Fish Balls To Go Nuts Over

Blink and you'll miss it.

Kuak Nyuk Loong, a dimly lit shotgun shack practically stapled to the wall of an aging building, doesn't advertise its presence. One gets the feeling, what with the sign prominently displayed inside the shop (and thus barely visible from the street) and the camouflaging forest of potted trees and bushes placed at the perimeter, that this operation isn't looking for fresh customers.

It doesn't need them, as we learn on a recent Sunday afternoon. This part of Kuala Lumpur, a pocket of surviving colonial shophouses at the edge of a forest of office towers, is eerily deserted on weekend days, yet there's a steady stream of cars jockeying for position outside KNL's entrance. At 2 o'clock this somewhat stuffy venue is still heaving with customers, and the staff are taking and filling eat-in and takeaway orders at warp speed.

The reason? Have a gander up top. Kuak Nyuk Loong is fish ball HQ.

In general I'm not a huge fish ball fan. Oh, I can appreciate the artistry involved in crafting a pleasing piscene orb that doesn't bounce like a Super Ball or smoosh like a marshmallow. I don't have anything against fish balls. I just don't crave them.

Until now. KNL's balls are a revelation. Note the texture, the shallow dimpling and stippling that tells us that these globes are made by hand rather than machine, from food instead of food products. Firm and springy yet - somehow - at the same time soft and almost fluffy, these tasties boast a fishy aroma that screams "fresh!!" They arrive in a light but not at all weak chickeny broth, ten to a bowl. And they grace every table in the joint.

The limited menu here is a bit of a hodgepodge. Most patrons, when they're not bobbing for fish balls, are slurping from plates of 'dry' (rather than soup) noodles in garlicky, greasy (lardy, perchance?) soy sauce. Kuey teow (semi wide, flat rice noodles) are popular but we're told they're sold out (as we leave we observe a huge pile of kuey teow in the glass case - what's up with that?) and settle for a mix of yellow mee and meehoon. Capped with a generous mound of browned shallots, the dish is a shoveller - especially when charged up with a hit of the house's hot and limey (if alarmingly neon-hued) chili sauce.

Cool, soy saucy chicken - cooked just barely past the red point, silky and tender - is arranged on a bed of cucumbers and topped with fried shallots, coriander sprigs, and green onions. It's delightful, but not especially distinguishable from that served by other Hainan-style chicken specialists, so next time I'll skip it in favor of a double, perhaps a triple, order of this:

yong tauhu, firm tofu stuffed with a pellet of tasty fish paste and deep-fried. These thick-skinned, chewy soybean squares are inexplicably absent of grease. Served in a warm soy-based sauce, they're juicy little numbers - not soggy, but soaked through. En guarde, for every bite is accompanied by a potentially shirt-staining spurt.

Come for the balls, stay for the tofu. And then another order of balls. Not the easiest eatery in KL to find, but well worth the effort.

Update: This stall is closed and, as of September 9, 2006 the building and its neighbors was in the process of being demolished or rehabbed, not sure which. No word on if the shop has reopened and, if so, where. Sorry!

Kuak Nyuk Loong, Jalan Raja Abdullah at the corner of Jalan Yap Ah Shak, 1 block from Jalan Dang Wangi. Morning till around 3. Closed Mondays.

Comments

[Hsien]

Great article again Robyn.

The way you describe the food just overflows with appreciation and enthusiasm.

The photos are also so well done.
They always makes me feel hungry.

Cheers

[boo_licious]

I thought they had shifted or will be shifting soon since their landlord wants to rent the place to someone else instead - chk with Mau as the landlord is her friend.

[Robyn]

Thanks Hsien!

boo, mau confirms will happen at some point. I'll try to update the post if they move.

[bayi]

Like you Robyn, I am not a fishball afn. But this is the only place that I will go to for fishballs. And they ain't cheap. My friend and I go there occasionally and the usual fare (the works, minus the chicken but substituted with braised pork) isn't enough to fill our stomachs. So we order one more helping to be shared. And the bill is usually between RM25 and RM30! But this is one of the best places yet. The shop shifted from another corner near its current location several years ago,

[Erina]

Any info where they have shifted to ?
Kuak Nyuk Loong Fish ball.
I went there a couple of week ago (after almost 3 months)
and found out that they shifted.

Appreciate if you could check it out.

Cheers,
Erina

[Benjamin Ong]

I went there a few days ago and confirmed that they have shifted. No luck asking around the neighbours. The man has been around for nearly half a decade and its a shame if he's disappeared. I even have a photo of the man cradling me with my parents when I was 2 months old at their previous lot which is now Wisma Kurnia.

Any idea where have they shifted to? Can someone email me if you have answers to benjamin.ong@ukf.net please.

[Erina]

Appreciate if anyone has information about the current
location of Kuak Nyuk Loong Fish ball to drop me
a note at erinaheights@gmail.com

Cheers,
Erina.
31st July 2006.

[sailorsim]

don't know if anyone's still interested, but this fishball stall has sort of been reborn at another kopitiam in SS2; at the opposite end of the shoplots where Kayu Nasi Kandar/Chow Yang is.

the stall is manned by the younger man now, though. taste-wise, i'd say it's still ok.

[Sylvia]

The fish ball noodle is open and managed by one of the owner's sister at one of the hawker centre next to chow yang restaurant. You can actually still see 2 familiar faces there. As for your curiosity, to answer it no news for the shop to be back on business. Yet to be confirmed.

[Dan]

Thank you very much for the update! I didn't expect to find his new stall here. Very nice of you Sylvia and Sailorsim.

So this is the 3rd gen running the biz now? The father was doing delivery when his father was running the biz 50 years ago. My dad used to play soccer at the field behind pudu raya and ah loong would join while passing by delivering noodle. This was when they were all teenagers.