Category: Native Cuisine

To bypass the congestion on Rawang’s main street, local residents would use the back lane of Jalan Maxwell. As one drives past, most of the rear doors and windows are tightly shut. Towards the end of the lane, there is a unit embellished with plants, a hand-carved wooden stand by the roadside and a banner on top of the entrance inscribed with “Kien Choon Restaurant”.

Peering in from the wide-open back doors, the restaurant occupied the rear end of the shop, housing a drinks counter and a simple kitchen, three to four tables of different sizes, and a mix of wooden and plastic chairs. On one side is a time-worn altar table and a lazy chair, indicating the owner’s long-term residence, inadvertently creating a sense of “dining at grandma’s home”. Decorative elements are highly visible in the surroundings, including several wooden handicrafts, exuding artistic vibes. 

81-year-old Lim Kit Chu bends over the stove, her 56-year-old nephew Lim Yuan Hing is in charge of making drinks, and helps in the kitchen from time to time. The restaurant’s menu is simple, for almost 50 years only serving three styles of noodles: curry, clear soup, or dry-tossed. Customers may choose from rice noodles, vermicelli, laksa noodles, or yellow noodles. Sides include chicken, barbecued pork, fish cake, and minced pork. Daily opening hours are from 7AM to 2PM, or till sold out.

The premises belong to the Lim family, in early days it was a family residence instead of conducting business. At the front entrance is an engraved plaque bearing their great-grandfather’s name Kien Chooon. About half a century ago, Mr Lim’s mother ran a noodle stall at the front end of the shop, while his aunt helped out. At the time, they open around 4AM to 5AM, serving the local community made up of mostly rubber tappers and tin miners, and close around 4PM to 5PM. Unfortunately Mr Lim’s mother passed away when he was still a child, his aunt took over the noodle stall and helped to raise him and his siblings.

After achieving adulthood, Mr Lim sought a job in Kuala Lumpur, like most young Rawang folk. About 20 years ago, due to illness, he resigned and moved back to his hometown. Then he returned to the family home to help his aunt, and started preparing beverages. Occasionally he came around wastewood and would repurpose them into decorations in the shop. The wooden stand is handcrafted by Mr Lim, and the surrounding greenery is also transplanted by him. 

About 10 years ago, Aunty Lim was immobilised due to her back went out, the shop had to cease operations. Two years on, the front end of the ground floor was rented out to another shop, thus the door between the front and rear end was sealed. As she gradually recovered, the family decided to renovate the rear end and reopen as a restaurant. Up till the present, Aunty Lim and the senior Mr Lim are still living upstairs. She woke up at 3AM to prepare ingredients: dice the chicken, braise the barbecued pork, stir-fry the minced pork, as well as cook the curry soup and anchovy broth. She works alone in the kitchen, until her nephew comes in at 7AM and open the shop.

They do not usually take a day off, unless they have other dealings or go on holidays. Their customers are mostly regulars, some of them have been here since their childhood, or even came back for the familiar fare after they moved elsewhere. Sometimes customers would drive-through, during weekends there would be plenty of hikers and tourists. 

This backlane restaurant in Rawang old town is an intriguing intermixture of simple life, rustic flavours, artistic sense, and family warmth.

有你 UNI Production
Producer : Daniel Lim
Cinematographer : Amelia Lim / Michael Lerk
Drone : Daniel Lim
Video Editor : Michael Lerk
Copywriter : Pua Hui Wen

COPYRIGHTS 2025 ECHINOIDEA SDN BHD

A few decades ago, there was a Sentosa Cinema in Section 17, Petaling Jaya. In its immediate surroundings, there were plenty of roadside stalls, a wet market by day and a food court by night, fulfilling the community’s living needs. After the cinema burned down in 1997, the site became a carpark, until Seventeen residence and mall was constructed in 2014. Beside the building, Petaling Jaya city council offered a sheltered space for the hawkers, many of whom had been there for over four decades, standing witness to the changes in the neighbourhood, and frequented by local residents. Among them is Chinese Herbal Tea.

The stall owner, Uncle Ngui Pong, is in his seventies. Hailing from Bukit Kepong in Johor, at 17 years old he moved to Selangor to learn martial arts and Tit Tar from Master Chow Tin Sang in SEA Park. Master Chow sold herbal tea for a living, and taught Uncle Ngui the traditional recipes for him to start his own business at the neighbouring Section 17. There are a few types of herbal teas: Five Flower Tea, monk fruit tea, Prunella vulgaris tea, and bitter tea (also known as “Wong Lo Kat”). One may opt to add Chinese medicine powder to bitter tea, to help relieve bodily discomforts. Later on, Uncle Ngui studied Traditional Chinese Medicine, and made minor adjustments to the recipes according to the therapeutic properties of medicinal herbs. 

Selling herbal tea is a tedious task that takes up the entire day. At 8AM, Uncle Ngui starts preparing to boil herbal teas in the kitchen at the rear of the house, one large pot of each type. In the past, he used charcoal stoves, the heat was not stable, hence requiring close attention and the need to add firewood. Now that he uses gas stoves, the heat is stable, and Uncle Ngui is able to make time throughout the several hours of boiling to attend to patients who visit his Tit Tar clinic. Around 3PM to 4PM, the herbal teas are ready, and it is time to set up the stall. He travels back and forth between the food court and his house to bring the herbal teas, tables and chairs, and the stall itself. His wife also helps him to set up and do sales. Meanwhile, if there are patients, he returns to the clinic at home to attend to them. The herbal teas are prepared fresh daily and sell out. Uncle Ngui used to sell until late night, but in recent years he closes around 10PM.

Uncle Ngui usually sports white attire, the signboard of his stall is written in red on a white background, such is his appearance from youth to elderly. Day in, day out, he set up his stall in Section 17 regardless of the weather, the local residents drop by for herbal tea whenever they feel “heaty”. Many of his regular customers used to study at Universiti Malaya, and have been supporting him since they were students. Whenever they meet Uncle Ngui and his wife, they greet them with respect. The city council did not provide a dining area in the sheltered space for hawkers, therefore Uncle Ngui and his wife bought dozens of tables and chairs with their own money, providing convenience to fellow hawkers as well as customers, without demanding any return for their extra efforts. It would be great if customers could order a cup of herbal tea priced at RM2.50 as a gesture of appreciation. 

Despite always looking serious, Uncle Ngui is honest and selfless, his herbal teas are authentic and priced reasonably, enabling him to blend into an unfamiliar neighbourhood and stay for decades. Each cup of herbal tea not only helps promote health, but also acts as a relationship bond between Uncle Ngui and the local community, a sweet sight in this Chinese new village within the city. 

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【About Herbal Tea】

Herbal tea originated from LingNan, which encompassed the modern regions of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong, and Macau. Due to being located in the subtropical monsoon climate zone, the combination of humidity and heat causes discomforts to the human body. Herbal tea is a herb-based healthy drink based on Traditional Chinese Medicine knowledge to relieve such discomforts. Herbal tea formulas can be divided into single and compound formulas, namely utilising a single type of medicinal herb and multiple types of medicinal herbs, which have therapeutic properties, such as honeysuckle and Prunella vulgaris.

Boiling herbal tea requires careful control of heat and time. The herbs need to be boiled just right, neither overboiled and lose all efficacy, nor underboiled and less efficient. Put the herbs and water into a pot, bring to a boil, then simmer over low heat for at least three hours. After that, it is left to stand for a period of time, to enrich both the flavor and the color of the herbal tea, before it is considered done.

Herbal tea is not only a drink, but a health-preserving wisdom based on Traditional Chinese Medicine originating from the general public and passed down over thousands of years. Drinking herbal tea to stay healthy is a major feature of LingNan folk culture. As our forebearers migrated to tropical Southeast Asia, herbal tea became widely popular due to its remarkable efficacy, and people of all nationalities and ethnicities could drink it. Herbal teas may be light or dark in color, and sweet or bitter in taste, yet each offers benefits that support one’s well-being. 

有你 UNI Production
Producer : Daniel Lim
Cinematographer : Amelia Lim / Michael Lerk
Drone : Daniel Lim
Video Editor : Amelia Lim
Copywriter : Pua Hui Wen

COPYRIGHTS 2025 ECHINOIDEA SDN BHD

Fish wrapped in aluminium foil packets are neatly arranged on the brick stove, getting licked by bright flames from the charcoal fire. The chef is unable to see through the packet, and therefore can only determine whether or not the fish is fully cooked from the duration and degree of heating. When deemed ready, the foil packets are transferred to stainless steel oval plates and served to customers. Upon ripping open the steaming hot packets, one is greeted by the mouthwatering aroma and the delicate, tender flesh of a whole fish. The freshwater Tilapia fish takes about six months to grow from fish seeds to about one kilogram in weight, yet was caught, gutted and scaled, then cooked and served in the blink of an eye.

The grilled fish restaurant founded by Kok Sack Swee is situated within the hilly countryside of Broga, surrounded by verdant greenery, where one can listen to chirping birds and insects, view glimmering ponds, and embrace the tranquility and serenity. Uncle Kok lives in a small cottage on the plantation grounds. Early in the morning, he busied himself tending various fruit trees and medicinal herbs, as well as feeding the fish in the ponds. Although the work is tedious, he finds enjoyment in it.

Ancestors of the Kok family migrated from HuiZhou in GuangDong, China to Broga in the 1910s. Kok Sack Swee was a Broga lad born and bred. In his youth, he started his career in the agricultural sector, including a stint in oil palm cultivation at Kuantan, which he afterwards returned to Broga and developed fruit plantations. In the mid-90s, he started a fish pond in his durian plantation, and opened it to recreational fishing. As a way to attract more customers, Uncle Kok and his wife decided to offer cooking services.

Inspired by the relaxed charm of picnics, the freshly-caught fish are gutted and scaled, coated in homemade paste, wrapped in an aluminium foil packet, and grilled on a charcoal fire. Due to foil packets absorb heat relatively quick and distribute it evenly, as well as effectively retaining the food’s moisture, lending the grilled fish a delicate and tender texture. Captivating the customers’ taste buds with fresh ingredients, and charging a fair price, Uncle Kok gradually gained popularity. He is the first in Broga to offer grilled fish in aluminium foil packets, attracting foodies from near and far. 

In 2000, Uncle Kok shifted to the current premises inside a rubber plantation, built additional fish ponds, and established a grilled fish restaurant. His wife, sister-in-law, son, daughter-in-law, and daughter readily help with operations. The entire family work together to serve up the freshest delicacies. Earlier on, while at the old premises, his son, Kok Chee Yee, used to only help out during weekends. Upon Uncle Kok founded the restaurant in his 60s, Kok Chee Yee decided to stay home to help, and took over the reins shortly after.

Now aged 81, Uncle Kok is no longer in charge of the grill, but he is still actively helping in the restaurant. From time to time, he worked in the fruit orchard behind the restaurant, tending various fruit trees and medicinal herbs. Whenever regular customers visit, he would converse with them in the Hakka dialect. Sometimes he would help to gut and scale fish, chop vegetables, and wash the dishes. In the evening, after business hours, is his time to relax and play with his grandchildren.

Kok Sack Swee leads an idyllic lifestyle in the countryside, Kok Chee Yee also shares his father’s sentiments, keeping a distance from the hustle and bustle of city life, relishing in the natural environment and his culinary pursuits. Living a simple life, surrounded by beloved family members, is the epitome of happiness.

有你 UNI Production
Producer : Daniel Lim
Cinematographer : Amelia Lim / Michael Lerk
Drone : Daniel Lim
Video Editor : Amelia Lim
Copywriter : Pua Hui Wen

COPYRIGHTS 2025 ECHINOIDEA SDN BHD