Low’s yang kut teh is an inventive new idea and a labour of love that takes eight hours to make. — Photos: LOW LAY PHON/The Star
There are roads less travelled and there are roads never travelled. Both are hard but the latter has the added challenge of being the first to break a mould.
Two years ago, 41-year-old Low Wei Hong opted for the sanguine second option. Having worked in F&B for nearly a decade – in restaurant kitchens and even as a restaurant manager – he had a “Eureka!” moment of sorts when he realised that he could fuse his Chinese wife Zhang Yulin’s Jiangzi culinary ancestry with the Malaysian heritage dish of bak kut teh, and craft a brand new lamb bone soup.
That epiphany spurred Low to open a stall in a food court in Kuchai Lama, Kuala Lumpur, which he ran for two years. Low says that he used those years to refine both his concept and his recipe.
“When I first started, I had no customers. I spent two years researching and fine-tuning the recipe. I changed it so many times and when I was satisfied with it, I decided to open a restaurant,” he says.
The eatery is fuss-free and simply decked out but has a wholesome charm. — LOW LAY PHON/The Star
In July this year, Low opened Ba Fang Yang Kut Teh ensconced in a row of shoplots just off Old Klang Road.
Although the eatery’s name alludes to the traditional bak kut teh so familiar to Malaysians, Low has actually adopted a mix-and-match attitude to his new creation that borrows from the way bak kut teh is typically consumed: with rice and youtiao while also paying homage to the lamb brisket pot so popular in his wife’s province in China.
Low (right) and Zhang, the creative force behind Ba Fang which melds China-style lamb brisket with bak kut teh.
“Actually, the concept is from bak kut teh, but the taste is totally different. In the F&B market, there are a lot of ‘lamb kut teh’ variants but they are all using the same base ingredients (typically, star anise, garlic, cinnamon and white peppercorn, among others). My version is entirely different and has turned the sauce-based lamb brisket pot into a soup-based edition,” says Low.
To put together his lamb bone soup, Low undertakes a rigorous preparation method, cooking lamb bones, bone marrow and lamb neck for six hours. Having experimented for two years, he’s discovered that young New Zealand lamb (under 12 months) was ideal for his soup, as the meat is more supple and doesn’t have a strong smell.
The second step of this cooking process is when Low introduces lamb belly and 11 other herbs and ingredients to the mix and cooks the soup base for another two hours.
The result is his Signature Yang Kut Teh (RM21.90) which is awash in tender lamb slices, lamb balls, straw mushrooms, bamboo shoots, bean curd sheets and carrots. The highlight is the soup itself which is milky and has an expansive, luxurious depth and richness to it from all the time spent extracting flavour from the lamb’s core musculature and DNA structure.
It also has that singular appeal of being warm and nourishing. Not every meal has this innate ability to evoke both nostalgia and a sense of home and yet this entirely new creation does a bit of both.
The dry yang kut teh is Low's ode to familiar terrain. — LOW LAY PHON/The Star
Low also recently came up with a dry version of this dish, simply called Dry Yang Kut Teh (RM28 for a small portion). This variant hits closer to the gold standard dry bak kut teh and is Low’s attempt at giving people a taste of familiarity.
Built on a backbone of lamb belly and lamb slices, alongside dried chillies, okra and dried cuttlefish, this fiery, slightly salty concoction is oh-so fabulously good with meat that has a melt-in-the-mouth consistency akin to eating a collagen-rich meal.
The eatery also has plenty of both lamb-themed and non lamb-themed side dishes to whet your appetite. Of these, definitely try the China-influenced Beef Aspic with Hot and Sour Red Oil (RM16.90). Meat aspic is essentially a meat jelly that is made with meat stock or broth and pieces of meat, set in a mould and then frozen.
The silken smooth beef aspic is topped by a fiery, tangy sauce that gives it verve and dimension.
Here, thin slices of aspic are doused in a hot and sour oil replete with chillies and peanuts. The beef is slippery and has a supine, velvety texture that is layered with the sauce – which as its name implies, has a feisty underbelly and a tangy overcoat. It is simple and yet so satisfyingly good, but be forewarned that you’ll have to eat it quick, because it melts very quickly.
From the lamb persuasion, try the Boiled Lamb Slices with Secret Flavourful Sauce (RM16.90). The sauce is assembled using 18 different ingredients and it is this melange that has given it a multi-dimensional flavour profile – tangy, robust, slightly acerbic, salty, a bit funky and a tad spicy.
It’s a sauce that has worked its way to a leading star role, developing mettle, steel and merit with every ingredient imbued in it. The boiled meat is a mere canvas and vessel for soaking the gorgeous flavours of the sauce – so do just that and enjoy the ensuing flavour bomb.
The pan-fried lamb dumplings are made in-house from scratch.
Keep the lamb train chugging along with the Pan Fried Lamb Dumplings with Crispy Wings (RM12.90). Everything here has been made from scratch from the dumpling wrappers to the filling and the crispy shard that encases the dumplings.
The crisp, latticed sheet perched atop is made from different flours and is fried till it forms a hard sheath. It is this that gives the dumplings a magical edge, enhancing its flavour profile and offering a textural experience that is off-the-beaten track.
Up next, look at trying the Pepper Salt Crispy Tofu (RM9.90) which incorporates soft, cloudy tofu fried to a point where its outer core has a firm, pronounced crunch. The tofu has been seasoned perfectly and is addictive in that can’t-stop-eating sort of way.
Gelatinous century egg coated in a perk-me-up sauce makes for a delightful dish. — LOW LAY PHON/The Star
Close your meal with the Century Egg Salad (RM12.90) a China-inspired recipe that incorporates jelly-ish slices of egg alongside a sauce that is lightly acerbic, spicy and perfectly accentuates all the qualities of the egg.
On the drinks front, the eatery has a range of unusual concoctions including the Rice Wine Peach Oolong with Yakult (RM9.90) which as its name implies, includes the addition of yoghurt.
Who would have thought that rice wine and yoghurt could join forces to create a delightful drink?This is a wild ride of a drink that takes your palate on a journey through funky town – culminating in a weird, wonderful ascent to euphoria.
Low’s major goal with the eatery is simple. He isn’t looking at world domination or empire-building. In fact, he has no plans to expand at all.
Instead, he simply wants more Malay-sians to get acquainted with his particular brand of yang kut teh and look at it as a unique local invention and an alternative to the classic meal so beloved by many in the country.
“Bak kut teh is so famous in Malaysia, so I want to promote yang kut teh as another famous local dish that has also been created on Malaysian soil,” says Low.
Ba Fang Yang Kut Teh
Low’s yang kut teh is an inventive new idea and a labour of love that takes eight hours to make. — Photos: LOW LAY PHON/The Star
The silken smooth beef aspic is topped by a fiery, tangy sauce that gives it verve and dimension.
The dry yang kut teh is Low's ode to familiar terrain. — LOW LAY PHON/The Star
Gelatinous century egg coated in a perk-me-up sauce makes for a delightful dish. — LOW LAY PHON/The Star
The pan-fried lamb dumplings are made in-house from scratch.
Who would have thought that rice wine and yoghurt could join forces to create a delightful drink?
Low (right) and Zhang, the creative force behind Ba Fang which melds China-style lamb brisket with bak kut teh.
The eatery is fuss-free and simply decked out but has a wholesome charm. — LOW LAY PHON/The Star
Gelatinous century egg coated in a perk-me-up sauce makes for a delightful dish. — LOW LAY PHON/The Star
The salt and pepper tofu is delicious from start to finish.
