The 60's Teow Chew Fishball @ Pandan Indah

From the information I gathered online, this fish ball restaurant seems to have many branches in the Klang Valley and one blog mentioned that it used to be known as Tang House of Fishball....but I wouldn't know as I've not heard of or eaten at this fish ball place before.

So, when I recently noticed a new addition to our neighbourhood restaurants, Restoran The 60's Teow Chew Fishball @ Pandan Indah, I knew I had to try.  After all, it's one more affordable choice I can add to my 'repertoire of restaurants' to eat when I'm not cooking.

 

We tried their Signature Mee Pok @ RM7 which was filled with minced pork and topped with crispy "chee yau  char" (pork lard cubes) and spring onions.  It came with a side soup of fish cake slices and vegetables.  Mee Pok is a type of yellowish flat noodles and is usually sold by hawkers selling fish ball noodles.  The noodles were tossed in flavoured oil, vinegar and probably a bit of soy sauce and pepper.  The taste is very subtle or otherwise bland to those who are more used to strong flavours.  In fact, it tastes a bit similar to Hakka mee or kolo mee, if you ask me.

I had the Handmade Fish Noodle + Glass Noodles (Dry) @ RM8 which was made up of glass noodles tossed with the same minced pork topping as the Signature Mee Pok.  The only difference was this came with additional bean sprouts, shredded carrot, fish noodles and slices of fish cake. 

The fish noodles were actually fish paste made to resemble thick noodles (the same type as those you'd get in steamboats).  Again, I enjoyed the light taste of the glass noodles and I especially liked the fish noodles.

This was the Golden Homeland Mee @ RM8 which offered thicker noodles with minced pork, fried fish cakes, soft egg and pork lard.

For those who find these noodles bland, fret not for they have this kick-ass dried chillies condiment that will surely spice up your noodles.  But, go easy as it's really spicy but I love it! :)

We also ordered the Fried Chee Cheong Fun @ RM5.50 which are essentially broad flat rice noodle rolls fried with bean sprouts, chives, egg and chillies.  It actually looks like fried char kway teow, but it's a much softer texture, and tastes very similar to fried carrot cake except they use chee cheong fun instead of carrot cake.  I enjoyed this dish sprinkled with some of the dried chillies condiment.

This was the Fried Fish Noodle & Chee Cheong Fun @ RM8.  It tasted exactly like the one above except this one came with fish paste noodles.  It may be a bit salty for some taste buds.

And, of course, I had to try their Handmade Fish Balls @ RM7 (for 10 pcs) since this is what the restaurant is all about.  It didn't disappoint as the fish balls tasted like pure fish paste and were just a tad springy.  It didn't have an overly bouncy texture like other fish balls with added flour and made by machine.  There was once an old man making fish balls by hand and those were the best ones I've ever had but when his son took over the fish ball noodles stall, he deemed it too much work and subsequently made them by machine...they never tasted the same again :'(
 

I ordered the Mini Fried Dumplings @ RM7 (for 8 pcs), served with a side of vinegar and julienned ginger, for sharing.  I didn't like the slightly thick and doughy texture of the dumplings and the filling didn't have the burst of chives flavour.  I didn't care for the poorer quality vinegar either, so I will give this a miss and not order this the next time I'm here.  I would prefer to eat Esquire Kitchen's fried dumplings over this any time.

Next up, we tried a mixture of Fish Cake, Tau Kan & Fu Chuk @ RM10 which turned out to be our top favourite.  We really liked all three but if I had to choose my order of preference, I would go with the "tau kan" (thick soft bean curd sheets) on the left, followed by the "fu chuk" in the middle and fish cake on the right. 

The fried fish cake was alright, crisp on the outside and soft on the inside.  Just wished that it had a somewhat less bouncy texture.

On another occasion when we were here, we made a repeat order for two pieces each of Fried Tau Kan & Fu Chuk @ RM2.50/pc (RM10 for this plate) to indulge further.
 

These two pieces of fried tau kan (stuffed with fish paste) gets our top vote because the layers of bean curd resulted in it being extra crispy when fried.  We absolutely loved it....it was so, so crispy!

Here's a peek inside the tau kan where you can see the abundant fish filling clearly.

The two pieces of fried fu chuk, on the other hand, didn't come in its usual form in a sheet but in the form of a roll.  That's why you're able to get a considerable amount of fish paste (with very little flour) inside.

This was the Tau Fu Fah (Cold) @ RM4 with a choice of white or brown sugar (which I requested to be served on the side).  The soybean pudding was soft but not as smooth as some of the ones I've had.

Pineapple with Lemon (Cold) @ RM4

Soya + Cincau (Cold) @ RM3.50
(the drinks were far from satisfactory, so I went with Chinese Tea on subsequent visits)

My Personal Opinion

Overall, the noodle dishes are very subtle in flavour and will appear bland to those who like robust sauces but it can be tweaked with help from the two types of chilli condiments.

 

What they do well here is definitely their fish paste products whether it's the fish balls or the fried fish cakes, tau kan and fu chuk which I would gladly have again.

Restoran The 60's Teow Chew Fishball
14G Jalan Pandan Indah 4/8
Pandan Indah
55100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 012-676 1463