The Malaysian Food Review

I am a big fan of prawn mee. Previously I used to think that Mee Yoke Lim, which is available all over PJ is the best, but that was until I tasted the Taman Paramount prawn mee. Eager to find something even better, I have been searching high and low for prawn mee specialists.

I found one that I thought had potential to beat Paramount. It is located along Jalan Pahang, directly opposite this big weird shopping complex that houses a weird cinema and a weird supermarket. It is on the side of the road that is heading towards Bulatan Pahang. There were quite a few prawn mee stalls there, so I had to choose carefully.

You will first have to order at the stall located outside the shop, and then go into the shop and take a seat. If I am not mistaken the shop is air-conditioned.

The food doesn’t take long to arrive. I ordered a large prawn mee with pork ribs, because I am greedy. The food actually looked quite presentable, and it even came on a porcelain bowl, so as to not cause me cancer. I thought that was very kind of them.

The food tasted reasonably good. It was slightly different from most other prawn mees that I have eaten. The soup had more of a seafood taste, and thus making it taste more authentic. The noodles tasted like any other noodles. But the soup was quite unique.

My lunch partner ordered a small bowl, and I was quite surprised by how small it was. I think I would need 3 of those to fill up.

All in all, it was a pretty decent bowl of prawn mee, and is quite nice especially if you feel like having something different. Please bear in mind that I am not a big seafood person, so maybe those who can’t live without seafood will like it more than I did. But I think a 7/10 will be fair. The whole meal came up to around RM12 for the 2 bowls above with 2 drinks.

[Ratings]

I rarely venture out to Cheras to whet my appetite. It just always seems a bit too far to go grab a quick lunch, and a bit too out of the way to go have dinner.

Even then, it was a surprise to my colleagues that I’d never heard of the famous Ong Kee Big Bun. “It’s THIS BIG!” he said, stretching his hands out to give me an idea of its size, which made me imagine it to be the size of a football.. “Inside you got chicken, pork, eggs, and some veggies.. come we go try it today”. So off we went.

Along the way he told me the story of how the pau maker came up with this oversized treat. Apparently some dude approached this simple pau maker and commended him on the quality of his paus, then asked him to create a big pau, as big as Amy Yip’s breasts! Amy Yip is some actress who was um… ‘blessed’ with a pair of enormous tits. Here’s a pic of her because I KNOW you all want it… courtesy of Wikipedia.

Ok back to the paus.

Above is the lineup of paus available at this stall, which sits just beside the main road. The prices are hard to read because Mr. Ong Kee has updated them with a pen over the years. I think it’s quite obvious that he’s very proud of his Big Bun creation.

These are the bamboo baskets where the big buns are made. I never knew paus were pink in colour before being cooked.

 Here is Ong Kee’s standard issue pau and loh mai kai display cabinet.

Back at the office, we unwrapped the big bun, to the wonderment and awe of bystanders in the pantry. The guy who held the pau in this picture was practically drooling all over it.

 The inside of the pau appeared to be exactly as my colleague described. Chicken, pork, eggs, and sengkuang (jicama).

 Personally, I didn’t think much of it, as it didn’t taste very good. The chicken was also still attached to the bones, which made it annoying to eat. Between 3 people, we couldn’t finish the bloody thing. I would therefore classify it as a novelty pau. It’s interesting to look at, and represents good value at RM4.50, but it tastewise it falters badly. But if you’re low on funds and really really hungry, go for it.

[Ratings]

As good as anything goes, people say imitation is the greatest compliment.  If you have something going great for you like Kin Kin’s Chilli Pan Mee, you know have made your mark when somebody imitates you to take in your spillover customers.  Sometime back, we decided to give the imitation, RESTORAN SUPER KITCHEN a go.  Smoking salmon, homer Bottomless Pit, and me made our way to the outlet.  It is a stark difference from Kin Kin, the interior is well litted, there is air-condition to make you forget about the Malaysian heat, and there are other food available if you are not a pan mee fan.

The pan mee here comes in 2 sizes, regular and big.  They did their very best in imitating Kin Kin, same noodles (but slightly thicker), the minced pork is there, the fried anchovies, the fried onions, even the ever important poached egg is there.  The only difference visually is in the soup, it comes with pork balls, vege and NO poached egg white bits. 

Try as they may, they seem to miss the one magical ingredient.  The noodles doesn’t taste as good.  The chilli is equally fiery but when all mixed up, the kick to burn your stomach is just not there.  It’s like copying your mother’s tried and tested recipe but somehow not producing the same taste.

How was it?                                                                                                               

I would give it a 6/10.  Only because it is brighter, the service is better and the food arrives faster.  Based purely on taste.  Kin Kin would win with two hands down.

How much was it?

A regular seving is only RM4.00, while the large is at RM4.50.  Both cheaper than Kin Kin.

Will you return?

I don’t think i will purposely brave the jam and hassle for this.  If i ever come to this area, i would sit my ass over in Kin Kin.  You should try a comparison, buy having a bowl in Super Kitchen then go over to Kin Kin and let us know your thoughts.

 Till then, may the burning stomach be with you.

[Ratings]