This is review #1 out of a 13-Part Food Blog Post Series from my recent trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from the 4th – 9th August 2011 🙂
The great thing about food in Malaysia is actually also the great thing about food in Melbourne… diversity. Yes, you would probably expect me to blog all about Malaysian street food and the local delicacies, trust me I will get to that. Since I am blogging in chronological order, let’s start from my first night in KL!
I literally went straight from the airport, to hotel check-in, to a quick freshen up, and then off I go to Changkat Bukit Bintang to meet up with some friends at El Cerdo at Werner’s Place.. a restaurant specializing in PORK dishes. Yummy pigfest! I was so looking forward to not just catching up with my friends, but also the food this restaurant promises. I’ve read plenty of great reviews and people have raved about this place.
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| The happening street filled with restaurants and pubs at Changkat Bukit Bintang |
If you are ever visiting Kuala Lumpur, the “Golden Triangle” aka nearby the Bukit Bintang area in KL City is the ideal tourist destination. Hotels are EVERYWHERE, and you have easy access to all the major shopping malls within walking distance. Not only that, FOOD is abundant – from restaurants to hawker stalls and if you ever feel like venturing out elsewhere, monorail and bus stations are also conveniently located nearby and taxis of course (just be careful to not be ripped off – insist on using the meter).
Back to El Cerdo – the interior is beautifully decorated with.. you guessed it, pig themed ornaments, photos and paintings on the wall. This restaurant is almost always packed, so don’t expect a quiet dining experience. The “breaking of the plates” is also a tradition and every table with a suckling piglet will have to go through this “ceremony” which involves the cutting of the pig using the plates and then breaking the plates to symbolize getting rid of the “bad luck”. Another thing I observed was birthdays. This place must be super popular for people to come and celebrate their birthdays because the staff at El Cerdo would come out and sing the birthday song every 15 minutes!!!
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| Pork Liver Pate |
Food arrived starting with their complimentary bread and pig liver pate. Most of my friends skipped the pate
(note to El Cerdo, try serving the bread with olive oil or butter as an alternative for less adventurous diners, lol) but I gave it a go being a foodie and all (haha!) and thought it tasted quite lovely. It had a slight grainy texture but quite tasty. Not going crazy over pate, but wouldn’t disregard it completely! Butter would’ve been nice 🙂
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| Caesar Salad |
Then the Caesar Salad arrived on our table. This was our weak attempt to try and eat some greens to balance out the pork overload… hehe.
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| German Crispy Pork Knuckle RM 99 |
Then came the German Crispy Pork Knuckle… oh my goodness, our suckling piglet has not even arrived yet and here we are finding ourselves indulging in delicious, perfectly cooked crispy pork knuckle. The skin is deliciously crispy and the meat was super tender inside with little bits of knuckle fat complimenting the taste and texture of this dish. It was seasoned beautifully too with herbs and garlic, and served with Potato Dumpling, Sauerkraut and Mustard, Beer Sauce and Apple Mousse.
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| Potato Dumpling, Sauerkraut and Mustard |
As soon as I was done with my photos, the staff kindly took our crispy pork knuckle back into the kitchen to chop into smaller pieces… and then we feasted!
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| El Cerdo’s Whole Suckling Piglet RM 258 (approx. AUD 83) |
But of course the star of the show was the Whole Suckling Piglet. When it finally arrived on our table all the cameras came out and everyone started taking photos of the pig. It was one of the most beautiful piece of meat I have ever seen!
The suckling pig was everything I’ve imagined it to be… super crispy skin and tender and moist meat. Served with a potato mash, gravy and a bed of salad you simply cannot go to El Cerdo’s and NOT order this suckling pig. You have the option of going for half a piglet or a whole piglet depending on number of people. This whole suckling pig was advertised to feed 4 people, but between the 6 of us and the food we’ve already consumed leading up to this, we cannot help but surrender towards the end. We simply could not consume any more pig! So we had some leftovers to take home.. nothing wrong with having some delicious leftovers for the next day 🙂
Overall, the bill for 6 people including drinks reached approx RM 600.. which is equivalent to approx. AUD 200. That is a fantastic price to pay as a tourist, although I must admit it’s not cheap for the locals! We walked away thoroughly satisfied though, and I must add the level of service we had from the friendly staff at El Cerdo made our dining experience even more enjoyable!
Contact Details:
No. 43 & 45, Changkat Bukit Bintang,
50200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Tel: 603 2145 0511 | Fax: 603 2145 1375
Email: werner@elcerdokl.com
Website: www.elcerdokl.com
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Kimba's Living 
I thought you are suppose to talk about how enthusiastic the staffs are when they sing birthday songs?!?! Told you you will forget what to write when you go home, HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHAH…I didn't notice you take so many pics of the surroundings. Nice pics you took… Attempted to grab some but man, you editted them!! Haha.Can't wait to read your next post 🙂
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Hahahahaa can laaa you can grab some pics of the surroundings de-tached from the collage. Uploaded to my Kimba's Kitchen facebook page :p
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i've never been to this place before in spite being kl-ite!
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omgh! why you have to tempt me with the oink oink…droooling…..
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Oh maaan … those pictures of the piggies on the wall are so cute! I doubt I'd be able to eat anything there without feeling guilty!
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This is my kind of restaurant! Love the pork knuckles and the suckling pig is simply stunning!! Oh Yum!
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Oh man, that's a whole lotta food Kim. I can't believe that pig is only for 4 people. Even without all the food beforehand, I can't eve imagine eating that whole pig between 4 people. Looks super delicious.
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