The Malaysian Food Review

A hot bowl of Prawn Mee always makes for a deliciously satisfying lunch. Apparently, a stall at O&S Restaurant in Paramount Garden has built up a fine reputation for serving the tastiest Prawn Mee in the area. So to satisfy our cravings Fidel Gastro, SekSun and myself paid it a visit.

A standard bowl of Prawn Mee here comes with small shrimp, half a hard-boiled egg, and lots of fried onions, which is great. Despite the soup tasting really good, I can?t help but be a little disappointed that there were no boiled pork slices or kangkung. Most, well actually, all other prawn mees I?ve had come with pork slices. The chilli paste was decent, but nothing to shout about. At RM3.50, there?s simply not much bang for your buck.

The cool thing about this stall though, is that it allows you to customize your Prawn Mee. This is where it gets exciting. Fidel Gastro ordered his with pai kuat (pork ribs) which cost him RM6.50. SekSun had his with pig intestines, which came to RM5.00. Being the designated reviewer, I couldn?t be outdone. So having wolfed down a standard Prawn Mee, I ordered a second bowl, this time with pig intestines AND pig tail. The cost? RM8.00. The most I have ever paid for a bowl of Prawn Mee. Beat THAT.

Unfortunately, I didn?t feel pig intestines and pig tail were suitable ingredients in Prawn Mee. The taste was a bit funny. Maybe it just took some getting used to. But I would definitely recommend it with pork ribs, as it looked a good fit.

All in all, this is one of the better Prawn Mees I?ve had, mainly because of the soup and the customizability. Unfortunately I can?t give it a high rating because the standard bowl doesn?t come with pork slices, veggies or fresh prawns, which I have had elsewhere. So it?s not my personal favourite. However, if you?re adventurous and don?t mind forking out a few extra dollars for special ingredients, this place comes highly recommended.

A word of advice, having 2 bowls of Prawn Mee for lunch is not a smart thing to do, particularly if you?re playing futsal a couple of hours later. I won?t be forgetting those stomach cramps anytime soon.

[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 restaurant has been around for ages. This place is so famous that I haven’t met anyone who has not been there. Just in case there are some of you out there you have not been here, and have no idea where it is, it is near the Saint Francis Xavier Church along Jalan Gasing, and also very near the Federal Highway.

Okay, now let us get down to business. First thing to note - there are quite a few schools here, so you might want to avoid this place whatever time it is school starts or ends. There are also many churches in this area so going for Sunday brunch/lunch could be a bit of a hassle.

Next, once you park your car (parking is available all along the road in front of the shop), you have to dodge overly friendly waiters from the neighbouring banana leaf restaurant (which shall be reviewed in due course). Also, don’t be fooled by the corner shop beside Restoran Ipoh Chicken Rice, which also sells chicken rice. They are just capitalizing on suckers and people who are too impatient to wait.

The shop itself is rather big, occupying 2 shop lots, and getting a table shouldn’t be too difficult unless you go right in the middle of lunch time. As you are facing the shop, the lot on your left is air-conditioned whereas the lot on your right is not. When you get into the shop you will notice that the floor is very oily. I hope this does not upset you as the oily chairs and tables are even less pleasant.

I ordered chicken for 2 people (either their portions are too small, or the food is too good? I think it is the latter) with no pork balls or bean sprouts. The food didn’t take too long to arrive and didn’t look too good either. But I have learnt to not let that bother me. Perhaps the fact that is tastes so damn good helps.

I ordered steamed chicken. It comes in soy sauce which is lighter than normal soy sauce. It is delicious. I could have rice mixed with the soya sauce for the rest of my life. Okay maybe just for a few days.

The rice is, well, oily as you may expect. But it is also good. Every time I come here my half bowl diet goes down the drain.

The rice has an interesting yellow colour

The star of the show is the chicken. I cannot really pinpoint what is good about it. I think it is more of an all-rounder with no bad points. The soy sauce is a big factor but it is also the tenderness of the chicken and the ginger taste. Heavenly.

Another important factor to consider when eating chicken rice is the chilli, and the chilli here doesn’t disappoint. It tastes even better when mixed with ginger, which is available upon request.

You will also get some soup with your meal. It is not ordinary crap chicken rice soup. I think it is the Pork Ball Soup, minus the Pork Balls. And it is good, though I get the feeling it isn’t very healthy? But then again, nothing in Restoran Ipoh Chicken Rice is healthy.

Overall, a very enjoyable meal. I never leave this place not feeling satisfied, except for the one time I got an oil stain on my shirt. The average price here is around RM6 per person, which is high for chicken rice, but still worth it.

I will give this place a 8.5/10.

Restoran Ipoh Chicken Rice is open 7 days a week from 10:30 AM to 10:45 PM.

[Ratings]