How Do You Improve on a Good Thing?

Add pork.

Or, in the case of Yut Kee, more pork. This Hainanese coffee shop has long served char siew (barbecued pork), breaded pork chops, and roti babi, or 'pork bread' - a wickedly appealing dish involving dough, so-tender-it's-almost-gelatinous shredded pork, onions, Chinese sausage, and a deep fryer.

A couple months ago rolled pork roast was added to the menu. It's a special item, available only on Fridays and Sundays.

The pork roast came about two years ago around Christmas, owner Jack tells us, when the price of turkeys soared through the roof, threatening to sour the family's seasonal catering business (which is run from their restaurant behind Yut Kee, the Boddhi Tree). 'Let's do pork roast instead,' Jack said to his wife Margaret. The roasts were a hit and this last Christmas Jack decided to share the love with Yut Kee customers.

The recipe is Jack's Australia-resident sister-in-law's: take a gorgeous, well-marbled slab of meat, roll it around a thinly spread stuffing of chopped pistachio nuts mixed with salt, pepper, butter, garlic, and sage, tie it up, and pop it in a convection oven for 2.5 hours.

The smell of these burnished beauties precedes their appearance; when they're pulled from the ovens shortly before 11:30am a porky fog envelopes the entire coffee shop. They're carried out on a tray to the front of the restaurant and placed on a folding table between cash register and sidewalk, where they taunt passers-by silly enough not to stop.

Margaret does the carving, carefully making sure that each order receives its due share of crackling, and adding a dollop of housemade apple sauce on the side.

The roast is a lovely-to-look at swirl alternating layers of meat, fat, and a bit of stuffing, moist and tender (takeaway is available, but do yourself a favor and try it, at least once, in the coffee shop, while it's still hot). There's just enough sage in there to scent the meat but not overwhelm its delicate pigginess, and the crackling is so exquisitely crisp it detaches from the meat with the slightest nudge of a fork.

The applesauce, made with white wine, is unfussy and a bit tart, perfect with the rich meat.

A few weeks ago I would have been hard-pressed to imagine myself eagerly digging into a traditional roast on a wiltingly hot Kuala Lumpur morning, but I uncharaceristically followed up my first order with a second. I just may become a Friday regular.

Roast pork, from 11:30a till it runs out (usually by 1pm, says Jack), Fridays and Sundays only, Yut Kee, Jalan Dang Wangi, Kuala Lumpur. Closed the last Sunday of the month.

Comments

[Maggie]

Brilliant. This post makes my soggy bowl of breakfast cereal that I am currently eating pale in comparison. I'd never considered traveling to KL for a pork roast, but now I am seriously considering it.

[Stephanie]

Oh, Yut Kee is a wonder. Here's hoping my January visit wasn't my last!

[My Taste Heaven]

I would try this roast port, your post made me so hungry. Just can't wait for my next visit to KL !

[Vivien]

wow, you made me want to try it... hehe... lots of rich and famous go there, went there today, saw Elaine Daly and an actor from local sitcom-Kopitiam

[Helen]

Oh how I adore the swine! That crackling is such a joy to behold that I just had to comment. I can only dream of one day producing crackling as beautiful as that. Loved 'porky fog'. Mmmm, porky fog.

[Robyn]

Interesting how pork-centric posts always seem to pull in the comments ...

Maggie - there are many, many other things (porky and otherwise) to make a trip to KL for, but any pork lover would be insane to spend time in this town and skip this item.

Stephanie - it is, isn't it? One of the city's treasures.

MTH- well, be sure to schedule your visit to include a Sunday (not the last one of the month) or a Friday. Or maybe both!

Vivien - I'm afraid I probably wouldn't know a rich and famous Malaysian if I saw one but yeah, I've heard that about Yut Kee.

Helen - yes, what is the secret to a crackling like that? I suspect it has something to do with the convection oven?

[Meng]

Apple sauce with roast pork. I am unsure if I would like it. Reminds me of turkey and cranberry sauce which I have never gotten used to. I prefer to stick with savory sauces on any meat dishes except for ketchup on a hamburger.

[J2Kfm]

this is wonderfully lip-smacking stuff.
though some had not taken to it, judging by the reviews.

but roast pork + apple sauce is not something that's easily available, more so in a kopitiam setting!

[Robyn]

Meng - I have never been an apple sauce and roast pork person myself (and I don't like cranberry sauce with turkey either, though I will happily eat cranberry sauce on its own!). The problem with the former, I find, is the applesauce is usually too sweet; it's like eating dessert with your main.
I have to say though that applesauce was just right, because of its tartness. A wee bit on the fork with a chunk of sagey pork was quite good. Some of the pork - and all of the crackling - I enjoyed on its own.

Hi J2Kfm - haven't seen other reviews. My mom made roast pork almost weekly when I was growing up, so I consider myself something of an aficianado. (She doesn't make it anymore because you can't get nice fatty pig like this in the US these days!)

But of course, as with every food - different strokes for different folks.

[Kavey]

Oh my god, that's the most appetising thing I've seen online for ages (and I seem to spend half my life reading foodie blogs). Oh my goodness am I hungry now?!

[Recipe man]

this looks so good. i think the photos add so much. i must say with all the cooking programmes going on TV so few use gloves. and im so happy to see it in your photos..

i hope more people use gloves with food (and i dont mean at home ofcourse)

[meemalee]

The pork at the top reminds me of Hasselback potatoes http://www.nigella.com/recipe/recipe_detail.aspx?rid=309 - you could serve them together for visual fun :)

[Thong Kim Ying]

real shame about the plastic plates....

[agnes sim]

wow...looks great..n ur photos is nice.

[Vincent Wibowo]

Oh my... they look so delicious. I wish I lived close by. I wonder if it's doable at home. Any suggestions on what temperature?

[Pete]

I'm flying up to KL next Thu evening - will probably be at Yut Kee for breakfast first thing on Friday morning: and order the incredible rolled pork roast you wrote about! Also going to look for that donut place in OUG you've mentioned in your previous post. Yum!

[Robyn]

Kavey and agnes - tastes as good as it looks.

Meemalee - now why would I bother cooking pork roast at home with this only a 20-minute drive away.

Recipe man - the lack of gloves use here has never really bothered me, but to each his own!

Vincent - Jack told us 200C for 2.5 hours. I think the convection oven is the secret to that evenly golden, crackly fat.

Pete - please note that pork is not served till 11:30a! And on a Friday especially, try to be there as early as possible. They'll be finished by 1230p or 1 for sure.
Good luck with the donuts.

TKY - for RM10 per serving (that's less than U$3 folks!) you can't expect fine china.

[Snippets of Thyme]

Yep. wickedly beautiful alright! Yum. period.