The lotus root soup is the hero product at the eatery and has a lovely depth of flavours. — Photos: BOILING MAD SOUP
Four years ago, Audrey Chong, 43, quit her advertising job to spend more time with her three children. It was during this period that Chong’s cooking skills picked up considerably.
As the years passed, she began to realise that when she had been juggling work with parenting, she was constantly stressed out about what to cook for her family. This was a dilemma that many other working parents shared too.
It soon dawned on her that there was a meal that could be both made simply and was by design, a tool to bring families together.
“It just struck me that maybe there is something I can do to ease working mums or working parents’ daily struggles. I happened to talk to a college friend, Vincent Chan, and we realised that for both of us, there was one dish we grew up with that was very fulfilling and a complete meal – it was soup!
Many of the soups at Chong’s fledgling eatery are based on recipes she inherited from her mother and grandmother.
“And we thought, ‘You know what?’ There isn’t a place that sells homemade soup with no MSG, so we decided this was the way to go,” says Chong.
After four months of planning, Chong and Chan (now a silent partner) launched their restaurant Boiling Mad Soup in Damansara Jaya, Selangor. True to her word – the eatery pays homage to the childhood staple soups that Chong grew up with.
Although business has picked up now, Chong says the true challenge in setting up the restaurant was that she didn’t have any prior F&B experience and had only cooked for her family before. Cooking for paying customers was a different story altogether.
“Our concept is home-style cooking, so what’s good for us may not be good for someone else. So we had customers coming in and saying we were not supposed to cook in a particular pot, or this wasn’t the right way to make a certain soup. “As tough as it was to swallow the criticism, we took in everything and thought about what we could do to make things better and I think we found a balance,” says Chong.
The herbal chicken soup is a great tonic for anyone feeling under the weather.
To put together the menu, Chong turned to recipes that had been passed down from her grandmother, mother and mother-in-law and tweaked each recipe to suit modern predilections. All the soups are cooked from scratch without additives, and are boiled for three to four hours and made fresh every day.
To begin your soup-venture here, definitely try the Lotus Root Soup (RM15.80) set. Each soup comes with rice as well as a homemade pork patty, so you’ll get a hearty, wholesome meal to satiate those hunger pangs.
The lotus root soup is what Chong calls her “hero product” and is something her mother used to make. The soup is cooked for four to five hours with pork bone stock, lotus roots, dried cuttlefish and red dates and has a rich depth of flavours, accentuated by the starchy bites of lotus root and underscored by a general feeling of wholesomeness.
The steamed pork patty served on the side meanwhile is a labour of love that took weeks to perfect. The patty is fulsome with a springy hold and gingery undertones that give it vim and vigour.
Up next, definitely try the Black Bean Soup (RM14.80) set. This is a soup that pays homage to Chong’s grandmother who passed away this year.
“It’s not a common soup that you’d find in restaurants serving Chinese-style soup. My popo (maternal grandmother) used to cook this for her kids. She would tell them the secret to having black hair is consuming black beans.
“Well, I believed her because when she passed away this year at the age of 92, she still had a crown of black hair! With her fool-proof recipe, I made very minor adjustments. It’s cooked with pork bones, black beans and red and honey dates. And you will also find a hint of ginger in it. I hope we’ve done justice to her signature soup,” says Chong.
The soup is definitely a winner from start to finish – the flavours are rich and undulate throughout and each spoonful yields a portion of black beans (a.k.a hair dye) that are soft yet still have a bite, as well as pork slices that are incredibly melt-in-the-mouth tender.
The peppery ABC soup is delightful from start to finish.
The Peppery ABC Soup (RM13.80) set offers a slightly piquant kick on the classic children’s soup. In this iteration, you will find corn, carrots, potatoes and tomatoes in a chicken broth that has been jazzed up with peppery connotations. This fiery addition lends the soup some pizzazz and heat and gives it a whole new dimension.
The Herbal Chicken Soup (RM16.80) set meanwhile is a new addition to the menu that is also something Chong’s mum used to make every time someone in the family was sick.
“If we had chicken soup for the soul, this would be our version. My mother didn’t cook this soup for medicinal purposes but for taste. So it’s not too strong on the herbs which are usually bitter. The mild herbal taste is very soothing and comforting – the perfect remedy on days you might be feeling under the weather,” says Chong.
The soup is light but interspersed with avian notes, which punctuate the broth and give it a pleasant nourishing quality. It may not have quite the rich depth of flavours you might have been expecting, but when you’re feeling ill, this is exactly the sort of panacea you’ll be hankering after.
Each soup comes with a pork patty and rice. Pictured here is the peppery ABC soup.
Moving forward, Chong says she is looking at expanding the menu range to include soups of all stripes, from more Western-style fare like mushroom soups and minestrone to South-East Asian staples like tom yum and even soup-based noodle dishes.
Another one of her plans? To work with more home cooks who specialise in making particular soups or side dishes.
“Right now, we are inviting home cooks to come onboard with us – this will help us have a more elaborate menu and we can handle the sales and marketing for them. It’s a win-win for both parties, so that is something we are working on now,” says Chong.
Order from Boiling Mad Soup by sending a WhatsApp message to 014-303 5808.
