Kedai Kopi Hock Seng Hin

Today, I discovered another hidden gem in the middle of K.L. city. This time, Pudu.

Yesterday, my uncle called and invited me for a special lunch today. We did not go into the details, all I knew were Pudu and fish head with black bean sauce. Personally, black bean sauce is not even on my very long list of favourites, but I decided to be adventurous and give it a try, since you never know what you will find in K.L. but most importantly the other alternative was to rot at home.

I have not even heard of this place before, but from what I was told, it is a famous place ran by some really fierce and feisty sisters. That was not what I was going for. The thing that attracted me was the fact that you have to make reservations, for lunch, in a coffee shop. Another reason was the need to leave for the place at 11 a.m. but to be fair we had to pick up my uncle's friend.

Hock Seng Hin coffee shop.

This place is in the middle of Pudu, with its pre-war buildings which are quickly coming apart, but by Malaysian standards still habitable. In fact, the sign was already giving way and had I not know Chinese, the last two letters on the sign would remain a mystery. 

To the kitchen.

We entered the shop through the back. It was reasonably hygienic, the caveat being by Malaysian standards. The kitchen has a neatly stacked tower of firewood, and that is an unmistakable sign for good food. The black cast iron woks, the massive flames shooting from below, and the glowing embers reinforce that assumption. The lunchtime crowd is also a testament to the popularity of the food.

Blue or white collar, all come to gather.

The service is pretty slow due to the crowd, but if you prefer your scrotum attached to your body, you would not question the cooks. I quite like having my balls so I waited patiently. To say the least, it was damn well worth the wait.

Catfish with black bean sauce.

The signature dish came first.

I would say that when I first tried it, there was no surprise. It was just alright for me. However, the more I had, the better it tasted and by the end of lunch, I was already craving for it. To begin with, the fish is fresh as can be, probably from the Pudu wet market a few blocks away. All the tiny bones I had to pick away was well worth it. The flesh was succulent and flavourful. The texture of the fish was just heavenly. When eaten with the sauce, the flavour of the fish is still more dominant, but when tasting the sauce alone, I found that the sauce was pretty salty on its own. This is atypical of Chinese-Malaysian cuisine where the fish is usually bombarded with sauces, which tends to mask any imperfections due to lack of freshness. With fish this fresh, there are no flaws to begin with.

The sauce itself deserves another paragraph on its own. It is thick and abundant. The ingredients in the sauce bind together so well that the hints of those ingredients are hard to trace. I could not even taste the black beans. That perfect amalgam of the ingredients into one flavourful sauce, that is the magic of the dish. I could have rice with this sauce alone.

Bitter-gourd with chicken.

Again, it is all about the sauce. This dish had the same magic in the sauce. The sweetness of the bitter-gourd can be tasted in the sauce, coupled with the hint of wood fire is just to die for. Not many restaurants use firewood for their cooking, but for Chinese cooking, I still insist that that is the formula for achieving a dish that is as close to perfection as can be.

The bitter-gourd was cooked until tender, but still retaining some of the crunch. The sauce gives them a savoury taste and also masked a bit of the bitterness.

The only problem I have is the use of chicken breast meat, but that is me being fastidious. There is really nothing wrong about this dish.

Kangkung (water convovulus) belacan.

The first word that came to my mind when I sampled this dish was "lard". Lard, glorious lard - the must have ingredient in a good plate of fried vegetables. The thing I like about this dish is the lack of intention to hide the fact that lard was used in frying it. It was not a hint of lard, the dish tasted like lard. This is a bit extreme for people who do not really fancy pork lard, but to me, this is as close to heaven as it gets.

Fresh vegetables, still retaining its dark green colour, its crunchy texture, after flash frying with firewood and lard, adding a strong belacan to the mix, tasting that combination is just an ineffable experience. There are no inhibitions in the preparation of this dish, just pure unadulterated lard. The moment you start needing your fix for this dish, your health is probably out the window, but with such food, who needs health anyway?

Choi sum (mustard greens) with prawns.

This is the mystery dish for me. Why? The choi sum tasted like prawns! For the first time in my life, I have eaten vegetables that tasted like prawns! This is a dream come true! I was ecstatic when I sampled this. To think of it, to infuse vegetables with prawn flavour could only be done by boiling it with prawns, which would mean the vegetables would become soggy and mushy. With this dish, the vegetables were still crunchy!

This coffee shop is definitely more than what meets the eye. I would not even hesitate to call it a hidden diamond in K.L. There is not only a sensation on the palette when it comes to food like this, you can feel the soul, for the lack of a better word, bursting through. It is the kind of food that warms the heart as much as it warms the tummy, one that brings back that familiar feeling of satisfaction in the good old days and the comfort of being at home.

For some reason I cannot find the location of this shop anywhere online. Also, I cannot be trusted with my way around K.L., or anywhere for that matter. However, if you truly want to find this hidden gem, you will find your way. That is part of the experience, taking time off, slowing down and searching for a part of you, a taste that is long forgotten.