Curry Mee (Asam Laksa or Curry Laksa)

Foreigner Friend: kvin, i heard people said Curry laska are nice and tasty! where can i find it

Me: har??? U mean kari mee or asam laksa? both are different leh!

Foreigner Friend: oh really? let me show u..i have this picture!

Me: Oh...this we call Kari Mee...penangite call this curry mee, i know a place have nice and tasty kari mee, nearby air itam market, air itam people call "Kio tao kari mee" near to methodist kidnergarden! Lets go together and i will tell u what is kari mee!

Foreigner Friend : ok, lets go

What is Curry Laksa ( Penangite call it Curry Mee)

Curry laksa (in many places referred to simply as “laksa”) is a coconut-based curry soup. The main ingredients for most versions of curry laksa include tofu puffs, fish sticks, shrimp and cockles. Some vendors may sell chicken laksa which uses chicken instead of shrimp. Cockles are usually very commonly used in laksa and most vendors would add them into laksa unless customers request not to have cockles for hygiene reasons. Laksa is commonly served with a spoonful of sambal chilli paste and is traditionally garnished with Vietnamese coriander, or laksa leaf, which is known in Malay as daun kesum. This is usually known as "Curry mee" in Penang rather than curry laksa, due to the different kind of noodles used (yellow mee or bee hoon, as opposed to the thick white laksa noodles). The name "Curry laksa" is more commonly used in Singapore. With the popularity of laksa in Singapore and Malaysia, there are even more 'varieties' of ingredients like lobster laksa, laksa yong tau foo and even plain laksa, just noodles and gravy, like the type found on Sungei Road. Laksa is extremely popular in Australia, especially in the Chinatown districts of the capital cities. Special deals, such as "Laksa Thursday" encourage many local business workers to frequent the Asian cafes to dine on Laksa and other noodle based soups.

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Hokkien Mee 福建麺

Hokkien mee refers to fried noodles cooked in Hokkien (Fujian) style. Hokkien mee is served in Malaysia and Singapore and was brought there by immigrants from Fujian Province in southeastern China.

Types of Hokkien mee
There are two types of Hokkien mee: Hokkien hae mee and Hokkien char mee. Hokkien hae mee (Hokkien prawn noodles) is commonly served in Penang and Singapore while Hokkien char mee (Hokkien fried noodles) is commonly served in Kuala Lumpur and the Klang Valley. The dish is commonly referred to as Hokkien mee, depending on the locality, Hokkien mee can mean either Hokkien hae mee or Hokkien char mee. For example, Hokkien mee in Kuala Lumpur refers to Hokkien char mee

Strictly speaking, the Penang and Singapore versions of Hokkien mee are two different dishes, except that they are both prawn noodle dishes and share the name "Hokkien." The ingredients and methods of cooking are different, and the Penang version is cooked in soup while the Singapore version is stir fried. In this respect, the dish Hokkien mee can refer to no fewer than three different distinct dishes: Penang Hokkien mee, Singapore Hokkien mee, and Kuala Lumpur Hokkien mee. The Penang Hokkien mee is sometimes referred to as mee yoke in Kuala Lumpur as Hokkien mee in Kuala Lumpur by default means Hokkien char mee which is noodles stirred fried in dark soya sauce.

Hokkien hae mee (Hokkien Prawn Noodles)
Hokkien hae mee (Hokkien/Fujian prawn noodles; 福建虾麺) is served in Penang (with a variant served in Singapore known as Hae mee). It is a dish of egg noodles and rice noodles in a fragrant stock, which is made from both fresh shrimp and dried prawns, as well as pork or chicken. Traditionally, small cubes of fried pork fat are added to the soup, but this is now less common due to health concerns. It is garnished with prawns, fish cake, leafy greens, pork ribs, squid, vegetables, crisp deep-fried shallots, spring onions and fresh lime. The dish is served with sliced red chili, light soy sauce and sambal.
In Singapore, Hokkien mee refers to a variant of the Penang version of Hokkien hae mee. The dish uses the same egg noodles and rice noodles used in Hokkien hae mee, but is stir fried and served dry. The main ingredients are shrimps and small pieces of sliced pork. It is usually served with lime and sambal chilli.

Hokkien Char Noodle

For the best hokkien mee in town (in no particular order): Coffee shop along the Ayer Itam bus terminal in the mornings; hawker centers at Gurney Drive and New Lane.

Wanton mee 云吞面

Wanton mee or Wantan mee (Chinese: 云吞面) is a Cantonese noodle dish which is popular in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. The dish is usually served in hot soup or dry stir in black soya sauce or Oyster sauce, garnished with leafy vegetables, Char Siew (roasted barbecued pork meat slices), and together with wanton in a separate bowl. The types of leafy vegetables used are usually kailan also known as Chinese kale. There are various versions to the dish, with the Hong Kong version using prawns and no char siu inside the noodles. Another type of dumpling known as shui gao is sometimes served in place of wanton. It contains prawns, pork, spring onions with some chefs adding mushroom and black fungus

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Malaysia
Malaysia offers different versions of the dish with different states have different types of the dish and there are versions from Johor, Pahang, Perak, Penang, Sarawak and Selangor. The dish includes noodles, leafy vegetables, char siu and wanton. Often served dry, the Hong Kong version can be found at Cantonese noodle joints with it being dry or soup. One of the best Wanton Mee in Malaysia is in Melaka state. The wantons are placed together with the noodles and wanton soup can be ordered separately.





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Penang Char Koey Teow (Part2)

Real McCoy - Ah Leng

At the junction of Datuk Kramat Road and the access road to turn into the city stadium. This corner coffee shop stands as shown in the picture below
Each Morning you will see Ah Leng at work .
Never miss this food while you are in Penang. Here the past time is to compete in serving the best for their business.
Ah Leng preparation is wet with of lavish presence of beaten egg. Then, typical of all Penang Fried Koay Teow, getting the a niche, means - giant size prawns are included.

Attending to a small group of dedicated followers who will make their way there, no scene of a big crowd. In the morning, those who have time, need not dash across town just to taste his cooking. This is the ideal environment and also here the best spot. To savor the best Penang can offer. Even though you are a late riser, he is still around by noon time.
Here Ah Leng caters for his die hard fans and locals staying around that area. Ah Leng charges Rgt 3.00 per plate basic and better be there before 1.30 pm.
In the morning. there would be a flea market in the car park of the stadium. Just behind the shop.

I cannot say that conditions in this coffee shop is excellent. In fact you can see that this shop had seen better years.
The narrow shop of a by-gone era has barely enough space for 2 rows of tables.

"Sisters" of Macalister Road

Look for this 5 junctions "Round About" of Macalister Road and Perak road. You will see 2 short rows of ancient shop houses. This place is really out and away from the urban Georgetown. Some distance away from most eating places and hustling town center. From the picture below, you could make out some push carts outside. The stalls doing the Fried Koay Teow are hidden from view.The coffee shop where the stall is located is in much better looking than almost many other stalls. A plus to breed confidence to visiting crowd. Those who are not so often in Penang would flock to "the" place.

This is a long standing acknowledgement that the sisters here served good food. The crowd grew. That was a few years back, the sister's place was so well acclaimed.
Now the local crowd decided to try some new faces.

In this picture, you see. Business goes on as usual with or without the migration elsewhere.
Can't remember the name of the shop or how this synonyms of "sister" came about. You can see here, a plucky middle age lady is dishing out her best serving.
With the hope that would keep customers coming back. More so for those arriving in limousine, as seen in the picture above.

The place too, caters for the lunch crowd. They close slightly later into the afternoon. Office workers who are here for late lunch.

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Penang Char Koey Teow (Part1)

Char kway teow, literally "fried flat noodles", is a popular noodle dish in Malaysia and Singapore. It is made from flat rice noodles (called Shāhé fěn or hé fěn in Chinese) fried over very high heat with light and dark soy sauce, chilli, prawns, cockles, egg, bean sprouts and Chinese chives. Sometimes slices of Chinese sausage and fish cake are added. It is fried in pork fat, with crisp croutons of pork lard, which give it its characteristic taste.
Char kway teow has a reputation of being unhealthy due to its fat content. However, when the dish was first invented, it was mainly served to labourers. The high fat content and low cost of the dish made it attractive to these people as it was a cheap source of energy and nutrients. When the dish was first served, it was often sold by fishermen, farmers and cockle-gatherers who doubled up as char kway teow sellers in the evening to supplement their income.

Etymology
The term "Char kway teow" is a transliteration of the Chinese characters "炒粿條", based on the Min Nan spoken variation of the Chinese language. More precisely, "炒粿條" is pronounced as chha2-koe2-tiau5? in Min Nan, and cháo guǒtiáo? in Mandarin.
However, as Char kway teow was brought from Min Nan-speaking regions to Cantonese-speaking regions, the Chinese name was corrupted as "炒貴刁". This is pronounced as caau2 gwai3 diu1? in Cantonese and cháo guìdiāo ? in Mandarin. "貴刁" has no literal meaning, but its pronunciation in Mandarin is similar to "粿條" in Min Nan.
Moreover, "Char koay teow" is often known as "Singaporean Char koay teow" (星州炒貴刁) or "Malaysian Char koay teow" (馬來炒貴刁) in Hong Kong, in order to emphasize the origin of the dish.

Variation
A variation is the gourmet version of char koay teow. This is commonly found in the island state of Penang, Malaysia. The version of char kuay teow found there is sometimes added with duck's eggs (for richer taste) and crab meat (for sweetness).
Another evolution of this dish is fried without pork fat or lard. This evolution has come about due to char kway teow's growing popularity amongst the Muslim community in Malaysia.
This dish is also popular in take away establishments in Australia and New Zealand.

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Literally "fried flat noodles", it is a popular noodle dish in Malaysia and Singapore. It is made from flat rice noodles fried with light and dark soy sauce, chilli, prawns, cockles, egg, bean sprouts and Chinese chives. Sometimes slices of Chinese sausage and fish cake are added. It is fried in pork fat, with crisp croutons of pork lard, which give it its characteristic taste.

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Where to Find Char Koey Teow

Kimberly Street

This is the "Ah Leng" Char Koay Teow stall in Kimberly Street. This vicinity has a cluster of Hawkers stall serving the Chinatown community.
He is normally assisted by his wife. But on this night the couple you see here were substitute. Oh! He had given up this place for good. The quality of fried churned out by this couple was no where near to the type we expected. His picture appears here for nostalgic reasons.
Ah Leng, who operate a stall in Datuk Kramat Road in the morning, does his evening stints here.
However, it is rumored that he too, takes on contract to appear at parties in the evening. Quite often the stall is closed.

There are 2 fried Koay Teow Stalls here after 7.00 pm. Within 100 meters from one another. Lately, a new comer with Koay Teow Th'ng has started drawing in crowd. This stall formerly started by Ah Leng is slowly driven into oblivion.
Right across the road, at the junction of Kimberley Street & Cintra Street. This Cantonese couple has another way of preparing. I never fail to go back to this place whenever I have the chance. In my next update, I will change the photo.
This competitor across the road also had attained very high marks. This stall prepares the noodles in bulk, keeps it as buffer. Small handful is extracted each time for a single helping.
He makes his preparation special by adding crayfish. For special order, more can be topped up. His noodle is a little bit on the dry side. It tickles different taste buds. However if you are one of those who prefer to specify your likings, then notify him when making the order.
Both opens in the evening and prices are a fair Rgt 2.50 onwards.

Lau Yee -Lorong Selamat
Lorong Selamat Fried Koay Teow is in the lips of every body, including the Tourist Department. This is the stall parked in front of an equally famous "Ice Kachang Coffee Shop". Side tracking the issue of Fried Koay Teow, I cannot see any reasons why this coffee shop has any thing to do with offering niche style Ice Kachang.
You can see from the picture. This famous stall operates from a push cart. This stall anchored by the roadside

Whether the taste from this stall is superb or not, the clearly displayed pricelist is an assurance of the local endorsement of its quality.
The price mentioned has nothing to do with the size served. Each helping remains fairly constant. The incremental cost relates to the additional prawns included.

This style of preparation was made famous by a middle ages lady.
Here you can see her blocked by a young assistant.
On her right a male co-worker is working on a parallel set of kuali to cope up with demands from the queue.

This stall opens and caters for the lunch crowd. I am sure that a lot of her customers are casual visitors. Those like me patronizing the stall to experience what the hype is all about. Seeing the legend and happenings here for themselves. It is along Lorong Selamat. You do a turning in from Macalister Road - about a block into the road - on the left.
We, me and my gang have nick-named this joint the "Lau Yee" to give a quick reference in our conversation.

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