Bow to bao zai faan in Bangsar: Bou is APW’s new kitchen that recalls Hong Kong’s dai pai dong culture, serving claypots of scorched-bottomed rice, steamily topped with preserved pork, crackly crustaceans and more.
Bou infuses a current-era spirit into the classic soul of claypot rice, true to the thoughtful ethos of the Tinkermen Collective that also runs Proof and Grano Pasta Bar in this hub.
Each one-pot wonder is crafted to order, commanding a 20-minute wait, with only six stoves in the open kitchen. Watch the claypots spin on the tech-savvy stoves, with dragon’s-breath flames blasting their base to ensure consistently even cooking.
The result: A thinly browned underlying layer of crisped rice, the perfect proportion to placate cravings for crusty crunch.
Claypots come complete with Bou’s own-blended dark soy sauce that customers can drizzle HK-style on the jasmine rice to their preference, plus a free flow of chillies, house-pickled vegetables and peanuts.
Pork, beef, chicken and vegetarian claypots are available. For fiery fun at the table, a flambe of St. Remy Authentic VSOP French brandy is offered as an optional top-up.
The Sorrowful Claypot Rice nods to the God of Cookery’s Cantonese char siu egg rice - the star is the beautifully caramelised BBQ pork, flagrantly fatty, making a meal of memorably satisfying simplicity.
Three Heavenly Kings is the tribute to lap mei fan with a twist - lap cheong and yun cheong are coupled with their European cousin, salami, for a triad of cured sausage meat, enhanced with the earthy umami of shiitake mushrooms.
Oh My Lard is drop-dead decadent, showered in a hailstorm of pork lard, blown in by a blizzard of jinhua ham, their aromatic juices seeping into the grains below for a flood of fragrance and flavour.
For beef, Wagyu Karubi is the safe bet, brimming with brisket, chu hou fermented soybean sauce, carrots and white radish for balanced, bovine-bodied sustenance.
But for a riskier gastronomic gambit, the Bou Burger Special Cheese is inspired by Malaysian street stall burgers, slamming a supper-worthy, sweet-savoury smackdown of Bou’s own-ground beef patty with cheese, egg, fried shallots, Lingham’s chilli sauce and Worcestershire sauce.
Chicken is the choice for customers who covet familiar comfort.
Bou For The Soul is a balm - rice immersed in rich herbal broth that’s also served on the side, nourishingly rounded out with a drumstick, lap cheong, goji berries and vegetables.
Mala XO Sauce Chicken punches up the tongue-tingling heat, laced with Szechuan pepper oil.
The parade of protein ends with Ebi-mania, deep-fried mini prawns with shrimp roe, furikake and bonito flakes, a textural treat, crackly from the first bite to final chew. Pair with a snack from the sea, salted egg fish skin, spiced with gunpowder and paprika, for a scrumptious sidekick.
