Kaki Bola (Fish Head Noodles) @ Paramount Garden

We chanced upon this fish head noodles restaurant one Sunday morning when we saw that Choon Prawn Mee House was too crowded.  This fish head noodle shop is known as Kaki Bola Dua @ II @ Paramount Garden, which was kinda weird as it had nothing to do with fish head noodles.  When you enter the restaurant, you'll realise why when you see posters of football clubs adorned on the walls...owners, fans of football, perhaps?

This is the Paramount Branch and their main branch is in Taman Segar which is one of the famous fish head noodle restaurants in Cheras since it was featured on 8TV's "Ho Chak".  In fact, there's a banner hanging outside the restaurant indicating their other branch at Taman Segar has been around since 1999.

There's basically 2 ways to eat fish head noodles, one is to choose the type of rice vermicelli or "meehoon" (either the normal meehoon or the thicker version of meehon which is referred to as "cho mai fun"), and the other is to choose the broth, whether with milk or the clear soup version.  For me, any version will do because I just love fish head noodles!

I chose the XO Fried Fish Head Noodle (Without Milk) @ RM8.30 with the thin meehoon and clear broth.  The clear broth was flavoursome, of course (knowing that it was the result of being boiled with lots of fish parts and bones), with a hint of rice wine (maybe XO?), while the salted vegetables and tomatoes added a slight tang to the broth.  The fried fish head was fresh, fragrant and fried till crispy, it was pretty good.  I'm not sure if the XO was in the marinated fish head or in the soup as I couldn't really taste the XO as it was not dominant at all.

You can also choose the Fried Fish Head Noodle (With Milk) version also @ RM8.30 and I opted for the thick vermicelli this time.  Strangely though, the thick vermicelli or "cho mai fun" was not the usual kind we're used to.  Their "cho mai fun" is more 'spaghetti-like' looking but with a much softer texture.  The broth (with milk) tasted slightly sweeter than the clear version and it was just as good.

You can ask them to serve the fried fish head separately from the soup if you are one who likes to enjoy munching on the crispiness of the fried fish.  Or, if you are like me, I ask them to serve the fried fish separately and then I put half of the fried fish pieces into the soup (to soak up some of the broth) and enjoy the crispiness of the other half.....that way, you get the 'best of both worlds'!

For those who doesn't like (or too lazy) to pick fish bones off the head, you can opt for fish paste or fish fillet (fresh or fried), though nothing beats chewing on fried fish head.  Apart from the XO flavoured broth, there's also other options like the "Shiong Tong" (clear soup) and "Tom Yam" flavours.

We also ordered a side dish of Fried Fish Cake @ RM8.50 which were slices of fish paste that looked kinda flat and somewhat different from the usual thicker ones that I'm used to having but they were good.  They tasted like they were made from pure fish paste (with very little flour), and maybe that's why they are thinner and the texture is softer but not as springy as those thicker ones made with more flour, I guess.

The Fried Wantan @ RM4.50 (for 6 pcs) was another snack we ordered and it was ok, nothing memorable.

If you have family members in your 'eating possy' that are not 'into' fish head noodles, you don't have to give up on eating it if it's one of your favourite noodles.  They can order other type of noodles like Wantan Mee @ RM6....

.....and Cantonese Fried "Sang Mee" (Crispy Noodles) @ RM7 (but they're probably ordinary but acceptable).

My Personal Opinion

I would say the fish head noodles are pretty good and I especially liked the fried fish head which was both fresh and crispy.

If you're looking for a reasonably priced and respectable bowl of fish head noodles, you can give this a try.

Kaki Bola XO Fish Head Noodles
No 23 Jalan 20/14
Paramount Garden
46100 Petaling Jaya
Selangor
Tel: 016-391 1577