Sunday May 18, 2008

Standing out from the rest

By STEPHEN NG

Tuck Kee Restaurant’s secret to success? Constantly updating the menu with unusual dishes.

WITH the myriad food choices available to diners, restaurateurs have to constantly come up with new dishes to distinguish their offerings from that of hawker stalls.

“Young people these days do not eat a lot,” said master chef CT Wong, who operates Tuck Kee Restaurant in Taman Bukit Maluri, Kepong in Kuala Lumpur. “They eat just for the sake of tasting, and eat just enough to keep from feeling hungry. Therefore, we have to make sure that we have special dishes that the hawkers cannot imitate.”

The sand shark used for Tuck Kee Restaurant’s signature dish.

Wong should know – his restaurant started out as a small hawker stall in Kepong back in 1987. Today, his restaurant is well known for its signature dish, Braised Shark Lips, that’s flavoured by dry scallops and shark fin sauce.

“We have people coming from far away just to try out our signature dish.

Tuck Kee Restaurant owner, CT Wong.

“It tastes like sea cucumber but has a slighter softer texture. The dish is seldom found elsewhere.”

Diners are encouraged to take home the jaw bones of the sand shark used for the dish. “It can be boiled for a soup that’s good for health, with benefits for the backbone,” he said.

Wong also recommends dishes such as Black Pepper Herbal Venison Ribs, Freshwater River Fish Head – which uses the giant river catfish (ikan tapah) – and the Nine-Catty chicken.

The venison ribs are imported from Australia and cooked with a special sauce formulated by Wong.

“The Venison Ribs are slightly spicy, and go well with rice. It’s a popular lunch order,” he said.

The Nine-Catty Chicken gets its name from its weight of nine catties (about 5.4kg)

“We steam the chicken to ensure its flavour is retained before it’s garnished with jelly fish. The dish is best eaten with ginger,” Wong said.

Restaurant manager Goh Kah Kwan said the outlet gets its fish supply from Behrang, Tanjong Malim. He says that fish is a lot tastier when it’s fresh and properly steamed.

Tuck Kee’s signature dish is Braised Shark Lips.

The Freshwater River Fish Head is what Wong and Goh like to recommend to their guests. “Curry fish head is very common these days, but we believe our guests will know how to discern a good freshwater fish once they have tasted the Tuck Kee fish head,” Wong said.

Retiree Yeow Chon Seng and his wife of Taman Wangsa Permai and a young couple from Puchong, Patrick Lim and Jane Tan, were invited to sample the food at Tuck Kee.

Yeow, 76, said he liked the Braised Shark Lips while Lim, 27, and Mrs Yeow, 72, picked the freshwater fish head as their favourite dish. IT consultant Tan, 28, said she enjoyed the taste of the Black Pepper Herbal Venison ribs.

Tuck Kee Restaurant is also famous for its Hong Kong-style dim sum, which is also available to guests sitting in the outlet’s open air section.

Popular order: The Black Pepper Herbal Venison Ribs are cooked in a special sauce formulated by Wong.

On most public holidays and weekends, the whole place is packed from 6am to 2pm.

“We have over 50 different types of dim sum dishes to choose from,” said dim sum chef Teng Tung Fong, while preparing the dim sum dishes for the evening session (6pm through 3am). The most popular orders are for the siu mai, har mai, har kau and yee tan.

If Seremban is famous for its “Yip Chee Mei Big Dumplings”, Wong said Tuck Kee has its own version, “Maluri Big Dumplings”, which are becoming very popular.

Tuck Kee Restaurant is located at 39, Jalan Burung Jentayu, Taman Bukit Maluri, Kepong (% 03-62742486 / 62753857). It is open from 11am to 3pm for lunch and from 6pm to 11pm for dinner.

Dim sum is served from 6am to 2pm, and from 6pm to 3am.