food

Top 5 meals at Publika’s Eat Food Village

By VIVIENNE PAL
September 02, 2015

The egg yolk coats the hand-made noodles and picks up all the yummy condiments along the way so that every mouthful of Kin Kin Pan Mee is a balance of flavours and texture. – The Malaysian Insider pic, September 2, 2015.Publika is quite the hotspot these days for just about anything – grocery shopping, flea marketing, property and art exhibitions, open air concerts, coffee and, of course, food. It's possible that half the tenants in the entire Solaris Dutamas commercial complex are F&B outlets.

Publika's non-halal food court, Eat Food Village is pretty popular, especially on weekends. Following closely in the foodsteps (pun intended) of Lot 10's Hutong (in Jalan Bukit Bintang), Eat Food Village houses a (smaller) selection of some of Malaysia's favourite non-halal hawker stalls within a comfortable air-conditioned environment. But, there's only so much food you can eat at one go, so my motley crew of makan kakis and I came up with our top picks. Here they are in no particular order:

1. Kin Kin Pan Mee

Nevermind all the other chilli pan mee stalls that have mushroomed in town; Kin Kin is the original chilli pan mee with handmade noodles topped with perfectly poached eggs, minced pork (and the occasional lard), anchovies and spicy fried chilli (RM7.50). Squeeze a bit of lime, break that runny egg yolk and toss everything together and you have a nice balance of flavours.

Tip: for a stronger tasting noodle, substitute the house noodle for yee mee. Patrons can also opt for the soupy version, and a side of pork/fish balls or fu chuk.

The springy egg noodles are always well-flavoured at Hong Kee Wantan Mee. – The Malaysian Insider pic, September 2, 2015.2. Hong Kee Wantan Mee

While we all had our own ideas of the perfect wantan mee, we agreed that the wantan mee at Eat Food Village deserves mention (RM8.50, comes with char siew and dumplings). The thin egg noodles, particularly, was a highlight: nicely flavoured with soy sauce and barbequed pork gravy drippings that even the most die-hard low-carb dieter in our group could not resist finishing. The roast pork is not bad, but if you like char siew, don't always expect to get the choicest parts as that depends largely on the mood of the surly stall keeper.

Who says porridge is a meal for the ill? We would eat this anytime at Tian Yua Claypot. – The Malaysian Insider pic, September 2, 2015.3. Tian Yuan Claypot porridge

Tian Yuan offers a selection of claypot rice and noodle dishes, but we found the porridge unexpectedly good. We chose the dried cabbage roasted pork porridge set (RM12.90), which comes with stewed peanuts and gui ling gao. The porridge itself is flavourful and boiled for a long time so that the rice is broken down to a soft, starchy mix. The dried vegetables and bite-sized roasted pork gave the porridge plenty of texture, which we liked. We recommend adding some century egg to turn it up a notch.

The yam rice at BM Yam Rice comes with a variety of pork or chicken dishes and soups while the hokkien mee is quite the crowd favourite. – The Malaysian Insider pic, September 2, 2015.

4. BM Yam Rice and Sentul Ah Yap Hokkien Mee

It was a tie between the yam rice and hokkien noodles, so we've included both. The yam rice set comprises a bowl of savoury rice flavoured with yam bits and dried shrimp, one main dish of choice and a side of hardboiled egg and tofu stewed in soy sauce.

We chose the pork soup set (RM11.60), a clear sour-ish broth with generous servings of various porky parts (all kinds of offal included) and bits of preserved vegetables - truly a hearty meal, and certainly not for the faint-hearted.

The charcoal-fried hokkien mee (RM9.90), meanwhile, is a clear crowd favourite judging from the stall's number of patrons. This version isn't as oily as expected, is also a tad sweet and you get a pretty decent serving of noodles, pork slices and liver, fish cakes and maybe a shrimp or two.

A generous serving of soft green chendol, tender red beans drizzled with gula Melaka and coconut milk on a bed of shaved ice – life is sweet at Teochew Chendul. – The Malaysian Insider pic, September 2, 2015.5. Teochew Chendul
A generous serving of soft green chendol, tender red beans drizzled with gula Melaka and coconut milk on a bed of shaved ice – life is sweet.

Ending our meal on a high note, we polished off some chendol (RM6.30) from Teochew Chendul located right by the entrance of the food court. This was straightforward teo chew chendol at a more premium price, but we were happy with the generous helping of ingredients and the softness of the green chendol and red beans.

Originating from Penang Road, this franchised outlet also offers durian, ice cream and white coffee chendol, as well as a variety of savoury favourites like rojak, assam laksa and Penang curry mee.

Overall, we like the layout of Eat Food Village. Everything is straightforward and there are no complicated corners or twists and turns. We also like that the food offering is not too varied, and that almost everything there is above average in taste and quality. Helps that there is ample lighting and seating, too. – September 2, 2015.

Eat Food Village| Address: Publika, Jalan Dutamas 1, Solaris Dutamas, 50480 Kuala Lumpur | Opening hours: Daily, 10am-9pm | GPS coordinates: 3.170726, 101.666553| Non-Halal

* All of The Malaysian Insider food reviews are incognito and represent the personal opinions of our merry band of foodies. If you know of any restaurant serving awesome grub and you'd like to share it with the rest of the world, drop us a line with details at [email protected].