Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Lot 10 Street Food


We managed to reach KL earlier than expected! And for today, our destination is the heart of KL City itself, Bukit Bintang area. Besides shopping (window shopping for me), we made a quick stop at the food court called Lot 10 Hutong. Hutong is a concept which assembles all the famous street food in KL and Klang Valley, in which most of them has a historic establishment with at least a few decades of experiences under their sleeves.

This one even boast its history traced to post World War II. Yup, this is the shop I decided to try since I wanted to avoid those manned by Burmese. Yup, those Char Kuay Teow are done by foreign workers. I mean, what is the point if you are operating under a famed banner if the skills are not well honed. I prefer sticking to those "pre-cooked" stuffs eg, Roasted Duck rice, Curry Noodles, etc.

And yeah, I decided to have this! This set of springy egg noodles topped with minced meat is good to be eaten on its own! Normally you will bundle it up with a bowl of beef balls or mixed beef soup. A regular set costs RM8.50 which comes with a bowl of noodles and a choice of EITHER beef balls only or mixed beef soup. In this photo, its a full set costing you RM10.50 for your boost of fibre in the form of extra balanced vegetables in oyster sauce and also a cup of Chinese tea.

The beef soup contains various parts of the bovine - edible ones of course - from the tongues to the brisket and also few slices of the loin. You get 2 pieces of beef balls too. This is indeed a better bet compared to the beef balls soup only in the photo earlier. However things are not perfect here. The soup is obviously a peppery-MSG laden broth which pale in comparison to the top-notched versions in Ipoh. You should get a hearty broth with a slight tinge of herbs if its a good bowl of beef soup. So, you can blame us to stereotype that KL-ites only eat to fill their stomachs in their hectic and packed daily routine unlike us Ipohians whom are generally picky and demand a higher standard of food taste and quality.

On the other hand, this is the pork noodles which comprise pork sausages, minced pork and pork meatballs. The pork sausages are similar to those "Siu Cheong" in your roasted duck rice shops. The minced pork is just as flavourful as the typical Char Cheong Mein toppings or Hakka noodles toppings. The pork meatballs are smooth and bouncy at the same time. Its texture may not appease to certain people as some might prefer to have some "coarse meat" feel but the meatballs are formed from a very smooth paste!

I remember my love at first "sight" when tasting this noodles in 3JC outlet at the lower concourse area in Low Yat Plaza. And after that, its very disturbing to know how come Ipoh, a town famous for its hawker food does not have this dish in the list? Yup, I do agree this dish is "founded" on the streets of Kuala Lumpur, but its still sad to say the hidden gems like these are not exposed to other cities. Talk about "culture exchange", wouldn't it be great? But again, its these "local specialties" which motivates us floggers to explore beyond our geographic boundaries. Until then, cheers to midweek! :)

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