I've seen mouth-watering photos of this crispy, crackling, delicious-looking roast pork operating from a truck for some time now. And most online reviews will tell you that this roast pork on wheels can be found at Cheras, Taman OUG, Kepong Baru and Sri Petaling...but they never tell you exactly where.
I googled "babeloo roast pork" and the address of the Sri Petaling one was shown but that's too far for me. Finally, I came upon vkeong's 2016 review which mentioned that there are actually five of them though he mentioned only four in his blog post...Taman OUG, Kepong Baru, Sri Petaling and Pandan Perdana. That particular review of his was based on the truck in Kepong, so that location was revealed (but it's also too far for me to go just to get some roast pork).
But one word resonated with me and that is "Pandan Perdana"! I was wondering where that truck could be (and thought I'd keep an eye out for it) since I eat at the coffee shops in Pandan Perdana quite often, especially around the vicinity of the market. But I've never come across any such truck. Oh well! :(
One morning when having our family's favourite pork noodles at one of the Pandan Perdana coffee shops, I went to the market to buy some roast pork for us to nibble on while at the shop as we've have done countless times before.
This time, for some reason, I looked up at the stall (situated along the side alley where you can also buy fresh pork)....and lo and behold...the sign says "Babeloo BA.B.Q. Roast Pork"! O_O
It looks like I've been eating Babeloo BBQ Roast Pork @ Pandan Perdana for years without the slightest clue that that's the one I've been wanting to find! @_@ Funny, isn't it? Well, you know the saying..."you always can't find the very thing that's right under your nose".
Now, before you start comparing this roast pork to some of those awesome roast pork you've been having from the roast meat rice stalls, they're not the same. This one is an entire roasted pig, so you have all the off cuts and bony parts as well, from the head to the tail, and the one served by roast meat stalls is the prime part, the pork belly.
They sell the roast pork by weight here, otherwise just tell them how much you want...RM20, RM50, and so on. The minimum amount starts from RM10. The stall owner gestured a piece to me, this one nice, not too lean, not too fat, she said.
This is the portion for RM10...certainly a lot more than you would have gotten at a roast meat rice stall. It did have a good and generous amount of crackling on it, just that some parts of the crackling were a bit thick and hard.
As for the meat, I didn't detect any trace of gamey smell as some apparently have when a whole pig is roasted. I've had my fair share of those gamey ones when invited for some sort of celebration be it weddings, birthdays, baby full moon or housewarming parties.
Flavour and texture wise, it's quite unlike those you'd get from roasted meat stalls. These ones won't be so moist, flavourful or meltingly tender. The slightly drier meat is salty enough though as there would be this layer of seasoning underneath which they rub on the inside of the pig before it's roasted. Perhaps if I had gotten the prime cut (of say pork belly), it might taste a tad better but this is a morning market, so choice cuts would probably be sold off very early.
Having said that, you'll get a better bang for your buck for the price to portion ratio here. Similarly, families would buy this type of roast pork for cooking at home. Some like to toss them in garlic and dark soy to produce that sticky, caramelised, darken roast pork while others might like to enjoy them fried with leeks.
My Personal Opinion
The taste and texture may not be quite like those roast pork from roast meat/chicken rice stalls but still decent enough with a better portion-to-price ratio.
Babeloo BBQ Roast PorkPandan Perdana Morning Market20 Jalan Perdana 4/8Pandan Perdana55300 Kuala Lumpur
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