Pudu Curry Fish Head - Kari Kepala Ikan

What this is, is a review of one of my favourite comfort food here in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It isn’t a single dish but a restaurant which serves a variety of dishes mostly eaten with rice. One of their signature dish is the clay pot curry fish head. But let’s take a step back first. Located right in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, near the Berjaya Times Square shopping mall, lies a Chinese restaurant called “Restoran Kari Kepala Ikan“. It is opened only at night and it is your typical traditional Chinese restaurant which serves a variety of dishes that you can eat with rice or noodles.

A typical traditional Chinese Restaurant

Traditional in a sense is that its run by generations of family members, doesn’t really have much online presence and most of the people that go there to eat are their faithful regulars including myself. I always look forward to eating there with my family and friends, especially during a cold night, paired with a steaming hot plate of rice doused in that amazing fish head curry.

What about the food?

In all honesty, I can pretty much just eat rice with the curry and be happily contented.

Another dish which I really like is their oyster omelette, usually served with chilli that gives it an acidic balance over the fried oily taste.

Recently I tried their deep fried squid seasoned with salted egg and it wasn’t too bad. Its a step back from the usual sweet and sour pork that I normally have as that is one of the kid’s favourite dishes as well.

They also serve a variety of pork dishes and one of them was the fried pork belly with marmite. It wasn’t too bad but I think my preference would still be their claypot pork belly with salted fish instead. That is always a family favourite amongst me and my friends.

Also, if they have enough, they have a specialty dish which is pretty much a steamed chicken but its a special type of chicken. The skin is smooth and the meat has more flavour compared to your usual chicken. It is typically served with ginger but personally, it tastes plenty good alone.

And last but not least, the clay pot curry fish head. We always order extra vegetables with ours but if you are not against eating a fish head, order extra fish head to get the additional meat in there. The curry is not your typical Indian style curry fish head where the curry is leaning towards the sourness. This follows the more Chinese style of curry where the sauce isn’t thick and you can enjoy the flavours of the spices and coconut milk in it. Hence why I love drowning my rice in the curry.

Conclusion

Its a foregone conclusion, its my comfort food and a favourite for many years. All I want to do is share about it and hope that others get the opportunity to try it out for themselves as well. Parking around the area is pretty scarce especially on the main road of Jalan Pudu. I would recommend parking at the alley behind the restaurant as there are proper parking locations there. If you are travelling along Jalan Pudu, there is a lane in which you can turn in just before the restaurant.

When getting there, I would also recommend to make a reservation before heading there. Whilst turnover there is pretty fast, there is quite a crowd there usually as regulars would flock to get their fix. Also don’t feel guilty if you eat a lot of rice there, nothing goes better together with the curry fish head then heaps of rice.