I seldom wander into the heart of the city to hunt for food. It is simply because there are plenty of good foods within a 10 km radius from where I stay. Just the thought of the traffic congestion and my lack of knowledge in manoeuvring around the KL roads is enough to discourage me. But the truth remains. If I want to discover the best food that reflects the traditions and history of a country, chances are I can most probably find it in city street corners where merchants use to roam and cobblers and street vendors ply their trade.
So on one sunny Sunday morning, while accompanying a friend for a meeting down town, we stumble across a very busy coffee shop right across from where we were. With my dependable camera on hand and a huge morning appetite, we decided to investigate all that fuss.
When we finally got a table right at the corner, I realized what we have discovered; an old popular coffee shop that is well known amongst the city folks. The ambience is not quite your typical coffee shop. At the corner of a very busy street, you have to bear with the noise and fumes from the vehicles passing by. Don’t even think about looking down on the floor unless you want to do some forensic study on food remnants.
We ordered from all three stalls there. The stall right in the center sells curry mee (curry noodle).
Curry Mee Stall
You can have a choice of yellow noodle or vermicelli or a mixture of both. The curry broth is nice with a good spicy and rich balance. Filled with tow gay (bean sprout), chue pei (pork rind), meat balls, si hum (raw cockles), the vermicelli has a nice crunchy feel and well complimented by the softer yellow noodle.
Curry Mee
The pork rind and the huge cockles are the highlights of the curry noodle here. Apparently we just made it by ordering the last bowl coz they started washing up their stall after that. And it was only 12 noon. All in ‘half-a-day’s work aye. Apart from curry noodle, this stall also sells Kai See Hor Fun (Flat rice noodle with chicken strips in prawn broth).
The Saito Fish Ball Stall
Another stall parallel to the main Pudu road (Jalan Pudu) sells Sai Tou Yue Tan ( Saito Fish ball aka Wolf-Herring Fish ball). They have an interesting variety of fish balls and fish cakes; deep fried ones and boiled ones. We just ordered a mix of various types although you can actually order it with noodles.
Saito Fish Ball
This is nice as a side dish. The fish balls have got a nice springy texture but I’d prefer it to be a bit more ‘solid’. Comes with some bean sprouts as well and they are like the ones from Ipoh, all fat and crunchy….Nice !
Fat Towgay
The next stall is really the star of the place. This stall is called Chun Kee Hakka Mee. There is a sign above the stall that reads Dapu Mian (Dapu Noodles). Dapu is a small town in the eastern part of China’s southern Guangdong Province. Most of Dapu’s residents are of the Hakka ethnic group. So I assume the owner is from Dapu and this is his inherited recipe from his ancestors. This makes it even more authentic!
Chun Kee Dapu Noodle Stall
A small portion of noodle costs RM4.00, medium RM4.40 and large RM4.60.
I never liked my noodles drenched with soy sauce like the KL version of the wanton noodles. This Hakka noodle is completely pale and no soy sauce. That’s a good start. I believe if the noodle is tasty and fresh, you don’t need soy sauce to season it as the aroma that exudes from the noodles is good enough.
At Chun Kee, they use pork lard to coat the noodles. The lard gives it a ‘sticky’ feel at first bite. The combination of the aroma from the fresh egg noodle and the flavours from the pork lard is simply gorgeous. They serve the noodles with Char Siew (BBQ Pork) and Yuk Sui (Minced pork) and a few strands of vegetable. To me it is kind of like a Hakka Wanton Mee coz it comes with a bowl of wanton at the side. I must say, this is one hell of a Hakka mee. HITZ THE SPOT!
All in all, I would recommend you to give this Hakka noodle stall a try. I would definitely come around again.
Location
Address: Jalan Sayur, Pudu
Directions: Diagonally Opposite Sek Yuen Restaurant and next to a Klinik Ho.
Parking: You can park at the back lane behind the shop lots that are right across from the stalls.
Operating hrs: 6am to 10pm
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