Perched in a cosy corner of Kuala Lumpur’s new KLGCC Mall is Third Serving. At lunch time on a Wednesday afternoon, owners Fay Cheng and Karen Kok are busy tending to regulars and newbies to the restaurant.
No matter how tired they may be, Cheng and Kok are engaging, friendly and have genuine smiles on their faces. Kok’s four-month-old son Ezra Selvarajoo is often in her arms and the staff take turns looking after him, creating a warm, convivial spirit of community.
It is this sense of love and nurture that makes Third Serving such a singularly memorable experience.
But then again, Cheng is no stranger to the world of F&B. She was the owner of Petaling Jaya’s much-loved Chinese stalwart Oriental Cravings which shuttered during the Covid-19 pandemic. Following the restaurant’s closure, she contemplated retiring in England but said she was bored stiff just a few months into this experiment.
“I was so bored. I didn’t know what to do with myself,” she says, laughing.
At the back of her mind was the kernel of an idea of going back to F&B. But knowing the pitfalls of running a restaurant, she didn’t want to do it alone. And that is how Kok – Cheng’s goddaughter became her partner at Third Serving.
Cheng and Kok have a close-knit relationship that traces its roots from the very day Kok was born.
Cheng took care of her when she was a baby and although Cheng was eventually based in the Klang Valley running Oriental Cravings and Kok remained in their hometown of Segamat, Johor until she was 18, she visited during her school holidays and helped out in the restaurant.
“It was always at the back of our heads that we would go into F&B together because we were always each other’s travel and makan partners since forever. And I’m loving it (running the restaurant). I think it’s the most fulfilling career move for me,” says Kok.
For Cheng, meanwhile, this partnership is the end of the line in a long-held dream to run a restaurant with Kok.
“I’d been asking her whether she wanted to do something, but of course at that time she was pursuing her own interests.
“So when she decided that it was time, it was very fast – like the timing just aligned. Literally she just decided that she wanted to come in and then this place become available and then we just started this together,” says Cheng.
To sweeten the moment even further, Cheng was able to convince the long-term chef at Oriental Cravings to come back to helm Third Serving.
The menu offers a rich glimpse into the past, as Cheng and Kok serve up a range of Malaysian Chinese dishes that were once staples in their childhoods but have since faded into the ethers of oblivion, especially in the Klang Valley.
“So many younger people don’t know about many of the dishes on the menu, they’ve never heard of it, which is kind of sad, you know? I think in KL, a lot of parents are working, so there is no one to cook at home and people eat out a lot. So when they grow up, all they’ll remember eating is food from some kind of chain restaurant, so that’s a bit sad to me,” says Cheng.
Cheng was determined to reintroduce these classics to younger diners and stir the memories of old-timers, which is why the menu takes diners down a sensory voyage through nostalgic Chinese dishes, like the Cantonese Pork Roll (RM29.90).
Called “jyu mong yau gun” in Cantonese, this is a dish that is impossible to find in the Klang Valley simply because it requires so much work, according to Cheng.
The pork meatloaf is wrapped in caul fat (the fatty membrane that surrounds the internal organs of some animals and resembles a lace netting) and then deep-fried, so that all the oleaginous qualities of the caul fat are embedded into the meat.
The result is a victorious meat loaf with a crisp edge, and a rich unctuous porcine quality gilding this offering. The meat is paired with a sparkling citrus-edged sauce that gives it a lively, vivacious lift-off.
Up next on the menu, definitely try the Golden Beancurd (RM28.90) which features homemade tofu topped with minced pork stir-fried with preserved vegetables.
The show-stopper in this configuration is the beancurd, whose outer skin has a light crispiness that yields into a fluffy, silken centre.
Rounding out this performance is the supporting cast of pork and stir-fried vegetables layered atop which add contrast, textural dimension and heft and weight to the meal.
The Assam Prawn (RM59.90) meanwhile is a classic dish that features large prawns in an assam sauce accentuated by tomatoes, okra and brinjal.
The prawns are fat and fluffy but the true jubilant break-out star here is the assam sauce, which is thick and tangy with a subtle fiery undertone and an effervescence running through its veins.
This is gold standard assam prawns – the sort you’ll want to bring friends and family to eat to prove a point and proclaim “This is what assam prawns should taste like!”
Jump from one star offering to another with the Claypot Brinjal Fish Head (RM79.90).
This home-hewn dish is ridiculously good, filled with fat brinjal slices and copious amounts of grouper fish head, all bound by a thick, syrupy dark sauce with hints of fire lurking in its pores.
The brinjal is tenderly yielding and compliant while the fish head is fleshy and packed with flavour.
Interestingly, the aquatic leanings of this sea creature are omnipresent throughout the meal and lend the entire dish a unique sea-faring note.
Up next, try the Chicken in Ginger & Rice Wine Soup (RM58).
This soothing concoction is made up of yellow rice wine soup with chicken, wood ear fungus and a deep-fried omelette ringed around the edges of the claypot.
This old-fashioned dish is a medicinal brew often made for women during their post-partum confinement period. It is a comforting tonic, with sharp nuances from the ginger and underlying gentle, lilting sweet notes from the wine, which gives it a wholesome, yet wholly addictive potency.
End your meal with a home-style sweet treat in the form of the Pan-Fried Mai Lai Gao (RM7 per slice).
This classic Cantonese sponge cake is often steamed but in this iteration, the cake is fried with salted butter to give it a caramelised finish and a lightly salty countenance. It’s a lovely, nostalgic finale to an old-fashioned meal at this soulful establishment.
Cheng and Kok both say that what they are doing at Third Serving is difficult to replicate anywhere else, which is why
they have no plans to expand the business. Instead, Cheng says she is focusing on grooming Kok to take over the business and increasing the repertoire of old-fashioned Malaysian Chinese dishes that are increasingly hard to find.
“I enjoy doing things like that – coming up with things that nobody has seen for a long time, you know. So I am busy jogging my memory to see what else I can come up with in terms of all the nostalgic childhood dishes we used to eat in our homes and duplicate it to suit our clientele,” she says.
