No denying…

It certainly was nice, there’s no denying that – the fried noodles…

…that my missus bought for me from here…

…the classy café at the mall near my house.

The ladies were out all morning and come lunchtime, there was still no sign of them. My guess was they had a lot of shopping to do and decided to just have their lunch outside…and I was right. They went to Colonel Sanders’ and I was not in the least surprised. My girl loves going to those franchise places, these youngsters.

Having had their fill there, they went to this restaurant on the same floor at the mall to buy me this tub of noodles…

…for my lunch.

I don’t know if that was supposed to be our Foochow fried noodles but it did look quite similar. However, before anything else, I would deduct a few marks for the use of those factory-made, packed-in-plastic fried shallots sold at the supermarkets. Some have a smell that puts me off but thank goodness, this one was all right. For one thing, fried shallots are not a crucial ingredient in Foochow fried noodles – the basic ingredient is the fried finely-chopped garlic.

Of course, coming from a place like that, like the mee mamak at such upscale joints, this did not come cheap. My missus said it was around a whooping RM15.00 and I was not in the least surprised. She said she did not know of any place in the vicinity where she could find some really nice Foochow fried noodles and of course, I forever held my peace. LOL!!!

But to give credit where credit was due, they certainly were very generous with the added ingredients such as the sotong (squid)…

…and the tiny shrimps…

…and the sliced fish balls and fish cake but I was wishing the whole time that they had not added those strips of thinly-sliced dried shitake mushrooms. They were somewhat overpowering so if they simply had to add a bit of mushroom, they could have used those canned champignons (button mushrooms) instead as those would not have such a strong fragrance or taste.

Having said all that, the taste simply was not quite there, if you are hoping for some authentic Foochow fried noodles, that is. Obviously, no lard was used in the cooking and no meat (pork) either. But don’t get me wrong! I would say it was, in fact, rather nice. If I were served this at some restaurant overseas, I certainly would enjoy it a lot and be consoled that I could get to eat something vaguely or remotely similar to the real thing!

SIMPLY DELICIOUS… 

…is located at No. 14 & 15 on the upper ground floor of the Delta Mall (2.312168, 111.846980) located along Jalan Pedada, now renamed Jalan Dr Wong Soon Kai.