Quack and Cluck is KL's only restaurant where a Chinese breakfast set with Szechuan minced pork, pickled vegetables and bing shares the menu with a Scottish equivalent of tattie scones and black pudding. Newly founded by an Indonesian ethnic Chinese and a Glasgow-born Brit, the restaurant represents two cultures coming together - taking over a two-storey former teahouse, it's a distinctive entrant in Chinatown's increasingly diverse culinary melting pot, welcomingly warm and creatively cool.
If you relish Big Breakfasts but crave a change from the conventional, try Quack and Cluck's super-hearty variations (RM30 each): The Chinese Breakfast Set stacks a beautiful sunny side up over bing flatbread, surrounded by a mix of minced pork with pickled vegetables, aromatic baiju-cured bacon, and pork sausage, while the Scottish Breakfast Set is nearly a full fry-up, featuring egg on toast with tattie scones (a soft, tasty potato pancake), whisky-cured bacon, Lincolnshire sausage, and typically, blood sausage (unavailable when we visited). Both sets come with comforting red bean soup that channels a home kitchen.
Porridge also comes in Chinese and Scottish counterparts: The former is the familiar congee that's rich and creamy with minced pork and century eggs (RM14.50), while the latter is an ultra-thick and rustically textured oat porridge with a flavour boost from salt and butter, served with black coffee on the side (RM13). Complete the porridge with an order of youtiao (RM7.50 for two), which shares a counter with fresh, flaky croissants.
We can never resist Scotch eggs; Quack and Cluck's offer a fresh, crisp bite and warm, tender chew, centred with a runny-yolked egg, peculiarly but pleasantly paired with mellow pickled veggies (RM18). All in all, this is a place with plenty of promise.
Upstairs, Quack and Cluck conceals a cocktail bar that earns its name, Tipsy Room - a tale for another time, very soon.
21, Jalan Sultan, City Centre, 50000 Kuala Lumpur. Tel: 012-588-0059
This post first appeared on eatdrinkkl.com
