Lat Tong, Kajang Claypot Spicy Soup, Kajang Food

Location of Lat Tong and other areas of Kajang Town
Courtesy of Yu Hua School Kajang

Years ago I was told that Kajang's clay pot "Lat Tong" (hot spicy soup of chicken or pieces of pork meat) originated from Semenyih and spread to Kajang and after that it became popular. This Kajang food is a very popular dish. I did not have the opportunity to verify their origins. I have tried the "Lat Tong" at a few places but somehow felt that this little side restaurant located at Jalan Mendaling tasted very good. If you are coming from Maybank Kajang, go past the right angle turn and notice a side lane on the left, you will notice two eatery shops where the first sells noodles and the second is the "Lat Tong" but both do not display any noticeable shop names.

This "Lat Tong" should not be mistaken for the normal hot pepper soup but instead uses lots of ginger and other ingredients. Also available is the clay pot "Fah Tiew Kai" (chicken in special sauce) and clay pot "Chee Keok Shin" (sour pork leg). On the 7th of September 2007, three friends, two from Ipoh and one from KL en route to Malacca to attend a Shaklee Advanced Leadership Seminar stop by in Kajang to have "Lat Tong" for breakfast. They have heard about it from me and were eager to taste them.

There were 5 of us so we ordered "Lat Tong", "Fah Tiew Kai" and "Chee Keok Shin" to go with rice, KC ordered porridge. After a few bites, everyone commented that it tasted very good. The chef of this delicacies is uncle Tony, he looks more like a Kung Fu master than a cook and he speaks English besides the various Chinese dialects. He has operated this shop for 9 years this coming November. Incidentally this shop is known as Hong Kong Lat Tong (in Mandarin) that was given by some patrons years ago. So when some guest came from Hong Kong and commented they have not heard of it in Hong Kong.

Next time you are around either for breakfast or lunch why not try the Kajang Famous "Lat Tong" dish.

Barbecued Chicken, Duck and Pork or Chicken Rice - Kajang Food

Years even before western fast food came into existence, Malaysians already started on the many varieties of Asian food available throughout the day and night and in many towns and cities. In Kajang town which is famously known as the 'Satay Town' where travelers will stop to enjoy the barbecued meat skewed with a short stick. There is another type of barbecued meat which others have slowly come to enjoy is the 'char siew fun' or 'char siew kai'.

Tucked away in a coffee shop next to Kajang's wet market is a stall called 'Leck Kee' which is actually a branch of the 'Leck Kee' of Semenyih Town. It operates during lunch hour from 11.00am to 3.00pm and are sold out usually by 2.00pm. Patrons sometimes have to queue for a table and sometimes a long queue for take away orders. The shops here used to be from Kajang Bazaar ( aerial view of Kajang town, the right hand side of the round about) and consists of many small eateries, sticker shop, newspaper, barber etc..

The 'char siew' or roasted pork belly is a mixture of fats and lean meat has a nice dark reddish colour and authentic tastes. Other than this dish you can try the 'char siew kai' (barbecue chicken), 'char siew up' (barbecue duck) and 'siew nyoke' (roast pork). Once you arrived at this stall you can't help noticing the stall owner with his stylish dyed hair. He can be quite snappy when your order is confusing to him or when there is a long queue but having our meal here on many occasions you find him sometimes amusing. He is also known as 'half chicken' or 'pun chaq kai' to many of his patrons, he got his name by being a member of the Batang Kajang Hash House Harriers club (will post a story about the Hash clubs of Kajang later).

The Fried Hockkien Mee - Kajang Story

If you look at the aerial view of Kajang Town, you will notice to the right of the roundabout and also the right of the Shell Petrol Station, that is the location of Kajang Bazaar and due to development they have all moved to various places like behind Mendaling Street and Medan Selera on the right of the Kajang Market. In those days other than Satay the other talk about food is the fried Hockkien Mee (thick chinese noodles). I use to frequent this busy restaurant called CHIN KEE RESTAURANT located in store no. 57, Kajang Bazaar. It also boast of a record dishing out a huge 80kg of Hockkien Mee in one night, that is roughly equivalent to serving about 800 person at this restaurant. Chin Kee Restaurant chief cook and proprietor was the late Mr. Low Lee Chin

Today you can savour this original taste of Chin Kee Restaurant style of cooking handed down to his youngest son Robert Low who operates a fusion of asian and western restaurant call FELICIDAD RESTAURANT & CAFE (please ask him what the name means) located at No. 75A Jalan 1, Taman Sri Langat, Jalan Reko. In the 60's my family and myself included used to frequent this hockkien mee along with other dishes which is just as tasty. In those days there weren't many food stalls and sometimes even at 2.00am when we feel hungry, we would just grab a bicycle and come out here to eat this favorite tasting mee (definitely better than instant noodle).

Robert Low who also happens to be my childhood friend is also a Yo-Yo expert who had traveled to countries like Japan, Columbia, China, Hong Kong, Brazil, USA, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Jordan, Thailand & Singapore to participate in Yo-Yo competition. He achieved a world ranking No. 8 at the 2000 Proyo Challenge in Phoenix, Arizona USA. While traveling, with cooking still in his blood he would always find opportunity to learn various types of dishes and one such dish is the Hungarian Goulash taught by an Austrian, Mr. Wolfgang.

Well I found his restaurant in a very unique setting compared to his fathers' and the Hockkien mee is still as good as before mmmmm. He decorates his cafe with Yo-Yos, and collections of his hobbies, interesting. We used to play yo-yo when we were about 12 years old, I stopped but he hasn't, imagine a elderly looking guy playing with yo-yo and if you talk about yo-yo ask him to show you his collection from antique ones to very high tech ones, about 700pcs in his collection. Well if you are not a fan of Hockkien mee you can always try the Hun....Gou.... gee...! I wonder how you pronounce it. If you were to ask around the older generation, I wonder whether they can still remember Chin Kee Hockkien mee.