Sunday November 8, 2009

Top-notch selections

Story and photos by GRACE CHEN

Get ready to savour the best of KL street food at Hutong, Lot 10’s new food court, when it opens on Nov 10.

WHERE does Tan Sri Francis Yeoh, one of Asia’s most successful CEOs and managing director of YTL, dine? Here’s an insight: at Lorong Tiong Nam, Kuala Lumpur, where the popiah lady still makes her own popiah and their paper thin egg skins; at Soong Kee’s, a prewar coffeeshop in Jalan Tun Tan Siew Sin where the beef noodles come generously topped with stewed minced pork; and Kim Lian Kee, a roadside stall in Petaling Street that serves his favourite charcoal wok-fried Hokkien noodles.

Thus, it will come as no surprise that Hutong, the new food court in Lot 10, which is owned by YTL, should feature the very same food that he enjoys.

Something new:These aquishy, translucent corn flour noodles are another specialty from Kim Lian Kee.

As Yeoh’s marketing team puts it: “It (Hutong) will be a gourmet’s heaven of street food vendors who have sustained their family recipes for no less than three generations.”

Yeoh himself chose the food vendors based on what he liked to eat and the places he frequented, the team says. His favourites include Klang’s pork knuckle in a thick bak kut teh soup and charcoal wok fried Hokkien noodles from Kim Lian Kee, a roadside stall in Petaling Street.

“What Tan Sri (Yeoh) wanted was the taste of authenticity and that means these vendors will retain all the original ingredients from their HQs,” says Steffanie Chua, the marketing director.

Wooing the lords of KL’s old gourmet world was not an easy task. After being in business for the past 20 to 30 years, these food vendors have an established customer base and are pretty much contented with life. If Yeoh, who was introduced to these places by his father, Tan Sri Yeoh Tiong Lay, had not done the groundwork by being a regular customer, it would have been pretty hard to coax them to set up at Hutong.

Giving an insight into Yeoh’s modus operandi, Thye Hong, 55, the Singaporean responsible for the island’s famous fried Hokkien mee, says: “Yeoh has been my regular customer for years and whenever he is in Singapore, he’d stop by for my Hokkien noodles. It took him a year to negotiate for my coming into Hutong and he personally showed me the plans for his food court.

Straight from the pot: Alvin and his wife, May Lim, of Mo Sang Kor.Alvin's father insists that no outsider should have a hand in the main cooking process.

“It was all a bit awkward because here was a Malaysian tycoon who was taking all the trouble to invite me to set up a stall at his food court so I had no choice but to accept.”

The story is similar with the rest. Low Puay Huang, 60, the lady boss of Lorong Tiong Nam’s unique egg skin popiah rolls, says Yeoh started visiting her stall five years ago to savour her spring rolls.

“Even at that time, he’d say how much he loved my popiah and that should he open a food court one day, I would have to come,” recalls Law who went into business in 1969 after her husband, Chang Bak Hong, now 62, lost his job in the May 13 riot.

Though flattered, Low had thought nothing of it until Yeoh came to them with a black and white proposal last year. That was when she realised the man was serious.

“It will be a good opportunity for the popiah business because traffic in Lot 10 has definitely increased,” she says. Low, however, will not be in charge there as she is leaving it in the able hands of her son, Aik Tai, 35, and daughter, Wei Xin, 41.

“It’s a chance to carry on with our popiah recipe and preserve its heritage,” she says.

Another food that Yeoh loves is bak kut teh, and the story has it that one of his friends goes to the Mo Sang Kor bak kut teh house in Taman Berkeley, Klang, for regular take-aways on his behalf.

Master of his wok: Lee's method of making Hokkien noodles still entails the use of charcoal fire and this will not change when his son, Henry,takes over at Hutong.

So, who would be invited to set up shop in Hutong but Mor Sang Kor, and its owners are obviously thrilled that Yeoh has singled them out among the 200-odd bak kut teh shops in the area. The final decision to invite them was actually made after a shop-by-shop food tasting session with a group of Japanese guests.

But would the authentic flavours of the food be maintained in the swanky and contemporary settings of Lot 10?

“The most crucial thing here is adherence to the recipe,” says Alvin Lee, 36, of Mo Sang Kor, which is famed for its thick, flavourful bak kut teh soups.

For the Lee family who has been in business since the 1970s and already has three branches in Klang, the Lot 10 outlet will be their fourth.

For them, quality control means that the actual cooking must be done by a member of the family, a strict rule enforced by Alvin’s father, Lee Ah Sang, now in his 60s. Till now, Lee will not entertain any idea of employing an outsider as a cook in any of his outlets. As it is, he still puts together the herbs and spices himself and is known for making “surprise” checks for an impromptu taste test.

For Siew Wei Han, 53, of Soong Kee beef noodle, the move will be seen as a test.

“If we don’t try, we will never know. Besides, Yeoh offered me a reasonable rental rate (a few thousand ringgit for 4.765sq metres),” says Siew, heir to the business started in 1945 by Siew Koy Soong, now in his 80s.

For a start, Soong Kee will be making all the vitals like the beef balls, tripe and minced beef stew, plus their chili sauce, in their main kitchen. These will then be delivered fresh to Hutong on a daily basis. As extra insurance, Wei Han will be stationing their most senior cook, Tan Tong Sing, 63, at Hutong. Tan has been with Soong Kee since he was 13.

Lai Ket Chong, 44, operations manager of Lammeeya, which is based on a 60-year-old lam mee family recipe, says that in the end, it is about maintaining uniformity.

“Let’s say if the standard serving is five pork balls, it must remain the same in every outlet. I have a strict policy when it comes to the toppings. For example, if I see any of my staff eating them instead of putting them on the customer’s bowls, I will deduct their service points. Other than that, I can always rely on my customers to do the monitoring.

“Nowadays, even if you give the diner one prawn less, they’ll come back to you,” says Lai.

Interestingly, even the issue of fire for cooking has been accounted for. For example, Petaling Street’s Kim Lian Kee will continue to use charcoal fire to fry their signature Hokkien noodles at Hutong, where a glass vestibule has been specially constructed to keep sparks and ash at bay.

“There is a difference between gas and charcoal fire, definitely. I am very sure that if we change to gas fire, the taste will not be the same,” says Lee Heng Chuen, 56, who currently heads Kim Lian Kee.

Lee, who learnt the art of the wok from his late granduncle, Ong Kim Lian, who came from Fukien Province in 1927, will leave his son Henry, 28, in charge at Hutong. This will officially take the business to the fourth generation.

“The trick is to ‘catch the fire’. There is method in wielding the spatula, a way to see if the wok is hot enough and in stirring everything together. All these combined will enable the flavours to seep into the noodles,” says Henry who is confident that he will be as good as his father.

For a personal touch, Henry has also created some new dishes such as deep fried yam pillows with nien kao and translucent corn flour noodles for their new outlet at Hutong.

Ultimately, while Hutong may be a food court, it will not be just any other food court with the same old boring fare. And with Yeoh’s magic touch, the diner can expect a bit of fanfare at the grand opening on Nov 10.

Hutong is at Lot 10, Jalan Sultan Ismail, Kuala Lumpur. The place is non-halal.

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