Fatt Kee (Hokkien Mee) Stall @ Jalan Imbi

It has been quite a while since we last ate at Fatt Kee Hokkien Mee Stall @ Jalan Imbi.  This famed Imbi Road Hokkien Mee (thick yellow noodles fried in dark soya sauce) stall comes 'alive' only at night (for dinner and supper) as they operate when Win Heng Seng coffee shop closes for the day (after breakfast and lunch).  As the coffee shop is pretty small, tables are set up along the walkway/pavement to cater to the crowd.

This is one of our 'go to' places for "Fook Kein Chow" (Cantonese for fried Hokkien Mee-lah) from way back when.  Although the standard may have dropped slightly (since you can now see foreigners frying the noodles), they still dish up a pretty good plate of Fook Kein Chow.

 

This is our plate of Fried Hokkien Mee @ RM16 (for 2 pax) that came with tender pieces of lean pork, fresh and plump medium-sized prawns, fish paste slices, cuttlefish, vegetables (cabbage and "choy sum" aka Chinese Flowering Cabbage) and, of course, the most important ingredient of all...."chee yau char" (pork lard bits).  A 'fried hokkien mee without chee yau char' is like a 'western breakfast without coffee'.....it just won't do!

 

You can also request to omit some of the ingredients (if that's your preference) but the price stays the same (except if you request for prawns only, then it's RM22 for 2 pax).   We would always order one plate with just pork slices (my husband's favourite) as their pork is really tender (I guess that's why they have pork soup on their menu).

 

You may think that RM8.50 for a single portion of Fried Hokkien Mee is expensive for a hawker stall but I think it's more than reasonable as it comes with a 'truckload' (ok-lah, not quite a truckload but plenty) of fresh and quality ingredients (even the chee yau char is slightly bigger than the norm...give me more, give me more!)

 

Apart from Fried Hokkien Mee, they also offer other types of noodles and one of them is the Cantonese Style "Yin Yeong" (Kuey Teow + Beehoon).  This single portion costs RM8.50 and what I liked most is that the gravy is thickened with lots of egg instead of starch.  That's why the gravy is 'drier' compared to other "Kong Foo Chow" (Cantonese style noodles) as it does not become overly watery as we eat it (unlike those thickened with too much starch) and the eggy broth is also more flavourful.  

This is the Cantonese Style "Yee Mee" @ RM8.50 (portion for one) but I find their yee mee a bit too crispy for my liking (getting the right texture and taste of yee mee is indeed a difficult task).  I actually prefer their Kong Foo Chow to their more famous Fried Hokkien Mee.

Other noodle options you can get here include "Mun" (Braised) Yee Mee, Lor Mee (thick yellow noodles in an egg and starch broth) and Fried Kuey Teow with a raw egg.

On a recent revisit, I had the opportunity to try the Pork Slices Soup @ RM9.  The lean pork slices were indeed smooth, with "wong nga pak" (Chinese cabbage) and "choy sum" (Chinese flowering cabbage) but the soup wasn't nearly as good.  I also noticed an additional menu now that offers oyster omelette, fried fish cake and oyster-sauce vegetables.

My Personal Opinion

Overall, this place is a good and cheap eat if you are looking for fried noodles as your comfort food.  The stall dishes up a respectable plate of Fook Kein Chow although (now) I seem to prefer their Kong Foo Chow more (as the "wok hei" or breadth of the wok is more prominent in this one).  [#Note: They used to sell only Hokkien Mee in the old days.]  

They may come up a bit short in the taste department for their Hokkien Mee (the one from Kim Lian Kee definitely tastes better) but their fresh (and plentiful) ingredients more than make up for it.  Especially good is their super tender pork and chee yau char, which is fresh and crispy, although I wish they would give more chee yau char.....there's never too much of a good thing as far as I'm concerned!

Consistency is an issue here as it depends on who is tasked with frying up your plate of noodles as they've foreign workers who do the frying now.  At times, I've tasted really good ones, other times, not as good, but the plentiful ingredients and super tender pork slices are 2 things that remain "constant" here.

Revisit: (01.02.2015) Pork Slices Soup

Fatt Kee Hokkien Mee Stall

@ Win Heng Seng Restaurant

183 Jalan Imbi

55100 Kuala Lumpur