Bak Kut Teh @ Leng Zai Bak Kut Teh, Kepong, Kuala Lumpur

Ready for something porky, deep and satisfying? Look no further and let us take you to a part of Kepong that requires more attention. 

Its modest menu

Leng Zai Bak Kut Teh is a BKT restaurant run by 2 young chaps and serving good hearty porky broths is their main focus. Even though there is just one main dish, the variety is interesting and adds more depth than that to your usual porker and soup. And a great way to finish off the last Friday evening of 2018. So consider this a season finale of sorts. 

A sneak peek in from where we sat. 

We arrived about 7pm so it was still quite quiet. However, this place is getting alot of momentum, and expect a reasonably sized crowd about 9 pm. We ordered the mixed dry bak kut teh, a serving of da gu, or big bone, a serving of home made meat balls and a serving of bean curd skin. And of course, BKT cannot be complete without a good pot of tea. 

Dinner has arrived

With the sound of a sizzling claypot at the background, you know that your dinner beckons. Soon enough, we had a few loaded ones packed with flavour. Despite each of them having the similar colour profile of bronze and brown, do not let it fool you. Each dish has a unique element of its own. 

Look how it shines!

The mix dry BKT has the cornucopia of a porker's insides tucked in. You want tripe? No problem. Intestine? Its cavity is stuffed with more intestine! And there usual bits of fatty belly streaks and pig feet. 

Such an amazing morsel. 

The flavour was sweet and intense. And it had a flavour profile more akin to a Three Cup dish like San Pei Chi. There is an earthy back drop but it is complimented with almost liquorice-like kickback. This was devilishly delicious. 

That realisation when you just bitten through a piece of heaven

I particularly liked the intestine as the folds in between became a crevice that the delectable sauce gets trapped in. And explodes when you bite through. 

Old faithful

The old fashion soup is no minor act either. For this one, we had it with the meatballs and the da gu, which is like the pork drumstick. To be more specific for you piggy aficionados, butchers and surgeons out there (you know who you are), its called the hock part from the ham for the pig. The meat was taken off the bone, so it made for a neater munching experience. The meat was flaky and broke apart as you put into your mouth. The fat between the fascia and the skin acted like butter and had a great richness. 

Just amazing

The meatballs were well flavoured too. You can still feel the texture of the meat, and it feels like as though it does not have any fillers. There is a bacon-like aftertaste to each porky parcel and it being sliced into quarters gives it maximum surface area for it to absorb all of that luscious broth. And speaking of the broth, it was some star quality broth.

Some killer broth here. 

It also has a liqourice-like profile, but not as intense as the dry one and has hints of boiled garlic and a walloping of cinnamon. Yet its no lightweight. Like a boxer executing a multi pronged attack to your senses, the bak kut teh broth hits you at all angles. Sweet, salty, savoury, fragrant. It was many hits at once. Unleash the hydra!

Crunch crunch

The fu chuk also needs a special mention. We had it separated from the broth so as to make it crispy and we dunked it in for it to absorb that glorious broth before proceeding. 

The beginning of the end?

Of course, we cannot just waste all that luscious dry BKT gravy and we then got ourselves a bowl of extra rice and dunked it into the claypot. Lets say it was sinfully good, with the oiled rice absorbing every last bit of that gravy. I shall call this the Adelina special, in memory of its creator. 

What a mess! But it cannot be denied it was necessary. And tasty.

With all the extra bits combined together, this was explosive as we thought it would be. It was absolutely delicious.  I think the owners should give us a discount in creating a new dish? Would that be unwise? But then it is not something that is really easy on the eyes, looking more like claypot rice gone wrong. Still tasty though. 

An amazing alternative. 

But wait there is more! If you still love your BKT but you are shying away from rice, then you can order the bak kut teh yee mee. This was also a joy to gobble and slurp, in the event rice does not tickle your fancy. But then how could you? But I digress. 

Front of the house

In the end it was a great night out with some amazing pork dishes. And standing at only RM85 for 4 of us, this was gourmet on a budget. I highly recommend this place and it can compete with some of the better known ones out there. I even dare say it might be better than some of Klang's. And if you do intend to come over, the address is as follows:

31, Jalan 3/62d, Medan Putra Business Centre Kepong, Kuala Lumpur

PS: last but not least, Happy New Year everyone. Thank you for all of your support. It was a great 2018 eating and travelling. Here is to another great year in 2019! Also, thanks to Addy and Kevin in helping me take some of the photos. 

Cheese!