The name “Hawk & Fish” certainly seems intriguing and when I first heard of it, images of a soaring hawk diving in to fish from a flowing river came to my mind and I thought that’s quite an odd name for a restaurant. How wrong I was as I was later told that the “hawk” in this case actually was short for “hawker” and the fish, well… the fish probably referred to their signature Fish & Chips. Oh, more about their fish & chips later.
Hawk & Fish in TTDI serves a variety of local and western favourites. During lunch, there’s “zap fan” style dishes laid out for the lunch crowd cooked by Uncle Chee, the resident cook. Uncle Chee also dishes up their favourites – Bak Kut Teh (both soup and dry versions) and Herbal Wine Chicken. The BKT is a bit on the mild side for me – I prefer the darker stronger Klang-style BKT. But then, Hawk & Fish’s BKT is decent if you just want something to satiate your BKT craving before you make that next BKT trip down south.
The dry BKT is a potful of sinful pork belly with ladies’ fingers cooked to a divine caramelised mess. I would have preferred more pronounced herbal flavours in the pork but anyhow, it’s a popular item to order to go with white rice.
On the other hand, I like the Herbal Wine Chicken with the robust flavoursome nuances in the wine and chinese herbs simmered into the cloudy aromatic soup. The claypot of good old fashioned herbal wine chicken soup was still bubbling when it was placed on our table – perfect for cold rainy evenings.
Other popular local dishes here are the Char Koey Tiau, Pound Special Fried Rice, Kampung Fried Rice and my all-time favourite, Spicy Fried Chicken Wings.The Char Koey Tiau is quite unlike the usual CKT – this version is more like dry-fried kway teow with just fresh succulent prawns, bean sprouts and chives.
For that extra oomph, ask for their kickass tongue-burner sambal which, believe me, goes excellently with all their local delights. The fiery sambal practically awakens the sensitivity in all corners of the tongue.
Now if you prefer something more western-style, Hawk & Fish has a good selection on their menu. Start off with some porky goodies like Dogs in a blanket and quilt (RM25), the Pound Pork Balls (RM18 for 3pcs), Pork Burger (RM30) and of course the Fish & Chips (RM25).
Thick sausages wrapped with chive omelette and streaky bacon sound very appealing and the reality of the Dogs in Blanket & Quilt does not disappoint either.
Do bite gingerly into the Pound Pork Balls lest the melted cheese inside squirts out unceremoniously all over you. The oozing cheese is definitely slurp-worthy, mixed with the meaty juices from the minced pork.
I love the presentation of the Pork Burger as the halves of the burger bun were served facing up so as not squash up everything. A pork patty with delicious-looking melted cheese, onions and tomatoes reside on one half while the other half gallantly hold up a slice of ham and a nicely fried egg. If this is not sufficient, there’s still a pile of thick-cut fries by the side.
Now…the Fish & Chips, what can I say? Despite indicating that snapper was used, I found the fish to be tough and rubbery. I’m not sure what went wrong there but hopefully that was a one-off incident.
To round off the meal, the pockets of Apple Pie were very average, almost twin-like to the popular fast-food version. Skip this altogether.
Hawk & Fish
50 Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad 1
Taman Tun Dr Ismail
60000 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: +6011-3738-8993