Pig Out Café – Home-style porky goodness

A-G-3, Park Lane Commercial Hub, Jalan SS7/26 Kelana Jaya, 47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia

Quick question to my readers: Which of you are Game of Thrones fans?

Wow. All five of you, huh?

So maybe you share my frustration that the truly good guys of Westeros seem to have the lifespan of a mayfly. You have good intentions, you try to be fair to all and do right by the world… and suddenly you find yourself a head shorter. Or you leave a party with more holes in you than when you arrived. Perhaps worst of all, someone kills your dog.

While the sort-of bad guys seem to live on and on… suffering nothing worse than bruised egos, minor scarring (which, some may argue, adds a macho touch) and missing appendages.

… admittedly some appendages are more important than others.

Yes, I love the complexity of GRR Martin’s epic world and the highly-believable characters he populates it with. And I love how he tells his stories of war and loss and betrayal with unexpected twists and brutal realism.

But I just can’t help but feel a pang when the protagonists I root for are taken out forever.

By the way, it’ll be a while till we get to the food. So here’s Pig Out’s delicious passion fruit fizz to tide you over.

Well, we can’t do much about GRR Martin’s penchant for murdering his characters with seemingly-careless abandon. But closer to reality, we – yes, the five of you and I – may be able to help write a happy success story for some good guys in the food business who are cooking up some great stuff. All we gotta do is eat there often – and there are plenty of reasons to.

Pig Out Café is a brand-new casual-dining place offering up porky delights – they just opened in July 2013.

It’s located at the just-as-new Park Lane commercial center. This place is so new, in fact, that it seems they haven’t quite finished taking off the bubble wrap yet. Only a handful of lots are occupied. Parking is still free, and so plentiful you can park like a complete asswipe without anyone raising an eyebrow.

Visual guide: How to park like an asswipe. Not that you should – remember we’re on the side of the good guys.

The menu is small – I suspect it will grow. The service is friendly. The prices are extremely reasonable. And the food (ah, finally) is the reason why I am rooting so hard for these guys to succeed.

It’s simple, unpretentious, home-style pork dishes… made with much care and attention to the smallest details.

Take their signature roast pork for example. Tender meat, melty fat, beautiful pork flavour without that bad, overly-porky smell. The crackling is just a tiny bit harder than the one on Lady Fartsalot’s MeatMen sio bak but it still has a very nice crunch. It’s an excellent dish, but what put it over the top for me were the delicious and deep flavours of the grilled carrots and potatoes on the side. I really didn’t expect them to put so much effort into their sides. Many bigger and more established restaurants don’t.

So good we had to order a second portion.

Next, the cottage pie. It’s like a porky shepherd’s pie; creamy mashed potatoes and flavourful minced pork combined to make a great light meal. The coleslaw on the side is so good, I’d order it on its own. It was crunchy, tangy and fresh; with a tiny hint of raw onion that made the whole thing come alive on the tastebuds.

I still can’t decide which one I like more – the pie or the coleslaw.

The pork chop was the only item I didn’t love. I thought the chops needed some extra flavour: perhaps more of the garlic sauce it came with, or more a little more time marinating. Also, I would have preferred the meat to be more tender – but this could be just a personal thing since pretty much all of the pork chops I’ve had from Leonardo’s in Bangsar to Ad Hog in Kota Damansara have a similar texture.

Not too hot on the pork chops, but the coleslaw and creamy, buttery mashed potatoes on the side were absolutely killer.

Finally, the pork burger. A thick, tasty, juicy pork patty with enoki, cheese, lettuce, tomato and a little raw onion. The patty had good texture and flavour; I could really taste the cheese; and the onions gave it a very nice kick. The fries were hard and almost completely crunchy. Guess they didn’t use the twice-frying method TV chefs recommend to give each fry a crunchy exterior and soft, fluffy interior… but I still kinda liked them.

A serious contender for best pork burger in town.

I was wondering why they didn’t put the top bun off to the side to better show off the patty, until I saw this beautiful mess. Doesn’t look very pretty, but tastes really good.

Portions are decent for people with normal appetites. But since all 3 of us that day were big eaters, we managed to put away 4 main courses and one pie between us. Pigging out at Pig Out was very satisfying indeed.

What worries me is that the place was empty when we arrived (admittedly close to closing time). I really think there ought to be a queue to get in and the reason there isn’t is simply because not enough people know how good their food is.

It would be tragic to see a great place like this go under simply because of a lack of awareness, while juggernauts of mediocrity like Old Town and KFC continue to grow and grow.

So please go eat there. Tell your friends. Help the good guys win.

Snack-sized review

Great casual restaurant serving up amazing home-style porky dishes at very reasonable prices. Much care was taken with everything, even their side dishes. Go eat there and bring your friends – they very much deserve to do well.

Stats

Hours: 12pm to 3pm for lunch. 6pm to 10pm for dinner.

Price: Very reasonable. Most expensive item (their signature roast pork) is only RM18 for a plateful of deliciousness. Until 31 August 2013, they have an opening discount of 20% off your total bill.