I cannot remember when I first started patronising this old lady’s stall…
…but I do recall that she was at this same coffee shop a long time ago when it was known by a different name – Happy Garden until she disappeared all of a sudden for whatever reason, I did not know.
It was not until 2009, 13 years ago, that I stumbled upon her again at another coffee shop, right across the road from this present one. Of course, I was delighted and started dropping by for her mee goreng (fried noodles)…
…and nasi lemak (coconut rice)…
I did not know what transpired at the time and all of a sudden, that particular coffee shop, Peter Cafe, called it a day. Thankfully, this time around, the old lady moved back to her stall at the previous coffee shop opposite – eventually, it changed its name to Fast Cafe…
…and she has been there to this very day.
In the meantime, others appeared in the vicinity – this one with their very nice mee jawa is very popular and this one where I used to go to for the nasi kerabu had customers spilling on to the road! Despite the competition from these other shops, the old lady stood her ground and went on with her business – I did drop by time and time again and what she dished out had always been consistently good.
I did not think I had much of an appetite to eat anything that morning but I had to go for something so I would have something to blog about and in the end, I decided to go and check her out after a very long time, not since 2016 perhaps.
Thankfully, she was open despite it being the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan and I promptly placed my order for her mee goreng special (RM6.00)…
…which came with her very nice daging masak hitam…
…and one deep fried chicken wing. If you want one fried egg with it, done the traditional old school way, you will have to pay an extra RM1.00, RM7.00 altogether.
Yes, the noodles tasted great and a squeeze of that calamansi lime sure helped bring the taste to a whole new level. I found myself enjoying it to the max and despite the fact that I did not have the appetite to eat anything initially, I was able to finish everything that was in that plate…
The complimentary soup…
…was very nice and I liked how she had taken the trouble of frying her own shallots for her own use. Many places would use the factory-made ones, packed in plastic packs and sold in the supermarkets and those have a horrible smell that will put me off instantly!
I also liked how, when she served the noodles, she brought along these…
…without my asking. If you go to the Chinese chu char (cook and fry) stalls and shops, don’t dream of getting any at all unless you ask for it and when you do ask for it, they will ask you whether you want the bottled chilli sauce or the freshly cut chilli in soy sauce! If you pick the latter, don’t be surprised if you get some miserable tiny bits of chili…and no, they will not give you both, don’t dream!!!
I asked the old lady how long she has been in this business and she said maybe around 10 years, a long time – obviously it has been so long she can’t even remember herself. One thing’s for sure, I would definitely be dropping by again!
FAST CAFE (2.319250, 111.832257) is located in the vicinity of Sungai Antu at No. 11, Jalan Tapang Timur, off Jalan Kampung Nangka.
...STILL CRAZY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS! 
The mee goreng special for RM6 comes with daging masak hitam and one deep fried chicken wing but how come yours has an extra chicken thigh (kay tui). Is it all that for RM6. If so, I think it is really so cheap. Here, RM2.50 for chicken wing per piece and RM3.00 for chicken thigh.
No, the chicken wing was very big – that was the drummet not the drum stick. I had another one the next day, it was smaller so she did not cut it into two like that.
Oh your mee goreng is somehow different to our version too,
Ours is more tomato paste less dark soya sauce. They don’t give sambal either.
It’s always chilli sauce on sliced cucumber. He he… I kinda miss mee goreng.
I have to say your folks are very generous with the sambal sauce.
I so envy you guys on Borneo. Across the water, Malay words on business signboards must be bigger than other languages. Otherwise, the authorities will ask you to replace your signs, but I notice English or Chinese font size is noticeably bigger in Sibu.
We do not bother about these trivial matters here, not like those pea-brains over at your side.
We are not that fanatical here. While I was there, a Chinese lady came with her own stainless container to buy her nasi lemak.
I asked the old lady if I could do that too next time and she said, “Boleh!!! Lebeh bagus begitu!!!”
I would not be surprised over at your side, they would not touch it for fear that it is “unclean”.
The mee goreng at the Malay stalls here are quite different everywhere, may have different recipes or whatever, need to know which one one prefers. The ones at the Chinese stalls are similar but some may be better than others, depending on their cooking skills.
Maybe a little too much sauce on top of the mee goreng for me but I would love a squeeze of lime.
You can ask her to serve the “sauce” (the daging masak hitam) separately. They actually went very well together and yes, the added squeeze of lime did wonders to the noodles as a whole.
That mee goreng looks amazing. Random question but, if you had to choose one over the other, which one would you go for? The ‘basah’ style or this dry style mee goreng?
As far as Malay fried noodles go, I’d for the dry version like this one here…or what they call mee mamak elsewhere.
Stay away from their basah – they seem to enjoy it but no, I think our Chinese Foochow fried noodles, wet (with sauce/gravy) wins hands down.
Between their dry and our wet, I would say both are nice – will go for either one, depending on my mood,
where I am (near any nice place or not) and what I feel like having at that point in time.
You can have a glimpse at their kway teow basah at another place here. It sure does not look appetising…
https://suituapui.wordpress.com/2021/04/04/what-on-earth/
The mee goreng special looks delicious. Give it a LIKE.
So far in my opinion, the best Malay mee goreng in town!