Personal supervision: Nah is still very much hands-on in the kitchen.
CHAMP’S BISTRO,
Lot F136, 1st Floor, Bangsar Shopping Centre,
285 Jalan Maarof, Bukit Bandaraya, Kuala Lumpur
(Tel: 03-2288 1855).
Business hours: 11am to 1am daily.
Non-halal.
HAVING a keen interest in cooking since he was young, Richard Nah would cook for his friends whenever he had them over for poker sessions.
“They enjoyed the food that I cooked and kept asking me to open a restaurant,” said Nah, who is now the chief executive officer and group managing director of Champ’s Place Sdn Bhd.
Nah, who used to be a fruit importer, started out the Champ’s Place 15 years ago at the Centre point neighbourhood mall in Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya, and has recently opened the Champ’s Bistro at the more upscale Bangsar Shopping Centre.
“We have a lot of regulars who come from the Bangsar area so there has been a lot of requests for us to open an outlet here,” said the 51-year-old restaurateur.
Champ’s started with a pub concept with only 12 dishes on offer and even though many items have been added, the crowd favourites such as the Prawn Mee, Fried Mee Jawa, Tao Yew Bak (Hokkien stewed pork) and Ipoh Sar Hor Fun remains on the menu.
The no-fuss menu itself makes for quite an interesting read, with catchy names such as Black Worm Noodles (Nah’s take on the Hokkien Mee, courtesy of his young niece who likened the noodles to worms) and witty explanations of the food.
Having sampled several of their popular dishes like the Prawn Mee, Pork Noodles and Hokkien Mee, it became apparent that Champ’s wow factor lies in the crunchy lard pieces, which Nah said was freshly fried twice daily.
He also recommended the Pucuk Paku Santan, which was cooked with coconut milk and belacan and served with prawns.
“I don’t eat much vegetables except pucuk paku so this is one of my personal favourites. I find that it goes better with seafood rather than meat so I cooked it with prawns. We use only fresh prawns that has not been frozen,” he said.
Fans of roasted meats like the roast duck and roast pork would also be pleased to know that Champ’s selection is made twice daily, with a special roasted pork ribs available every Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Besides the selection of local delights, the menu also features a variety of Western dishes like steak, fish and chips and pastas.
The new outlet in Bangsar has a modern yet cosy set-up and there is a separate bar area with a live band playing over the weekends, ideal for a night out of drinks with family and friends.
Slurpy: Hokkien Mee at Champ’s Bistro is called Black Worms and served with their signature crispy lard bits.
“We have about 50 different types of single malt whiskeys and our cocktails are made only with high quality liquor,” said Nah.
If you are looking for something to nibble with your pint of beer or glass of wine, the Stinging Bacon is one of the options and the bite-sized bacon pieces cooked with wasabi would give your drinks a dash of extra “kick”.
This is the writer’s personal observation and is not an endorsement by StarMetro.
