Adventures of Katsudon

… said my Korean friend, in delight, when she joined us at Hwaro BBQ. It seems like the entire Korean population in Melbourne thinks the same, as they literally swarmed in to sit around communal barbecues to grill marinated meats over hot coals. Always a sign of truly authentic food. It’s not just the warm wooden interiors or the impressive list of shoju on offer that reminds Koreans of home, but also the most essential ingredient of all - the ubiquitous kimchi. With just the right spiciness and sourness, I reckon it’s the best kimchi in town, and it looks like everyone agrees.

The menu is not for the faint-hearted, featuring ox tongue, pork belly and a hefty Scotch fillet. Neither is the shoju - be warned, it may result in embarrasing behaviour and a few regrets the day after! You won’t regret the food, though - and you’ll be hankering for your next dose of kimchi again soon.

Ever the travelling gastronomes, we hit the ‘burbs tonight in search of Malaysian food, having got rather complacent with the choices available in inner city Melbourne. We went north, on a recommendation, to a Chinese/Malaysian restaurant called Jade Kingdom in Heidelberg Heights. It looks very much like all suburban Chinese restaurants with an unprepossesing exterior and the usual suspects on the menu like Black Pepper Beef. I went against one of my Kway Teow Rules in ordering the kway teow despite it having Lap Cheong, or Chinese sausage, as an ingredient. To me, FKT should only contain prawns, egg and perhaps squid as its protein sources. Maybe the effort of making the relatively long journey made me order it anyway, as I had come all this way.

The kway teow arrived looking rather promising, having a nice burnt look and lots of bean sprouts. When one poked around though there was way too much Lap Cheong, and I ended up fishing out most of it as I don’t like the sweetness of it in my savoury kway teow.

It was a passable dish, but not memorable, and failed on a few essential points:
1. It was too oily. I like my FKT quite dry - it must be cooked quickly in a really hot wok. It can’t arrive glistening with oil.
2. I already mentioned the chinese sausage. I don’t know why Lap cheong was ever invented, perhaps to torture FKT fans like me. I cannot see any possible use for a sickly sweet hard fatty lump of processed pork as an ingredient for any dish, let alone FKT.
3. The egg was rather bedraggled, oily and pathetic, and lay in a small wet clump on one side of the plate. It should be well fried, slightly burnt, and distributed evenly through the noodles.
4. It didn’t have enough taste and aroma - I think that particular taste comes from a combination of a very hot wok, garlic, and a secret ingredient which I have heard is squid sauce. This FKT had the hot wok only, and it wasn’t quite hot enough.

The dessert was quite enjoyable though - an innovative pandan flavoured sago pudding, served with lashings of coconut milk and gula melaka. Sadly, the waitress frowned at me and looked puzzled when I asked if cendol was available.

Not quite worth a trip out to the ‘burbs, but we enjoyed the drive and change of scene anyway.