Restoran 168 Wantan Mee & Curry Mee @ Pudu

I've eaten at 168 Wantan Mee & Curry Mee @ Pudu a long time ago but didn't blog about it as I didn't think much about the food.  But someone from one of my chatgroups sang praises about the wantan mee recently which got me thinking maybe I was too hasty in jumping to a conclusion + after all these years, I can't really remember what the food tasted like.

So, I thought why not make a return visit to see if the food's any good the second time round.  Plus a little incident (which I thought was rather amusing) made me want to blog about it this time...lol!  If you want to eat here, you'll have to abandon comfort and cleanliness as they're not a proper shop but located on the five-foot walkway (kaki lima) so you could be seated next to the longkang (drain) that comes with all its refreshing smell...lol!

From their signboard, it was rather obvious they specialise in wantan mee and curry mee.  We had the former since the curry mee was not ready yet when we were there in the morning after church.  I had the Dry Wantan Mee (S) with Char Siu while my husband had his Dry Wantan Mee (M) with Siu Yuk.

If you're looking for a presentable plate of food, you're not going to get it here.  As you can see, the meat is chopped unevenly and thrown haphazardly onto the plate...not only that but there's also no standardisation in the use of a bowl or plate.  They just use anything they get their hands on, I guess...my wantan me came in a bowl while my husband's came on a plate.  The wantan mee was fairly decent...and between the two, the char siu was better tasting than the siu yuk for sure.

What I found good and tasty was actually the soup wantans.  You get two wantans and one sui kow (surprise, surprise coz I've not come across one where sui kow was the default, it always have to be ordered as an extra).

Even more surprising was that one of the wantans was filled with a whole prawn (the other was filled with minced meat).  The wantans were worth every cent, plump and generously filled.  I liked the soup too which felt like a homemade one boiled with lots of chicken carcass/bones and white carrot which gave it sweetness (unlike the ones we commonly get from other wantan mee stalls that use stock cubes/powder).  I enjoyed the soup so much that I was contemplating to order wantan mee soup on my next visit but, thankfully, I didn't coz the soup turned out to be very salty.

On our second visit, my husband had his wantan mee with char siu while I was lucky that the curry mee was ready this time.  I asked for chicken with my Curry Mee but the worker said there's no chicken option, so I went with char siu instead but when when it arrived, it was served with siu yuk.  When I enquired why I got siu yuk, the worker said that's the standard and if I want char siu, I've to add it as additional (what the heck, where got such a thing, I think it was just her excuse coz she fouled up my order).

There's a reason why I didn't want the siu yuk (after tasting it in my husband's wantan mee on an earlier visit) as the siu yuk was not tender at all, the fatty parts were very chewy and the taste was just not there (don't be fooled by the slab of hanging siu yuk that looked better than it tasted!).

Well, luckily I won't have to deal with that dilemma again as I doubt I'll be having it again since I found the curry, although quite thick, lacking the savoury flavours I seek.  The curry broth was light (even though I added a good spoonful of sambal) and it tasted like a cross between a Nyonya curry and a vegetable curry here.  There were brinjal, long beans, rehydrated pig skin (that needed to be cooked longer), fresh cockles and a garnishing of mint leaves.

What I don't remember having when I was here the very first time many years ago was the availability of yong tau foo.  They have quite a variety for you to choose from.

On our return (first) visit, I ordered 8 pcs of yong tau foo @ RM2.50 a piece for sharing...we had brinjal, chillies, fried fu chuk, fried sui kow, tau fu pok and fried wantans.  I actually thought the yong tau foo was the better tasting thing here than the noodles.  I enjoyed the fried wantan and fried sui kow particularly including the fish paste stuffed fried brinjal and chillies.

On my second visit, I ordered less...just one piece each of fish cake and fu chuk roll with two pcs of fried wantan.  That's because I wanted to tapau some for my lunch later.  I still asked for a packet of soup (coz the taste was still good) and added water to it when I got home to reduce the saltiness.  Both meals cost around RM35-45 for two (depending how many pieces of yong tau foo you order).

Coming back to the story I mentioned earlier, there was a couple (the lady actually) who couldn't stop taking selfies when eating here.  Let's just say she was overdressed for a roadside meal (clearly she's not from here, not sure if she was a foreign or local tourist).  I'm leaning towards a foreign tourist (she looks like a Chinese though) coz maybe eating by a longkang is rustic and a new experience for her....lol!  She kept taking selfies and even stood near the (messy-looking) stall to take more photos (I was choosing my yong tau foo then before realising she was next to me...hah..hah).

My Personal Opinion

The place offers a fairly decent wantan mee and curry mee with good wantans and dumplings (both fried & soup).  The highlight for me is their homemade yong tau foo. 

If you want to eat along this five-foot way/pedestrian walkway, you have to ditch cleanliness, comfort and (sometimes) you get added aroma from the drains (to add to your dining experience)...hah..hah!

Restaurant 168 Wantan Mee & Curry Mee

2-2 Jalan Brunei Utara

Pudu

55100 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 016-256 2212