Metro

Sunday November 22, 2009

Golden oldies


IPOH, PERAK
Ipoh Hor Fun/Chicken Rice
Restaurant Lou Wong Tauge Ayam Kuetiau
49, Jalan Yau Tet Shin. Open 5pm to 2am (until 3am on Saturdays and public holidays)
Days off not fixed.

LOU Wong is known for its chicken rice and hor fun with blanched bean sprouts (some locals, however, dismiss it as an attraction for “tourists”.) There are two other competitors on this street, no doubt getting a lot of the spillover business when customers cannot get a table at this hugely popular joint. Business is bustling every night but service is fast and diners don’t linger.

The chicken rice is very good – flavourful and fluffy, with well-greased grains. They only use tender meat of the free-range woo soh kai (a kind of chicken), and this is flavoured with soy sauce and garlic oil. The taugeh (bean sprouts) are fat and juicy, and side orders include fish balls and meat balls in soup.

The slightly oily hor fun is slippery smooth, a quality much appreciated by the Cantonese diners. Overall, the food here is very tasty – but the MSG and the greasiness can get to you after a while. Lou Wong has recently opened an outlet in Sunway Mas, Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

BANGSAR, KUALA LUMPUR
Chicken and Mutton Soup
Gerai Maidin
(In front of Dhoby Wallah) 30, Persiaran Ara Kiri, Lucky Garden
Tel: 012-6551 506. Open 4pm to 10pm. Days off not fixed.

THIS roadside stall has been at this very same spot for 30 years and is now run by Sheik Maidin, who inherited his father’s stall and clientele.

He says the spicy chicken and mutton soups are boiled for over five hours. A bowl of soup comes with a generous serving of meat and French loaf slices. Of the two, the mutton soup is spicier and has more zing. This soup usually finishes by 7pm, so call ahead to find out if it’s available.

Also available are soups made from deer tongue or venison.

SIBU, SARAWAK
Kampua Mee & Beef Noodles
Jia Bin Cafe
11 Central Road.
Open Tuesdays to Sundays, 7am to 11pm; and Mondays, 7am to 5pm.

THE monkey-like antics of Ho Chung Khing earned this stall the name Ang Kau Kampua. His son, Ho Kai Hieng, now runs the thriving 45-year-old family business, considered the best kampua mee stall in town.

Kampua mee is a simple Foochow dish of noodles tossed in lard and shallot oil. The plain version comes with a few slices of barbecued pork, with the option to add fish balls, pork liver and/or meat balls. The noodles are slightly springy, very aromatic and flavourful, thanks to the lard and shallot oil.

According to Kai Hieng, the secret to a good plate of kampua lies in the water used to blanch the noodles – it must be changed often to get rid of the starch leaching from the noodles. The tossing of the noodles is also important, as they must be well-coated with lard and oil.

There is also a beef noodle (mee sapi) stall here. The noodles come with a mixture of meat, beef stomach and tendons.

The beef soup is robust and flavourful, with strong hints of star anise and cinnamon.

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