Maybe it’s time…

This coffee shop used to be so popular and was always filled to the brim. Yes, I used to drop by for the very nice kampua mee…

…from the stall in front and yes, it is still there. I certainly would rank it among the best in town.

Another thing that I loved a lot from this stall was the meat porridge…

…and needless to say, I would always ask for the special so there would be some pieces of liver and bits of intestines in the so very delicious gruel. As a matter of fact, I like it so much that I dare say it is my favourite in town!

I cannot remember having anything from the chu-char (cook and fry) place at the back – my missus would order from them time and time again and I did notice a lot of people going there around lunchtime every day for the chap fan (mixed rice). However, when I was there the other morning, it looked very clean, like it had closed shop but don’t take my word for it. I did not walk to the back to check so I am not really sure.

I decided to go there once again after all this time that morning because I was thinking of the Muslim Melanau ladies’ roti canai and roti telur…

…that they usually served, unlike elsewhere, with a bowl of curry gravy and I sure enjoyed that a lot.

Unfortunately, when I got there, the ladies told me that they no longer sell roti canai and all the rest at their stall…

They said the stall was too small for them to do everything so they would just stick to their priorities every day – fried noodles and what not in the morning and nasi campur (mixed rice) for lunch.

Yes, the ladies caused quite a stir when my West Malaysian blogger friends came to town in 2012 because their stall was sandwiched between the kampua mee and the fried kway teow stalls, something they would not be able to see over in the peninsula. In fact, unlike here where this Keluarga Malaysia (Malaysian family) spirit is so very common, an everyday thing, over there, one would be hard-pressed to see a Muslim/Malay stall in a Chinese coffee shop. Another thing was, according to one of them, they would never get to see a lady making roti canai over there – all of them would be men. I don’t know to what extent this is/was true – I never bothered to take note of it.

Anyway, moving on to what I ordered in the end, I could remember that I used to enjoy their char kway teow (fried flat rice noodles) that was a whole lot nicer than the one from the Chinese chu-char place at the back so I asked for a plate of the special (RM6.00)…

It used to be RM5.00 before in 2017 which means that it has gone up by just one ringgit when the prices of everything else are shooting up sky high!

For the special, I got one perfectly fried egg and half a chicken wing…

…with the kway teow…

…and though I would say it was pretty good, somehow I felt that it was nicer before…

I may drop by again to eat it sometime but no, you would not find me going out of my way to come here for this.

There were still a lot of customers that morning but no, it was not as busy as before. Maybe it had gone past its time and not many would make their way there anymore, unlike before, especially when traffic in that area is a nightmare every morning. Surprisingly, it was rather light that morning and this coffee shop in the next block that used to be packed, so very busy all the time, was almost empty except for maybe just a couple of tables.

CHOON SENG COFFEE SHOP /春陞茶室 (2.324218, 111.838197)…

…is located along Lorong Wong Ting Hock 1, off Jalan Wong Ting Hock, off Jalan Tun Abg Hj Openg at the Sungai Merah Bazaar here.