I will start by reminiscing about my hometown of Klang. As some of you know, my grandfather started a coffee shop called “Nam Chuan” at Tengku Diauddin (Jalan Tengku Diauddin) somewhere in the late 1920s. I have written a few articles on this previously, so I am not going to dwell on it here. As Nam Chuan was one of the very early Hailam coffee shops in Klang, many of the Hailams who worked in Nam Chuan later on went to open their own coffee shops and restaurants and achieved great successes in their own right. As some of you may know, most Hailams in the early days were either operating coffee shops or working as cooks or waiters for the “Ang Moh” (the colloquial term for Europeans in Malaya). One of the people who worked at Nam Chuan who did very well for himself was Ah Nam or fondly known as Bo Nam (the term “Bo” is an endearing term in Hailam when referring to someone who is close). Bo Nam together with another Hailam opened and operated a restaurant called Yang Jung in Port Klang. Restaurant Yang Jung was famous for its “Hailam Char Siew” (Hailam roast pork), “Hailam Ee Pew” (stewed fish stomach wrapped around some meat and cooked in a thick broth) and Hailam Mee (noodles) amongst others. Bo Nam started out as a helper in Nam Chuan and later on became an apprentice cook. Yang Jung certainly served delicious food and Bo Nam did very well for himself. His business partner who was also a Hailam wasn’t a cook but I remember him as one of the restaurant Captain (maitre’d) in another famous Hailam restaurant in Port Klang called Seaview. After Seaview shut its doors, he and Bo Nam started Yang Jung. Even though, Yang Jung was doing well but for some reason, it did shut its doors later on which was quite sad. Unfortunately, we have lost touch with Bo Nam and do not know what had become of him. However, I do remember in the last few years of Yang Jung operating, Bo Nam’s son took over from him as the cook.
Sticking with Port Klang, there were other wonderful Hailam restaurants and coffee shops such as Port View restaurant, Port Klang rest house, Deluxe, Mariner’s Club and who can ever forget the “Golden Hill” or popularly known as “Kim Sua” belonging to the Ngiam family. As a matter of fact, my brother and I went to the same school with the Ngiam brothers (children / grandchildren of the owners of Golden Hill). My late auntie whom we called Ah Mai lived a few doors away from the Ngiams. Golden Hill which was strategically located along the Klang-Port Klang boulevard (or known as “Persiaran” in Malay) had got a famous huge facade advertising a particular brand of battery (if I am not mistaken). The coffee shop was located at the corner of a row of shops where the first KFC restaurant in Port Klang is located (by the way, the KFC is still there!) Port View restaurant was another well-known seafood restaurant in Klang Valley. It was operated by two Hailam business partners whom we referred to as Uncle Lim and Mr Chew. Uncle Lim who was already in his 80s back in 1980 was a rather healthy man. He could walked quickly and unaided. He could climbed stairs without any help and had more energy than people half his age. One could never believed he was in his 80s with the way he moved and the abundant energy he had. It was rather rare back than for people to reach 80 and on top of that, healthy and energetic. We always joked with Uncle Lim that his secret to his long life is that he never eats his own food in the restaurant! The ever sporting Uncle Lim would nod his head and smiled, saying that his meal is always made up of plain rice porridge (congee) with salted fish and salted duck egg. Uncle Lim was a rather entertaining fellow who unfortunately passed away not due to an illness but due to a complication from an eye cataract surgery. In those days, there was no laser surgery and the norm was that you would be put under general anaesthetics (GA) for the cataract surgery. Unfortunately for Uncle Lim, he did not wake up from the GA. As for his partner, Mr. Chew, he was a much younger man and I remember him as a rather polite person. Besides its food, one of the added advantage that Port View had over its competitors was its location - water front. You could see people boarding and alighting from the boats at the jetty and you can also see the big cargo ships and cargo cranes at the Port, thus the name “Port View”. I could still remember the loyal staff of Port View, namely a Hailam fellow by the name of Lawrence. Lawrence started as a waiter and then went on to become the restaurant Captain (maitre’d). When Port View shut its doors, Lawrence went on to work for Uncle Lim’s son by the name of George Lim in a Western restaurant known as D’Tavern. Port View was famous for its seafood but the dishes that stood out for me were its “cold chicken”, deep fried crab claw, Hailam fried mee (noodles), Hailam fried rice and steam pomfret. The “cold chicken” was made up of poached sliced chicken resting in an agar-agar casing with slaw and thousand island salad dressing generously poured over and served cold. The “crab claw” was a dish that everyone craves for as the crab claw (the real crab meat not the artificial kind) deeply fried with a little bit of batter and served with its famous Port View Hailam Chilli Sauce. You can taste the authentic crab meat as it was not overpowered by the batter like what you would have today. Then we have the steam pomfret which was cooked just right but the best thing about this dish was the way it was served. One of the waiters would come with a fork and knife and expertly sliced the steam pomfret running a knife in the middle and removing the entire bone. After that, the waiter would use a spoon to splash the sauce / gravy over the meat. I could never get tired watching this spectacular scene. The Hailam fried mee and fried rice were usually served last as a filler for those who are still not full at that stage. An added bonus was the desert of ice longan juice with cubes of red jelly, almond and longan to end a wonderful meal. That was Port View restaurant for you.
Then we have the other Hailam seafood restaurants in Port Klang such as Sea View restaurant and Muara View. They served similar food like Port View but at a lower price. However, during Port View’s hey day, you can’t beat Port View when it came to seafood. However, the standard did drop after Uncle Lim’s passing. Sea View restaurant had an added advantage over Port View as it was located in a huge bungalow house with ample parking in its grounds.
Apart from the restaurants, we have the Hailam coffee shops such as Deluxe and Golden Hill. Deluxe was attached to a budget hotel located in a corner shop lot. It was famous for its chicken rice. It also served Hailam chicken chop but it wasn’t something I would order as it had too much tomato paste which gave an overpowering sourish taste. However, it did serve the Hailam butter and kaya (coconut jam) bread. At that time, they still had the thick fluffy bread which was served either steamed or toasted. The steamed Hailam bread was delicious as it was thick and fluffy while the toasted was perfectly charred using the traditional charcoal heating method. Then you have the Golden Hill which belonged to the Ngiam family. Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to taste the food over there but from what I heard, they served some really good “Hailam kopi O”. If I recall correctly, there was another Hailam coffee shop located under the bridge on the way to what is now known as Pulau Indah. I was brought there by a “Suki” (a fellow Hainanese) but I wasn’t very impress with its food. They offered the usual fare associated with Hailam such as chicken chop, Hailam Mee, etc but it wasn’t something memorable. To me, it was just passable. I believe the coffee shop is still operating. I have not been to Port Klang for almost a decade now but I do recall I used to go to a Hailam coffee shop which was located in a pre-War shop lot near the traffic lights diagonally from the Embassy Hotel (not sure if the hotel is still there). The coffee shop was operated by two sisters who were already quite elderly when I visited there the last time in 2010. It used to be my “go-to” place whenever I visited Port Klang. They served delicious home cooked food. I used to order their bitter-gourd shop, sambal sliced chicken, black bean sliced fish and either Hailam noodle or Hailam fried rice, sometimes both! The food was delicious and the price was very reasonable. I am not sure if the shop is still there. The sisters would have been quite old if they are still around.
The other places that I mentioned were the food outlets in the Mariner’s Club and the old Port Klang rest house which were independently operated by Hailams who used to work for the “Ang Moh”, therefore, they knew how to cater to the hotel guests which were mainly Europeans at that time. Apart from that, there was another place that I used to frequent. It wasn’t a restaurant or a coffee shop but rather a stall. They operated only at night near to the Deluxe coffee shop. It was operated by another Hailam family selling glutinous rice balls similar to “Tong Yuen”. I know I am going to get a lot brickbats for saying this but I am going to say it anyway. “Tong Yuen” is actually copied or derived from a Hailam delicacy called “Wa Kia Hor” (gluttonous rice ball served in a hot ginger broth. The word “Hor” in Hailam means soup) and “Wa Kia Ark” (glutinous rice ball served dry with a lot of peanuts crumbs and fine sugar splattered all over it). They were delicious. The stall only operates in the evening and it was not unusual to find a long line waiting for this delicacy.
As this post is going beyond my usual length, I am going to stop here and write further about Hailam cooks and food under Part 2 of this post. Meanwhile if you know of other places in Port Klang, do share in the comments.
