My first lunch appointment in KL after so many years, I was quite excited to go a restaurant that I went to before. Noble House is close to Jalan Imbi and very close to my usual abode when I went to KL.

Perak-born, Kuala Lumpur-based Malaysian chef Justin Hor 何志强 started his culinary journey when he was just 13 years of age, having trained in the blazing-hot kitchens of several prominent Chinese restaurants in Kuala Lumpur. He headed the Chinese kitchen at the six-star Tower Club in Singapore for a few years and later returned to Kuala Lumpur in 2000 to start the Oriental Group of restaurants.

Established in January 2003, Noble House serves fine Cantonese gourmet and has the reputation of being one of the top fine dining Chinese restaurants in Kuala Lumpur.

The Lunch

1. 炭烧西班牙猪中肉风味蔬 Charcoal Grilled Iberico Pork Neck Garden Green Salad
2. 风味日本冰菜 Japanese Icy Vegetable
3. 鲍鱼滋补炖汤 Double-Boiled Abalone Nourishing Soup
4. 清蒸多宝鱼 Cantonese Style Steamed Flounder
5. 至尊鸳鸯豆腐 Imperial Beancurd With Spinach
6. 乱棍打死猪八戒 Sautéed String Beans with Minced Pork
7. 乡下佬面卜 Egg Noodles Village Style
8. 金牌福建面 Fried Noodles Hokkien Style

炭烧西班牙猪中肉风味蔬 Charcoal Grilled Iberico Pork Neck Garden Green Salad

Interesting starter. The deep fried enoki mushrooms provided the crunch and lots of flavour, the Iberia pork neck was pulled and mixed with the mushroom and mesclun. Didn’t like the dressing though, kind of Thai chilli dressing.

风味日本冰菜 Japanese Icy Vegetable

Tsuburina or Japanese ice plant is a perennial herb that actually came from the deserts of South Africa. Recently they have become very popular as a starter or salad ingredient. Simply drizzled some sesame vinaigrette and you have a wonderful starter. Crunchy and full of liquid, it was like biting into a juicy fruit.

鲍鱼滋补炖汤 Double-Boiled Abalone Nourishing Soup

Forget about the abalone, it was one of those small little Dalian abalone. But the soup was delicious with the dried shiitake and pork and chicken stock supporting the flavours.

清蒸多宝鱼 Cantonese Style Steamed Flounder

With modern aquaculture flounders are now farmed and have become a common fish to serve in a Chinese banquet. They have a very auspicious Chinese name, called Duobaoyu 多宝鱼 or “fish with lots of treasure”. Called the Cantonese style 广式蒸, the fish was steamed, the liquid discarded and then drizzled with hot oil over scallions and ginger and topped with a slightly sweet and most savoury light soy sauce. The fish was fresh but I wished they had trimmed the fins.

至尊鸳鸯豆腐 Imperial Beancurd With Spinach

I had this dish for my wedding banquet almost twenty years ago; this was an innovation back then invented by a HK chef from Tunglok. This was similar: soft bean curd coated with nori and deep fried and the smothered with a brown sauce made from shiitake mushroom sauce and accompanied by Shimeiji mushrooms to give it a faux meat umami flavour. Delicious vegetarian dish.

乱棍打死猪八戒 Sautéed String Beans with Minced Pork

In the Chinese literature classic, “Journey to the West”, there’s a character that resembled a pig call Zhubajie 猪八戒. He is a glutton and lustful, and is featured here as minced pork. This dish is literally translated as “Zhubajie beaten to death by random rods”. What your mother will cook at home too.

乡下佬面卜 Egg Noodles Village Style

乡下佬 or the Country Bum may not be the perfect name for a noodle dish from a restaurant, but this laisser faire method of assembling a quick meal in your KL uncle’s house. Featuring the KL-style dark soy sauce that is so essential in Chinese cuisine in Malaysia that dictate why the food tasted better there, the meepok (Chinese linguine-like egg noodles) was braised in the savoury sauce with sliced pork tenderloin, shimeiji mushrooms, beef tendons and lots of aromatics like garlic and shallots. Very rich and satisfying.

金牌福建面 Fried Noodles Hokkien Style

This was my first plate of KL-style Hokkien noodles after so many years – I have not been back to KL since 2018 – so I did not know what to expect. There was plenty of wokhei (the unique smokiness from cooking with cast iron woks), the pork lard used to cook the noodles and the ingredients were plentiful; somehow something was missing…

And then they brought out another bowl of crispy pork lard and sambal chilli . The KL-style Hokkien noodles is now complete.

Afterthoughts

With 9 outlets to look after, evidently the question of centralised kitchens came up. After all, the menu is 70% similar across all restaurants with the remaining percentage set aside for individual specialities, which unfortunately we did not order any today. 

The Hokkien mee in this store was outstanding (compared to Oriental Pavilion). And I liked the Country Bum meepok, a very rustic and satisfying dish. But everything else was quite run of the mill. Quality and good, but not outstanding.

Restoran Noble House 陽城酒家
No.19, Jalan Delima, Off Jalan Imbi, 55100 Kuala Lumpur 
Tel : +60 (0)3 2145 8822

Visited Mar 2023

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