The Malaysian Food Review

Following up on the previous Char Kuey Teow review from PJ Old Town. Let me bring you to Penang where most people may already know this Penang cuisine is famous for its road side hawker foods. We bring you to another Char Kuey Teow stall at Lorong Selamat, Penang. As you can see, this is no ordinary Char Kuey Teow stall. For a whopping RM7.50 it is the most expensive Char Kuey Teow I have eaten at a road side stall.

NOTE:
This hawker stall does not serve the dish to your table, it is self service! You will have to line up to get your dish, which is pretty ridiculous for a hawker stall in Malaysia.

Knowing the queues in advance, we decided to pay an early visit to the Char Kuey Teow aunty. We were third in line but the assistants were just preparing the wok to be heated up by hot burning charcoal [picture below].We were also able to witness the fresh cockles delivered by a motorcyclist to this stall. I believe it is done daily, because only a bag was delivered.

The chef aunty started at 11.30am sharp while one of the assistant took the order and the other assistant counted the exact amount of the prawns, cockles and lap cheong (Chinese sausage) for each plate. As you can see from the picture, the aunty was well prepared with goggle, apron, chef hat and also a pair of original Crocs sandals to make her comfortable standing there for the rest of the afternoon.

After lining up for 15mins, we finally got our food. The food looks and smell great with the big mouth watering prawn. After we sat down, the waiter asked us �how many bowls of ice kacang?� We didn�t know why he only offered the ice kacang because he could offer other drinks as well but we guessed that they have the highest margin from ice kacang.

Tasting

First bite, you could taste the perfect burnt charcoal wok noodle that melted in my mouth. Each bite gave me a taste of the charcoal wok which have been used to fry thousands of strands kuey teow each day. The big prawns were very crunchy and fresh even though they were fried the longest in the wok. It showed that the prawns were very fresh. The charcoal smell, a spoonful of pork lard, prawns, Chinese sausages, chilies and cockles were actually fused perfectly making it the best Char Kuey Teow I have eaten.

The Judging

The service?? There was none. The food was definitely worth RM7.50, and we will definitely go back there on our next trip to Penang. I will give this place a 9/10 for the food and the missing point for the service.

[Ratings]

Ni Hao! Tongue of Fury here with probably one of the most personal review I will ever do for MFR. This is a place I have been visiting since I was a 7 year old child. It is a place where old men gather to talk (most of the time bitch) about culture, politics and Arthritis. It is a place where people wait 45mins or more for the Char Kuey Teow and have no complaints. I loved the Char Kuey Teow back then, and when I visited the place again a few weeks back with Sek Sun and Bottomless Pit to have another taste, I realised that I STILL GOD DAMN LOVE IT!!!

The place is at PJ Old Town, some people call it New Town now, but I rather call it Old Town cos it still looks like an old area to me. The kopitiam is situated opposite the market not far away from the cross junction. It shouldn’t be too hard to find. Gretchen Ross if you need a map, ask smoking salmon, he’s a pro at drawing maps.

Once there, make your way to the Char Kuey Teow stall and order from the nice friendly auntie. Then take a seat and wait for you food. You should bring a newspaper or magazine if you’re alone and don’t go with friends you dislike cos it will be quite a wait. The reason is that the cook only fries a maximum of 2 PLATES each time. This is the best quality control technique for frying Kuey Teow and is the key to why the Char Kuey Teow is so good.

Sek Sun and I ordered Kuey Teow Mee, mine with chilli, his without. And Bottomless Pit ordered just Mee. Yes its true, he ordered Char Kuey Teow without the Kuey Teow, he’s one of a kind.

As you can see it is a beautiful plate of Kuey Teow. The ingredients were all perfectly blended together. I think most Char Kuey Teows are guilty of giving too little beansprout and Gau Choi, this one have just the right amount. Taking a taste I realised why I used to love it so much. The flavour is just right, and it is not oily at all. There were no evidence of pork lard used, but I may be wrong. When we finished the plate, we could see that there were not much oil left on the plate, unlike some other CKT where you could still see the red liquid on the plate.

Eating the Char Kuey Teow makes me get the feeling that the cook is really passionate about his work as he sweats it all out to make sure that every plate of his Char Kuey Teow tasted like his best plate, like an artist at work I would put him in the same class as Da Vinci, Beethoven, Zinedine Zidane and Borat.

I was tempted to order a 2nd plate but decided agaisnt it, worrying that overeating will spoil my liking for it.

Final Verdict (Poor/Fair/Good/Very Good/Excellent/Outstanding):
Taste: Outstanding
Ambience: Very Good (Bottomless Pit liked the Old School Kopitiam style of the place)
Price: RM3.00 (small) RM3.50 (big) / Reasonable
Rating: 9.5/10

Overall, a very satisfying breakfast indeed. I should point out that the place only opens in the morning till lunch time. By 1pm or so they would have sold out. For Char Kuey Teow fans out there, this is a MUST TRY!

Before I go, here is a sneak preview of Bottomless Pit as he was leaving the Kopitiam, notice the resemblence to a famous cartoon character?

Ok folks, time for me to make like a banana and split. Till the next review.

This well hidden restaurant was recommended to me by a friend. According to him, it serves the best pan mee he has ever had. With such a glowing testimonial, how could I resist? So I took down detailed directions and went on my journey. My co-pilot was Smoking Salmon. We lost track of where we were half way through the journey but somehow managed to get there without turning back or making any u-turns. I guess it was destined that I eat the pan min. So anyway, the restaurant is located along a road just off Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, near Chow Kit and the infamous Lorong Haji Taib area. Parking isn?t a problem as there are many lots all along the street.

At the restaurant, there probably wont be any place to sit. But don?t worry, sharing tables is the norm here. You will be ushered to a table with occupants and will be put in the uncomfortable situation of sitting and facing people you don?t know and probably watching them eat. Once you are comfortably seated, someone will come take your order. Please note that the pan min here comes in 1 size and with only 1 type of noodle. The only variable will be whether you want it dry or in soup. Seeing as to how this place is famous for the dry one, I opted for that. Next, you will be faced with a long wait for your food.

They prepare the dishes in bulk but due to the number of customers, the wait is inevitable. When the food finally arrives, you will notice that it does not look very appetizing. It is rather pale looking and there isn?t much meat in it. Also, there will be a semi-cooked egg on top. The most obvious difference between this and normal pan min however is the fact that the noodles are round instead of being flat. A nice old lady will then put a container of chilli that looks almost black in colour on the table. This is what people come here for. You will notice that the chilli has a 50% chilli seed content. Scary?

After taking your 1st bite, you will realize what all the hype is about. The pan min is absolutely delicious. The noodles have a very nice texture, not too hard and not too soft. The flavour is also very unique. The only ingredient I could identify was the egg I mixed in. For my next bite, I added some chilli. My friend, knowing that I have a weak stomach, warned me that the chilli is extremely spicy, and so I only took a tiny little bit of it. But even that little bit made the dish even tastier, although I did suffer from tummy burn later.

A problem for me here was that 1 bowl was insufficient to fill my burning tummy. However, a 2nd bowl could not be put into my tummy without experiencing some nauseous feelings later. I estimated my remaining stomach capacity at ? of a bowl. And luckily, Smoking Salmon is a 1 ? bowl guy, so we both filled up nicely. A lot of people come here and have 2 bowls to themselves. I think that this is due to the size and also to the tastiness of the pan min.

Once you are done with your meal, make your way to the stall in the front of the shop and pay the nice man with a pouch on his waist for your meal. One bowl of pan min costs RM4.60, and is rather expensive for pan min. However, as many others will testify, it is worth it.

Rating ? 9/10

Disclaimer ? I am not a voyeur. I am only an amateur photographer and therefore the photographs provided in my reviews are merely for educational and not aesthetic purposes.

UPDATE

Due to popular demand by all 1 of my readers, I enclose herewith a map for your easy reference.

UPDATE TO THE UPDATE

New and improved map.

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(Please click on image for larger map)

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