The Malaysian eatery nailing wok hei and salted egg everything

21 Jun

Written By Antony

DOMINION ROAD DIARIES - PETALING MALAYSIAN RESTAURANT

A few doors down from the intersection with Valley Road, Dominion Road’s Petaling runs like a well-oiled machine which is seriously impressive when you learn there’s only two people running the front of house, and four chefs in the kitchen who make a rather large volume of orders look like a cinch. The restaurant sits 50 up and 50 down and is very often full – booking is definitely a good idea if you don’t want to resort to takeaway, and the best way to enjoy what this Malaysian restaurant has to offer is absolutely by dining in, with a group if possible, so you can sample more than a few dishes from the very extensive menu boasting 150 items.

At the helm are husband and wife team Kit and Jenny, he as head chef designing the menu and constantly working over one of the four burners in the kitchen, and she managing the restaurant with a warm charm customers have come to know her for. Petaling opened doors just after level 4 restrictions ended, so it began life offering takeaways but quickly earned a stellar reputation for the quality of those, so when the doors opened proper, many flocked to dine in, and continue to come.

Its namesake Jalan Petaling is a beloved Kuala Lumpur market street filled with shops and eateries, and the Dominion Road homage does a great job of recreating many of the distinctive aromas and flavours you’d find there.

Kit’s kitchen certainly knows how to manifest the requisite wok hei – the breath of the wok that seals in juiciness and flavour, while imparting a distinctive smoky note to a dish. One of the best dishes to give a sense of wok hei has to be char kuey teow. Petaling’s is a winner. Not too dark, not too light, the balance of sweetness and savouriness is just right, with generous smatterings of prawns, lap cheong (Cantonese sausage), and crisp pork lard alongside wilted beansprouts and garlic chives. Charred edges appear intermittently, and the whole dish arrives at the table redolent with the lingering wok hei, which you’ll clearly taste when you dig in. Go for takeaways if you must, but know that you’ll be missing the full experience. “Once a lid is sealed over the noodles” explains Jenny, “The wok hei disappears a bit”. So do yourself a favour – CKT is one of those dishes that best experienced dine-in. If you like yours spicy, they can add some chilli, or just stir through a generous amount of the housemade sambal the dish comes with – Petaling’s version is rich in dried shrimp and sweet onion flavour.

Some of other signature dishes to try, to get a taste of the variety on offer at Petaling:

Fish head laksa – a huge bowl of laksa lemak (coconut-based laksa) is topped with battered and fried head (ling is used here), tofu puffs and boiled egg. The soup features both fine rice vermicelli and medium-thick yellow noodles, and the broth is richly flavoured with just the right amount of coconut to temper the spices without watering things down.

Marmite chicken – marinated chicken is battered and deep-fried then coated with a sticky sauce featuring none-other than Marmite. It’s thought the dish is a Chinese creation, Chinese cooks being quite taken with the savoury flavour of Marmite but finding it too strong on its own and better suited to diluting with other ingredients as in this sauce which skews salty and sweet and totally moreish.

Salted egg king prawns – salted duck egg as a cooking ingredient has a history stretching back centuries, but more recently it’s hit the zeitgeist big time, called on to feature in all sorts of things, from fish-skin snacks (hello, delicious Golden Duck and Irvin’s) to baking (salted egg cronuts are a thing!). Like Parmesan, salted egg imparts a rich, umami flavour and on the menu at Petaling, you’ll find rubbing shoulders with a hint of chilli and sugar, along with curry leaves, richly coating fried chicken, fish fillet, or king prawns. This is a luxurious dish, reflected in the price tag – but definitely a highlight in any feast here.

Squid in badong sauce – Kit recently added a new section to the menu, dishes cooked in badong sauce – sauce that’s sour, savoury, with a hint of sweetness from plenty of onion and a lick of chilli heat, and an underlying depth of flavour thanks to the presence of both dried and pickled shrimp. The sauce is thickened in a flaming wok then a generous amount of pineapple-cut squid goes on in, along with a load of freshly sliced veggies. It’s served up in a heated claypot, sizzling away at the table and filling the entire dining room with mouthwatering aroma.