Tickling My Tastebuds

Kolo mee, the famous noodle from Kuching, Sarawak. One can get it almost in any eatery is Kuching, it's not too far fetch if I say that it is a staple food in Kuching. The name Kolo mee is actually the style of cooking and not the type of noodle used in it. The noodle used is usually "Q-mee" which is the thin noodle. One can choose to have a wider version called "mee bok".

Trusted a Kuching local friend to bring me to Sin Lian Shin, one of the oldest restaurant specializing in serving kolo mee. He told me it's been two generations and the 3rd generation will be taking over. There's two version of kolo mee. One white and the other is red. The only different is that the red is mixed with char siew sauce (BBQ pork). The noodle "Q-mee" got it's name because the thin noodle is very springy. True enough when I bit into the Q-mee it is indeed very springy. The savoury sauce that is mixed with the Q-mee goes very well. As for the red version, the char siew sauce has a subtle sweetness to it. Personally I prefer the white and my local Kuching friend likes the red. Both are equally good, it's just taste of personally preferences. Although, the serving is simple with only minced pork and char siew but once you've tasted it you won't get enough of it. If you ever go to Kuching, kolo mee is a must. Although, people from Sibu might not agree with me. ;)

Eat, Play, Drive with Nissan Almera - Aunty Koh Best Cendol

Last month, I was invited to join a test drive food trip by Nissan Malaysia. The plan is to drive from KL to Malacca and explore some of the good food there. I was assigned with Kelly and Joshua to drive a stock entry level Nissan Almera which doesn't have the push-start key-less feature. Some of the other teams were driving Impul premium version which comes with the key-less feature and body kit with 16 inch rims. The stock comes with 15 inch rims.

The trusty Nissan Almera that I drove.

The Impul Almera.

One thing about the Nissan Almera is the spacious boot space. It can easily fit two of me inside. I am 178cm tall and weight about 95KG. Yes, so gonna lose weight soon.

The journey to Malacca was quite smooth. Although the pick up response is a bit laggy for the Nissan Almera but once you are in a constant speed, it is a smooth ride all the way. Well, Nissan Almera is built for economy and fun driving in mind. If one wanted a speed demon, one would have gone for a Nissan GTR.

The fuel economy is surprisingly good even after driving some long sub-urban road to reach Aunty Koh Best Cendol in Bukit Rambai we only have to fuel up about RM 16.78 worth of RON95 petrol to reach full tank again. That works out about 6.8 liter/100KM.

The first stop is Aunty Koh Best Cendol as I've mentioned. It took a lot of turnings in the sub-urban area after Alor Gajah exit to reach Bukit Rambai. I was told that Aunty Koh only opens for business during the weekends from 12pm to 2pm but usually sold out by 1pm.

It is actually a stall located in a house with huge land, so parking will be easily available but advised to reach early so that you don't have to wait for too long.

We have a huge orders and Aunty Koh only works alone so we need to wait for quite a while.

And it's worth the wait. The cendol here is thick, springy and rich with the taste of pandan and santan. The gula melaka used is also not too sweet and rich with the aroma of gula melaka. I would have to say that this is one of the best cendol I've eaten so far.

Here are the videos of Aunty Koh preparing the cendols for us.

Besides the normal cendol, I also tried the santan-less Taibak. Pandan infused sugar syrup is used for Taibak instead of gula melaka. For those that can't take santan, this is a good alternative to have a go at cendol like dessert. Personally, I still prefer cendol. Taibak is a bit too plain for me.

Everyone seems to like Aunty Koh Best Cendol.

Kelly, Eunice and Hui Ping

Joshua Law enjoying his cendol.

With Huai Bin aka Sixthseal.

More food posts will be posted on this Eat, Play, Drive trip. Stay tuned.

Address:

Aunty Koh Best Cendol
No. 5113, Jalan Batang Tiga,
Kampung Bukit Rambai.
75250, Melaka.
GPS Coordinates: N2 14.804 E102 11.516

顺利虾面 Soon Lee Prawn Mee, Jalan Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur

Back in the days when The Store in Jalan Ipoh was called Gold Shopping Mall, my parents will always bring me and my sister to eat the prawn mee at the makeshift stall walking distance from the mall after doing our shopping. 顺利虾面 Soon Lee Prawn Mee has been doing business here for more than 15 years.

Last Friday while I was waiting for my car timing belt to be changed at a nearby workshop I went to have a bowl of their popular prawn mee. The nice aroma of the broth from prawn shells can be smelled even before I stepped into the zinc roof stall.

The stall seems to be the same like I remembered it 15 years ago except that the prawn mee used to sell for RM 3 to RM 3.50. Now it's selling at RM 5 to RM 5.50. Yes, inflation is the king.

For me, what makes a good bowl of prawn mee is the broth. There's no shortcut here. One taste of the soup I can know that it was cooked using a lot of prawn shells and pork bones. Second is of course the condiments like the kangkung, prawns, pork slices and last but not least, fried shallots. Missing any of it will not do for a good bowl of prawn noodle. I added sotong to my regular bowl and it cost me RM8.

I will say that this is one of the best prawn mee I tried so far outside of Penang. It can beat a regular prawn mee in Penang if not the famous one. On the kiosk, one can see that a lof of popular artists from Hong Kong will drop by for a bowl or two whenever they come to Malaysia. Be prepared to wait for a long time if you come by around dinner time because it will be packed!

Address:

顺利虾面 Soon Lee Prawn Mee
Jalan Batu Ambar Off Jalan Ipoh,
Taman Kok Lian, Kuala Lumpur
(Walking distance from The Store, Jalan Ipoh)
Google Map here.

Other Ppl's View:

Jy~s Yummy Yummy Experience

Lan Fong Yuen 蘭芳園, Tsim Sha Tsui

I am staying at a guest house in Chungking Mansion, yesterday I woke up quite late and it's almost lunch time. So, my plan to go Central for Sang Kee's porridge has to be put off because I will be going to Disneyland later in the day so I don't want to travel so far for lunch. Just as I was walking towards the MTR station, some lady handed me a leaflet saying Lan Fong Yuen just opened in Woodhouse, Chungking Mansion. Yes, it's just at the basement next to the place I am staying.

The wall in this branch is decorated with Alan Tam's autographed LP album covers and posters.

Craving for some nice Hong Kong milk tea, off I went into the basement of Woodhouse. I can see a lot of eateries were newly opened. There's Jika Udon which is I can see before I found Lan Fong Yuen which is at the end and at the corner. I've been to the Lan Fong Yuen in Central. This is third branch. So, business must be brisk for them.

The lunch crowd started coming once it's 12 p.m.

Tempted to order "G dum dao low ting" but I wanted to try some other food from here, so I ordered their set lunch that cost HKD$42 that comes with a daily soup and drink. The main, I chose stir-fried fat beef slices with enoki mushroom.

The fat beef is very nice and tender. A very appetizing meal. The only thing I don't quite fancy is that the gravy is a bit too starchy.

Daily soup

I of course ordered Hong Kong hot milk tea for drink. Some might not like that milk tea here but the milk tea here is just what I like. It's not too milk-ish nor too strong of tea taste. The balance is just right.

The place is packed during lunch hour

Now we don't have to cross over to Central to get Lan Fong Yuen, there's one in Tsim Sha Tsui already and it's more comfortable and bigger space than the one in Central. If you are looking for a nice quick lunch and a cup of balance Hong Kong milk tea, this is just the place to come and have a try.





Address:

Lan Fong Yuen 蘭芳園
Shop 26, LG, Chungking Mansion (Woodhouse)
36-44 Nathan Road , Tsim Sha Tsui
(Take Exit D1 of Tsim Sha Tsui MTR Station)

Taman Selera Jalan Othman, PJ Old Town

Do you know that Oldtown Bhd was listed on Main Market in Bursa Malaysia? Yes, old kopitiam selling white coffee in Ipoh is now a listed company. Talk about growth. Now we all can be a shareholder of this coffee chains phenomena.

Okay back to my post hahaha. I went to have dinner in Taman Selera Jalan Othman, PJ Old Town during Chinese New Year way back in Febuary with my sister and bro-in-law. Of course with my two adorable niece and nephew too. This is the Nth time that we've been here because our maternal hometown is in PJ Old Town. So, we've been eating here since we were kids.

It's been a while now that we didn't come to this food sanctuary because we don't come to PJ Old Town as often as we used to. In the past, we come back almost every week with our parents.

There are so many stalls here selling different kind of hawker fare. One of the most blogged about one is of course the Chinese satay stall that sells pork satay. One have to way a long time for the uncle and auntie to dish out the satays.

No worry there, we ordered a lot of other dishes from neighbouring stalls. The Penang rojak is very good. But if you can't take spicy one, remember to ask the boss not to put in chilis because it's quite hot.

I see many customers eating Oh Jien (oyster fried) too. So, we also ordered a plate. True enough, the oyster is quite big in size and juicy. Yummy.

My sister ordered WatDanHor (fried rice noodle with egg gravy) for her kids. Not too bad too.

After like 30 minutes of wait, alas came the pork and chicken satays. The auntie told me, pork is darker colour than the chicken but I still can't quite differentiate which is which until I bite into them lol.

Now I know why so many people rave about the satay here. First, it's not overly grilled like some that the meat is burnt. Second, the satay sauce here is very creamy and have a strong peanut base. It's not so spicy, so even children can take it.

I also ordered TomYam from a Thai stall there. It's so-so only.

Another popular stall there is the ice kacang (ABC, Air Batu Campur). Too bad when we wanted to order they have already sold out (it's about 9pm ++). So next time have to go a bit early to savour that ice kacang.

After dinner we went to my mom's old home to visit our cousins and aunts there. This picture of my niece and nephew on the old swing reminds me of my sister and I when we were their age. I think we took a picture on the same swing before. Too bad I don't know where is the old pictures now.

Address:

Taman Selera Jalan Othman
Jalan Othman,
Petaling Jaya.

Google Map here.


Other Ppl's View:

Cumi and Cuki
Brought2Share
WMW

Old School Feng Chun Noodle Stall (逢春面档) in Dengkil

If you work or studying in Cyberjaya, you'll know that Chinese food is hard to come by there, especially Chinese food that has pork in it. Yes, there's Old Town, Pappa Rich and Padi that sells Chinese style food but it's not cheap. So, the nearest option for those working in Cyberjaya is to drive to Dengkil to search for affordable Chinese meal with pork.

My colleague and I found this very old school noodle stall that is operating in a makeshift stall in a house. It's just two shops away from Dengkil Ng Seafood Restaurant. What I like about this stall is that the food here has a very homey feel to it.

Even though I say that it's a noodle stall, they also sells rice dishes there like fried rice. Their special fried rice, which is home style fried rice with chicken curry. Man, it's so delicious.

Another thing I like about this stall is that they sells so many different variety of noodle dish here that every time I come here I'll be able to try a different style of noodle dish. Their pork noodle is very different from the pork noodle out there that I tried before. The soup base is not very overwhelming. I love their mui choy (preserved vegetable) minced pork.

They also have wanton mee. Besides the normal char siew (Chinese BBQ Pork) they also throw in my the mui choy minced pork that I like.

One of the noodle dish that I haven't got to try is their herbal noodle. My colleague told me it tasted like bah kut teh noodle. From the look and smell of it, it's really very appetizing.

Of course, this stall is quite well known with their Hakka mee. I must say, it's one of the best Hakka mee I ever tasted. The taste is simple and the ingredients put in matched nicely with the noodle making it not too dry nor too wet. Satisfying. Of course, maybe it's because of the mui choy minced pork that they put in :p

I ordered pork noodle again one day and they told me that they are out of pork. So they substituted with char siew and wanton instead lol. Interesting combination though.

Sometime they will have specialty like vinegar pork trotters. I ordered it to go with my fried rice. So yummy. The vinegar is just nice not too sourish. It feels just like home cook food.

There are still Cantonese Fried Noodle, Hokkien Fried Noodle, Fish Ball Noodle, Yee Mee, Mushroom Chicken Leg Noodle, Fried Loh See Fun, Loh Mee, Mun Fan (gravy rice), Yellow Wine Chicken, Curry Chicken Noodle and Dumpling Noodle that I haven't try yet.

It opens from morning till 3pm and closed on Sunday. The night time is operated by another stall, which I think is okay only.

Don't be fooled by this picture. It's taken around 2.30pm. During peak hour it's packed.

Address:

Jalan Kajang-Dengkil
(It's next to Ah Di Bah Kut Teh which is opposite Dengkil Ng Seafood)
Google Map here.

Mobile Burger Stall, Medan Putra, Bandar Manjalara

Up till now I haven't had the chance to try out the famous mobile burger stall in SS15 Subang Jaya, which is well known for their mushroom burger. Alas, SS15 is quite far away from my place. So I won't be able to go for a quick bite in the middle of the night if I craved for burger.

It's hard to find a good street Ramli compatible burger around my area until I bumped into a mobile burger stall in Medan Putra, Bandar Manjalara which is parked near a mamak restaurant there.

There are a lot of choices of burger and hot dog available here. You also can mix and match your own burger. One can opt to add black pepper sauce on your burger for additional 50 sen.

I ordered a double daging special to takeaway.I like the fact that the amount of ketchup and mayonaise put is just right and won't make the burger too messy. I know some of you out there like it to be as messy as possible but not me because the bun will be very soggy when I got home :p Overall this burger here is very nice and a first choice for me for my sudden craving for burger in the middle of the night.


Address:

Mobile Burger Stall
Jalan Medan Putra 1,
Bandar Manjalara,
52100 Kuala Lumpur.

Google Map here.

Ham Jean Bang (咸煎饼) in Section 17

It was a Tuesday afternoon if I remembered correctly. It is a public holiday but because it's a Tuesday I was on shift. After having lunch at Restoran Jackson in Section 17 (one of my favourite place for lunch when I work morning shift on a Public Holiday or Sunday). I saw a small white lorry parked outside. As a go for a closer look, I saw a variety of 'hum jean bang' (咸煎饼). Usually it's a small stall selling the same thing outside. Maybe the lorry only comes here on Tuesday and the small stall closed on the same day.

Normally 'hum jean bang' (咸煎饼) only comes with two fillings, plain (i think there's five spices powder in it (五香粉)) and red bean paste (豆沙). This mobile stall not only have the two flavours but a few more new fillings that I haven't seen in a 'hum jean bang' (咸煎饼) before.

There's yam paste (芋头), chocolate (巧克力), coconut, pandan, sweet corn and lotus paste (莲蓉). Not only that, for the 'yao char kwai' (油条/油炸鬼) there's also a garlic flavour one. However there's only one flavour for the 'ma kiok' (马脚) or "horse leg".

I decided to buy some for tea time later. I bought yam paste and pandan fillings 'hum jean bang'. Also the garlic flavoured 'yao char kwai'. I like the yam paste filling which is not very sweet and also I like the black sesame on the skin. I think yam paste is the only one that is covered with black sesame.

Yam paste 'hum jean bang'.

While the pandan filling is not too bad it tasted kind of weird in a ' hum jean bang'. Maybe it should stick back to cakes or bread or puff for pandan filling.

Pandan 'hum jean bang'.

The garlic 'yao char kwai' doesn't look different from the normal one except for the strong garlic smell. It's like eating garlic bread only crunchier.

Garlic 'yao char kwai'.

All the new flavour 'hum jean bang' are selling for RM 1 each while the normal two are selling for RM 0.80 each. I forgot how much is the garlic 'yao char kwai'.


Address:
Outside Restoran Jackson
Jalan 17/27, Petaling Jaya

Google Map here.

Ah Lam Mee Bok 阿林面卜,JLN. Tua Kong Branch, Singapore

On the 6th day when I was in Singapore last month, my sis brought me to one of her favourite place for kueh tiow teng 粿條汤 (flat rice noodle soup). There's this JLN. Tua Kong Ah Lam Mee Bok 阿林面卜branch here in Kwek Seng Huat Eating House in Bedok Road. Unlike in Malaysia where most of our coffee shop will be called Restoran XXX, here most of the coffee shop is called "Eating House". Mee bok is actually the flat type wanton noodle, that's what it's called in Singapore.

My sis told me that other than mee bok, the kueh teow/hor fun/flat rice noodle here is also very good. So we both ordered each a kueh tiow soup. The fish balls and prawns that goes inside the kueh tiow are very fresh. The soup is quite clear and not very salty, there's also no or very little sign of MSG because I didn't feel thirsty even after drinking much of the soup.

The kueh tiow is wider than what we got in Malaysia but it's also as smooth as what we got back in Malaysia. Losing to the hor fun in Ipoh just a bit. I can say the kueh tiow here is better than the kueh tiow used here. Normally I am not a fan of kueh tiow teng but I have to agreed with my sister that the kueh tiow teng here is good.

Rating: 4/5

My sis is also a fan of popiah. She says that the popiah here is quite good also. So, we ordered a portion to share.

It's a simple yet wonderful lunch with my sis. Thanks for bringing me here sis.





Address:

Ah Lam Mee Bok 阿林面卜,JLN. Tua Kong Branch
Kwek Seng Huat Eating House
324A Bedok Road, Bedok,
Singapore.