Footsteps - Jotaro's Travels: YummY! - Siew Ngap Fai Roast Goose & Duck (燒鴨肥餐室)

Thursday, September 20, 2012

YummY! - Siew Ngap Fai Roast Goose & Duck (燒鴨肥餐室)

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YummY! Jotaro's Food Review
ROAST GOOSE & DUCK @ SIEW NGAP FEI RESTAURANT(燒鴨肥餐室)

Pudu, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

At the end of a recent bicycle ride (see Ampang Yong Tau Foo Ride), we stopped at this place to savor their renown Kuala Lumpur's roast goose, roast duck and other goodies. Some call it Siew Ngap Fei (per their FaceBook page) and others Siew Ngap Fai.

It doesn't matter which one they are called, just mention Siew Ngap (meaning roast duck) and many will tell you where they are and how delicious they food is.

The stall at the front say simply "Famous Roast Stuf" with the words "Duck, Chicken & Goose' below. But this belies the full fare that they sell, there are more, much more.

Other than the "Roasted Stuff", they also serve stewed Pig's Trotters .....

..... Stewed Tofu with Pig's Large Intestines .....

..... and "Kiam Chai Ngap", that is salted vegetable soup, with all the balance duck, chicken, pork added in for a zingy flavorful stock .....

..... and this delicious looking curry chicken .....

..... Stewed Pork with Pig's Stomach and eggs .....

..... Spicy "Achad" Vegetable Salad.

The place was fairly crowded and more customers were coming in, so we quickly made our order before more people came in, it was simple, we ordered everything on the menu! Greedy pigs aren't we?

The roast duck came first, it was good with just a hint of fat below the skin. The skin itself was well roasted with the outer layer slightly crispy, and in overall giving a good bite. The meat itself was tender and just adequately salty with the strong taste & smell of the duck coming through.

The roast goose came next. Just like the duck it was sumptuous, with well cooked skin and meat. Now then, how can we tell goose from duck? Firstly, the goose being bigger will have chunkier meat and bigger drumsticks. The meat is slightly paler than that of the duck, and the flavor & smell not don't come over as strongly.

The barbecued pork was heavenly with a good balance of fat & lean meat.

It was slightly burnt on the outside to give it a hint of bitterness and at the same time concentrating the taste of the seasoning. The oily fat meat enhances the tenderness of the lean meat.

The stewed salted vegetable? Now this is an interesting dish! First a soup is made by boiling all the left-over parts of the "roasted stuff", i.e. neck, legs, bones, etc. with some spices This creates a good stock for adding the salted vegetables into. From this one can imagine how flavorful this dish is. Some dried chilli is then added to give it some sting. Overall something YummY!

The curry chicken surprising turned out quiet well, considering that it is cooked by a Chinese. This is the rendang curry, with the curry being thicker - a good gravy for adding to white rice.

The stewed Pig Trotters was also marvelous, being boiled just long enough for the meat and skin to be tender, and not overly long to make the gravy gelatinously thick. The gravy stock has also seeped well into the meat.

The stewed tofu was a dish to offset the strong taste and flavor of the others. It was soft on the inside with the skin fried to a slight crispiness. The gravy used was a light one making it overall a dish of lightness.

I just found one dish not to my satisfaction - the spicy mixed "achad" salad. Other than the cucumber, the rest of the vegetables were cut to finely instead of in thick strips. This makes them lose their crunchiness. Also the grounded ground nuts were missing and the sauce a bit blend with inadequate oiliness. But then I am of a Baba-Nyona heritage and as this dish is a Nyonya dish, my expectations for this dish could be higher that that of others. I guess it was made to suit the local palate.

Siew Ngap Fai has long history to bolster its reputation. The business has been around since 1945 (that's close to tp 70 years to perfect their dishes), and Michael Chow the present operator is the fourth generation to provide us with their delicious meals.