Chocha Foodstore @ Jalan Petaling, KL
My IG kept pushing me ads on this place earlier! The Ramadan menu as shown on the ads was pretty tempting. Curiosity arose and I grabbed my partner-in-crime to visit this place. Super thanks to that ads, we had a great lunch over here, paired with their signature cocktails. And… we learned a lot of new terms/ ingredients from this meal!
Chocha Foodstore
There is no sign board and it took me a second to take a peep through the window, to find out the Chocha sign. Yes, Chocha Foodstore is hidden right inside this old historical shop lot – Mah Lian Hotel, at Jalan Petaling; offering a modern contemporary Malaysian cuisine with locally sourced ingredients.
Looking raw and rustic, the space is warmed up by the green potted plants, lift up the ambience.
Their menu is very special; you can see that the dishes are very borneo-oriented, layered with ingredients from Borneo. They have this Ramadan Feed Me Menu (which I opted for) which is available in March and April, priced at Rm 138+ per pax with a minimum 2 pax to share. I find it very interesting, the dishes are very creative and I’d learned a lot from this menu!
It was a hot weather day; we need some cold “koktel” to chill. I had the Jungle Bird (Rm 45), which was their representative official Malaysian cocktail while my friend had the Jambu Batu (Rm 45). I like mine very much as it was very appetizing like a meal booster. LOL
Jungle Bird
Rum, rhum, ginger flower, fermented pineapple soda, bitter bianco, calamansi
Jambu Batu
Black lemon, tequila, amaro, agave nectar, guava soda
Tempura kadok
Mackerel paste, tuhau gel
I’d thought it was some tempura-ed vegetable but no… to my surprise, it was the mackerel paste sandwiched in between the leaves (daun kaduk). The fish paste was very well seasoned, deep-fried into an addictive piece, and beautifully topped with the tuhau gel (the wild ginger in borneo)! The combination was tangy, very well spiced and flavourful! Great as a snack to pair with your drinks too.
Stingray on toast
Serunding, sautéed onions
As I don’t take lamb, I requested to make a change on that lamb somosa. The chef served us this toast and we found it quite interesting. The stingray was made into flavourful serunding, savoury and the sautéed onions gave a hint of sweetness to this toast!
Apam balik
Pekasam prawn, pajeri nenas, ulam
The Malaysian street food pancake apam balik folded overd the fillings of homemade fermented prawn with toasted rice and salt, tangy pineapple chutney and ulam.
Umai
Citrus cured red snapper, laksa Sarawak paste, herbs
The dish Kepah was unavailable that day so we were served with Umai. This tasted so much like Sarawak laksa, except it was covered with cured fish cubes! I love this! Citrusy, spiced, appetizing and aromatic. Just lovely blending them all together.
“lodeh”
Mixed greens, marinated quail eggs, tahi minyak
Vegetables were cooked until soft and garnished with the coconut milk residue (tahi minyak). Usually this dish is accompanied with coconut milk but this was garnished with coconut milk residue! Ahhh that’s pretty interesting and I learned new thing – tahi minyak. Not forgetting the marinated quail eggs too! Those were very flavourful!
Pan-seared ambuyat
Bambangan relish, sinsilog sambal
Another new thing in my food dictionary! Ambuyat is the Borneo’s staple made from sago plum, looking glue-liked but Chocha shaped them into sphere shape and pan-seared into perfection to give a nice crust. It was then completed with seasonal wild mango from Borneo and the sambal made of local eel from sabah, and garnished with ginger flower (bunga kantan). I love this combination. It was aromatic, tangy and layered with flavours. The inner sphere had the texture slightly less chewy than the glutinous mochi.
Dry aged duck breast
Marinated sweet potato leaves, turmeric sauce, fried leaves
As we came to this dish, our tummies were a little filled up. But that didn’t stop us from finishing this duck breast! The duck breast was touches with beautiful pinkish red hues, very tender. What I love about it was the aromatic fats layered under the crispy skin!! As I chewed, the aroma of the fats came out, complemented well into the duck breast meat.
Tapai
Ice cream, cream cheese, coconut “ricotta”, lime
Interesting sweet ending to end our meal. This tapai ice cream was quite an exotic one, cheesey and tangy with a hint of lime. If you asked me if I like it, I would say it is good to try new thing but this is not my every day thing.
Chocha Foodstore
156, Jalan Petaling,
50000 Kuala Lumpur.
Opening hours:
Tues to thurs: 5pm till late
Fri to Sun: lunch from 12pm to 3pm; dinner from 5pm till late
Closed on Mondays
