- Hey everyone, I hope you're having an amazing day.
It's Mark Wiens.
I'm in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and today
for lunch we're going to a restaurant
that specializes in a dish called Masak Lemak Cili Padi,
which is a Malaysian coconut milk spicy curry,
but this is not your average version.
They make it with smoked ducked,
and so they have this entire rack
of just slow, smoking ducks.
They chop it up.
They make it into a curry.
It looks absolutely sensationally incredible.
And, we're on our way there now.
I cannot wait to show lunch, and all the food
with you in this video right now.
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(door clanks)
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About 25 kilometers south of the center
of Kuala Lumpur, in an area called Kajang.
Actually, it's a separate city called Kajang.
When I was coming on this trip to Malaysia,
I reached out on social media
to people in Malaysia, asking where to eat.
And, let me just find it on my phone,
but Muhammad, he wrote a comment saying,
Mark, do visit Itik Salai Mastar,
which is for smoked duck, in Sungai Ramal, Kajang.
The taste is beyond imagination.
You will be planning to stay
in Malaysia once you tried it.
The food looks unbelievably good,
and wait 'til you see they're just racked display,
their grill loaded with ducks.
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That was about a 30 minute drive.
We got here a little bit early,
about 30 minutes before they open,
and you can already smell the aroma,
and see the smoke coming from the ducks,
but it looks like people are already starting to come early.
There are a couple guys on motorbikes just waiting.
(grill sizzling)
Whoa.
(chef speaks in foreign language).
Is it (speaks in foreign language)?
(Mark and chef speaking in foreign language)
This is unbelievable.
Let me show you the grill situation.
So, the smoked ducks, which is what they're really famous
for, are just hanging up along here.
You can just hear them hissing and the juices dripping,
but the entire grill is just completely loaded.
These look like massive steaks.
There's catfish, there's chicken,
and what's also very interesting,
unique, about this restaurant,
is that they are burning all coconut shells.
I just see he's just tossing some in right now.
Ah, okay, it's all coconut shells.
(motorbike roars)
(coconuts clank)
(fan whirls)
Cold catfish.
- Catfish.
- Here's your order.
(crowd laughs)
(speaking in foreign language)
- [Mark] Cool.
(speaking in foreign language)
(knife clattering)
Whoa.
Chop an entire duck just in one swift, hard knife chop.
(knife clattering)
What's unique about this place is, first of all,
they have smoked duck, which is not that common
to find, but next they only burn coconut shells,
not even the husks, but it's the coconut shells.
So, they toss that into the fire, which is an indirect heat.
They have the fan blowing on the flames,
so that burns the coconut shells, blows the smoke
into the grill, which then the smoke comes up onto the beef,
onto the duck, onto the chicken, onto the catfish.
So, they have a number of different meats, but really,
I think everybody comes here for the duck, and then, well,
everything else as well.
We're gonna try to order everything that they have.
They're so friendly to us.
All the ducks and the meat is smoking back here,
but then on this side of the kitchen
is where they're doing more of the other dishes there.
It looks like some of the smoked duck,
which they are making into curries.
She's mixing in the coconut milk.
You can smell the aroma of the curry paste,
the spices, the lemongrass.
That just is blooming which spice
and flavor and that smokey duck.
(coconut milk burbles)
- [Woman Chef] Yeah.
- [Mark] Wow, coconut milk.
- Yes.
(coconut milk burbles)
- [Woman Chef] Yeah.
- [Mark] Wow.
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(speaking in foreign language)
- That's the name of the restaurant, Itik Salal
- [Mark And Chef] Masthar.
(speaking in foreign language)
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(Mark laughs)
(speaking in foreign language)
(Mark laughs)
This is the spot.
(speaking in foreign language)
(knife clanking)
(speaking in foreign language) (upbeat pop music)
- [Boy In Apron] Me, me too.
- [Mark] I got you, I got you.
(speaking in foreign language)
Yeah, yeah.
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I got you, you are on, you are on.
(speaking in foreign language)
- I know you.
I see you on YouTube.
- [Mark] Hey, what's up man?
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(soup sizzling) (upbeat pop music fades)
(crowd bustling)
Yeah, I am extremely glad that we got here 30 minutes early,
because we got to meet the owners
of the restaurant, just hang out, talk with them.
They're so friendly, they're so welcoming
and then just to see them finishing up the process.
So, I mean, they're still working on the ducks.
They're still chopping up the ducks.
They're still preparing everything for the rush.
And, I think it's still probably 10
or 15 minutes before they open,
and already there's like 20 or 30 people here,
just waiting, waiting for them to open,
so it's coming very soon.
The aromas are almost too good, yeah, too good to imagine.
The aromas are almost too unbearable.
I can't wait for 10 minutes.
You come here often?
- [Customer] Least once a month.
- The takeaway's over on that side,
but if you eat-in, eat here, then they bring the curries
and they bring the smoked duck over here,
and then you just order here
and they dish it out for you, and then you find a seat.
Sort of like food court style.
(crowd bustling) (upbeat pop music)
(speaking in foreign language)
This station is for the rice and some cucumbers,
and then there's another station
with the smoked catfish and the vegetables.
First, I think get some rice.
(crowd bustling)
Okay, we'll garnish you up.
(crowd bustling)
Thank you. - [Waiter] Alright.
(crowd bustling) (upbeat pop music)
- [Mark] Can we take three on here?
(speaks in foreign language)
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'Kay, then you come over to the vegetables station,
vegetable garnishing station.
It's like a whole garden full of vegetables.
There's okra, there's banana blossom,
there's a bunch of leafy vegetable,
there's winged bean, there is jengkol,
which is one of my favorite things in the world.
So, you just kind of grab a plate
of mixed vegetable to your liking.
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- [Waiter] Okay, total is.
- [Man] Okay. (Mark laughs)
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- Okay, we are sitting down.
We got all the food.
Unbelievably spectacular.
We got,
I think we did actually get everything that they offer.
Plus, we got the fried chicken,
but that's gonna be for Mika, who's taking a nap,
right down here.
So you can see that, yeah, they smoked out the duck,
then he just chops it up,
then they mix it into the coconut milk,
and the curry paste, the Cili Padi,
and this just looks sensational.
Again, I'm gonna go for that drumstick.
(child speaks in foreign language)
And first thing to do, put this under the rice.
Aw.
Whoa, you can see how that just looks unbelievable.
Alright, oh, it's so hot, and warm, and oh, the skin,
the smokiness, you can just see how, just, oh wow,
even the Kaffir lime, you can see
the Kaffir lime leaves in there as well.
(crowd bustling)
Wow.
(crowd bustling)
Okay, there's like layers of flavor,
and layers of paste that you get on your tongue.
Oh, and it's still coming.
Finally, you taste the chili heat at the end.
- [Male With Glasses] Oh yeah, for sure.
- [Mark] Oh, that is unbelievable.
The duck is so smokey, and it almost has,
like, it's not dry at all.
It has this amazing, like a dark meat texture,
dark poultry texture to it, but just embedded with smoke.
Then, you got the, you know what happens,
is because there's so much coconut milk in it,
that panes down the spice after,
so at the beginning, it's more milky,
and then after that milkiness, the coconut milkiness fades,
then you taste the undertone of the lemongrass, the chilis.
- Oh, what's up man?
- Thank you very much.
(speaking in foreign language)
Thank you very much, thank you, thank you, thank you.
This food is incredible.
(speaking in foreign language)
- [Mark] Yeah, sure.
- Like, the creaminess and that spiciness
are right behind it.
It's so nice, oh my.
- [Mark] Oh yeah, and then the herbs in here,
and the Kaffir lime leaves as well.
It's just, that smokiness.
Scale up close-up, look at that dick though.
You can see the redness.
It's kind of covered up by the curry,
but look at the redness of that smokiness of that duck.
(crowd bustling)
- Oh, wow.
Yeah, that skin,
that skin it will just blow your taste buds.
The complexity of flavor with that smokiness,
and that chili, and that curry base, unbelievable.
So, this is the same smoked beef, those giant steaks
that we saw in a coconut milk,
and I'm not sure if it's exactly
the same blend of spices, but we will find out.
I'm gonna try to mix it over onto the other side
of the, my plate of rice.
(crowd bustling)
All right, goin' for a slice of that steak.
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I think they are the same,
but the beef even has more of a roasted
Yeah, that is a roasted [Man In Glasses] Smokey.
liver good, that's just like, mm.
And the chili kind of like,
it kind of comes at the end of your bite.
It's mind-blowingly good.
It's the sweetness that comes from the coconut milk,
the lemongrass, the black pepper in there.
- Yeah, there's like a jerky black pepper flavor,
it's so smokey, like crisp, it smells amazing too.
Whoa.
- And the beef is actually so lean.
The duck has some fattiness to it, the skin,
and the beef it's just completely lean,
just absorbing all of that flavor, and just mm, wow.
Unbelievably good.
That's just like, you can understand
why there're so many people here,
why people were here before.
Oh, look at that takeaway line.
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Okay, I also got the catfish,
and again this guy is completely smoked.
Look at just how oily and fleshy that meat is.
I'm gonna take some of the,
(crowd bustling)
I can just taste that catfish first.
Be careful of the little bones, but look at that.
Look at that, that's beautiful.
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Kaffir is just one of those things that,
it's simple, but just the texture of it,
is what makes it good, and when you add smoke to it,
that just enhances it, but I gotta try that sambal
at the next bite, and then put this onto my rice.
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You do taste the green chilies in there.
A little bit spicy, it's very garlicky,
and then it has like a sweet tinge
to it at the end of your bite.
(crowd bustling)
Just everything is incredibly delicious.
You could not choose a favorite here.
You have to order everything,
and they all compliment each other.
They all go together.
It's time to try some of the garnishing herbs.
And, I'm not totally sure what this one is,
but it seems like everybody who comes here gets
a couple stocks of this herb.
Mm, it's a little lemony at the beginning,
but then it goes to a completely green herb taste
as you keep on chewing.
It's really good, kind of like mild.
When they dish you your plate of rice,
they also give you a little bit of fried,
possibly salted, fish.
(crowd bustling)
Mm, whoa.
Yeah, it's extremely salty, and very smokey again.
Yeah, and you're gonna want to eat that very sparingly,
it's very salty.
That's a very salty preserved fish.
We almost forgot, it was hiding beneath the winged bean,
but this is the jengkol,
which it looks to be lightly steamed,
or you can also call it a giant stink bean.
I'm gonna dip this into the another sambal,
like a tomato onion sambal.
(crowd bustles)
Yeah, yeah, that's cooked.
It also has a gummy starchy texture to it,
and then that sambal
is more like a sweet tomato oniony salsa, almost.
Everything is so good, but I think I have to give it up
for their signature dish, the dish that's on their name,
the dish that they're famous for.
I think that one is the ultimate,
so I'm gonna circle around back to the second bowl of that.
Some little duck nuggets, get that onto the rice.
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There's a leaf that you can see chopped up within the dish.
At first, I thought it was pandan.
I don't think it pandan.
I just take it.
Oh, wow.
Okay, that leaf is actually providing a lot of flavor.
It has a peppery taste to it,
and a lemony taste all at the same time.
That is actually one of the main flavoring of it,
you can tell from tasting that how it really contributes
to the overall flavor of that dish.
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That is just remarkable flavor.
It's just unbelievable.
(crowd bustling) (upbeat pop music)
It's almost like lemony and celery're,
celery're, like celery.
I just guarantee that once you taste this curry sauce,
either the beef or the duck, either one,
you're gonna wanna just drown your rice in it.
You're gonna soak your rice.
You're gonna just want to absorb
and fill your mouth
with as much of that curry sauce
as you possibly can, maximize each bite.
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I think that the curry is the same.
It's just that the meats are totally different,
and they even like provide
a different compound
chemical taste balance,
of each dish,
because the one with beef, you can see it's more like thick
with the coconut milk and less oily,
whereas the one with duck, you can see a layer of oil,
which I think comes from the skin.
I don't know, they're both smokey,
but in different ways as well.
Just the meats drastically change the flavor of the curry.
(crowd bustling) (upbeat pop music)
That meal went down way too easily.
This is really one of those meals
where it's not an exaggeration to say you shed some tears
when you see an empty plate.
It really is heartbreaking to see
an empty plate here, an empty bowl.
Yeah, so I wasn't sure
if this was a completely appropriate move,
but I did look around and other people were doing the same,
dipping their spoon and just taking
a whole spoon of the sauce, so I think it's appropriate.
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Wow.
Okay, it's a little bit salty when you eat it that way.
- Yeah, that's pretty salty.
- (Mark laughs) But it's so good,
and there's so much smoke in there
(crowd bustling)
that will just blow your taste buds.
And, that's just gonna, that is gonna be the bite
that just stays on my tongue for the rest of the day,
and in my mind forever.
- [Man In Glasses] Oh, yeah (laughs).
(woman sings in foreign language)
(Mark laughs)
- [Mark] Yes.
(metal clanking)
- [Chef] He he he he he.
- [Mark] Awesome.
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(Mark speaks in foreign language)
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- [Woman] Yeah.
- [Mark] Thank you.
- Thank you
(speaking in foreign language)
- [Mark] That was an incredible meal.
Everything was good.
That was like a flavor blend of spices,
the coconut, the smokey duck that your tongue
will never forget.
And, you can see this place now.
The takeaway line is just stretching like around the corner,
the entire eating section table seating is just packed.
But yeah, people come here to enjoy the good food,
and they're so friendly, they're so nice.
The owners, they have a recipe
that will just ultimately satisfy your taste buds,
and this was an amazing place.
I wanna say a huge thank you to everyone
to who recommended this restaurant, especially Muhammad,
saying that this is a meal
that would make me wanna stay in Malaysia.
That is, that was completely 100% accurate.
After a meal like, you are gonna want to stay in Malaysia.
If you had a flight like the same day,
if I had a flight the same day,
I would no doubt, without even thinking about it,
I would cancel my flight, or probably
just miss my flight without even knowing it.
When you're in Kayall, it's definitely worth
it to make the trip slightly south of the city,
to come here to eat the, yeah, the food is incredibly good.
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