Restoran Station 8 (James Bond Char Kuey Teow) @ SS2 PJ

I've been to Restoran Station 8 @ SS2 PJ once when it was known as Restoran Okay, for its dim sum, wantan mee and roasted meat rice but found the food to be, like its namesake, just okay.  I hear there's a good Penang-style curry mee here though but one I don't think I'll ever get to eat since it's always sold out very early in the morning.

I also went once after the shop changed its name to Station 8 and we had nasi lemak, siu yuk rice (again) and some other noodle dish (at that time I didn't realise that it was the same shop!).

Since the food I had didn't impress (though there are many more stalls now after the name change), it isn't a coffee shop we'd eat at.

But I decided to return one Sunday morning to check out a char kuey teow (CKT) stall which my husband has been telling me about (he said it comes with large prawns!).

So, I went to make our orders while my husband chup chup our table.  On reaching the stall, I recognised instantly the name of the stall and realised my spouse had been eating a so-called reputable CKT...James Bond Char Kuey Teow (he wasn't aware of it, of course)!

Even though this James Bond Char Kuey Teow is supposedly famous (I was made aware of it by the numerous reviews I've read online), I've never once thought of seeking it out to try.  Some of these famous stalls tend to move from coffee shop to coffee shop (and James Bond is no exception from Ho Ho Sek/WDS, SS2 to Tong Fong, Seapark to Okay/Station 8, SS2 and maybe a few more times in between) coz they know their loyal customers will make the effort to find him.

Probably, that's why I never attempted to seek out Robert's Char Kueh Teow either coz there are so many stalls (Damansara Kim, Kota Damansara, Damansara Perdana, Damansara Jaya, Taman Megah, Section 17) that lay claim to be Robert's CKT that it leaves us wondering....which one exactly is the 'real' Robert? >.<  Or he could also have moved from one place to another.

Anyway, I'm not here to talk about Robert but to talk about James Bond (or Peter Tan, his real name apparently), so let's direct our focus back to James Bond Char Kuey Teow.  Well, let me tell you a little story that transpired before I get down to telling you what I thought of his CKT.  When I first approached the stall, there wasn't any cooking action going on (and no-one was manning the stall either).  After standing there for a while, a foreign worker approached and I gestured with my hand and asked...mana towkay (where's the boss)?  He pointed to a table across the stall and I'm assuming the chap sitting down with a customer (or a friend) is James Bond.  So, he was sitting there all this time while I stood there waiting (like a fool) at his stall.  That's the attitude some can have when they're famous.

Only when I looked a little annoyed, he asked me what I wanted (he speaks English by the way) without budging from his seat still.  If not for my husband who brought me to try this stall, I'd probably have walked away.  I proceeded to order for the both of us, one with cockles and one without...and that's when he pointed out to a sign (which I didn't notice at his stall which said "no cockles today").  Couldn't he just say that instead of pointing to the sign?  Just because you're famous, you can be a snob, is it? >:(  I read that he doesn't entertain requests for extra ingredients (or customised orders) either...looks like it's his way or the highway (don't know how true that is since mine was a standard order).

Anyway, a plate of his char kuey teow here costs RM7 (RM8 for big) and it comes with 3 large-sized prawns (my spouse says he has gotten more than 3 prawns before) and fish cake slices along with the usual stuff of egg, beansprouts and Chinese chives.  There were no cockles (on the day that we were there) and his version has no lap cheong (dried Chinese sausage) either.

From the colour of the noodles, does this look nice to you?  It wasn't fried or tossed long enough and the noodles weren't even charred.  If you look at vkeong's post from 2016, the noodles looked really different...darkly caramelised and well fried....and served on a banana leaf!  In fact, I couldn't detect any smokiness or wok hei...plus it tasted bland as well...and that pretty much sums up the taste of this CKT! >_<

Sorry for the digression.  That said, one noodle dish did leave an impression.  I just thought I'd include this since I'd much rather eat this than James Bond's CKT here! :P  I don't even know what it's called (or remember the price) as I've never come across such a dish before.  I was first attracted by a large pot of stewed pork, so I just pointed to a picture at their stall and said I wanted one....with everything! ;)

So, the dish came with tender stewed pork (something like Hakka char yoke), a minced meat (pork) stuffed braised bean curd puff, smooth poached chicken and some greens of crunchy sang choy (lettuce), beansprouts, coriander and spring onion (I even spotted a whole garlic clove, braised till soft).  Have you seen (or eaten) a noodle dish with such ingredients before?  Seems rather unorthodox to me.

Not only that, it was served with two very delicious home-made fish balls in a bowl of soup since I chose to have my noodles dry-style.  You know they're home-made (probably hand-made too) from its odd shape + they're unlike those overly bouncy textured balls that are more flour than fish paste.

My Personal Opinion

The way James Bond (or Peter Tan) treats his customers....is the way he treats his noodles...without much care or passion!  Maybe he used to whip up a good plate of CKT...but certainly not so anymore....at least not from what I tasted.  So, how can the same person, who has been frying CKT for years, serve up two different tasting plates of CKT?  One that got him good reviews (from news portals, food guides & blogs) and one from me that's meh.  Well, I guess it can happen when the person is missing that fire and passion and couldn't care less if he fries up a plate of good CKT for his customers or not (after all, he did leave me standing at his stall).

The attraction here for me is only in the name of the stall.  But I will give it a thumbs up for their larger prawns (at least larger than most CKT stalls for the same price)...but that's about it.  It certainly won't join my list of to-have CKT....once was enough for me.

Sometimes when we seek out these famous stalls, we have higher expectations and the disappointment ends up to be even far greater.  Hmmm, I wonder if I should seek out Robert's Char Kueh Teow too...hehehe! ;P

Restoran Station 8
(formerly known as Okay Restaurant)
2 Jalan SS2/10
47300 Petaling Jaya
Selangor