Jalan Alor is probably KL’s most famed food street in the heart of Bukit Bintang. It is quiet in the day but it comes alive, bustling with hawker stalls lining the sidewalks when the sun goes down. This place is very popular with tourists – droves would come gallivanting around looking for local eats. And yep, I’m also one of them, lol.
Besides dim sum, fried chicken and durians, there were also bak kwa (dried meat/jerky) being grilled on the spot and…
…lok lok (a variant of steamboat with skewered food) too plus many more others. So much variety at this lok lok stall. Was quite tempted to order a few sticks but I had to resist so I could reserve stomach space for dinner.
When my husband came to KL on business previously, his client had brought him to Restoran Wong Ah Wah for dinner. Since then, he had been raving about their salted egg sotong and BBQ chicken wings. So how could we not come here for a meal?
Wong Ah Wah started as a humble stall selling barbecued chicken wings but has already expanded to a 5-unit restaurant space along Jalan Alor today. It still serves up its signature chicken wings alongside Cantonese and Chinese dishes, tze char style.
For drinks, we ordered freshly squeezed carrot juice (RM4) and freshly made lime juice (RM3.50). We requested for no sugar and no milk for the carrot juice so it was all pure natural carrot juice that wasn’t too sweet but tasted very refreshing. The lime juice was quite sour (‘cos less sugar) but it also managed to whet our appetites.
Their Signature Roast Chicken Wings (RM3.20/pc, min. 2 pcs) were exactly like the BBQ wings we could get from food centres in Singapore. These wings were very flavoursome as the marinade had penetrated the meat thoroughly.
They tasted good on their own with or without the chilli sauce which was very well-balanced and only very slightly spicy so it wouldn’t overpower the original chicken flavour. I just loved that caramelisation on the chicken skin and the smoky flavour.
The Salted Eggs Fried Sotong (RM16 for small) might look ordinary at first glance but each golden yellow piece of sotong was fully coated with salted egg yolk. When I put a piece into my mouth, it just brought me to salted egg heaven. Delicious beyond words. I mean, how else could I describe salted egg yolk flavour especially when it was this robust and overpowering (in a very good way)? The squids were really tender and took us little effort to chew into. There were many bits of salted egg yolks to munch on too which meant they used real salted egg yolks instead of powder. This was really the best salted egg sotong I ever had – easily triumphed over those I had tried in Singapore.
The small portion was really tiny as it didn’t even occupy half of a regular sized plate. Really regretted not ordering a bigger plate!
The Stewed Braised Japanese Tow Foo (RM13 for small) came in a generous portion with a lot of egg tofu – probably 2 full tubes went into this. The sauce was tasty and not overly starchy or salty. Good for dousing over rice. There were also crunchy sugar snap peas, juicy button & Chinese mushrooms, tender sliced pork, small prawns, carrot slices, baby corn, onions and plenty of minced garlic which I loved.
The Balachan Kang Kong (RM13 for small) wasn’t very oily or spicy. The sambal belachan was well balanced and overall, this vegetable dish was quite tasty but I guessed it was most likely due to the use of MSG.
The Roasted Pork Noodle (RM13 for small) is another must-order dish. The noodles were glistening with lard oil – really looked so good and they also tasted just as good. They were tossed so thoroughly that every strand of the noodle was coated in the black sauce in which I could taste light/dark soy sauces and oyster sauce.
The roasted pork had more fats than meat and the skin wasn’t crispy but the wow factor was really the marinade sauce. Noodles were very springy just like the egg noodles used in wonton mee.
Their steamed white rice (RM1.60 per portion) was quite stodgy.
Prices shown here are inclusive of 6% GST. There is no service charge. However wet tissue is chargeable at RM0.60 each.
If you’re coming here, I suggest that you get a table indoor (it’s air-conditioned) unless you don’t mind ending up smelling like BBQ smoke as it’s really smoky outside due to the constant grilling/roasting of chicken wings. Also, the shelter outside isn’t foolproof so if it rains, be prepared to get wet.
Restoran Wong Ah Wah
1-9 Jalan Alor
Bukit Bintang
50200 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
Tel: +60 3-2144 2463
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/WongAhWahRoastchickenwings/
Opening hours: 5.30pm to 4.00am daily