Lum adding beer to a hotpot loaded with lobster and roe crabs. — Photos: CHAN TAK KONG/The Star
THE story of how a steamboat restaurant in SS2, Petaling Jaya, got the idea for its signature dish, the beer hotpot, bears repeating.
Wangzi Kitchen owner Tommy Lum said the inspiration came one evening during a steamboat and beer drinking session with a group of friends.
“We were enjoying our beers so much that we decided to pour some into the broth.
“To our amazement, it made the soup more flavourful.”
Having started as a kitchen apprentice when he was 16 with a Chinese restaurant in Melaka, Lum is no newbie to the food industry.
In addition to running a grilled fish stall at the SS2 food court for the past 20 years, he also operates a mookata (Thai and Korean-style barbecue steamboat) cum dried meat establishment nearby.
“Naturally, we decided that this new discovery should be added to the menu,” said Lum.
The seafood is live in aquariums and prepared fresh upon order.
His first option was to use a Dutch beer but it had a slightly bitter after taste.
On the second try, he opted to use Chinese beer.
The grassy, floral and distinct honey notes suited his herbal chicken and pork bone broth.
Bubbling in the beer hotpot are mud crabs, their insides bright with orangey roe and lobsters, the flesh firm and sweet.
“My seafood is never frozen but kept in aquariums and prepared fresh upon receiving an order,” said Lum.
One side dish that goes well with the beer hotpot is black silky tofu.
Getting its shade from bamboo charcoal, it is garnished with gold leaf.
Roe crabs and lobster to go with the beer hotpot.
One way to enjoy this dish is to place it into the hotpot while the seafood is cooking so it can soak up all the flavours.
Due to the freshness of the crabs, another way to enjoy the tofu apart from dipping into the hotpot is to have them steamed and then topped with golden brown garlic that has been fried with dried prawn, curry leaves and coconut cream.
Other recommended dishes on the menu are claypot clams with Chinese rice wine and tiger prawns in a rich coconut curry sauce.
Cooked at the table with lots of rice wine, white cabbage and ginger, the clams have a briny sweetness.
Presented on a sizzling hotplate, the prawns are lightly coated with a sauce which also has a curry powder from Thailand.
Diners who can still remember Lum from his SS2 food court days should order jade perch to be cooked with the spicy assam and torch ginger sauce.
The sauce is one factor that has ensured his longevity in the business.
Rich with flavours of omega oils, the jade perch is best paired with dried bacon fried rice.
It had a deep smokey flavour, the result of good “wok hei”.
For vegetable options, there is kailan with deep fried garlic.
The leaves are chopped and deep fried to a crisp while the stalks are blanched to retain their crunchy texture.
There is also a dish called Blackpink chicken which reflects the owner’s love of the K-pop music genre.
Battered in flour that has been blackened with bamboo charcoal, this deep-fried spring chicken comes with a serving of a pink-hued dragonfruit sauce and golden fries.
Lum has a special offer in store for StarMetro readers. Diners who present a snapshot, hard copy or link of this story upon reservation are entitled to 50% off for the purchase of roe crabs from 4pm to 6pm.
WANGZI KITCHEN
43, Jalan SS2/64, Petaling Jaya, Selangor (Tel: 016-277 7727) Business hours: 4pm to 1.30am. Non-halal.
This is the writer’s personal observation and is not an endorsement by StarMetro.
