Kheng Heong Hainan Coffee @ Pandan Indah is the latest
kopitiam to open in our neighbourhood. It took over the spot vacated by the now defunct
Brotherhood's Kopitiam which started out promising but
fell by the wayside over time as one stall after another left. Rumours had it that the stalls were asked to leave when the coffee shop took over serving only food cooked by them (which obviously failed in the end).
This new kopitiam is now probably the most popular coffee shop in our taman packing in the crowds at breakfast and lunch times with stalls offering seafood noodles, pork noodles, chicken rice + roasted meats, curry mee, char kway teow + fried carrot cake, pan mee, kai si hor fun, wantan mee, nasi lemak, sandwiches and a dai chow stall (the only one that opens for dinner).
The very first stall I tried was the famed stall (reportedly from
ICC Pudu) selling
La La Noodles @ RM13. I've not eaten the
ICC Pudu one, so there's nothing to compare this to. When the noodles arrived, I was a little disappointed as the amount of
la la was no where near as abundant as the ones I've seen (from photos) at
ICC Pudu (where it's piled heap high).
I had to dig into the bottom of the bowl with my spoon to show you the
la la...lol! I felt the
la la were not as well-sized as some I've had before (maybe I was unlucky with the stock that day) with average freshness (there were
la la with broken shells and/or fallen off from their shells). The type of
la la also looked different from the ones they used in
ICC Pudu (I prefer the elongated type of
la la). The taste of the broth though was nicer than the other shop (
Tasty La La Noodles) we have here...more savoury with a fair taste of
Shoaxing wine but I prefer the
la la in the other shop. For me, it didn't quite live up to the hype of the famous one from
ICC Pudu...what can I say, it didn't blow me away! >_<
The
Sea Slice Bihun Soup @ RM13 uses
sang yue (snakehead/
haruan) I was told and you can have the fried or fresh version. I opted for fried but was surprised the fish slices had bones in them (I was under the impression that it'd be like those
sang yue slices used in porridge), so it wasn't as enjoyable as I had envisioned. Other options of fried fish include
patin (silver catfish) and
kau yue (mackerel). Fresh fish options include
sek pan (grouper),
sang yue and
patin.
The next noodle I tried was the
Wantan Mee @ RM10, dry-style with
char siew and
wantan.
Omg, their
char siew was so well caramelised and tasty (not like
char siew from most
wantan mee stalls but like good quality, thick cut
char siew from roasted meat rice stalls). I've also tried their
braised chicken feet & mushrooms wantan mee, it was just edible but the
char siew option is way better for sure.
As for the noodles, I liked the texture very much, the noodle is thin but not starchy or clumpy, and the sauce it was tossed in (with some utterly fragrant, crispy pork lard thrown in for more flavour) was also pretty tasty. The pork-filled
wantans were meaty and plain (just very ordinary) and the soup fairly subtle (which I enjoyed). I've been looking for a worthy wantan mee in my neighbourhood to replace the one I've been eating at (which decided to close shop due to old age)...and I'm ecstatic to have finally found a worthy replacement! ^o^
Having tasted the soup that came with the wantans and liking it, I decided to give the
Soup Wantan Mee @ RM10 a go. I know, I know, I'm weird coz hardly anyone orders wantan mee in soup but I like it provided the soup is to my liking...and this is to my liking! ;) I've been on the search for an edible wantan mee soup for a long time as most are below par and I'm ecstatic that I've finally found one in my
taman.
I'm also looking for a good curry mee in my
taman as none is any good, so I tried the
Curry Noodles @ RM11 one morning. Let's just say my quest for a good curry mee continues.
The curry broth was too thin, the cockles don't look very fresh/bloody (like they were blanched beforehand which is a
no-no) and the poached chicken not smooth...everything you don't want in a bowl of good curry mee...
haha! >.<
My
Penang Kimberly Street (as claimed in signboard)
Char Kway Teow @ RM11 with kway teow + mee had those crunchy, fat bean sprouts which I love. The taste of the noodles can be better, lacking colour (need more soy and charring) as well as
wok hei. However, it's one of the least oily
char kway teow I've had but portion is small with just 3 fresh prawns.
If you need more
siham (cockles), and of course I do, get the
Char Kway Teow (with added siham) @ RM14 and I made a request for them not to be cooked with the noodles. They were fresh and raw but not particularly juicy. I prefer the
extra siham from
Dai Ka Song's char kway teow stall.
The
Fried Carrot Cake @ RM8.50 (from the same stall), the cubes of carrot cake were fried till really dark and well caramelised with good flavours. I wish they would do the same for the
char kway teow.
It looked legit but it looked better than it tasted. Alas, the carrot cake was on the denser side (a bit too much flour in the mix) and not enough white carrot taste but still an edible fried carrot cake for its tasty eggy bits with chives and fat beansprouts.
The
Pork Noodles (Soup) @ RM10 is the other more popular stall here. It's loaded with porky ingredients of sliced and minced pork with innards of pork liver only (missing my favourite pork intestines). I'd say the soup is nice and sweet but the pork slices and pork mince patties rather dense and not as smooth. There's also some pork lard that was neither crispy nor fresh (even the ones from the wantan mee is better) when pork lard is more important in a bowl of pork noodles.
I don't usually order
Pork Noodles (Dry) @ RM10 but just wanted to get it so that I could try their
belacan dip which they refused to give me with the soup noodles (when I saw that it was available) with the reasoning that it's only given with dry noodles (the soup noodles come with only the fresh chillies dip while the dry noodles come with both).
I don't agree with the reasoning...why so restrictive? If a customer asks for it, I don't think they should say no (it certainly wouldn't endear me to them, that's for sure, to know that they're so
kedekut/stingy). Sometimes I ask for both dips also when I've
fried hokkien mee (and they always oblige as it doesn't
cost an arm and a leg for an extra dip). Well, their
belacan dip does taste good with lots of dried prawns in the mix (similar in taste to those you get at
Hong Kong char chan teng). Anyway, the soy mix of the dry pork noodles was too dry with not enough flavour for my liking.
The
Kai Si Hor Fun @ RM11 with
prawns and shredded chicken (and freshly fried, inhouse made fried shallots) is the next best
kai si hor fun I can find in our neighbourhood since losing the best tasting
kai si hor fun we have here when the stall closed and moved away. The
hor fun was probably not as thin and smooth like
Ipoh hor fun but the soup base was nice and sweet though a bit more of that fragrant prawn oil would have made it even tastier.
For a more decadent bowl, go for the
Kai Si Hor Fun @ RM14 with
prawns,
shredded chicken and prawn wontons (not sure why a non-standard piece of
fried fu chuk was in the mix...
lol). It has everything you'd want in a decent bowl of
kai si hor fun. The wontons were nice with a filling of firm and fresh prawns (there was at least one full prawn + some chopped up prawn in each wonton). I'm glad to have a very decent
kai si hor fun I can rely on in my neighbourhood.
This stall also offers
Kai Si Hor Fun @ RM11 with
poached chicken not often offered at other
kai si hor fun stalls. Unfortunately, the poached chicken is not smooth at all, overcooked too and the lacklustre soy + oil sauce didn't save it from being mundane as it was only salty and not fragrant at all. Skip this! >_<
The
Berempah Chicken Nasi Lemak @ RM11 was served with a whole L-shaped
berempah fried chicken leg (there's also an option for
berempah pork) with half a hard-boiled egg, fair quality, crispy (not hard)
ikan bilis,
kacang, cucumber and a sambal that I enjoyed coz it was very close to a Malay sambal (for a Chinese-style nasi lemak). The onions were cooked down until well softened and the sambal a deep dark red (cooked till
pecah minyak and this is the stark difference between a Chinese and Malay sambal).
The
berempah whole chicken leg (drumstick + thigh) was freshly fried till crispy and you get some super crunchy batter bits as well. It didn't look as
rempah-ish as the Malay version but it has been fried well (not over fried) with the meat fairly juicy though I wouldn't mind a bit more
rempah seasoning. It's not as
rempah-forward as the Malay version but still a darn good replicate. What gets me were the batter bits (they give you extras) which you can
tabur over the rice for that crunchy, savoury deliciousness. When I eat this, I eat it over 2 meals...I'd eat half the fried chicken with the nasi lemak and keep the other half for dinner (where I just have to fry up a small portion of egg fried rice to go with it)...
settle...lol!
From the western breakfast stall comes this
Bakwa Sandwich @ RM8 with bakwa, omelette, egg floss and cucumber with a squeeze of chilli sauce. Just a passable bakwa sandwich in my opinion. You can also get waffles and western breakfast from this stall.
The last stall I tried here was the
pan mee stall, not that I wanted to eat
pan mee (as it's my least favourite noodle) but because I saw they offered
Yellow Wine Egg Mee Sua @ RM11. Unfortunately, the egg came looking like an omelette. First time I've encountered this as it's usually fried egg bits with ginger. Also, the yellow wine was of poor quality lacking fragrance and sweetness...in fact, it tasted a bit bitter (even my mom's homemade yellow wine tasted loads better). Luckily, I didn't opt for the
Yellow Wine Chicken as that would have been a waste of RM16! >_<
Having a shop with good stalls can only mean less business for the shop's food like eggs and toast (which I hardly see people ordering here...
lol) + the drinks here isn't my favourite but still drinkable nevertheless (people still need drinks with their food), so the shop should still be able to make good money from rent and drinks.
My Personal Opinion
The la la noodles started out as the main attraction here because it was the famous la la bihun from ICC Pudu but surprisingly it wasn't the la la bihun that turned out to be the best thing here. It was just decent and not quite the hype it created when it first opened.
In the end, the best noodle stall for me here was the
wantan mee (both dry and soup) with its excellent thick-cut, well caramelised, absolutely tasty
char siew. This is closely followed by the
kai si hor fun (with only the prawn oil lacking) and
berempah chicken nasi lemak in that particular order. As for the other noodles/stalls, it's unlikely that I'd be having them again coz I'll just be concentrating on the three I like (apart from the
la la/fish noodles which I may have once a while). ^_~
In the end, it's probably the best coffee shop we have here at the moment in terms of food but not so much in terms of drinks. That's why you always find it crowded at breakfast and lunch times (and running full on weekends) but the crowd is much more manageable now that it's been around for a few months. This is now my go-to coffee shop in my taman and you'll find me here 2 - 3 times a week. ^_~
Kheng Heong Hainan Coffee
75G Jalan Pandan Indah 1/23
Pandan Indah
55100 Kuala Lumpur
