Restoran 168 Wantan Mee & Curry Mee @ Pudu

I've eaten at 168 Wantan Mee & Curry Mee @ Pudu a long time ago but didn't blog about it as I didn't think much about the food.  But someone from one of my chatgroups sang praises about the wantan mee recently which got me thinking maybe I was too hasty in jumping to a conclusion + after all these years, I can't really remember what the food tasted like.

So, I thought why not make a return visit to see if the food's any good the second time round.  Plus a little incident (which I thought was rather amusing) made me want to blog about it this time...lol!  If you want to eat here, you'll have to abandon comfort and cleanliness as they're not a proper shop but located on the five-foot walkway (kaki lima) so you could be seated next to the longkang (drain) that comes with all its refreshing smell...lol!

From their signboard, it was rather obvious they specialise in wantan mee and curry mee.  We had the former since the curry mee was not ready yet when we were there in the morning after church.  I had the Dry Wantan Mee (S) with Char Siu while my husband had his Dry Wantan Mee (M) with Siu Yuk.

If you're looking for a presentable plate of food, you're not going to get it here.  As you can see, the meat is chopped unevenly and thrown haphazardly onto the plate...not only that but there's also no standardisation in the use of a bowl or plate.  They just use anything they get their hands on, I guess...my wantan me came in a bowl while my husband's came on a plate.  The wantan mee was fairly decent...and between the two, the char siu was better tasting than the siu yuk for sure.

What I found good and tasty was actually the soup wantans.  You get two wantans and one sui kow (surprise, surprise coz I've not come across one where sui kow was the default, it always have to be ordered as an extra).

Even more surprising was that one of the wantans was filled with a whole prawn (the other was filled with minced meat).  The wantans were worth every cent, plump and generously filled.  I liked the soup too which felt like a homemade one boiled with lots of chicken carcass/bones and white carrot which gave it sweetness (unlike the ones we commonly get from other wantan mee stalls that use stock cubes/powder).  I enjoyed the soup so much that I was contemplating to order wantan mee soup on my next visit but, thankfully, I didn't coz the soup turned out to be very salty.

On our second visit, my husband had his wantan mee with char siu while I was lucky that the curry mee was ready this time.  I asked for chicken with my Curry Mee but the worker said there's no chicken option, so I went with char siu instead but when when it arrived, it was served with siu yuk.  When I enquired why I got siu yuk, the worker said that's the standard and if I want char siu, I've to add it as additional (what the heck, where got such a thing, I think it was just her excuse coz she fouled up my order).

There's a reason why I didn't want the siu yuk (after tasting it in my husband's wantan mee on an earlier visit) as the siu yuk was not tender at all, the fatty parts were very chewy and the taste was just not there (don't be fooled by the slab of hanging siu yuk that looked better than it tasted!).

Well, luckily I won't have to deal with that dilemma again as I doubt I'll be having it again since I found the curry, although quite thick, lacking the savoury flavours I seek.  The curry broth was light (even though I added a good spoonful of sambal) and it tasted like a cross between a Nyonya curry and a vegetable curry here.  There were brinjal, long beans, rehydrated pig skin (that needed to be cooked longer), fresh cockles and a garnishing of mint leaves.

What I don't remember having when I was here the very first time many years ago was the availability of yong tau foo.  They have quite a variety for you to choose from.

On our return (first) visit, I ordered 8 pcs of yong tau foo @ RM2.50 a piece for sharing...we had brinjal, chillies, fried fu chuk, fried sui kow, tau fu pok and fried wantans.  I actually thought the yong tau foo was the better tasting thing here than the noodles.  I enjoyed the fried wantan and fried sui kow particularly including the fish paste stuffed fried brinjal and chillies.

On my second visit, I ordered less...just one piece each of fish cake and fu chuk roll with two pcs of fried wantan.  That's because I wanted to tapau some for my lunch later.  I still asked for a packet of soup (coz the taste was still good) and added water to it when I got home to reduce the saltiness.  Both meals cost around RM35-45 for two (depending how many pieces of yong tau foo you order).

Coming back to the story I mentioned earlier, there was a couple (the lady actually) who couldn't stop taking selfies when eating here.  Let's just say she was overdressed for a roadside meal (clearly she's not from here, not sure if she was a foreign or local tourist).  I'm leaning towards a foreign tourist (she looks like a Chinese though) coz maybe eating by a longkang is rustic and a new experience for her....lol!  She kept taking selfies and even stood near the (messy-looking) stall to take more photos (I was choosing my yong tau foo then before realising she was next to me...hah..hah).

My Personal Opinion

The place offers a fairly decent wantan mee and curry mee with good wantans and dumplings (both fried & soup).  The highlight for me is their homemade yong tau foo. 

If you want to eat along this five-foot way/pedestrian walkway, you have to ditch cleanliness, comfort and (sometimes) you get added aroma from the drains (to add to your dining experience)...hah..hah!

Restaurant 168 Wantan Mee & Curry Mee

2-2 Jalan Brunei Utara

Pudu

55100 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 016-256 2212

Hakka Yin @ Taman Salak South

We don't usually come to this area but we had something we needed to get from a shop here, so that's how we ended up at Hakka Yin @ Taman Salak South one day during lunch time.

After we came here to do what we had to do, we looked around for a place to eat in the vicinity and settled on Hakka Yin.  As the name implies (Hakka Yin means Hakka people), they specialise in Hakka food obviously.

Their signature noodles is this Hakka noodles and that was what we started with, their Braised Pork Belly Hakka Noodles @ RM10.90 and I made a request for a thinner cut of pork belly.

The braised pork belly was, without a doubt, tender and delicious (the best thing I ate here), as the Hakkas are known to make the best Hakka char yoke (or braised pork belly) there is.  I had it with their original Hakka noodles that was flavoured with crispy pork lard bits as well.

The other noodle of choice was the Fried Pork Belly Noodles @ RM10 with original Hakka noodles topped with fried pork belly.

The Hakka fried pork belly was decent but isn't among some of the better ones that we've had.  Maybe because the cut we got was rather lean thereby contributing to the dryness somewhat.  Other choices of noodles include options for braised chicken feet, meat balls, poached egg, sui kow (dumplings) and minced meat.

We also tried two of their side dishes like this Fried Sui Kow (3 pcs) @ RM8 and Fried Meat Patty (1 pc) @ RM2.50.  Other choices include pork meatballs, kwong sai taupok, fried fuchuk, fried wantan, wantan and sui kow in soup as well as a la carte additions of fried pork belly, braised pork belly and chicken feet.

Both the fried sui kow and meat patty were fair...and though the dumpling skin was thick, it was crispy. Nothing extraordinary to overly like but nothing to complain or not like either.

The noodles were served with a bowl of soup with choy sum (again, ordinary tasting) and they have 3 types of chillies to choose from...pickled green bird's eye chillies, a dry chilli sambal and a fresh chilli dip (all housemade, of course).

When I first visited, I didn't know that not everything I saw online is available daily.  Apparently they do daily specials and only certain dishes are availabe on specific days...like Hakka Yong Tau Foo (on Fridays), Hakka Lam Mee, Hakka Sui Pan and Curry Hakka Noodles (on alternate Saturdays apparently) and nasi lemak and bubur cha cha (on Sundays).

I was yearning for some bubur cha cha (that's why I wanted to visit in the first place) but to be disappointed (after coming all the way) that it's not available every day.  Even though it was a Saturday when we visited, yet the Curry Hakka Noodles was also not on their specials that day (only the Hakka Lam Mee and Sui Pan was available).  That brings me to a conclusion that if you're a first timer and doesn't know about their daily specials, you'll be sorely disappointed (like I was).

My Personal Opinion

This restaurant seems to be more suited as a neighbourhood restaurant...to be visited by residents who stay in the area who can pick and choose which day they want to come (based on what they want to eat) but for the rest of us (not from here), it becomes an inconvenience.  On the day we are there, the food you want to eat may not be on the menu.  I don't know how a restaurant can run on this modus operandi and hope to be successful...perhaps they're a family-run restaurant and not hoping to make a killing from the business (this was made worse with their new announcement on their FB page that they're now open for 4 days in a week only, Thursdays to Sundays).

Anyway, it's up to them how they want to run their business...but for me I'll have to be there on 3 different days just so that I can eat the things I want...which is their yong tau foo, curry noodles and bubur cha cha is a real inconvenience (since I don't live nearby).  So, unfortunately, this will probably be my first and last visit...more so when the food isn't all that outstanding that'll make me want to return no matter what...lol! >_<

Hakka Yin

57 Jalan Hang Tuah 4

Taman Salak South

57100 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 011-1285 5303

Sin Hing Long Sabah Pork Noodle @ Pandan Indah

A dedicated shop selling Sabah pork noodles (or sang nyuk mee), Sin Hing Long Sabah Pork Noodles @ Pandan Indah, has opened in my taman since the beginning of the year.

This (I believe) is their third branch with their other branches located in Taman Connaught, Bandar Sungai Long and Imbi.

Some people I know told me that they didn't find the food nice, hence it took me a while before I finally ventured in to try.  This place specialises in just one dish and it's their Sabah Pork Noodles @ RM11.90 which was what I started with.

I chose dry noodles for my first sampling and you have a few options of noodles you can choose from.  I had to ask the server since the menu was written mostly in Chinese.  The options are Hakka noodles (as above), yee mee, lo shi fun, meehoon, mee and kway teow.  No complaints on the sauce used to toss the noodles with its fragrant pork lard oil and pork lard crisps (wish there were more).

The bowl is filled with the standard ingredients you'd find in any pork noodles like liver, intestines, meatballs, lean pork slices and choy sum.  It's the slices of sang nyuk (or lean pork) that sets sang nyuk mee apart from the rest of the pork noodles.  They're easily recognisable by their whitish sheen (from being rubbed with cornflour) and is an absolute delight to eat.

You can see just how paper thin the pork slices are...which is the hallmark of the Sabah-style pork noodles and they were super tender as well.

On another visit, I had the Sabah Pork Noodles Soup @ RM11.90 instead with my first choice of cho mai fun (thick meehoon) though their version isn't very thick (some will even mistaken it for thin meehoon).  The soup, with its distinct milky white colour (rather similar to a tonkotsu ramen broth), is made from hours of boiling pork bones which gives it that signature opaque white, creamy pork bone broth...and this is also what sets Sabah pork noodles apart from other pork noodles.

The soup base I found a little on the salty side (but should be fine for the masses) and what elevated its taste for me was the addition of white pepper...lots of it....which was freely available on every table.  But this was no ordinary pepper, it was Sarawak white pepper with a more fragrant aroma and peppery taste that's unlike the usual white pepper we normally get.

I found that the broth tasted so much better with a few good dashes of this Sarawak white pepper.  Later, at the payment counter, I noticed that they sell these Sarawak white peppercorns at RM32 for a 450g pack.

For dry noodles, I've tried the Hakka noodles, yee mee and lo shi fun...and for the soup version, I've only had it with the thick meehoon and kway teow (the former being my favourite).  The coffees here are not bad too...I've tried both the Iced White Coffee and Hot Cham.

The dry noodles are tossed in lard oil and lard crisps but there's very little of it.  So, if you want more, order additional pork lard @ RM1.50.

And for me....it's a must, of course! ;)  Now that's more like it...the chee yau char was fragrant, crispy and very fresh.  It certainly made the noodles even more pleasurable to eat.  The place also caters to those adhering to a carb-less diet by just offering a bowl of proteins with either just the lean pork, kidneys, tendon, intestines, liver or meatballs.

Since they sell only one type of noodle here, there are a couple of snacks that you can order as sides to your noodle meal starting with the Fried Fu Zhuk with Fish Paste @ RM8.90.

Fried to crispy perfection, I liked that the oil (in which it was fried in) tasted fresh and you can see it has quite a bit of fish paste filling unlike many others where you just taste the fu chuk only.

The Fried Meat Roll @ RM8.90 served with a Thai-style sweet chilli sauce is something similar to Penang Lobak except this one is cut up into pieces before being fried.

There were complaints about it not being fried as a whole roll which contributed to its dryness but I thought otherwise as all the sides were extra crispy without losing too much in terms of juiciness.

Another side order was the Sai Toh Fish Cake @ RM8.90 that tasted ordinary and rather similar to those found in many shops that offer this as a snack...as these are not made inhouse and probably come from a common supplier.

Just so you're informed, we were here for dinner one evening and all the other side orders were sold out except for this, so you know this was probably the least favoured snack...lol!

My Personal Opinion

This Sabah pork noodles offers a different option to the usual pork noodles...and I've to say I enjoyed it so much that I'm eating it almost on a weekly basis.  Of course, the availability of Sarawak white pepper made the soup taste even better, in my opinion.

The unflattering reviews of this shop (by some people I know) actually turned out to be untrue.  That's why it's always best to try out for yourself instead of relying on other people's views on it.  So, if pork noodles is a favourite of yours, then I would recommend that you give this a try.

Sin Hing Long Sabah Pork Noodles

No 5 Jalan Pandan Indah 4/10

Pandan Indah

55100 Kuala Lumpur

Ooh Lala @ Pandan Indah

Besides Pulau Ketam Seafood Steamboat that has been operating in my neighbourhood for many years, the other newer steamboat player is Ooh Lala @ Pandan Indah that has been around since late 2023.

But as the name implies, this steamboat restaurant is obviously focussed on lala/clams-type steamboat but they also have a wider variety of food on their menu that includes snacks, noodles, rice and desserts.

On our first visit, we tried the Crispy Fried Sotong @ RM9.90 which featured very crispy deep-fried squid in a well-seasoned, medium thickness and tasty batter.

I was expecting the squid rings to be on the chewier side (based on the many experiences I've had with fried squid) but this was surprisingly rather tender to the bite.  I also thought that the price was relatively cheap compared to the portion of squid we got.

Another shared snack we tried was this Crispy White Prawn @ RM9.90 which was equally delicious as well.  I could see from the looks that it had the same batter coating as the previous crispy fried squid.

The tiny white prawns with shells on were fried to crunchy perfection, so there's no worry as you can eat the crispy heads and tails too.  Again, I thought it was a great portion for the price charged.

One of my favourite things to eat these days is Salted Egg Pumpkin @ RM9.90.  It's a dish I order regularly at dai chow places though the version wasn't quite as good as the ones I ate at dai chow restaurants.

But they were still acceptable and yielded soft (perhaps a tad too soft), sweet pumpkin thereby making the salted egg coating less crispy + the saltiness could also be dialed down a notch.

As mentioned earlier, this place specialises in lala steamboat and they put on quite a show if you order that. Each serving of steamboat (RM38) comes with 1 kg of lala.  They would fry some shredded ginger and cili api in some shaoxing wine which will burst into flames (for a bit of a side show...lol) once it comes into contact with the charcoal fire.  Finally, the clams and soup are added into the claypot...and that becomes the soup base for your steamboat.  You can then order/add on whatever proteins or vegetables you like for your steamboat.

Since my family isn't overly interested in anything soupy (which includes steamboat), let alone a lala steamboat where the soup base has ginger and Chinese wine in it, I've to resign myself to the fact that I won't get to try this.  Of course I can go it alone but I feel it's not worth paying RM38 for the soup base + the 1 kg of lala may be too much for me to handle.  Even if I could finish the lala by myself, I won't be able to eat anything else for the steamboat.

So, my best (and only) way to try their lala would be in their Lala Bihun Soup (without milk) @ RM15.90 and the bowl was filled with some shimeji mushrooms, lettuce and a single red bird's eye chilli (for a bit of heat, I suppose) and lala, of course, garnished with fried garlic bits and chopped spring onions.

They use the thicker-shelled clams here (instead of the thin, elongated ones) which I prefer as they tend to have less sand in them.  I was very happy with the freshness and size of the clams.  You can clearly see that the clam meat is rather plump yielding juicy clams to the bite.

As for the clear soup base, it was alright though there's still room for improvement for a better, all round flavour.

The Lala Fried Rice @ RM14.90 is more in the wheelhouse of what my family would rather eat in a place where everything is soupy...lol!  It's fried rice served in a claypot topped with a fried egg.

The darkly coloured fried rice made it look more like claypot chicken rice.  It's a simple rice dish fried with lala meat, egg bits and chopped spring onions.  I didn't taste this but my son mentioned it was a bit on the oily side.

Since the earlier lala got my seal of approval, I revisited (on my own) to try other noodles, one of which was the Lala Prawn Mama Mee @ RM19.90.

The bowl came with a chockful of ingredients of lala, prawns, shimeji mushrooms, lettuce, tomatoes, egg bits and lemongrass in the soup.  I added chopped spring onions and coriander.  At first, I was wondering what mama mee is only to find out when served it's actually instant (egg) noodles (Mama brand, I assume).

I do like this brand of instant noodles and meehoon...and the thick green (spinach?) noodles didn't disappoint with its soft, springy texture (not overcooked).

The soup base, with the beaten egg, was thick, rich and flavourful.  It had both spicy and sour notes, so it was like a cross between curry and tom yum.  Very appetising indeed...and it was a very filling portion for one.

The prawns were pretty large-sized for the price paid...and there were two! ^.^  You can roughly judge the size of it on the plate.  They were fresh and firm, no complaints there, just that you have to get your hands dirty to deshell the prawns.

You can help yourself to any of the condiments you need for your meal...and there are plenty of dips and condiments to choose from.  In my first visit, I remember they even had a bottle of shaoxing wine on the table for you to add to your soup to your heart's content (and I thought to myself, how generous of them).  On my next visit, it wasn't available anymore (I guess they wised up since wine is too expensive to leave in the hands of customers to use freely) though you can still get your hands on the wine at the condiment station.

Here, I picked a reddish sambal, a green chilli paste, crispy fried garlic bits and some chopped spring onions + coriander for some freshness.  My noodles hardly needed any chilli dips, they're more suitable if you're having steamboat.

Another dish I tried was this Crispy Fish Fillet Noodle (with milk) @ RM15.90 which had shimeji mushrooms, small bits of salted vegetable and lettuce.  I helped myself to the fried garlic and fresh coriander + spring onions (from the condiments station) and added them to my bowl.  The soup base was too thick and milky for my taste, so unless you like yours very milky, you might want to stay away from this.

The fairly crispy fish fillet was served separately.  I believe the fried fish was patin which had a nice, soft texture but I felt the fish was underseasoned on its own.  Luckily there was the green chilli paste to perk up flavours.

For drinks, I broke my curfew and decided to have the Kedondong Asam Boi @ RM7.90 as I can't resist if I see it on the menu.  It's my all-time favourite drink/juice to have...and for some reason, I always find this drink at steamboat places.  The other steamboat place in my neighbourhood, Pulai Ketam Seafood Steamboat also has it.  Maybe it's because you'd be sweating buckets when you eat steamboat that you need a cold, refreshing drink to cool you down.

The other drink above was the Calamansi Asam Boi @ RM7.90 that my son had.  Other times I just stick to Iced Barley (no sugar) @ RM1.90, the price of which startled me (it's dirt cheap!) as I've paid anywhere between RM2.70 - RM3.20 at old-school coffee shops for the same thing.  Surprisingly, the Tie Guan Yin (Chinese) Tea cost RM1.90 also.

My Personal Opinion

Ooh la la indeed.....though the food isn't fantastic enough (to garner a 4.8 rating on Google) but it's also not as bad as I was led to believe.  I now have two places in my neighbourhood to indulge in lala noodles (the other one being Tasty Lala Noodles) that's equally decent although Tasty Lala uses a different type of clam.  I prefer the clams here I as they're little bit more meatier while the soup base in Tasty Lala probably a tad better.

Of course this place offers more than just lala noodles, so if you happen to enjoy steamboat, tom yum/curry lala noodles or a (very) milky version of fish head noodle, this place may be worth your while.  And if you like some crispy snacks to go along with your meals, they have that too.

This place has been opened since late 2023 but it took me a while before I made my first visit.  That's because I was told the food isn't good, in the end it's best to try it out yourself.  This place occupies the previous space vacated by Poppo Kanteen (not sure if it's under the same management but the receipt has the name Poppo Canteen on it...and, incidentally, all Poppo Kanteen branches have closed down).

Ooh Lala

27G Jalan Pandan Indah 4/2

Pandan Indah

55100 Kuala Lumpur

Tel: 03-4288 6923