Hutong Food Court @ Lower Ground Floor, Lot 10, Jalan Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur

Mo Sang Kor's bak kut teh

Pavilion may have first started the luxe version of food courts but snapping on their heels is the newly opened Hutong @ Lot 10. Part of their revamp exercise, the new food court has an arty look to it and will appeal to pork lovers, as it serves non halal food rarely seen in the halls of a food court - bak kut teh, lard laden Singapore Hokkien mee and our very own black lard-rich Hokkien mee.

digging deep into the bowl for my bak kut teh, see how worn that pot is

Touted as a food court that brings in well known hawkers with at least three generations, you'll find these older well known names mixed within more modern names to make up the 27 stalls here.

the crowd, seremban siu bao with curry!, chicken from Ipoh chicken rice

KL-lites will be familiar with names like Hon Kee porridge from Cecil Street, Hokkien mee from Kim Lian Kee, popiah from Campbell (stall is located @ the back of Yut Kee and fronts the small lane that sells KL-style char kuey teow, mee rebus and etc), lam mee from Lameeya (said to originate from PJ but honestly I've not heard abt them), char siu wantan noodles from Ho Weng Kee in PJ, beef noodles from Soong Kee, bak kut teh from Mo Sang Kor in Pandamaran, Ipoh chicken rice from Gasing, PJ and Mr. Siew Bao that is said to be from Seremban Siew Bao. Singaporeans will be happy to also discover Kong Tai, that reminds one of Thye Hong in Pavilion except here they don't serve their wetter Singapore Hokkien noodles with an opei leaf.

o chien from Kong Tai

They're mixed with others like Luk Yu Teahouse, Kluang Station, Thai Corner, P'tit Bouchon (that serves wine by the glass), Cheeky Doe, Berrylicious, Star Duck, Western Foodtrend, Georgetown that serves Penang styled food, yau char kuai and tau fu far from the I Love Yoo! people, italian food from Pomodoro, western food, Taiwanese food from Taiwan Recipe and etc. While the non-heritage Chinese stalls may not appeal to locals, they offer a variety to others especially children who often clamour for the Western styled foods.

lard-land @ Kong Tai, loads of oil goes into the o chien, wat shall I eat???

Just opened since November 10, the food court still has its hiccups (best you come early in the day as food tends to run out very quickly). I guess they're still trying to cope with the overwhelming response. Most of the stalls actually cook their food off site in central kitchens and bring it over hence this matching of supply with the huge demand issue.

fluffy mah kiok

Getting here late in the evening meant we had very slim pickings - the remnants of the pot from Mo Sang Kor bak kut teh (see how they're tilting the pot to get the remaining soup) and o chien cooked on the spot @ Kong Tai. Incidentally, Kong Tai was quite packed with people since they were still frying up noodles. Their version of Hokkien noodles is different from Thye Hong over at Pavilion - they use a softer thin noodle mixed with thin yellow noodles mixed in with fried lard pieces. It takes some time to get used to the texture of the noodles, as it is wetter and of course, pale as a Brit vs the blackened versions we are more used to. It is interesting to see that the Singapore version uses dried sole powder and lard, just like the Malaysian version.

smooth tau fu far

Tau fu fah and mah kiok (my favourite sprinkled with sesame seeds for a sweet and salty taste) was good. Loved the smooth taste of the beancurd but felt the mah kiok was average tasting (would have of course preferred the super fresh fried on the spot one from Jalan Bukit Bintang/Jalan Alor). Bak kut teh from Mo Sang Kor was very different - not much herb taste but a deep brown almost black colour that tasted good from the gelatinous parts of the pig being boiled together. Not cheap though - my bowl of pork knuckle was RM12 with rice and tea. While it was quite a big portion, most of it was bones and skin but then it was hard to gauge since I was just getting the scraps from the pot.

clear chairs, everything is labeled with hutong, love the sign of each stall (the Kong Tai one looks exactly like the owner who sports a hat and a bright flowered shirt everytime), Ho Weng Kee is definitely here

The poached chicken from Ipoh Chicken rice was average - nice and firm texture (not the soggy type that resembles antibiotic laden chooks). My last visit here, I had the Hon Kee porridge that was good - smooth and laden with sinful goodies like fried intestines and chee chap. Yums!

If you're planning to visit here, try and come early to get everything. If you're the kind who can wait, then give this place time to get it running on full steam ahead as it is still very much in the early days. Saw a number of tourists walking around the place looking a little lost (one even came with their full set of luggage!), hence I guess some pointers on the heritage significance for each stall should be explained, since they're clueless on what kind of food they serve. Alternatively, I guess tourists can be given a wider berth and be taken around by concierges that will explain to them the different food. If not, brochures will also help if bodies are too expensive to hire. Some warning signage on the place is also needed as some foreigners may be seeking for halal food. For more, see Eat Drink KL's blog post.

Lot 10 Hutong

Lower Ground Floor
Lot 10

Jalan Bukit Bintang

(Non Halal)

*Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here is entirely based on my personal tastebuds and may vary for others. This review is time sensitive; changes may occur to the place later on that can affect this opinion. The reviewer also declares that she has not received any monetary or non-monetary compensation from this place for writing the review.

Tagged with: Food Court+ Lot 10