Recipe: Lu Rou Fan 滷肉饭 (Taiwanese Braised Pork Rice Bowl)

Lu Rou Fan 滷肉饭 is a much-loved Taiwanese comfort dish. Tender, flavourful bite-sized chunks of braised pork are topped on rice, and served with greens and a boiled egg. A complete meal in a bowl :)

To make this dish, you can use either pork belly or pork neck, which are cut into small chunks. The pork is braised with fried shallots and garlic, dried shrimp, light and dark soy sauce, sugar, Shaoxing wine and spices. Sounds like a lot of ingredients, but these are all staples in a Chinese kitchen. After a hour long of braising, the pork is tender, sweet, savoury and sticky, all at the same time. Extremely tasty and so easy to make!

Lu Rou Fan

Lu Rou Fan 滷肉饭 (Taiwanese Braised Pork Rice Bowl)
Recipe by Baby Sumo
Preparation time: 5-10 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
Serves 4

Ingredients
500g pork neck (or pork belly), cut into 1cm x 2.5cm chunks
1 tbsp cooking oil
1 shallot, sliced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp dried shrimp, soaked for 1 hour and chopped
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp Shaoxing wine
1 tbsp caster sugar
2 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
1/8 tsp ground white pepper
1/2 cup water
4 boiled eggs, peeled (optional)


1. In a heavy-based pot, heat the oil over medium high heat. Fry the shallots and garlic for 2-3 minutes until golden brown, and then remove and set aside.

2. Add the pork neck chunks to the pot and brown evenly, for about 3-4 minutes.

3. Add in the dried shrimp, star anise, cinnamon stick, white pepper and caster sugar and saute for about 1 minute.

4. Add in the shallot, garlic, light and dark soy sauce, Shaoxing wine and water and bring to the boil. Cover and reduce to low heat, and braise for about 30 minutes, until the pork is tender and the sauce is thick. If you are adding boiled egg, you can add it in now. Simmer for another 15 minutes.

After 45 minutes

5. Serve with white rice and greens such as spinach or choy sum.

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10 Must-Try Dishes at Din Tai Fung Malaysia

Congratulations to Din Tai Fung Malaysia, who are celebrating 10 years of success in Malaysia. Din Tai Fung, which originates from Taiwan, was originally founded as cooking oil retail shop in 1958 and was transformed in 1972 to a restaurant serving xiao long bao and noodles. Now it has over 140 branches in Australia, China, Dubai, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia and many more, delighting customers with a taste of Taiwanese cuisine.

Since its inception here in 2007, with their first ever outlet in The Gardens Mall, Din Tai Fung has grown and now operates seven outlets in Malaysia; 4 in Klang Valley and 1 each at Penang, Johor Bahru and Genting.

In conjunction with this 10th Year Anniversary, I've collated a list of the 10 Must-Try dishes at Din Tai Fung Malaysia.

1. Din Tai Fung House Special Appetizer

Tangy and spicy with lots of different textures, this is guaranteed to whet your appetite. This dish consists of seaweed, beansprout, dry beancurd and glass noodles (tang hoon) tossed in chilli oil.

Price: RM8.60.


2. Shanghai Kao Fu

Kao Fu is a popular Shanghainese vegetarian cold appetizer. Made from wheat gluten, it is braised in a sweet and savory sauce so it's packed full of flavour. It is served together with black fungus (mok yee), Chinese mushrooms and edamame.

Price: RM10.10.


3. Shaoshing Wine Marinated Chicken

Served cold, the chicken thigh is marinated in Shaoshing wine. The meat is tender while the skin is crunchy with a distinctive Chinese wine taste.

Price: RM19.90.


4. Crispy Prawn Cake 

This is similar to the deep fried beancurd roll that we like having when we're doing dim sum. Minced prawn and pork are wrapped in the beancurd roll and deep fried to crispy perfection.

Price: RM17.80


5. Xiao Long Bao

The name Din Tai Fung is synonymous with xiao long bao (steamed Shanghainese dumplings). Look around and you will see at least one basket of this on every table. There are 5 types of xiao long bao which you can try: the original pork (RM14.20 for 6), crab roe and pork (RM20.80 for 6), chicken (RM14.20 for 6), truffle and pork (RM56 for 6), and crab roe and chicken (RM21.30 for 6). You can also order them in baskets of 10 or 3 (for the truffle and pork version).

Each xiao long bao is hand pleated with 18 folds; you can watch the chefs in action in the open kitchen at the front of the restaurant. The way to eat it is to mix the julienned ginger with 1 part soy and 3 parts vinegar, dipping the xiao long bao in the sauce and eating it with the ginger. If you're a newbie to xiao long bao, we would recommend the Original pork for the authentic experience.

If you'd like something richer, try the crab roe and pork, or go all out with the decadent truffle and pork version. Each truffle xiao long bao contains a blend of black and white truffle, topped with truffle oil to complement the flavours of the pork.

There is even a dessert version with chocolate filling (RM14.20 for 6 pcs), for those with a sweet tooth.

To celebrate Din Tai Fung's 10 year anniversary, a Din Tai Fung environmental bag will be given out for purchase of xiao long bao (6 pcs).

Price: Depending on xiao long bao filling (see above).


6. Fragrant Spring Onion & Shredded Pork Dry Noodle

Diners can choose from a variety of different toppings, whether they want it dry or in soup for the la mian (Chinese pulled noodle) dish. This Fragrant Spring Onion & Shredded Pork Dry Noodle originates from Din Tai Fung in China and is now served in most DTF around the world. It looks deceptively simple but once tossed and served, you'll know why it's so popular with diners - smooth strands of noodles are coated in a flavourful, fragrant sauce.

Price: RM20.70.



7. Pork Chop & Shrimp Fried Rice

What we like about the fried rice here at Din Tai Fung is that it is full of wok hei and the amount of prawn in it is so generous. With every spoonful of rice, you will encounter a huge, plump prawn with a wonderfully crunchy texture. That's what I like to see in my fried rice ;) The pork chop is also tender and juicy. Hugely satisfying!

Price: RM37.50


8. Prawn with Salted Egg

If you're a fan of salted egg (like we are), you'd love this! Fresh and juicy prawns are coated in salted egg and deep fried - so sinful, so good!

Price: RM27.10 (S), RM44.40 (L)



9. Stir fried amaranth with shimeji mushroom

A new dish on the menu, order this to meet your vegetable quota for the day. Again, this looks simple and homely but is executed well. I especially like the subtle fragrance of the garlic with each mouthful.

Price: RM28.80

Another popular vegetable these days is the royale chive, which is stir fried with beansprouts and garlic here (RM26.80).

10. Mini Golden Custard Egg Bun

Made from duck eggs, the golden custard egg lava is rich and decadent. Once you've had one of these, it will stay in your memory forever as one of the best things you've ever eaten. Watch this fun Instagram video of the bun.

Price: RM9.30 for 3.


Thanks Din Tai Fung Malaysia for having us!

Opening times: 10am to 10pm daily.

Location: Din Tai Fung, Lot LG-207, Lower Ground Floor, The Gardens, Mid Valley City, Lingkaran Syed Putra, 59200 Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03-2283 2292

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Taiwan Spicy Noodle House, Paradigm Mall

Taiwan Spicy Noodle House is a casual eatery, with a menu specializing in all things noodles. You have to order and pay at the counter, and then they will serve the noodles to your table once it is ready. The menu comprises of three types of noodles, namely signature series (non-spicy), spicy series, and pickled cabbage, as well as bento sets (rice), side dishes and drinks.

Since we already had lunch and this was our teatime snack, we ordered one non-spicy noodle for the kids and one spicy one for us to share. However, we ended up eating both (haha kids were more interested in their drink) and skipped dinner. You can choose to have the noodles plain, dry or soup, or with toppings such as the wantan, fried wantan, chicken chop or pork chop.

For the spicy one, you have the option of having it "spicy" or "super spicy"...  we went for spicy as we're told it is quite hot. I think my mouth would not have survived if we had the super spicy one. But as you know, spicy food is damn addictive... although we were crying inside, we just couldn't stop eating LOL!

The spicy noodles, also known as xiang la mian is as advertised, both fragrant and spicy! It is topped with red chilli oil. The noodle itself was good, very smooth with a nice texture. The spicy one is definitely the way to go, if you can take the heat. We ended up mixing both the spicy and non-spicy  noodles together, and the spiciness then was more tolerable for me. Both noodles were topped with some crispy topping (I think its deep fried wantan skin and garlic). Overall, a very good bowl of noodles.

Spicy dry noodles (RM7.80)

Signature dry noodles (RM6.80)

We also had some side dishes, the fried wantan (RM7.80) as well as the spicy wantan (RM8.80). We felt that the side dishes were a tad expensive for 3 pieces, however they tasted good. Both wantans come with prawn and meat filling.

BabySumoKids had the lemon tea (RM4.80). They are currently having a promotion - RM1 for drinks with every order of noodles. We would definitely come back for the spicy noodles!

Serves Pork.

Service: Fast.

Price: Total bill RM41.

Location: Taiwan Spicy Noodle House, Lot 36, Level LG, Paradigm Mall, No 1 Jalan SS7/26A, Kelana Jaya, 47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor. (near Tesco)

Tel: 03-7886 2590

GPS Coordinates: 3.105116, 101.596059


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Pearl milk tea @ Ochado, Sri Petaling, KL

There's bubbles in my tea..bubbles in my tea..

No longer a bubble tea virgin...

For the uninitiated, bubble tea or pearl milk tea is a tea drink that originated from Taichung, Taiwan in the 1980s. I remember it being popular when I was in my teens, and in the last year we have seen a popularity resurgence. Ochado is a brand originating from Japan.

Ochado opened its doors in Sri Petaling on 12 May. For 1 week only, they are running a Buy 1 Free 1 promotion, whereby you can choose any drinks from the menu and get a free drink from a list of 3 drinks. After a satisfying spicy chilli pan mee lunch at Super Kitchen, we walked over to have some milk tea at Ochado.

The ambiance at the Sri Petaling outlet was quite nice and at the back of the store, there is a clothes boutique too. Unfortunately no complimentary wifi here or else it's a great place to enjoy the milk tea and chill. :(

I had the Okinawa Milk Tea (RM4.90 for regular plus RM1 for pearls) while Hubby had the Ochado's Milk Tea (RM4.90 for regular plus RM1 for pearls). Here at Ochado, you can choose the sugar level of your drinks - from 0% to 100% - I chose 100% since I like my tea sweet and it was just nice for me. Out of the two, I prefer the Okinawa Milk tea cos it tastes milkier, whereas Ochado Milk Tea has a hint of bitterness. The pearls are quite nice and addictive to chew on. Personally, I found it a little too diluted towards the end, so I threw away at least 1/4 cup.

We also ordered a slice of vanilla mille crepe (RM9.90) to share. Not the best we've had, but it was nonetheless delicious. Towards the end, we were fighting for the last mouthful LOL.

Vanilla mille crepe

Ochado is invading KL - earlier this week they opened an outlet at SS2 and they will also be opening in MidValley (North Court- 1st Floor) on 20th May. They also have outlets in Tokyo Street (Pavilion KL), Setapak, Sunway Pyramid, Kota Damansara and Puchong. Full addresses here.

Our lunch at Super Kitchen chilli pan mee.  You can read our review here. 

Sunrise earlier that day

A new addition to our orchid collection

Dusk

Join their Facebook page for latest updates and promos.

Full set of photos available to view here. 

Location: Ochado, 103, Jalan Radin Bagus, Bandar Baru Sri Petaling, 57000 KL, Malaysia. (next to 7-11)

GPS Coordinates: 3.06997, 101.692007

Japan Combo II @ Snowflake Taiwanese Dessert, Pavilion KL

I've never really caught on to the Taiwanese bubble tea (Chatime/Gong Cha etc) or desserts hype. However, after a satisfying hot ramen lunch in Pavilion KL, we walked past Snowflake and finally gave in to this Taiwanese dessert.

Been there, done that...

Japan Combo II (RM6.90)

Snowflake is very popular in KL, it has over 8 branches in/around KL now. All ingredients in the dessert are natural and handmade with no artificial flavourings and preservatives, i.e. the grass jelly, soya bean milk, taroballs and bean toppings.

We ordered the Japan Combo II (RM6.90) from their Memorable Series, which was made up of soya ice, ocha balls, red bean and baby pearl. As soon as we placed our order, we were given one of this "beeping UFO".  Basically, it will vibrate when your order is ready and you can collect your dessert at the collection counter. We barely sat down and our UFO vibrated already - talk about efficiency. LOL.

I liked all the toppings, especially the ocha taroballs and black pearl, both with a nice chewy texture. The soya ice however was not sweet enough for me, apparently one can request for the creamer - will have to do that if I ever order this again.

And just before I embarked on my first Snowflake experience, I had this..... yes, it's none other than my favorite ramen, Hokkaido Santouka Ramen (see previous post here and here). I feel that their cha siu has improved during this visit. And the flavoured egg is the bomb (noone in KL does it as nice)!

Shio ramen (ordered medium portion this time since I was greedy!)

Nice cha siu

Flavoured egg (RM2)

Full set of photos available to view here.

Opening times: 10.00am to 10.00pm daily.

Service: Good.

Location: Snowflake, Lot P.4.01.00, Level 4, Pavilion KL, 168 Jalan Bukit Bintang, 55100 Kuala Lumpur. (near Padini Concept Store)

Website: http://www.snowflake.com.my

Taiwanese Cuisine @ New Formosa Restaurant, SS2, Petaling Jaya

Prawns so good, we even ate the shells!

Are you counting down the days to Chinese New Year? Only 6 more days to go! Recently, we were invited by Mrs Jeanie Lee of New Formosa Restaurant in PJ to sample their Chinese New Year menu. New Formosa serves authentic Taiwanese cuisine ( Jeanie is Taiwanese and her husband-chef trained in Taiwan). I have only eaten the occasional Taiwanese meal in Fong Lye / Din Tai Fung, so my knowledge on Taiwanese cuisine is pretty limited BUT I do know when the food tastes good (regardless of the type of cuisine)! The food here was prepared in a simple manner, but was very good. 

Plus if you take into consideration the price, I would say a CNY meal here is good value for money. There are various menus to choose from, and within each set you also get options of dishes (don't think many places offer that) -- prices range from RM338 to RM498 nett for 10 persons. We had the opportunity to sample the RM498 nett set.

Formosan jelly fish yee sang

New menu with photos of food!

  

Pickled vegetable to whet the appetite

 We started with the obligatory CNY yee sang -- the version here contains both jellyfish and salmon. We tossed to even more wealth and better health.

God of Wealth, are you watching?

Colorful

Tossing and eating is the best part!

The RM498 nett menu consists of 8-courses plus 2 desserts. We started with the pineapple spare ribs and butter eel. OMG I love the eel.. the texture was so buttery with a crisp exterior, I certainly had my fair share of this. The sauce for the ribs was nice but the meat was a bit hard to get off the bones (I need to use my hands next time!).

Delicious, buttery eel

 For this menu, shark's fin soup with crab meat and bamboo pith will be served, however we changed ours to the fish skin with shredded vegetables and lean meat broth. The fish skin was hand carried back from Taiwan. Thick and smooth, it shows we don't need shark's fin to make a soup taste good.

Wholesome soup

Next up, is the steamed village chicken with yam and vegetable. Other options include braised pig's trotters in black pepper sauce or simmered herbal chicken with chestnuts. Steamed just right, the chicken is served with a ginger sauce and the chicken meat was juicy. The yam also had a nice bite to it, not too mushy or soft.

 This has to be my favorite of the evening, the grilled garlic prawns. So simple but perfectly executed -- I even ate the shells as the flavours are all in there!

Fish, a must-have during Chinese New Year dinners as they signify abundance. The silver pomfret can either be deep fried (Taiwanese home style cooking) or steamed (HK/Teochew style). We were served the deep fried version, then a savoury sauce made from Taiwanese soy sauce is poured over the fish. The skin was very crisp, while retaining the moist flesh.

The roasted pork with two kinds vegetable was next on the list. The brocolli was still crunchy and I enjoyed the oyster mushrooms which was cooked with the siew yoke. Didn't eat much of the siew yoke since I was pretty full by now. For a vegetarian option, you can go for the fried lotus root, green peas, gingko nuts and pumpkin.

The Taiwan Hakka bamboo rice was fragrant and full of ingredients such as yam. If you prefer noodles, you can order the Fried Noodles Taiwanese style which comes with pork, pig's tripe and shrimps!

Although we were already stuffed, Jeanie also ordered one of their signature dishes for us (not included in the CNY menu) -- the Famous Hunan Ham in Honey Sauce (RM42 for medium). I would liken the taste and texture to that of bak kwa, sweet and savoury at the same time and was perfect eaten with the deep fried Chinese silver bread. We were told that this dish takes approximately 3 hours to prepare!

For dessert, we had Taiwanese muachi (coated with peanuts), Taiwan traditional Aiyu jelly with black pearls and sweet yam in honey sauce Taiwanese style. The Aiyu jelly was lovely after a heavy meal, since it was very refreshing owing to the fresh lemon used in the drink. The sweet yam's preparation process was pretty cool to watch -- yam pieces are coated with honey and sesame seeds and then plunge into ice water and the caramel hardens into a delightful candy coating.

Taiwanese muachi (RM4)

Aiyu jelly (RM3.50)

Sweet yam (RM7 for small)

Thanks to Mrs Jeanie Lee for the kind invite, we certainly enjoyed our meal here. If only the roads to PJ was not so congested all the time!

The CNY menu is available until 6 February 2012. For more info, visit their website.

Full set of photos available to view here. 

Location: New Formosa Restaurant, 46 Jalan SS2/24, 47300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

Tel: 03-7875 1894

GPS Coordinates: 3.114216, 101.621078

*This is an invited review, i.e. complimentary.