Love for street food results in owner sharing his most-liked dishes at Bangsar restaurant

Soy sauce chicken with free-range chicken. The chicken is soaked in its marinade for several hours.

WHILE some restaurants may rely on customers’ favourites to sustain their business, others place importance on innovating dishes on the menu.

Champ’s Bistro proprietor Richard Nah understands the value of this.

Nah, who opened his first eatery in Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya, 22 years ago, moved the business to Bangsar Shopping Centre about seven years ago.

He continues to introduce new dishes to offer fresh appeal on the menu in Bangsar.

Nah, who enjoys street food, presented his take on kon loh mee which is a flavourful hawker favourite.

His latest introduction of meals are reminiscent of olden day hawker favourites where one could get hot-from-the-wok dishes and soup delights. Kon loh mee is a popular item that many look forward to when dining at Champ’s.

“These days, kon loh mee is usually served with char siew, but we have several other options at Champ’s, ” Nah said.

Besides char siew, Champ’s has poached chicken (pak cham kai), crispy pork belly (siew yoke), braised pork (Hakka char yoke mok yee) and braised spare ribs (pai kuat min sin).

Diners can also opt for either a dry noodle base or soup with prawn wantan.

While the char siew is still a favourite, the other accompaniments are also well-received by customers.

The braised pork, in particular, was tender while the dark sauce it was served with was rich and flavourful. Black mushrooms lent earthiness to the dish.

Another new addition to the menu is soy sauce chicken (si yau kai) served with rice and soup.

The chicken is marinated for several hours in Chinese herbs, good quality soy sauce and rock sugar.

It is then braised in the sauce until the meat becomes tender and the sauce thickens.

Chicken pongteh at Champ’s is Nah’s take on the endeared Nyonya dish.

“Most of my dishes are based on trial and error as I am not a trained chef.

“But we use the best ingredients and produce to deliver the flavours familiar to diners, ” he said.

While these are some of the newer offerings at Champs, its signature staples are still there such as the “Damn Shiok” Hokkien Prawn Mee.

Aside from the generous amounts of lard in the prawn broth, Champ’s version also comes with pork ribs and “King Kong” sized prawns.

The addition of pork in the soup offers hints of sweetness, while vegetables, including bean sprouts and kangkung, give it texture.

The chee yoke fun or pork noodle soup, which is a popular find at Chinese hawker stalls, is laden with minced pork and fried pork lard at Champ’s.

Another recommended dish is Penang char kuey teow, served with cockles, prawns, lap cheong and crab meat.

Fried and infused with the familiar wok hei element, the crabmeat topping in the noddles was a pleasant addition to complete the presentation.

There are many dessert and beverage options to choose from, including ais kacang and cendol.

CHAMP’S BISTRO, Lot F136,1st Floor, Bangsar Shopping Centre, 285, Jalan Maarof, Bukit Bandaraya, Kuala Lumpur (Tel: [phone]). Business hours: 11am to 1am daily. Non-halal.

This is the writer’s personal observation and is not an endorsement by StarMetro.

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