We finally went for dinner at Uncle Pou Wok's parent shop at Permas Jaya in JB. We had been wanting to come here since having a good lunch at Pou Wok Lou's Mount Austin branch 4 years ago.
I like the casual atmosphere at Pou Wok Lou with tables and chairs spilling onto the pavement - something quite common at popular restaurants in Malaysia.
Uncle Pou Wok has branches in Mount Austin, Impian Emas and Bukit Indah - this simple no air con shop lot in Permas Jaya is the first Uncle Pou Wok restaurant, founded over 20 years ago. Many of the customers here are long time regulars.
This outlet is now run by Uncle Pou Wok's daughter who is very friendly to customers. Middle age service staff were also cheerful and helpful. (Uncle Pou Wok is retired and no longer regular in the restaurant.)
The first thing we must order at Pou Wok Lou is their signature KL Hokkien mee or Tai Lok Meen 大碌面.
Uncle Pou Wok's rendition is less salty and less lardy than the most hard core KL versions but it still has robust well balanced savoury sweet flavours which many like (including myself).
Uncle Pou Wok's tai lok meen (fat noodles) are tender and have a nice soft springy bounce to the bite. They were well enveloped with layers of savouriness complemented by lardiness, caramelised garlic and subtle sweetness which I like. Springy tender strips of dry sotong added their characteristic savoury taste to the noodles. The noodles were well seared though I can't detect wok hei toastiness.
We requested for extra pork fat cracklings but they already ran out.
Ku Lou Yuk - lightly battered pork cubes deep fried and tossed in savoury sweet tangy sauce.
Nicely done, tender inside, crisp outside, well coated with balanced moderately strong flavours.
鱼头炉 Fish Head Steamboat is one of Uncle Pou Wok's signatures.
The full body cloudy soup was robustly salty savoury sourish sweet, with salty sourish taste dominant.
There were large meaty boney chunks of grouper fish head but they were not as fresh as I like today.
Love Uncle Pou Wok's bitter gourd stir fried with salt egg and garlic. The thin slices of bitter gourd were crunchy, juicy and sweet.
They were well coated with mild salted egg savouriness and complemented by subtle garlic heat.
Nice stir fried crunchy, juicy fresh greens with garlic.
We couldn't leave Pou Wok Lou without a second helping of their KL Hokkien mee. They were as enjoyable as any that I have tried in KL or JB.
Restaurant: Uncle Pou Wok 补锅佬菜馆 (Permas Jaya)
Address: 44, Jalan Permas 9/2, Bandar Baru Permas Jaya, Masai, Johor
GPS: 1°29'58.1"N 103°49'08.5"E 🌐 1.499479, 103.819034
Hours: 11:30 am to 2:30 pm | 5:30 pm to 9:30 pm
Non Halal
Date visited: 22 Oct 2018
My friend William brought us to Uncle Pou Wok 补锅佬菜馆 in Mount Austin. William and his family are fans and regular customers at all of Uncle Pou Wok's branches including in Bukit Indah and Permas Jaya.
Inside Uncle Pou Wok, the decor was bare bones but the place was clean and neat. It was also air conditioned, so it was very comfortable though not luxurious.
Uncle Pou Wok's son Mr. 許 now run the three outlets with other relatives, at Mount Austin, Bukit Indah and Permas Jaya.
Today, as there were only three of us, we tried only the KL Hokkien mee, kampung chicken and salted egg bitter gourd.
KL Hokkien Mee 吉隆坡福建面 (large portion RM15).
Uncle Pou Wok's KL Hokkien mee was excellent.
The bouncy spongy thick yellow noodles tai lok mee 大碌面 were smothered in a slimy coat of hot lard and savoury sweet dark soy based sauce.
It was delicious.
The wok hei and flavours weren't as intense as the best full blown charcoal fried ones in Kuala Lumpur, perhaps to cater to local palates.
There were quite a few pieces of these crunchy aromatic flavourful fresh lard crackles buried in the mound of piping hot 大碌面 tai lok noodles.
Pou Wok's KL Hokkien mee is served with this homemade sambal chili. It had a hot sting with nice savoury and tangy notes. Though excellent, I used little of it as I wanted to savour the taste of lard coated tai lok mee with little distractions.
Maybe not equal to the best charcoal fried Hokkien mee in KL (even there, there are only just one or two top notch ones left), but this was certainly among the best Hokkien mee one can find anywhere.
So now we in Johor and Singapore can have an excellent KL style Hokkien mee without travelling to Kuala Lumpur.
山芭菜园鸡 Poached Kampung Chicken (half chicken RM22).
The simple tender poached kampung chicken relied only on the chicken's natural sweetness for flavour, and that was more than good enough.
The kampung chicken had an attractive yellow colour skin and very little fat.
The kampung chicken run free range in oil palm plantations in Kota Tinggi and kept indoors only at night for their protection. (Otherwise, the chicken will be eaten by snakes, dogs and civet cats at night.)
The ginger and spring onion dip was good too but I needed very little of it. To me, the chicken is best on it's own.
Stir Fried Bitter Gourd with Salted Egg 苦瓜炒咸蛋 (large portion RM15).
The thinly sliced fresh bitter gourd were stir fried in salted egg yolk, dried shrimps and garlic. I love this dish of crunchy refreshing bitter gourd flavoured by savoury salted egg yolk, dried shrimps (hae bee) and fried garlic. There was not even the slightest hint of bitterness in the crunchy gourd at all.
We wanted to try Uncle Pou Wok's steamed fish lips but it was sold out that day :( Uncle Pou Wok cut the lips off the fresh fish heads delivered to the restaurant to make this special dish everyday. I must come back for this :D
If you are a fish head person, remember to order steamed fish lips. I haven't tried it myself but I think this one can't go wrong as long as it is fresh :D
Uncle Pou Wok 补锅佬菜馆 is a good place to have quality Malaysian dishes at reasonable prices.
Restaurant: Uncle Pou Wok 补锅佬菜馆 (Mount Austin branch)
Address: 105, Jalan Mutiara Emas 10/19 Taman Mount Austin, Johor, Malaysia (branches in Taman Bukit Indah and Permas Jaya)
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/56M4Y
GPS: 1.555114,103.783566
Hours: 11:30 am to 3:00 pm | 5:30 pm to 9:30 pm
Non Halal
Date visited: 5 Sep 2014
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Nothing fantastic.
ReplyDeleteCould you recommend another restaurant for us to try? Thanks.
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