Taynton Fish Head Noodle Restaurant,
63, Jalan Dato Haji Harun,
Taman Taynton View, Cheras,
Kuala Lumpur.
Tel: 012-255 0512/016-983 7728 or
visit their Facebook page www.facebook.com/Taynton-FishHeadNoodle).
Closed on Wednesdays.
STAYING in the kitchen, studying ingredient after ingredient for his next dish is typically what Simon Kuek would be up to on his rest days.
The 51-year-old said his cooking skills evolved after his children started working.
“They are all grown up now and I no longer have to worry about picking them up from school. Now I have more time to cook at home,” said Kuek.
One dish which is close to his heart is the Fish Head Noodle — a dish that he can never turn down.
In his quest to find the perfect soup, Kuek went from one restaurant to another to try out the dish before returning home to attempt at cooking it himself.
He then invites his close friends over to sample his home-cooked meal. Such invites became a norm for most of his friends who eventually persuaded Kuek to share his secret recipe with others.
Fast forward — Taynton Fish Head Noodle Restaurant was born, serving Kuek’s specialities, along with his good friend’s, Leong Yew Loon’s claypot dishes.
For a great bowl of fish head noodles, Kuek said that one has to get the taste of the soup right.
“The blend of ingredients and mixture has to be just right. This is why I spend hours modifying and trying out different flavours before finally deciding on this,” he explained.
The soup served at his restaurant has 13 ingredients. They are cabbage, tomatoes, plum, anchovies, fish stock, chicken, honey dates, fish bones, milk, salted vegetable and rice wine.
Comfort food: Porridge cooked withcentury duck egg and shreddedchicken.The supply of fish heads is fresh and delivered daily. Customers can choose to have their noodles with either the garoupa (RM15), deep fried silver carp (RM8.80) or the poached silver carp (RM8.30).
“We use garoupa because its skin is thicker. You must know how to prepare it, otherwise the texture will be rubbery,” he said.
Occasionally, he will order fresh prawns so that customers can add these to their bowls of rice or noodles soup.
“Rice soup is a Hainanese speciality where steamed rice is added into a bowl of piping hot soup similar to fish head noodles.
“It looks like porridge but the texture of the rice is different,” he said. The rice soup comes in seven variations — silver carp fish head, deep-fried silver carp fish head, garoupa fish head, fried fish paste, fried pork paste, prawns, and cabbage with minced pork.
His business partner Leong, who used to run a stall in Taman Connaught selling claypot dishes, is now serving the same dishes at the restaurant.
Partners and cooks: Taynton Fish Head Noodle partners Kuek (left) and Leong, busy preparing dishes in the kitchen.“My family enjoys eating Leong’s dishes. We thought, why not invite him to be part of our restaurant as well?” said Kuek, adding that one of Leong’s specialities is the Claypot Kung Po Paddy Frog.
The restaurant is located on a row of shop houses near the UCSI University.
However, take note that you may have trouble finding a parking bay during lunch hour.
This is the writer’s observation and not an endorsement by StarMetro.
