Lee (right) and Tiong with the restaurant’s signature dishes.
Meat’s unique flavour lends sweetness to variety of dishes
A NEWLY opened restaurant specialising in premium Iberico pork blends the Spanish culinary treasure with an assortment of affordable local favourites.
Apart from their lip-smacking roasted spare ribs, Iberican Noodle House in Sri Petaling, Kuala Lumpur, also offers Iberico pork in bak kut teh, fried rice and noodle dishes, and char siew.
Co-owner Lee Woei Haur, 44, said what differentiated Iberico pork from the normal variety was in the taste.
“It’s like how a connoisseur can tell a shiitake mushroom from a truffle,” said Lee.
Gourmets have described the meat as having a unique sweetness that is tender as well as juicy.
Lee said the restaurant had a regular supplier from Murcia, a city in the southeastern region of Spain.
These pigs are fed on a diet of corn, wheat and barley, along with olive pulp which is a major part of the animal’s diet.
“The pigs eat so much of the olive pulp that they are often described as four-legged olive trees,” said Lee.
Abanico fried rice and bamboo wanton noodles with char siew (below).
The restaurant offers a variety of Iberico cuts, such as ribs, loin, belly, collar, jowl, soft bone, lagrima and abanico.
Lee said freshness was guaranteed and diners could be assured there would be no hints of boar taint (off flavours).
The spare ribs, weighing between 500g and 600g per portion, is a signature dish.
Marinated overnight in a house-made soy-based barbecue sauce that has gone through a fermentation process, it is oven-roasted for 45 minutes at 200°C.
Beautifully browned on the outside, it is juicy and tender to the bite.
The research and development on timing and temperature took chef Kelvin Tiong, 33, several months.
“We wanted to achieve that perfect balance so that it would not be too dry, under- or overcooked,” said Tiong.
The meat covering the rib bones is about 1cm thick. Though plastic gloves are offered, the best way to savour this hearty dish is to use one’s bare hands for the finger-licking experience.
The bone-in chop loin, weighing in at 250g, is another meaty delight.
Served with a creamy mash of Russet potatoes, a coleslaw of purple cabbage and carrots, this 2cm-thick chop is sizzled for two minutes on each side on a hot griddle.
For bak kut teh, the restaurant’s version is served with a side of shabu shabu-style raw belly slices that are meant for quick cooking in the boiling hot herbal soup.
Within the rich herbal soup in a claypot are ribs, deep-fried tofu skins and beancurd puffs.
The fried rice, featuring abanico cubes and a brunoise of carrots and long beans, is given a chewy texture with the introduction of crisp lard cubes and crusted rice.
That, and the use of Calrose rice, which grains have a soft and slightly sticky consistency, is the main reason why their fried rice has that bit of extra scrunch.
For noodles, the selection includes a Thai vermicelli in pork bone soup with belly slices, collar cuts and minced meat; bamboo egg noodles with char siew; and handmade noodles topped with soft bone, Teochew-style braised pork belly and minced meat.
Stock for the pork bone soup is derived from Iberico neck vertebrae and a whole chicken, simmered for four hours.
A dash of rice wine is added to the vermicelli just before serving, to add aroma.
As expected, the char siew in the bamboo wanton noodles cut like butter and the pork toppings in the handmade noodles lived up to the meat’s sweet, juicy and tender reputation.
It must be noted that the noodles at this eatery are of an impressive quality as they do not contain any boric acid.
Bouncy till the last bite, these noodles were well made enough to retain their texture despite prolonged soaking in their respective soups.
Tiong said one reason why their noodles did not have the tendency to clump was due to the high ratio of Omega eggs used.
The noodle makers, whose factories are located in Kuala Lumpur, have been in business for over 45 years.
Diners can also enjoy a free flow of eight choices of drink.
IBERICAN NOODLE HOUSE, No.45, Jalan Radin Anum, Bandar Baru Sri Petaling, Kuala Lumpur. (Tel: 010-267 8848). Business hours: 10am-10pm. Closed on Tuesdays. Non-halal.This is the writer’s personal observation and is not an endorsement by StarMetro.
