Khueen Kee Chayang @ Pandan Indah

Khueen Kee Chayang @ Pandan Indah, opened some time in August this year, is an offshoot of Khueen Kee Baker from Ipoh, not a name I'm familiar with nor have I eaten there.

Stepping inside, the interior decor is retro and nostalgic with enamelware, olden clock and telephone adorning the walls.  You'll also find old pieces like TV, typewriter, flasks, thermos and records from the olden times.  There's also a corner where you can pick up all sorts of snacks for your munching pleasure.

The Chayang Char Siew Curry Mee @ RM14.90 in the menu was what attracted me first.  The person who took my order did prelude me to the fact that their curry mee is sour (she called it suin kali meen) which was fine since that's how Ipoh-style curry mee is after all due to the heavier use of curry powder which carries a tangier taste (much like Indian curries).  That was what I took it to mean.

Although I'm not a fan of Ipoh-style curry mee for that very reason, I thought I'd try this Ipoh mali curry mee to see how it stacks up to those served in Ipoh...but what came was a total surprise (I witnessed other surprised looks too)!  It was so coz they didn't do a good job of preluding us to their unique sour curry noodles and what to really expect.

First of all, it was adorned wth lots of mint leaves which is as expected since that's a trademark of Ipoh-style curry mee.  But it wasn't an Ipoh-style curry mee.  It didn't have flavours of curry at all but flavours of assam laksa instead. @_@  No wonder the default noodle was only cho mai fan (thick vermicelli) that's almost like lai fun (used in  assam laksa) but not as soft, transparent and starchy when I asked for meehoon + mee (I should have realised that something was amiss since no one really uses cho mai fan for curry mee)! >.<

The bowl of curry mee contains typical ingredients you'd find in curry mee like char siew (other options include siu yuk), rehydrated pig skin, fish balls, fried beancurd and long beans.  The so-called curry broth was both spicy and sour (but not as sour as assam laksa).  Not easy to find fans of this as I noticed some crunched up faces/expressions of people eating this for the first time.  In the end, it was a weird combination of eating ingredients of a curry mee but in a broth that's like assam laksa (minus the ikan kembong flakes).  Not something I would order again.  I'd rather have a proper bowl of curry mee and a proper bowl of assam laksa...separately, not together! ;)

On my first visit, I noticed quite a few people ordering their signature fried chicken nasi lemak but, from photos online, the sambal didn't look like a proper nasi lemak sambal, so I decided to forego that and get the Luncheon Meat in Dry Noodle @ RM12.90 instead tossed in dark sauce with flavoured oil (shallot or pork lard) and had light flavours (some will probably find it a bit too bland for their liking).  Not sure what noodles were used but they looked/tasted like some thick egg noodles.

The luncheon meat was fried till crispy, nicely fragrant though not the most fragrant I've had but also not the low quality luncheon meat served by many (the shape of it is an indicator).  I thought it was a fairly decent dish with ingredients of luncheon meat, egg and dry noodles that children (especially) would enjoy.

Khueen Kee isn't just a kopitiam serving eggs, toasts, noodles and rice dishes but also a bakery.  At the entrance of this quaint little cafe you'd find a pastry section selling all kinds of pastries and biscuits (pre-packed biscuits are also available inside the cafe).  Not sure if the goods are baked here or they come from Ipoh.

Someone told me that their pastries isn't worth my time but I decided to give it a try anyway.  I got a few for my first sampling, a Traditional Egg Tart @ RM2.70, a Chicken Floss Egg Tart @ RM3 and a Kaya Kok/Puff @ RM1.50.

For the traditional egg tart, I found the egg mixture to be silky smooth, not too sweet, with a fair dose of egg-y flavour.  The tarts had a soft, flaky texture but weren't too buttery (if you prefer a very buttery crust, this one might not be the one for you).

The chicken floss tart was a little bit more unique, this one was savoury because of the chicken floss filling and I thought the pastry was even more flaky than the traditional egg tart.  The kaya kok was my least liked item even though it had a decent amount of kaya filling that wasn't too sweet.

On another visit, I got a Chicken Pie @ RM3, a Lao Po Biscuit @ RM2.50 and a Salty Red Bean Biscuit @ RM1.20.  I also got a repeated item, the egg tart which was my most enjoyed item the previous time.

The chicken pie had a filling that tasted exactly like those of a char siew bun but it's chicken instead of pork.  It was ok.  The lao po (wife) biscuit's winter filling (however) was far from good and this one had thinly shredded candied orange peel in them that gave it a light tangy flavour which I thought threw the balance of the filling a bit off.

The salty red bean biscuit is something like those famous bite-size Tambun biscuits (tau sar pneah), a must-buy 'souvenir' when you're visiting Penang but no where near the quality of those.  Not sure why they call it salty (red?) bean since it's (as I know) usually made from grounded mung beans (or green beans).  The someone who told me to skip the pastries here was probably right...at least almost right.  Out of the six I've tried, these three (+ the kaya kok) will not see me having it again.

The Kopi-O (Cold) @ RM3.60 and their Chayang White Coffee (Cold) @ RM5.40 were coffees that I quite enjoyed but certainly not among my most favourite ones.

My Personal Opinion

The local fare of noodles and rice is satisfactory enough for a breakfast or lunch option for people from around the area but not outstanding enough that you need to make a special trip here just to try the food unless you're game enough to try their unique sour curry noodles which they should just call assam laksa (to prevent misinterpretation or unexpected tastes) since it tastes just like one (but without the fish).

The pastries/biscuits are a bit of a hit and miss too with the egg tarts being the one I enjoyed most from here.  Certainly not the best out there but possibly the best we have in our taman (neighbourhood) at the moment.

Khueen Kee Chayang

46 Jalan Pandan Indah 4/6B

Pandan Indah

55100 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 012-555 4331