El Cerdo

I have a new boss, and he’s German. He’s just 5-6 weeks into the job, and has been doing the rounds meeting with some of our key customers. We had a dinner outing last Friday with some customers at El Cerdo, located on the hip and happening Changkat Bukit Bintang. I must be the most “ulu” person in town and was quite surprised by the lively atmosphere at Changkat Bukit Bintang. Can’t recall when I last stepped foot on this street.

Anyway, back to the restaurant – El Cerdo means "The Pig" in Spanish, and as the name suggests, specialises in pork dishes.

The restaurant is adorned with lots and lots of piggy photos and paraphernalia. We reached quite early and the restaurant was pretty empty, but not for long. By 8pm, it was full. I was told that reservations need to be made at least a week in advance, especially when it’s a big group.

We ordered the Spanish ham platter and the El Cerdo Sausage Platter, a variety of home-made sausages served with mashed potato and sauerkraut, as starters.  I didn’t find the ham platter extraordinary but the ribs were really good.  Next came the German Crispy Knuckle, which was another winner. The aroma was totally appetizing, and it came with a serving of potato dumpling and sauerkraut. We also had the Oven Roasted Spanish Ribs, another winner.

Clockwise from top left: German Crispy Knuckle, Sausage Platter, Spanish Ham Platter and Oven Roasted Ribs

The highlight of the evening was its famous Whole Roasted Suckling Piglet, which was accompanied by a traditional ceremony before eating. The piglet was apparently slow roated for six hours, until the meat is so tender that diners can cut in into pieces by using only a plate. The ceremony started with knocking the plate on the wooden serving dish three times, before chopping the piglets into parts. After cutting, the person who cut would made a wish before throwing the plate into a big wooden bucket, smashing it into pieces. Apparently it will bring good luck to the diner – I think it’s just a gimmick conceived by the restaurant owner :-) Though interesting, I find that it’s such a wasteful practice, as two plates are wasted per order of the piglet – one for the staff to demonstrate, and one for the diner who cut up the piglet. I didn’t like the piglet much, as the smell of the pork was too strong. Even the vaporizer volcano can't take away the smell.


We ended our meal with two varieties of paella – Mountain Paella, which is paella with pork bacon, chicken and fresh mushroom, and Paella con Mariscos, with king tiger prawns, squids and scallops.

Clockwise from top left: Suckling pig, the bucket with smashed up plates, Paella con Mariscos and Mountain Paella

We were so stuffed at the end that we didn’t have any room for desserts.