) is extremely light in sweetness, containing only mung beans and showing no sign of any crunch from water chestnuts.

At the end of the day, Freshly Ground Almond Cream with Egg White (RM15.80) won the sweet battle with its light but distinct flavour of Chinese almonds and ribbons of cooked egg white.

Bookings, especially during peak times, are needed to score a coveted table. It’s also best to pre-book items for faster dish turnaround.

No. 32, Jalan Kiara 3,

Mont Kiara, Kuala Lumpur.

Open daily: 11am to 3pm, 5.30pm to 10pm

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

*Follow us on Instagram @eatdrinkmm for more food gems.

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吉隆坡，10 月 30 日讯——提到潮州菜，人们通常会想到这三道菜：潮州粥、红烧鸭，或是清淡爽口的潮州清蒸鱼，佐以酸梅、姜和西红柿。

欢迎来到潮州楼：这是一家位于 TRX 交易所的高档潮州楼的休闲分店，为您带来不同的潮州菜体验。

位于草原的这家餐厅延续了上皇宫潮州菜的宗旨，致力于展现潮州菜的精髓，提供诸如红烧牛肉筋面、鱼丸、虾馄饨以及红烧猪蹄或红烧鹅饭等经典菜肴，适合快速午餐或悠闲晚餐的家庭式餐点。

理论上，午餐和晚餐有各自的菜单，但有些热门菜品会重叠。您也可以从丰富的晚餐菜单中选择菜品添加到午餐订单中。

这里还有一份只有常客才知道的秘密菜单，你可以点到每天新鲜捕捞的海鲜，无论是按你的喜好烹制的特定种类的鱼，甚至是螃蟹来增加粥的甜味。

点潮州蚝粥（RM38.80）绝对不会出错，食客们喜欢它的汤粥，里面有软糯的米粒，还有饱满的蚝仔、肉末、蘑菇片、腌萝卜、蔬菜和虾干。

对于潮州人来说，这种熟悉而简单的口味让他们想起了家常菜，他们一眼就能认出来；而对于非潮州人来说，这种口味则让他们喜欢上这种甜而清澈的汤汁和蓬松的米饭，这些米饭可以搭配其他菜肴一起食用。

几乎每张桌子上都能看到潮州蚝煎（RM32.80），它看起来像披萨，服务员会用不锈钢披萨轮将其切成楔形。

一层蓬松酥脆的鸡蛋皮包裹着饱满的牡蛎和切碎的蔬菜，它们被包裹在蓬松的鸡蛋皮中。

如果当天厨房不太忙，你就能得到漂亮的金色酥脆外皮，上面点缀着切碎的蔬菜，鲜嫩多汁的牡蛎肉从中若隐若现。

不过，高峰时段可能会出现菜品不尽如人意的情况——比如煎得过火的蛋卷配上硬邦邦的牡蛎——我们周末晚餐就遇到了这种情况。希望厨房能随着时间的推移消除这些不确定因素。

你可能会觉得我们点了菠萝糖醋里脊（RM58）和萝卜缨肉饼（RM58）这样的经典菜肴，而不是潮州风味的菜肴，这很疯狂，但这与香港有着重要的联系：上皇宫潮州餐厅与香港的洪氏美食合作，将这些菜品引入了菜单。

所以，当我们在潮州楼的菜单上看到这道菜时，就决定试一试。我们的选择果然没错；这道糖醋里脊味道绝佳，绝对是城里数一数二的美味。

每块鸡块一上桌就要吃掉，因为在薄薄的外皮里，包裹着一层层鲜嫩多汁的猪肉。

猪肉饼也很好吃，由于肥瘦相间的比例很高，口感柔软蓬松，里面点缀着荸荠块，上面还放着腌橄榄叶。

鸡肉猪肉毛无花果汤（RM88）是另一个惊喜；一位之前吃过毛无花果的朋友坚持要我们点这道菜当晚餐。

这道菜意外地大获成功，因为毛无花果根给丝滑的汤汁带来了一种甜美的椰子香味。

也不要忽略汤底的残渣，因为它们没有变干，而是仍然鲜嫩多汁，充满了香草的香味，让我们忍不住想吃鸡肉。

潮州人擅长处理海鲜，包括用生腌法腌制海鲜，以增强海鲜的口感和甜味。

潮州腌生海虾（RM38）是这种方法的一个很好的例子，它将虎虾浸泡在绍兴酒、酱油、大蒜、四川花椒、香菜和其他香料中，直到它们变得更紧实，并吸收了腌料的味道。

传统的红烧菜肴使用鹅肉、鹅蹼和鹅翅，猪的各个部位——从猪脸颊、猪肚到猪耳和猪肠——以及墨鱼，用浓郁的酱油和香料熬制的汤底炖煮而成。

人们选用一种名为狮头鹅或石头鹅的特殊品种，因为它的肉、头和肝都肉质鲜美、味道浓郁，因此备受推崇。

红烧狮子头鹅肉（RM58.80）香料味浓郁，肉质鲜嫩；而红烧猪脸肉（RM38.80）则更有嚼劲，搭配的汤汁也更清淡。

午餐推荐猪蹄饭（RM32.80），用碗盛装，软嫩的猪蹄配上浸满卤汁的米饭。

为了提供一顿完整的餐食，餐桌上还摆放了各种不同口感的蔬菜，例如口感更脆的猪肉末橄榄炒四季豆（32令吉）和口感更软的鸡汤嫩卷心菜（33令吉）。

甜点选择仅限三种。

经典的潮州芋泥银杏酱（RM12.80）口感顺滑，但缺少了增添风味和丝滑口感所必需的猪油，感觉像是一道作弊甜点。

从健康角度来看，荸荠绿豆甜汤（RM10.80）甜度极低，只含有绿豆，完全没有荸荠的脆爽口感。

最终，鲜磨杏仁蛋白奶油（RM15.80）凭借其清淡而独特的中国杏仁和煮熟的蛋白丝的风味，赢得了这场甜点大战。

尤其是在高峰时段，想要订到心仪的座位，一定要提前预订。另外，为了加快上菜速度，最好也提前预订菜品。

32号，Jalan Kiara 3，

吉隆坡蒙特基亚拉。

每日开放时间：上午11点至下午3点，下午5点30分至晚上10点

*这是一篇独立评论，作者自行支付了餐费。

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