Fried Hokkien mee a.k.a. Chinese style fried yellow noodles, has a cult following in Kuala Lumpur.
Every Malaysian man or woman swears they know where to get the BEST Hokkien mee in town.
Every Malaysian man (or woman) swears they know where to get the BEST Hokkien mee in town. Attempts to disagree, object or resist this information will be met with a scathing look or worse, a tense verbal parlay which ends with both parties still unhappy and unconvinced. Once you reach this point in the conversation, things will quickly degenerate into a hostile bickering involving, a blow-by-blow breakdown of ingredients and cooking methods of this sexy, mysterious, black noodles and which one is the champion noodle in the Land.
Oh yes.. Everyone is an expert. A critic.
Hokkien Mee. What is it?
It is a dish of thick yellow noodles braised in thick dark soy sauce with pork, squid, fish-cake and vegetables as the main ingredients and cubes of crispy fried pork lard as garnishing.. some might say that the pork lard, is the main ingredient. This dish is eaten before a huge night out, after a huge night out, for dinner, for supper .. heck , at all hours of the day really. If you have not eaten Hokkien Mee, you have not experienced the heart of Malaysia street-food dining proper!
Great Hokkien mee must be dark, slippery and smooth.. but not too greasy. The noodles must be cooked just right, i.e. al dente and must not break or get smashed up easily when you are eating it. The dark sauce should be slightly sweet with an amazing smoky aroma of the Wok, called the “wok-hei”. There should be tons of ingredients that accompany this black beauty such as pork, squid, fish-cake and vegetables. And finally, the icing on the cake, tons of super crispy fried pork lard, that is the cement that seals the deal and sends health-freaks shrieking into the night.
Cantonese Fried Noodles, a.k.a. Yin Yong
To describe this dish plainly, it is vermicelli rice noodles deep -fried till its crispy (foreground), also kwey teow noodles (flat, black noodles in the background), meat, prawns and vegetables all wok fried then doused in a generous amount of smooth, eggy sauce last of all.
As the crispy vermicelli noodles soaks up the sauce it starts to get softer. It is an art-form eating all of the noodles before the crispy bits get soft. You really need to eat like speedy Gonzales, but bear in mind that the plate of noodles is piping hot. This is an art-form that both Cumi & ciki have mastered. If you come to Kuala Lumpur, we will show you how you can eat the Yin Yong fast, without scalding your tongue!
Aik Yuen Restaurant, situated directly opposite the spanking, newly renovated Tawakal Hospital Kuala Lumpur is famous for its Chinese style fried noodles.
Check out handsome over here. I keep telling Cumi to style his hair like this but the guy never listens.
Another great dish that this place is famous for is the fried lala (clams/seashells) .
We didn’t get to try it this time round and they were actually cooking the last batch when we got there bit the guy told us that this spicy, sweet-sour clams goes for around RM15 per plate and they only cook these clams in one style. Spicy sweet-sour.
Well, a great reason to return to Aik Yuen then. Coming to get you next time, Sweet-sour clams!Address:
Restoran Aik Yuen, Behind Tawakal Hospital, Jalan Sarikei, Off Jalan Pahang Barat, 53000 Kuala Lumpur Google Maps