We drove a hundred kilometres from Johor Bahru to Yong Peng to look for Foo Chow food in Malaysia's Little Fuzhou. We found it at Fook Chew Restaurant 永平福州餐馆 along Yong Peng's only main street, Jalan Besar.
Fook Chew 永平福州餐馆 is a typical, simple Malaysian style shop lot restaurant. It has a laid back, sleepy, rustic feel especially after the busier lunch hour.
Yeah, this is a pre-social media photo wall 😄 The restaurant has no door - owner's family, neighbours, acquaintances, and customers just saunter in casually, sometimes to eat and more often just to chill. It's the proverbial small town life many city folks long for.
Owner chef Mdm Ker has been running Fook Chew restaurant for over thirty years. She cooks everything herself. For me, any restaurant where the boss personally cooks.... I like liao (Singlish for already).
Eating at Fook Chew Restaurant is like being friendly Mdm Ker's house guests. She enjoys chatting with customers. Once in a while she disappears into the kitchen to cook the orders and then come back to continue the conversation 😄 That's something I like about small town dining which I cannot get in big cities as anonymous first time customers.
The menu is on the wall, as they often are in such Malaysia shop lot restaurants. It's all varieties of Fuzhou noodles, mee suah, rice, meat and vegetable dishes - exactly why we came to Yong Peng for.
So many choices, we just went along with Mdm Ker's suggestions. Easy peasy... .
The quintessentially Hock Chew red yeast rice chicken (ang chow chicken) 福州红糟鸡. As you know, Fuzhou people often use fermented red yeast rice in their cuisine.
Mdm Ker is quite light handed with her flavours. The sauce was gently savoury sweet with a bit of underly tanginess characteristic of fermented red yeast rice. The sauce slightly influenced the taste of the tender pieces of chicken though it didn't infused its fibres.
Sweet and sour pork ribs with dried fish maw 鱼鳔排骨 - not really a Fuzhou dish but we got this on Mdm Ker's recommendation. Turns out, this was one of our favourites of the day.
The battered fried pork pieces were wet with sauce outside but still had a bit of residual crisp. The pork inside was tender and juicy. The flavours were a nice blend of savoury sweetness.
Fermented red yeast rice fried rice 红糟炒饭. Though it looked maroon red from the fermented red yeast rice, the white rice sweetness dominate with a bit of rice yeast rice taste underlying. The fried anchovies added a bit of crispy crunch and salty savouriness for balance.
Of course must have the iconic fermented red yeast rice mee suah 红糟面线 which is Foo Chow style rice noodles in a red yeast rice broth with pieces of chicken. Again, gentle on the taste bud. Eat the noodles quickly as soaking in the soup softens them.
Foo Chow fried noodles 福州炒面 is another quintessential Fuzhou dish. Fat Foo Chow style yellow noodles wok fried with pork slices, shrimps and blend of dark savoury sauce. By now, we know the mild flavours of Mdm Ker's dishes.
黄金马尼菜 Yellow Gold Sayur Manis, fancy name for sayur manis vegetable stir fried with eggs and topped with fried anchovies. Sayur manis is one of my favourite greens and pleasant way to eat my vitamins 😄
Fuzhou fish ball soup 福州鱼丸汤.
Fuzhou fish balls filled with marinated minced pork like a dumpling.
When I saw bottles of VSOP here and there in the shop, my first thought was "don't play play, this humble restaurant is atas (high class) one....".
No lah, they are actually used VSOP bottles filled with rice wine.
You see, Mdm Ker's cooking is like mum's. She is not thinking about impressing you, knocking your soaks off by overloading her dishes with assertive pronounced flavours. She just thinks of giving you a nice meal with familiar recipes and methods handed down through the generations. So, the flavours are gentler, milder and truth be told, a touch light handed for my coarse taste buds.
But hence, she has these bottles of house made rice wine which you can add to your heart's content, spice up your food and pander to your preferences. In the end, I used just one dash in my share of Fuzhou mee suah but enjoyed all of the other dishes without adding anything.
Information for you 👌 When you need a pit stop between Singapore/ JB and Malacca/ KL, pull into Yong Peng. There are a few traditional Foo Chow restaurants you can try during your driving break. You can give Fook Chew Restaurant 永平福州餐馆 a try - it is just along Jalan Besar, Yong Peng's only main road. Feels good, tastes OK, gentle on the wallet.
Total bill for all the food today plus a pot of Chinese tea came to RM105.
Restaurant name: Restoran Fook Chew 永平福州餐馆
Address: 115, Jalan Besar, Yong Peng, Johor
GPS: 2°00'40.9"N 103°03'41.2"E 2.011353, 103.061452
WAZE: Restoran Fook Chew
Tel: 016-780 8528
Hours: 10:30am - 7:30pm
Date visited: 12 Feb 2020
Flavours almost insipid. Fuzhou noodles and fried rice a little pricey at RM7, pork ribs and fish maw at RM30.
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