The Local aka Hock Hin, SS19

The more generous locals I eat with, the more familiar I become with the hidden nooks and foreign suburbs in the Klang Valley. Subang is one area of this gradual induction.

One work evening, a new eating companion gently held my hand as I ventured into this area, which holds its own in the BKT league and its many good eats to cater for its thriving population.

Hock Hin, said companion's family favourite dai chow in SS19 was to be this evening's introduction to Subang.

The Claypot pork with salted fish was lovely, spicy and hit the sodium notes perfectly. Or not so perfect for me perhaps, since I had chosen to abstain from rice this evening. Still, I dug in with nary a care.

Nothing shouted "Welcome to Subang!" like the glazed, hypnotic goodness of these Marmite chicken drumsticks! I polished about three of these darlings with much relish!

Equally gratifying were the plentiful sticks of chicken satay from lone kakak operating the stall in the same kopitiam.

To square off all that pork & poultry, a simple dish of stir-fried French beans with garlic. These crunchy greens are so easy to eat - even though it was a touch more grease than required for a vegetable dish, it was hard to keep away.

Hock Hin is situated on Jalan SS19/6. They have another air-conditioned shoplot a few doors down from the open-air coffee shop, for those who wilt in tropical evening weather.

Subang, I'll be coming back for more!

Birthday Treats, Courtesy of Joshua's First!

Baby Joshua turned the grand old age of one recently and we were lucky to snag an invite to the chowdown, as part of the 70-odd party guests. I can't think of gathering any more than 10 people I would want around me at ANY age; Joshua is set for a life of immense popularity. We had heard so much about the cooking prowess of my Boss' mom or Joshua's grandmother, so we weren't about to let up on this opportunity to sample.

I arrived that evening after a rather eventful Saturday afternoon, quite, quite famished. Nevertheless, I managed to contain myself and idled with workmates, recapping our respective Friday evenings while waiting to eat. There were plenty, including a lovely fresh mushroom salad, pasta, fried spring rolls & money bags but I got barely decent shots of those.

To start, we queued eagerly like school kids at the school canteen for Boss' mom' to dish up individual portions of her uber-spicy, uber-lemak Thai laksa. Practically frothing with fish! I especially liked the sturdier version of Thai rice noodles used.

My workmates had shamelessly grabbed the table strategically located nearest to the roast leg of lamb station outside. Now I understand this not because I don't do lamb, but they assured me I was losing out big, BIG time.

They ooh'ed and aah'ed over how excellent and flavoursome it was while I sniffed and pretended not to care. They helped themselves to seconds, thirds, fourths with little inhibition. Not exactly a shy lot, this bunch.

I was bowled over by the crazy good satay, the product of one rather reputable stall in Bangsar. It was a touch sweeter than I was used to but there was no denying this was applause-worthy.

Encik Zul usually works his grilling magic behind TMC. He can be contacted for catering at +6016 204 1566.

Boss' mom also whipped up a very gorgeous Nyonya curry chicken, served with nasi kunyit. I couldn't shove this down then but meekly requested to take home the curry when it became apparent that there were plenty of leftovers as the evening wore on. It provided me with some three solid, tasty meals for the following week.

Thank you for having us over and feeding us, ML! Hope it was a wonderful first of many birthdays to come for the very loved Joshua!