…or a good woman, for that matter. This lady…
…used to run her kampua noodle stall here but then she retired and her grandson took over, a university graduate who has chosen to carry on the trade instead and in fact, he has also gone into the manufacture of those packs of instant kampua noodles.
I sure was surprised that she now has a stall at a coffee shop that I used to frequent sometime ago. I quite liked what the lady, originally at this kampua stall there, used to serve at the time but eventually, she wrapped up her business and the ones who took over were not all that great. I also liked the fried stuff from the chu char (cook/fry) place at the back…
…and many a time, I had stopped by there to tapao their Foochow fried noodles home…but the last time I went there, it seemed they had different people running the place and what we had was not good so we never went again. This time around, however, there are new people there too and I would say the one who came out to talk to me was very nice and friendly….and what they dish out are pretty good, so I’ve been told.
Well, when I heard that this lady had set up her business here now, I decided to drop by and check it out. I would not say she was one of those who would snap at you once you make a wrong move or ask one question too many but I felt she was kind of reserved, not one to flash you a cheerful smile and a lady of very few words. My missus wanted pian sip, dry (RM2.70)…
…so I asked if that was available but she said that she would need to wrap some more. Upon hearing that, I just ordered two plates of kampua noodles for the two of us.
Then I saw her taking out the pian sip skin and minced meat to wrap and cook for a lady at the next table and another lady from another table came to change her initial order for a plate of bihun – she said that she ordered that as what she understood was that there was no more pian sip and now that she was making fresh ones, she would like to have those instead of the bihun. No, I did not bother to change my order for fear that it might confuse her more so I just left it at that.
When she was about to cook our orders, out of the blue, she asked if I wanted the pian sip dry or in soup – our table was right beside her stall and that was why I could take her above photograph. Oh? It seemed that she heard me the first time so I just told her that my missus would like it dry. Next, she asked me if I wanted my kampua noodles white (RM2.70)…
…or black and I told her I would prefer the white…and we were served in no time at all. However, there was one guy who walked out from inside the coffee shop and told her that he would want to cancel his order and he left. I was not too sure if she did not hear him…or she heard but had forgotten all about it but the man was quite pleasant about it so I thought that was very nice of him. In cases such as this, some people can be quite temperamental and nasty and of course, one should be more understanding considering that the lady was no longer all that young.
Her pian sip seemed to have a lot more meat inside…
…and my missus said they were all right and I would say the same about her kampua noodles…
…that were served with stewed pork instead of those boiled ones, coloured in that radioactive shade of red on the outside…but the next time I drop by, I probably would want to try something from the chu char place at the back. The prawn noodles look pretty good…
…and are a lot cheaper than the highly-acclaimed ones at some places here, going for some RM35-40.00 or more these days but of course, if you look closely, those aren’t the much-coveted udang galah or freshwater prawns but never mind! I do think one can’t go wrong with prawns, whichever type they may be and actually, even if they’re seawater prawns or tiger prawns, they do not come cheap either. The ones I had for my Sarawak laksa that day were RM35.00 a kilo!
There is an Indian stall there too and if I’m not mistaken, there is a burger stall as well but that probably only opens at night. For one thing, parking is a breeze here, especially compared to the lady’s former location, and if anyone is interested in checking this place out, it is located in one of the two blocks of shophouses right BEHIND the Delta Public Swimming Pool (GPS coordinate: 2.307942,111.825264) – Lorong Delta 10, the third left turn (not including the back lane that goes around those shops) if you are coming from Queensway (now Jalan Tun Abg Hj Openg).
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 