KL Hokkien Mee

A friend has invited me to eat with her at this Kopitiam in Geylang called Kong Kee Seafood. My friend told me that this kopitiam offers Kuala Lumpur style Hokkien Mee. The place is not very hard to find, you’ll just have to look for the colorful sign with colorful food photos above the sided entry. My friend said the hokkien mee in this place is quite different form the regular Singapore fare. There are two varieties of hokkien mee – the regular hokkien mee and the other is hokkien mee with freshwater prawns or “ulang”. The difference from the Singapore version is the bigger noodles and deeper and distinct flavor. Instead of using yellow egg noodles, KL hokkien mee uses tai loke noodles which is more smoother, with a dense, slippery texture and a nice bite to it. the proprietr said that these noodles are bought directly from Kuala Lumpur. The stock is made from chicken, pork, and flatfish and simmered slowly for about 4-5 hours making the sauce thick and rich. The noodles are cooked in the sauce making it more plump and sumptuous. The sauce sticks to the noodles, black and rich with deep soy sauce and spice taste. The prawn sits in the middle, big, fat and enticingly beautiful. It would have been better if the prawn was cooked with the sauce to give it a briny sweetness to it. The prawn was steamed but still, it tastes good. The one ingredient missing on the prawn hokkien mee is the deep fried lard. We’ve requested for it and a quick wok mix was made and it was generously sprinkled over the noodles. The crispy crunchiness of the lard and the soft and firm to the noodles are a combination in heaven. We also ordered deep fried grouper chunks. Its looks good, the golden chucks of fish sitting on a bed of rice sprinkled with chilies and flosses of herbs crowning the dish. The texture of the fish is firm to the bite and flaky at the same time and the herb coating makes the difference. There is a sesame aftertaste to it which gives it a toasty sweet flavor. All in all, the KL hokkien mee is good alternative to the regular Singapore fare.