There are a few celebrated kampua mee places, those that many people will swear by and insist that their choices are the best in town, second to none. I’ve tried some, if not all, of them but I would not go to such an extent as to make such a declaration. One man’s meat is another man’s poison and I, for one, have my own preferences.
The other day, however, I decided to go to the lesser-known places, those that I hardly ever hear anybody mention. Who knows, there may be some unsung heroes, so to speak, those that may be really nice but are yet to be discovered. For a start, I stopped by here…
…the other morning.
I don’t know if it now has a new name but the shop sign sure looks new but what I do know is that this sotong kangkong guy used to be here and was immensely popular. Incidentally, he is no longer at that other place now and I don’t know what has happened to him. Another thing that this place was popular for was their bak chang (meat dumplings) but I did not see any that morning. There was a nice chu-char (cook & fry) place at the back a long long time ago too and I did go and buy some dishes home. I don’t know if they are still there – I did not venture so far inside the shop but there are a few other stalls including one Muslim/Malay one.
The kopi-o-peng (RM1.70)…
…was good, as good as many other places around town.
As for the kampua mee from this stall…
…when I got there, I was attracted by the lor mee (RM6.00)…
…that everybody else at the shop at that time was having so I took that as an indication that it must be very good.
It was good, not like the lor mee that I used to know before and more like the Hailam lor mee that I had once in Penang. Yes, it had the yellow noodles and the kangkong (water spinach) inside…
…and when I tasted the gravy initially before everything else, I thought it was so very thick, so gooey and gluey but after I had tossed everything together to eat, it was all right and I would say that I did enjoy it quite a lot in the end.
As for the kampua mee, I guess I will have to go back there another day to give it a try.
XU MAMA CAFE (许妈妈茶室) is located at No 5, Jalan Ramin (Ramin Way), opposite what used to be Star Cineplex or Cathay Cinema a long time ago.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 