The story of Porcupine Place is as compelling as its food: British-based surgeon Wen Huey leaves the medical profession, returns home to Malaysia & meets Swiss-trained chef Jon Ng while they’re both working at a French restaurant in KL. They fall in love, then decide a few years later to open their own place, collaborating with Jon’s long-time friend from his Swiss stint on this vibrant new restaurant in the surprising location of Puchong’s Setiawalk complex.

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Worth Travelling To Puchong For

Many thanks to reader Brendan Chan for tipping us off to Porcupine Place, a cheerful venue with a young, graciously welcoming service team that keeps the mood bright & light. Expect to hear more about Porcupine Place in the months ahead; for us, it was well worth travelling to Puchong for.

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Menu Is Heavy On The Hog

Why porcupine? Well, it makes a cute mascot, but the name is also an aural nod to ‘pork’ – the menu here is heavy on the hog.

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Brunch Items Available During Dinner

Porcupine Place’s food evokes a genuine quality of playfulness & fun. French toast comes in bite-sized chunks of cereal-coated brioche, convenient to dunk into delicious kitchen-made citrus curd – a creamy-smooth, beautifully tangy signature creation that comes in a choice of lemon, lime, or orange & ginger. RM18; all brunch items remain available during dinner.

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Thai-Influenced Prawn Chowder

The menu defies easy categorisation, wedding European technique with Asian flavours to birth a reinvented prawn chowder with Thai-influenced twists, infused with chilli oil & sprinkled with coriander, creamy with potatoes & cherry tomatoes. RM18.

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Slow-Cooked Pumpkin And Coconut Soup

Jon & Wen Huey focus on preparing much of the ingredients on their own, from baking their bread & smoking their salmon to curing their bacon, one of the crowning components of this slow-cooked pumpkin & coconut soup with a hint of curry. RM12.

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Fried Tortellini

Crispy-fried tortellini, filled with mushrooms & accompanied by a house-made cheese sauce (RM22). Recipes here are nuanced, with interesting subtleties that succeed more often than not – the hallmark of hard-working & creative chefs.

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Pork Burger

Despite its ambitions & adeptness, Porcupine Place’s menu is far from intimidating – its pork burger is certain to prove crowd-pleasing, with a well-marinated patty, toweringly topped with bacon & cushioned with egg, complemented with melted cheese & capsicum sauce to produce a fresh interpretation of a familiar favourite that miraculously tastes almost wholesome. RM25.

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Unique Starters

The persistent uniqueness of Porcupine Place’s oeuvre extends to starters like frittata laced with spinach, potatoes, mushrooms & tomatoes (RM18; nicely textured, but could be more potently seasoned to perk up the taste buds) & smoked salmon blanketed in rice paper rolls with rocket leaves & lemon caper cream (RM25; an admirable attempt at a crispy-juicy combo, though the ratio of fish to leaves could be fine-tuned for a more memorable effectiveness).

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Oven-Roasted Duck

For the most part though, the menu feels meticulously thought out & expertly executed. Devotees of duck will find this oven-roasted rendition highly desirable, doubly-fowled with thick duck jus tinged delicately with cocoa (RM45).

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House-Made Pasta

While pursuers of pasta might be tempted by the tagliatelle – also painstakingly made right here in the restaurant, of course – in a mild pesto sauce with crispy spinach & roasted tomatoes. RM15, indicative of Porcupine Place’s pledge toward fair prices.

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Pork Ribs With Peanut Sauce

Pork ribs with peanut sauce? We’re sold – we’d have preferred this with more nuts for more well-rounded textural complexities, but for RM30, it’s enjoyable enough – & it left us way too stuffed to order the many other meaty items here, like lamb roulade with cous cous (RM35), poached white fish with lemongrass broth (RM30) & beef pot roast slow-cooked with red wine (RM25).

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BYOB

Speaking of wine, Porcupine Place doesn’t serve any, but since there’s only a token corkage charge here, bring your own. And a closing piece of trivia: Which French restaurant did Jon & Wen Huey meet & hone their craft at? Nathalie’s Gourmet Studio.

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Location and Contact Details

Porcupine Place

B-3A-G, Setiawalk, Puchong. Ground floor, on a far end of the complex, away from most eateries.

Best to call 03 5888 9929 for directions if you’re there & can’t find the outlet.

Open Tuesday-Sunday, 930am-10pm

Find: Contact details and map for Porcupine Place here.