Perth Voice Interactive

 

KCH North Perth sounds like some stuffy legal firm or the headquarters of a WA building company, but it’s actually a small Malaysian eatery on Angove Street.

Specialising in “modern hawker chow”, it’s located opposite the Rosemount Hotel and has gone down a storm with locals since opening in 2019.

I don’t normally reel off awards like some advertorial patsy but in 2021 KCH won “Best Casual Dining” in the West Australian’s Good Food Guide, so it must be doing something right.

KCH is actually short for Kuching, the capital city of Sarawak in Malaysia, where owners Calvin and Gan are originally from.

They’ve taken some of their homegrown recipes and given them a modern twist for Perth punters.

But enough backstory, was the food any good?

KCH’s trademark dish is their Special Laksa ($17) a comforting jamboree of shredded chicken, prawns, rice noodles, egg strips, bean sprouts and coriander.

With just enough heat, high quality ingredients and a moreish broth, it’s the perfect winter dish and I can see why people flock here just for that.

Laksa aside, the menu had a small range of starters (spring and meat rolls, fried chicken, veggie samosa) and rice/noodle dishes including chicken broth rice, mee goreng and jasmine fried rice.

There was nothing earth shattering, but all the classics were covered and it was well laid out and to the point.

The small restaurant was bright and minimalist with a polished concrete floor, wooden tables, dangling lights and large windows dishing up views of The Rosemount across the road.

The open kitchen was a cacophony of sound – the gurgle of the deep fat fryer, the metallic squeal of the spatula meeting the bottom of the wok and the clatter of pots and pans as the chef stayed calm amidst the chaos.

On Tuesday lunchtime, the place was packed and there was a row of bagged food on the counter, awaiting pick-up, so it was clearly popular.

It wasn’t long before I was tucking into Mumma’ Chong’s Curry & Rice ($18) – a delightful dish with chunky pieces of chicken thigh which fell apart when you touched them with your fork.

It was accompanied by fragrant rice, kaffir lime, sliced royal blue spuds and a little dinky bag of potato chips.

The thick and creamy sauce was divine – like some exotic korma with loads of twists and turns. It was a huge serve of curry and great value.

My garrulous young kids were deathly quiet which meant they were either asleep, watching TV, sick or enjoying their Fry Mee Up  ($17)

Thankfully it was the later and they wolfed down the chicken breast, prawn, egg noodles and fish cakes with gusto.

Again the sauce was killer – complex, loads of depth and with just a hint of chilli.

Rounding things off were some tomatoes and chow sum.

My wife “Special K” was bringing up the rear with The CKT (Char Kueh Tiaw $17).

There were lots of “mmms” as she tucked into the mound of Chinese sausage, flat rice noodles, prawns, chicken, egg and spring onion.

“Everything’s super fresh and there’s a great combination of flavours and spices,” she said.

“The prawns are especially good quality as sometimes they can be like rubber bullets in a stir fry.”

I can’t really fault KCH North Perth – it serves top quality Malaysian food at great prices with huge serves (my local Malaysian would probably charge about $28 for the jungle-style curry I had for $18).

I can see why it is so popular and has won awards, and the Voice will definitely be back to try some other dishes.

KCH North Perth
10 Angove St, North Perth
thekch.com.au

by STEPHEN POLLOCK