Penang - Pulau Tikus - Wan Tan Mee

Type: Non-Halal
Location: Pulau Tikus - Moulmein Close - Swee Kong Coffee Shop
Contact: 017 479 8075 (Ah Chee)
Operation hour: 0730 - 1500 (close at Thursday)

Price: RM3.00 (Small) | RM3.80 (Medium) | RM4.60 (Large)

Parking convenience: Bad (follow the Moulmein close and you will find a parking field at your 10-O-clock direction)
Hygiene: Fair

Direction:



Follow Burma road when you exit from Perak road. You will pass by the Sokka Gakkai Malaysia (on your right). Further drive, you will see the Golden Eagle Kopitiam (on your right) and the Shell station (on your left). Go on, I haven't finished yet. Pass by the ESSO and Lancia Auto Enterprise (both on your right). Further down little, normally you will start to drive slow due to the traffic light in front jammed.

You will notice a shoplot on your left now. Pay attention, after the shoplots, Moulmein close (not road or street, I have no idea, please don't ask me) and you will see the coffee shop in front of Moulmein close.



Patient and gentleman "Taokeh"



There are two things that impressed me deeply from this stall. First, the stall owner is very patient and gentleman boss. I remembered there was one time, his partner unable to come, only left him and the Indonesian lady worker who was unfamiliar with the process. I waited for 45 minutes and immediately made a complaint what took so long while for only a plate of wantan noodle.



He felt sorry by explaining man power shortage and he never stopped his hands to prepare those orders. With empathy, I volunteered myself not to let the worker to deliver for me, I can stand there to get my plate :-P I guess I was too hungry.

Preparing


Taking order


The lady worker made a lot of mix up mistake and the owner still able to explain patiently. This is the first time I didn't see boss scold his worker like mad. The whole environment already stressed up due to huge order waiting list and customers surrounding the stall.

Fried dumpling (wantan)
2nd impression is its fried dumpling. For health purpose, I rarely eat fried dumpling. I found out most of the wantan noodle stall fried the dumpling, either less meat or totally tasteless. This stall actually changed my impression. You can taste the meat when you bite. It's not tasteless. It's delicious. I think the stall owner really add ingredient and heart to fry the dumpling. So far, I can say this is the best for me. (If you find any better one, shoot me with comment please!)

Sorry, the moment I snapshot, just realized the fried dumpling finished by me straight away. Don't complaint me please. :-S


The taste is not heavy on lark oil, after the char siew and dark soya oil mixed with the noodles, there's another sauce with mushroom cut added to finalize the whole process.

Ask for green chilly. Eat with green chilly - you will bite the little spicy with vinegar taste to mix with noodle to satisfy your hunger desire. Of course, here we temporarily leave out the sambal.

Full house most of the time during morning


Remember to stay patient to tell Ah Chee if your order takes too long while to wait. :-)

Penang - Lebuh Queen - Wantan Noodles

Type: Non-Halal
Location: Lebuh Queen / Queen Street
Price: Small (RM2.50) | Medium (RM3.00) | Big (RM3.30)
Sui Kow (RM1.30 for two)

Stall Owner: Mr. Yam Weng Kheong 任永强 (PJK)
Stall Name: One Tonne Mee
Contact: 016 492 5832

Stall Operation: 0700 - 1330

Parking convenience: Fair
Hygiene: Good

Direction:
If you comes from Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling, try to check out the landmark - Goddess of Mercy Temple (观音庙). Turn to China Street, about 10 meter distant, turn right to Queen Street, you will see the stall just beside your left hand side. Don't day-dream, check out the available space on your right to park your car then! :-P



Almost retired



Those old fans who followed this stall definitely knew Mr. Yam moved from opposite to this coffee shop about 5 years ago. I personally feel the coffee shop name is a bit funny- Peace and Joy Coffee Shop if you forget to lift your head to check out.

16 years of specializing in wantan noodles, Mrs. Yam informed me that they decided to retire soon which suprised me. I insist them to go on, thus I post this writing... sounds like I'm quite bad in another way.



Preparation





Bathing Noodles
Normally noodles will bath with boiling water and rinse for a while, then go through cold water to enhance its springy-ness.


No fancy taste

Wantan noodles normally dance with pork oil, dark & light soya sauce which bring a mixture of taste to stimulate your taste buds. No fancy taste but original. I personally prefer original.



Roasted pork sliced beautifully - dark soya sauce rinsed without artificial red colour which does not suit my preference. When you eat the roasted pork, you able to feel the thick sauce flow in your lung! I'm not kidding, seriously.

Freshly made Sui Kow
I particularly like their fresh Sui Kow (dumplings) made of a mixture shrimp and minced pork. The skin is very thin and you feel solid content when the Sui Kow enters your mouth.

I will include the Sui Kow portrait in my next visit. Sorry I was in hurry to rush for my breakfast to take care of my wife after the new born delivered.

Go there earlier and enjoy a hot soup of Sui Kow accompanying cool morning weather, this is an excellent moment to fulfill your stomach desire :-)

Penang - Jelutong Market - Wantan Noodles

Food: Wantan Noodles / 云吞面
Type: Non-Halal
Location: Jelutong Market
Price: RM2.30 (small) | RM2.60 (medium) | RM3.00 (big)

Stall Owner: Mr. Khoo Lee Koon (邱美焜) (016 456 8181)
Stall Operation: 0600 - 1100 (will rest on normal 1st & 15th Chinese Calendar month - except big day fall on Chinese Calendar month)

Parking convenience: Bad (You have to find a place to park far from the Jelutong market - advise - try best not to drive into market, you may stuck there from crowded place)

Hygiene: Fair (the stall location is not near with those wet market stalls - no worry)

Direction:

The stall is just beside the unique colour building - pinky colour with very yellow colour accompanied. Please don't assume this is Hello Kitty shop nor banana boat shop. Check out the hand cursor there by yourself.

Very busy - still have great customer service
When you come to this stall - first impression - Mr. Khoo is extremely busy. His wife and mum are taking order from customers nonstop. You may see them still getting prepared the final "touch" on noodles while talking to customer. Don't get stunned by not having eyes-contact with either one of them. They are listening to customer for specific order such as more chillies or "cham" (combined different types of customisation - allow me to show you one in my capture later). Impressive family business and still have great customer service. Every customer is their friends. Sold since end of year 1993 when Mrs. Khoo was pregnant for first child. Truly romantic.



Stall Owner --> Mr. Cool :-P


Accessories


Unforgettable taste - No. 1 super-duple fan shouted at me
Don't get misled by the subtitle. I was not having fight with someone. Just another portion to fuel you reading on. If you were to ask me about the taste - it's hardly describing in words. One word - great!~ Have you ever missed old taste? Have you ever heard a moving stall that selling "tok-tok" noodle? How the stall owner attracting potential customer? When move around, the stall owner will use spoon to heat the bowl to generate a high frequency sound. Certain time, certain moment - when you hear this "tok-tok" sound, you know the stall is near. I hardly assume all of you had this memory, probably some of you did. The fact is I gone through this and I missed the old taste very much.

Serving customers


Perfect teamwork


Basically, part of the noodles ingredient is made of egg. To retain the quality, they take high quality of raw noodles instead of cheapo one to increase profit margin. “The most important thing is the food quality and worth to pay to eat", highlighted Mrs Khoo

The interesting part is one guy claimed himself as No. 1 super-duple fan told me. His name is Jimmy, the clothes seller. He seriously described in words - When the wantan noodle served at table, DO NOT straight away pick up your chopsticks and start "slurpping". Give yourself 2-3 minutes, let the noodles absorb the dark soya sauce. Then starts your engine. The taste will be totally different from the impression you had normally for wantan noodles. Well, sounds very expert huh? This is according to that No. 1 super-duple fan. Why No. 1 super-duple fan? Whenever the stall is there for one whole week, he will only eat wantan noodles. Yes! No other food! You know what? Even the stall owner's mum smile tenderly to claim this guy also a bit insane to eat like that, from her smile - I quickly understand it is the food quality and taste hold someone's tongue firmly.

The freshly served wantan noodles is very springy and tasty. In Chinese - 弹牙 or very Q in Cantonese. The secretly made dark soya sauce mixed with pork oil plus sesame oil will directly stimulate your hunger via aromatic smell. This Jimmy even share one more secret - The raw noodle is even tasty after overnight. Wow, this is something new I never heard before. Jimmy did ask what kind of special ingredient added in for overnight raw noodles - Mr. Khoo said nothing and couldn't find a word on this to describe.

Wantan - the meat dumpling

Another options


Without this - the wantan noodles mean nothing at all. There are two version of dumpling you can choose. One is fried and another one is cooked. It may look small for you or you can easily stuck 3-4 dumplings into your mouth. Don't under-estimate the taste. It is not only minced meat. Little "adjusted" salt, pepper powder and other ingredients normally bring out the unique taste of dumplings. You can order separate dumplings with soup to enjoy.


Another secret weapon - my preferable version
If you are not yet ready - don't try this. Otherwise smoke will come out from your both ears and hair. Yes, I'm talking about sambal. My preference for this food - one soup spoon of sambal add in. Smelling the sambal before mix with wantan noodles is the most wonderful moment. Check out the texture of sambal.

Are you ready for this?


I can say my tolerant level of spicy sambal considered good (better than my wife - I used this training to tackle my wife :-P pssshhhh - don't tell her - I can treat you another spoonful of sambal). This sambal still make me drop tears and sweat like after bath. When you eat with sambal, you won't immediately feel terribly spicy. The spicy feeling will only come after you finish a few mouthful of noodles. Still wish to challenge yourself? Get prepared to order another two glasses of cold drinks :-) Hmmm... just love this.

Built-on-order

No sidetrack topic here. Not hardware, dude. I'm still talking about wantan noodles. There are normal noodle, the thin and thick one, Hor-Fun and Bee-Hoon. You can mix thin noodle with Hor-Fun or Bee-Hoon with Hor-Fun. As far you like - just let Mr. Khoo know.

Thick version


Thin version


Mixed version


Mr. Cool may look cool when taking order as he is very busy to cook the noodles with perfect timing. Talk to him several times - this firm mid-age guy may throw smiley face via your satisfaction to taste. Pardon me? I'm drooling while busy closing ceremony for this writing with several interesting shots... Can't stand for that anymore - I better grab my meal :-) Happy eating then!