Steam Delicious Kopitiam @ Taman Lembah Maju

I was introduced to Steam Delicious Kopitiam @ Taman Lembah Maju by the lady boss of the now closed, Chang Kitchen.  I was pretty sad to see her restaurant close as her place has become a regular spot that I go to for shredded chicken noodles or (their speciality) beef noodles.  I can't say her noodles are the best around but I lend my support no matter what since she's super friendly and accommodating.

My weekly visits to her place was more for the camaraderie and chit-chatting rather than the food.  She was also a food encyclopedia I could refer to for food related matters.  I've learned a few good tips from her.  She would gladly let me have her chilli dip or soup if I needed it to make something with it at home.

So, on her recommendation, we came here eager to try her recommended curry mee (that she says is even better than Girl & Mommy's Curry Mee (well, I'm not so sure about that) but we were not disappointed for sure...though it still fell short of our gold standard curry mee that used to operate as a stall in Imbi, before moving to ICC Pudu and finally relocated to Malaysia Food Village by Yong Kee (previously known as Malaysia Boleh).

My husband had his Curry Mee @ RM9.50 with siu yuk (roasted pork) while the rest of the usual ingredients included rehydrated pig skin, sihum (cockles), tofu puffs, long beans, brinjal and beansprouts (he even found a piece of potato).  The roasted pork isn't quite of the quality and standard of those from the roasted meat stalls with fragrant meat and crispy skin, of course (and we shouldn't expect it to be so anyway).

When he took the first sip of the curry broth and commented that it's quite good, I knew we were on to something good.  He has very high standards for curry mee, so to solicit a "quite good" comment from him means it would be good (for the rest of us), otherwise he would usually just stay silent if it didn't meet the mark.

I chose to have my Curry Mee @ RM9.50 with chicken (it's served with curry chicken here instead of poached chicken).  The chicken was nicely tender, the vegetables of brinjal and long beans were beautifully soft (I've eaten my fair share of undercooked, hard long beans in many curry noodles) while the rehydrated pig skin and tofu puffs were well soaked with all the flavours of the lovely curry.

When I tried the curry broth, I thought it had a well balanced flavour (more savoury than sweet).  It was fairly thick (you can see a spoonful of very thick curry was ladled over the noodles) with just about the right amount of curry oil too (a curry needs curry oil to lend further depth of flavour to the curry, otherwise it's not a curry...lol).  I'd say it had an adequate dose of santan (coconut milk) flavour but I certainly wouldn't mind a bit more of that santan sweetness.  I added some of the sambal into the curry to kick up the spiciness a notch (my husband said the sambal added a bit of sourness to the broth, so this was a sambal he didn't like and preferred it without).  My only gripe with this curry is that I wanted it to be hotter when served.

Finally, I must make a mention of the fresh blood cockles, of course.  They were certainly fresh, bloody and of a very decent size...maybe slightly smaller than the ones from Girl & Mommy Curry Mee and not as abundant (usually around 5 is quite standard) but I don't need a lot as long as they're plump and fresh, I'm satisfied (photo above shows added cockles in my bowl courtesy of my husband).

Also deserving mention is the option of wantan mee (which we both have always preferred) for our curry noodles.  Their noodle texture is springy and thinner than the norm...and the best thing is they weren't too soft/overcooked.  The cooked sambal paste when I tasted it on its own, I did pick up the distinct flavour of dried spices (most probably curry powder) which gave it that hint of tanginess (to me) but sourness (to my husband).  I don't mind a bit of tanginess in my curry mee to freshen/lighten up the creaminess (and that's why some curry mee is served with half a calamansi lime).  The sambal, however, lost its sour tinge in later visits.  

Seeing that the curry mee turned out well, my husband decided to try their Dry Curry Mee @ RM9.50 on our next visit and had it with siew yoke again.  The siew yoke did have a hint of smokiness to it.

But when the dry curry (wantan) mee arrived, he was rather disappointed that it had so little curry gravy.  As you can see, the curry wasn't quite enough to coat the noodles, so it wasn't as pleasurable compared to the soupy version.

So, on his next visit, he made sure he asked for more curry for his Dry Chicken Curry Mee @ RM9.50.  Ah, this is more like it, he says.

If you're lucky, sometimes you might get a piece of potato in your curry.  I've always liked potatoes in curries, even more than the chicken itself.  When I take curry chicken at the chap fan stalls, I always scoop more potatoes than chicken...hee..hee.  The chicken pieces, though, can be tender on some days and tougher on other days.

I stuck to my preference of the soupy version of curry mee.  I never ever choose dry curry mee (and could never understand why people enjoy that) coz what's the point of having curry if you can't drink the curry broth, right?  Lol.

In my haste to order, I actually forgot that they offer wantan mee as the noodle of choice...and ended up with mee + meehoon once (my default noodles with curry mee if there's no wantan mee).  Never mind, still good just the same.

Having tasted both chicken and siew yoke with the curry mee, I thought it was time to try it with their char siew.  Turns out to be a bad decision as the char siew was very chewy including the fatty parts.  The meat wasn't tender enough and the fact that it was cut thickly didn't help.

If you're wondering why the cockles in my bowl of curry mee looked rather lonely, that's because my husband couldn't contribute his sihum to me as the dry curry doesn't come with sihum it seems.

I once ordered add-on Fried Wantan @ RM1 just to see how it tastes...and was shocked that it costs only RM1 for 3 pieces as it can go for anything between RM0..50 - RM1 a piece.  Even at such a cheap price, I'm afraid I won't be ordering seconds.  Well, on that note, after tasting their fried wantan and char siew, I don't think I need to try their wantan mee.

Besides having curry mee (on most of my visits here), I also managed to try a couple of other stalls starting with the Char Kway Teow @ RM8 which came with the usual ingredients of a small prawn (yes, one only), (even smaller) cockles, fish cake slices, egg, Chinese chives, beansprouts and a few pork lard crisps (no lap cheong though).

The taste was just so-so but the tiny sihum they used was a real shocker!  You see the two tiny sihum I laid on top of the prawn...that's to show you just how tiny the cockles were compared to the small prawn.  If they have the intention of using such puny cockles...they might as well not give any! >:(

I also packed their Salted Fish Fried Rice @ RM9 once which fared worst than their char kway teow.  Again, one prawn with poor quality salted fish and very little of it as well.  You can safely skip this stall.

The Fish Ball Noodles @ RM8 was filled with bouncy textured fish balls and fish cake slices that tasted alright but were cut incredibly thin.  The soup base was immensely bland too.

I guess if you've lost your tastebuds and want something ching tasting (and I mean really subtle), this may fit the bill.  Not my kind of fish ball mee...and no where near my gold standard fish ball noodles from Yin Kee.

The packed Roasted Chicken Rice @ RM8 (with added chicken liver) was also rather ordinary tasting. Besides these, I noticed a few other stalls selling chee cheong fun (by the same curry mee seller) fish head noodles, localised western meals, a siu chow selling stir-fried noodles and one-dish rice (cooked by a foreigner), pork noodles and pan mee (the latter two has since closed).  I guess it's not easy trying to compete with the best seller (the curry mee) here.  Some of these stalls were really quiet.

The Kopi-O-Ping here @ RM2.80 has a funny name (listed in the receipt as Bruce Lee coffee) and it was a more than decent cup/glass of kopi-o that's still reasonably priced...and still comes in a glass (unlike those modern kopitiams that like to charge around RM4 now!).

I found this mural painted on one of the shop's side walls.  I suppose this is great for photo taking enthusiasts who love this kind of thing posted on their Facebook or Instagram.

My Personal Opinion

We've been searching for a good curry mee near us and I'm delighted to have found a worthy one which we can have regularly due to its proximity to where we stay (and I have a food business owner to thank for her recommendation).

It may not have lived up to our gold standard curry mee but it certainly deserves billing for being more than a decent one.  The curry mee with chicken, in my opinion, trumped the versions with siew yuk or char siew.  I also like the plentiful vegetables of potato, long beans and brinjal in this one.

However, the rest of the fare from this coffee shop isn't all that exciting, so I'd recommend coming here for the curry mee only (which seems to be the most popular stall here anyway)...and that's what I've been having ever since (in case you didn't notice the many photos of the curry mee)...lol! ;)  P/S: And oh, if you're wondering why the shop's name is "Steam Delicious", that's because there used to be a tai chow place in the evenings but now no longer open at night.  In a recent visit to the shop, a new tai chow has opened in its place.

Restoran Steam Delicious

39G Jalan Lembah Maju 3/3

Taman Lembah Maju

56100 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 016-932 0638