I've heard about this home cooked wild game meat in Pontian some years ago. Truth be told, I am not a big fan of game meat, so I didn't purposely seek out this place. I have eaten and blogged about a few game meat places in Johor before - they are exotic and interesting for an occasional change, but I still prefer domesticated meat. However, 笨珍三不卖 changed my mind.
笨珍三不卖 is located along Jalan Kukup. It is about 3km from the intersection of Lebuhraya Skudai-Pontian and Jalan Kukup. If you are heading west towards Kukup, 笨珍三不卖 is about 200m further up on your left after passing Masjid Parit (mosque). (If you need help, just ask a local along Jalan Kukup.)
The restaurant, if you can call it that, is just two round tables set up in the veranda of the 莊 Chuang family home. Capacity is about 20 pax at one time.
For over 20 years, Mr. Chuang hunts for game like wild boar, squirrels, deer etc and his wife cooks them for customers at the two tables. Mr. Chuang has retired from hunting now and his hunting kakis now bring in their daily kill for his "restaurant". The game are hunted from the forests near by.
The Chuang's eatery is known as 三不卖 "Three No Sale". 不等不卖, 不熟不卖, 嫌贵不卖. One, if you can't wait, no sale. Two, if you're not a regular, no sale. Three, if you feel food is over priced, no sale. Legend has it that Mr. Chuang was once a food nazi of sorts, but he has mellowed down a lot 😅😄
Two of us, we tried only 3 dishes as 笨珍三不卖 was the third stop of today's food trail.
Our first dish was curry wild boar 咖哩山猪肉. My expectations were lower than my curiosity as my past experience with wild boar was the meat was much leaner and stiffer than domesticated pork.
I was surprised to see a thick layer of fat with the wild boar meat. I got an education in wild boars when I checked with Mr. Chuang. He shared that there are more than 10 species of wild boars and what we were having is known as 西瓜豬 "water melon boar" because of their fatty juicy meat.
The meat was tender and juicy. The skin was softer than chicken skin or even grouper fish skin. The fat was soft and sweet. The sweet spicy curry did not fully mask the natural sweetness of the "water melon boar".
This was the best curry pork that I've ever had - wild boar or domesticated pig. This was at least one notch more tender and juicy, and one notch more in pleasant natural sweetness than the best domesticated curry pork that I've ever had.
We were so engrossed in banter with Mr. Chuang that I only realised that I haven't taken a picture of the red rice wine chicken until we were half way through the dish 😓 This rarely ever happened 😂
The red rice wine chicken 潮州红酒炆甘榜鸡 was made with kampung chicken that was allowed to roam freely in oil palm plantations. Mr. Chuang said that when it is time to eat them, the free ranging birds have to be hunted with rifles (as they are too fast).
The tangy sweet savoury flavour of the blend of red rice wine, soy sauce and oyster sauce was quite robust but I can still taste a bit of the natural chicky taste of the kampung chicken.
I wish 笨珍三不卖 has a kampung chicken dish that allows me to taste the free range bird's natural flavour more fully.
胡椒根豬腳湯 Wild Boar Trotter in Pepper Soup.
The peppery soup was just moderately spicy. The pork trotter was rather lean. The meat here was more fibrous than the curry pork and the skin was springy tender instead of soft. I love the mildly peppery soup and drank it to the last drop.
Our total bill with three dishes, two small bowls of rice, and a pot of tea came to slightly over RM80.
4-Stars (out of 5). I had a memorable meal at 笨珍三不卖 because of the surprisingly delicious curry wild boar (the best ever of any curry pork, wild or farm raised). I also enjoyed chatting with Mr. Chuang about his hunting adventures. The unique feel of eating in the airy veranda of the Chuangs' kampung house added to our pleasure. It's an authentic foodie experience in rural Malaysia. I shall be back to try Mrs. Chuang's other wild game meat dishes.
Restaurant name: 笨珍三不卖野味
Address: Jalan Kukup, Pontian, Johor (about 200m south from Parit Mosque)
GPS: 1°27'28.1"N 103°24'11.8"E | 1.457803, 103.403263
Waze: Spartan Gym
Tel: +6012 765 2782 (as the meat is wild caught, phone booking is ideal)
Hours: 11:00am - 5:00pm
Non Halal
Date visited: 5 May 2018
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Be kind to wild animals!
ReplyDeleteSlaughtering them the humane way in order to eat them isn't being cruel.
DeleteBeing cruel means to ill-treat them while they are alive (hitting or injuring them for sport) and to slaughter them in such a way that they die a painful death.
As long as we don't cause them to suffer eating their meat is not sinful bcs I think God created them for human consumption if indeed a God exists and He did create all things great and small,alive or otherwise in the universe.