Revisit: Win Heng Seng (Sarawak Laksa) @ Jalan Imbi

I  made a return to this place, Restoran Win Heng Seng @ Jalan Imbi, just to try the Sarawak Laksa one morning.  I've tried quite a few of the stalls already (you can read my previous post here).

This place is always packed to the brim (during breakfast and lunch times) with some locals and quite a fair bit of tourists (from nearby hotels), so be prepared to pay slightly more premium prices compared to other kopitiams.

I ordered a mixture of meehoon/mee for my Sarawak Laksa @ RM7 (RM8 for big) which came filled with shredded chicken, 4 medium-sized prawns, "char siew" (barbequed pork), bean sprouts and a sprinkling of chopped spring onions served with a sambal paste and half a lime.  Of course, the mee used is unlike our yellow mee but similar to their kolok mee.

The char siew wasn't like the ones with the usual reddish hue I've come to expect but was instead a darker shade of red (like our char siew) and the pieces were fatty...but not in a good way!  Also, it seems to be missing the shredded omelette.  I've never had a good Sarawak Laksa that I truly enjoyed as I've never found the powdery spice taste to be an attraction.  I've eaten too few Sarawak Laksa to be an authority on this noodle and I've not eaten a good one to use as a yardstick to compare other Sarawak Laksa with....but I know this isn't a bowl I'd want again! >.<

My spouse went with the Curry Laksa @ RM8 that had slices of char siew, eggplant, "tau fu pok" (bean curd puffs) and potato.  The curry laksa is usually served with poached chicken which my spouse substituted with char siew.  At first glance, the laksa looked promising and the broth did have some flavour...but, ultimately, the laksa broth was too watery to be good.

The last time I had the Teochew Char Kway Teow (sorry, no pic), I remembered it to be dry with good "wok hei" but I got neither this time.  The noodles were wet and I found only 4 tiny miserable cockles and no prawns...yeah, not a single prawn!  I'm not sure if it's because the hawker fried a few plates at one time and most of the ingredients ended up on another plate instead (maybe that's why the noodles were wetter too). What was even worse was that the price went up by RM1 (from last year).  RM7 is a mighty high price to pay for a plate of char kway teow with almost non-existent ingredients! >:(

On our way out (after our breakfast), I just had to "tapau" (pack) some "siew pau" (baked barbeque buns) from the stall in the front of the shop well known for their egg tarts and siew pau, of course....and there's always a queue if you want to get your hands on these goodies.  As usual, there were no siew pau left and I was told I had to wait 20 minutes.  I thought 20 minutes was reasonable, so I ordered 5 pcs of siew pau @ RM1.80 each. However, my wait turned out longer than the expected 20 minutes...it was more than half an hour.  If I had known, I wouldn't have waited, so I queried as to why I was given an incorrect waiting time.  They said that, if a fresh batch of siew pau goes into the oven, the process takes 45 minutes and since there was already a tray in the oven when I made an order, they estimated it to take around 20 minutes (which they were wrong, of course).  While waiting, I saw 3 trays of egg tarts come out and served to waiting customers coz one tray takes only 15 minutes to bake I was told.  So, lesson learnt...you probably wouldn't want to wait if they're putting a fresh tray of siew pau to bake or better order first before you have your breakfast in the shop (but they're also very disorganised and systemless when it comes to taking orders (so your orders might still get mixed up)! :P

Since I already waited for so long, I decided to up my quantity to 10 pcs to make up for the long wait time I had to endure.  Now the funny thing was, I've eaten this siew pau on numerous occasions but I usually buy 2 - 3 pcs (along with other tarts) and I'd get them packed in a plastic bag.  Because I wanted 10 pcs this time, they packed it into a box for me.

It was only then that I realised that the siew pau I've been eating is the famous Empayar Seremban Siew Pow that I've seen many blogs and people raving about as their preferred Seremban siew pau (to the other brands found in Seremban).

I've always thought the siew pau here was their own version since they've 'advertised' it as just siew pau and I've never seen the word Seremban associated with the word siew pau at their stall.  Well, now I know! @_@

This Seremban siew pau is much flatter in shape than the usual more rounded ones.  I like that it has a thinner, crispier pastry with a good amount of char siew filling that's juicy and slightly sweet.  So good!  And if you have to wait a long time for it, tapau more (like me) and put the unfinished pieces in the fridge.  Just reheat in a toaster oven the next day and it'll taste 99% like it was fresh from the oven! :D

I didn't get any egg tarts this time (check my previous post on some of the goodies from this stall), just two tuna tarts @ RM1 each.  Their flaked tuna filling is mashed with cooked peas, carrots and onions.

My Personal Opinion

After this visit to try the Sarawak Laksa, this could well be my last trip to this coffee shop since the only decent noodles here are the "sam kan chong" (pork ball + roasted pork sausage) and pork noodles.  At higher than usual prices (because of the many tourists who throng this place), I can get just as good, if not better, sam kan chong and pork noodles elsewhere...and at cheaper prices too!  In fact, all the noodles at the other coffee shop in this vicinity, Mei Sin, are loads better (and cheaper) than this one.

Suffice to say that if I do revisit, it'll primarily be for the egg tarts and siew pau only...but even these, I don't have to come all the way here as I can get them from their Taman Muda stall.

Restoran Win Heng Seng

183 Jalan Imbi

55100 Kuala Lumpur