Eats: Cantonese Porridge @ Kamseng Jakarta

Kamseng is Hub's favourite. Even though I managed to convince him to try another restaurant  i.e. Bubur Kwang Tung, he still thinks Kamseng is the best. Probably he's right.

Kamseng is a chinese restaurant located near the Chinatown of Jakarta. I think one of the reason why Hubs adores Kamseng is because they serve pork, unlike Kwang Tung which is halal. Last weekend, I had some cravings for Cantonese porridge and suggested to Hubs "Let's go Kamseng." Certainly, no argument from Hubs. Lol!

I think majority of Chinese in Jakarta are Hokkiens. Why I says so is based on how the menus describe some of the ingredients. For example, when I glanced through Kamseng's menu, I saw this word "tito". My brain just can't compute how would somebody's name end up in a menu. Then I look at the Chinese description. It's actually pig stomach and the actual pronunciation of this in Hokkien is "tu tor". Finally comprehension! Another example is "hipyo" which is a phonetic spelling of fish maw.

Back to the food. No surprise what Hubs' ordered which was sliced pork porridge with egg, while I decided to try their prawn porridge. The prawn porridge wasn't my first choice. I wanted fish head porridge but they ran out on fish head. So prawn it was. Both were yummy, and the texture of the porridge is not too glob-by like how May Star (a chain of popular Chinese restaurant that's located mainly in shopping malls) serve theirs. Personally I prefer Kwang Tung porridge texture - it is a tad runnier than Kamseng, but don't think I wanna go back because I feel they put a lot of ajinomoto into their porridge.

The main attraction at Kamseng is really their Cantonese porridge but you can order various small dishes ala like eating Teochew porridge to go with the porridge. Normally, Hubs would order a small dish of steamed minced pork with duck egg yolk, but we decided to try something else which is braised pork trotters. Unfortunately ran out again! So we ordered braised samchan (local lingo for 3-layer pork) and it was pretty good. The braising liquid is really yummy.

Kamseng is currently undergoing renovation but they are still open for business. An added pluspoint of this place is that it is 24 hours. Whenever Hubs has friends from KL over, late night clubbings always invariably end up with a steaming porridge at Kamseng to clear up the alcohol. Maybe that's why they seems to run out of this and that. LOL!

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Kamseng Chinese Restaurant
Jalan Mangga Besar 1 No. 26
Jakarta Barat, DKI Jakarta 11180