Choy Kee Restaurant’s Famous Pork Knuckle, Sungkai, Perak
July 13, 2008 | 26,469 views
In a nutshell, they advertise their signature dishes, complete with the shop’s contact numbers … How’s that for self-promo savviness? 😉
A brief introduction of Sungkai, a town I hold close to my heart. The reason? I practically grew up visiting this small town quite frequent, as my late grandfather stayed here ever since I was born. For those in the dark about living and embracing the simple, village-type of lifestyle in a small town, the experience is priceless. Imagine “recreational” activities such as having a splashing time at a waterfall, a walk in the palm oil plantations, strolling around the whole town enjoying your favourite ice-cream, and dozing off to the lullaby of crickets.
Signature Beancurd with Minced Meat, Preserved Vegetables and Spring Onions (RM8)
Anyway, enough with the touch of rendezvous (this being a FOOD blog, after all!). On special occasions, (Eg. Chinese New Year, & Bai Tin Kung ~ an occasion on the midnight of the 8th day of CNY, whereby Hokkiens offer their prayers to the Emperor of Heaven) my grandmother would order a special dish of pork’s knuckle/hand, (weighing >>1kg each, no less) for our dinner. Oh btw, not only does our family consists of >20 members, most are gluttons/gluttons in-the-making!
Stir-fried Yau Mak with Fu Yee (fermented beancurd) RM7
Strange enough, all these years of feasting on the famed pork hand dish, I never dined in the shop itself. Coincidentally, work took us to the town of Sungkai itself, and we were in luck as our tasks ended at dinner hour. And Choy Kee Restaurant, with its bright yellow signboard situated on the Main Road of Sungkai itself was luring us like bees to honey, or in this case, flies to garbage dump (*_*). Yup, we were startled to discover the number of flies on the tables and floor of the shop. But lucky for us, seated near to a fly-electrocutor (whatever the machine’s called) somehow deter the flies from approaching. Or it could be FCOE’s stench. But I digress …. =P
Marmite Chicken (RM10)
Enough of babbling, let’s get to the dishes. Their signature dish of tofu (beancurd) with minced meat toppings was a simple, yet very delicious dish. The tofu is homemade, with egg ala Japanese tofu, but very smooth and soft. The yau mak (Romaine lettuce?) cooked with fu yee (fermented beancurd) was thankfully not too saltish, and right up our alley. The Marmite chicken’s serving was a bit lacking, though equally good in terms of taste. But let us move on to the **STAR** of the evening …..
Gigantic Pork Knuckle Braised in Soy Sauce (RM26)
Timeless classic. Suffice to say, my favourite dish of the night. Though KYT may agree, as the fatty portion overshadowed the lean meat. But the meat was braised with such care, and flavours, the meat’s consistency was just right, soft and tender, soaking up the sauce while not being overwhelmingly salty. A must-try if you ever drop by in this shop, or in Sungkai for that matter.
Location : Choy Kee Restaurant @ 35, Jalan Besar, 35600 Sungkai,Perak. Tel : 05-4386287 or 019-3369609. To get to Sungkai town, turn at Sungkai exit on North-South Highway, which is between Bidor exit and Slim River exit. Around an hour drive from Ipoh.
For BSG’s chomping good time at Choy Kee, do hop over HERE.
No worries, not an apparition or ghost. But the steaming, erm, BUBBLING hot water was indeed rather horrifying, to say the least.
So, what did we do after that satisfying meal? Of course, we returned to our “VILLA” (refer previous post for more photos) for some stretching out, relaxation, and obviously, a timely soak in the personal hot spring pool. But the water was WAY too hot, possibly heated well to boil an egg or two. We could only dipped our toes and feet, before jumping up and down, squealing like children. Hehe ….
Here’s to those who’s wondering where in the blue world is this place :
FELDA Residence Hot Springs Sg. Klah, 35600 Sungkai, Perak. Tel : 05-4388801. Visit their site at http://www.plantationresorts.com.my/HotSprings/index_ap.shtml for more information.
(P/S : Our villa’s rate is RM600 each, accomodates up to 4 residents per villa, per night. Cost an arm and a leg, huh? But the place is rather seclusive, AND exclusive. The standard rooms are going to be opened in August this year, so keep your fingers crossed? =P)

Motormouth, you stay 5star or what RM600, you get club room in Ritz?
But the food is good and look at the size of the pig knuckle I think, mmm yummy.
[Reply]
Alamak what anonymous…JENCOOKS herelah.
[Reply]
gee, thanks Jencooks. And there I was, trying to describe that chunk as pork hand/knuckle/trotter. 🙂
bout the apartment, not sure if they’re 5 stars, as no rating could be seen. but the price definitely shocked us out of our boots, initially. 🙂
[Reply]
Haha…you paid for that pot of boiling water…
Yah, for the first time I heard of pork hand and wondering if pigs got hand, give you in German —->Schweinhaksen…something like that.
[Reply]
pork knuckle! my fav 🙂
[Reply]
jencooks : yeah! that’s a steaming hot pool of hot water, burning hot!!! but we persevered (after paying through our noses, must tahan ma!) and took a dip anyhow.
BTW, there really is pork hand, somehow refers to the upper part of its front trotters.
cumi & ciki : yeah, simple dish but refined, and appease that carnivorous appetite!
[Reply]
12MRSK Reply:
October 4th, 2009 at 9:06 pm
I am staying there! thats good news.. our hometown become famour food … so happy…actually there are more good food at our place..like my favourite Nasi lemak (sold by prev canteen uncle SMK-SUNGKAI), Pau and You Tiao (sold by Hainan shop- alrdy closed, miss them so much), I miss my HT food so much…
[Reply]
J2Kfm Reply:
October 4th, 2009 at 10:05 pm
you’re still in Sungkai? or working elsewhere now?
my grandma used to stay in Sungkai, but no longer. she’s moved here, and we kind of miss Sungkai a lot.
such a small, simple town where almost everyone knows everyone else.
[Reply]
Peter Ng Reply:
June 24th, 2010 at 5:44 pm
Was there for dinner on the way back from KL on the 9th. Was informed that the old owner had passed away about 4 months ago. The new owner has bought over the business (forgot to ask when) and the old owner had passed on the know-how in the preparation of the knuckles, without which Choy Kee might not be the same.
J2Kfm Reply:
June 24th, 2010 at 8:17 pm
Thanks so much Peter for the valuable information.
Choy Kee holds a very special place in my heart, for when I was small until I was a teenager, I used to go to Sungkai for at least twice a year. My grandma stayed there. Hence when there was any special occasions, we would ta-pau Choy Kee’s famous ‘chu sau’ to go along with her own cooking.
But now she has moved to Ipoh, and things are never the same.
It’s been ages since I last visited Sungkai (this post was the last time, I think).
[…] on most days we settled for the same old Pun Chun duck noodles in Bidor, Choy Kee’s famous pork knuckle in Sungkai and even Slim River’s claypot fish and […]
Cool ideas there, thanks. I actually took the plunge and got me some chickens last week! Now I have more eggs than I know what to do with!. You might like these egg recipes.
[Reply]
???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????? ?????????? ???????????????
????? ?????????????? ????????????????????????????
????? ??????????????
[Reply]