Two Porky!

El Cerdo (October 2007)
Spanish for “The Pig”, this restaurant is a pork-lover’s dream come true. KL does not have too many places that serve pork; so El Cerdo is truly the oasis in this desert.
The moment you enter you are greeted with a sound that is not often associated with the dining area of a good eatery – breaking plates! The focus of the restaurant also comes out in its décor – pictures of pigs dotting the walls, which we then proceeded to name after famous pigs like Babe, Porky et al.
We had ordered for a proper meal, and everything that came in had a porky touch. The starters were very good, and though it’s been almost a year since I ate there, I can still taste the thin slices of pork salami with honey melon. I quite like the idea of different types of tastes mingling together. It can be disastrous if not done properly, but some combinations of sweet and savoury just gel very well, and this was probably the best I have had.
Among the other dishes, there was Paella, a Spanish rice dish, that a Phillippino friend said was just the way her grandmom made it. There was considerable Spanish influence in the Philippines and so we took her word for its authenticity. Even if it wasn’t authentic paella, it was still delicious!
The highlight of the evening was the small roast pig. Now some might find the thought of a whole animal from head to tail a bit revolting, and even I must admit that it is not my favourite food sight in the world, but if one can be comfortable eating an animal by just removing the head and the tail, that is surely a case of conflicting standards.
Anyway, the roast pig was unlike the ones I had seen in photographs. It was not stuffed and resembling a pig in anyway. It was small and flat and missing its head from what I remember of it. Then the proprietor came in and explained the philosophy of the restaurant and that they believe that the pork they cook is so soft that we can cut it with a plate. We were then handed plates, and given the owner’s confidence about their quality, it wasn’t surprising when we could actually chop through the flesh. Before we proceeded to reduce the pig into smaller pieces, the waiters took it away so that they could cut it properly and serve us.
The mystery of the sound of the breaking plates was solved when we were asked to break the plates with which we cut the pig because it is considered good luck. Obviously we did not smash it against the walls, but just threw it in a wooden tub. Though it had nothing to do with the food, it was a big contributor to my fantastic El Cerdo experience.

My Food Rating: 8.5/10

Ka Ka Bakut Teh (July 2008)
Given my love for pork, my friends decided that I should definitely sample one of the Chinese specialties available in Malaysia. El Cerdo is excellent but a bit expensive; and my earlier street food experience had convinced them that I was ready for Bakut Teh. The place we went to was Ka Ka Bakut Teh in Kepong, about 45 minutes from downtown KL by road. It started off as a small shack, but acquired a larger area in the past year. It is one of those eateries that opens in the evening and continues through the night.
Bakut Teh means Pork Tea Soup, and is pork pieces cooked in a herbal tea infusion with vegetables added later. The end result is this very tasty soup that should replace chicken soup as the ultimate flu remedy.
The first thing we were served was fried pieces of dough that we could dip in oil, and then the soup. It can also be had with rice, and adding duck soy sauce to the soup makes it a killer combination!
We also had some fried tofu that one of us thankfully dumped into the soup.
The other thing that we ordered was yellow chicken. It was chicken cooked with alcohol, and something like the drunken chicken we can get in some of the better Chinese restaurants in India.
The two enormous bowls took us a lot of time. We even took a break so that we could take another serving of rice, and yet 5 people could not finish everything.
A truly satisfying experience that I would recommend every foodie should experience when in Malaysia.

My Food Rating: 9.5/10