Have you tried…

Have you tried the highly-acclaimed Taiwanese beef noodles in town? Everyone was talking about it and singing its praises. I, for one, did not get all excited as I prefer our clear soup version like the ones here or here or here even. It used to be here but word had it that it had moved here and since I was out that morning, I decided to drop by and check it out.

I was glad that there were not many customers at the time so I parked my car and went into the coffee shop and searched high and low for the beef noodles stall. Eventually, I asked the lady at the second stall and she told me that the guy was not there but in the shop next door, closed on Mondays and Thursdays – it was a Thursday that day.

In the end, since she was so nice to give me the information I wanted – most would just say they did not know – I ordered the kway chap…

…from her stall (it looked very nice in the photograph)…

…and took my seat at a table outside and waited to be served.

I was a bit disappointed with it (RM6.50)…

…when it came because it looked like there was a whole of lean meat and pork belly, just a few bits of intestines and two pieces of the ear (I think that was it, the ones with the hard, white layer inside – I left the two untouched), no liver.

Thankfully, it was kway chap…

…not kway teow. I get really pissed off at places where they serve this but when you dig into the bowl, you find kway teow (flat rice noodles) instead of those pieces of kway chap.

The broth was very nice, a bit on the mild side as far as the soy sauce, the salt and the msg were concerned but very strong on the spices – I could taste the cinnamon in it especially. The chili belacan (dried prawn paste) dip was so good and went so well with everything. I had to refrain from pouring all of it into the broth – I am sure that would being the taste to a whole new level.

All things considered, I would say I enjoyed it very much, not to the extent that you would find me back there again for more in no time at all but I sure would not mind ordering that if I happen to be around there some other day. I probably would want to try the lor mee (RM5.00) though – it also looked really good in the photograph.

Incidentally, I was somewhat amused when I saw this lady’s t-shirt…

– she was also seated outside, two tables away. It made me think of all those with their age-old outdated convictions. They would cringe in disgust and even come up in arms against it everytime I said that I added a pinch in my cooking. They should read this article as well as the many available online if they care to google for them.

Of course, there is no denying that it is sodium…and so is salt and don’t we all know that salt is bad for health. That is why if you have added salt to the food, you should not add msg anymore and vice versa or maybe you would want to compromise – just a little bit of each. Similarly, if you use soy sauce in your cooking, there IS salt and there IS msg in it and if you go and add some more, you may be in for a bit of trouble! The bottom line is, like what I always say, moderation is the key. Too much of a good thing may be bad for you!

COFFEE & TEA (2.325932, 111.841566) is located at the junction of Jalan Teng Chin Hua and Jalan Ulu Sg Merah in the blocks of shops to the right of the traffic lights junction turning left into Lorong Sg Merah 2. if you are coming from town. On the other hand, if you are heading towards town, the blocks of shops are after St Teresa’s Catholic Church and the SIB Church on that same side of the road.