Gourmet Garden

The remembrance of childhood tastes and food texture are some things that affect ones eating habit and expectations. I can remember as a young tod, my parents or siblings used to like to patronise a Koay Teow Th’ng stall located opposite the Air Itam wet market. It was a treat whenever we visit that place cause I like the texture of the mince pork patties that they cook up. Now I am nearing my mid-30′s and I still yarn for that feeling in my mouth again. I have ventured to many Koay Teow Th’ng stalls in Penang and in Kuala Lumpur in search for my nostalgic childhood memories, and the closest that I could achieve was at Peter’s Pork Noodles in Breikfields in Kuala Lumpur. But know I have found a stall that can fill that void, and it was all the while under my nose.

Me and my wife always travel to Kimberley street for ‘makan’ on Saturdays before our church fellowship, have never thought of trying out Ah Hai’s Koay Teow Th’ng which is next to the much talk about Ah Seng Eco Bee Hoon on Kimberley Street. Numerous trips there over the years and have not tried them, I should be kicked in the head for that kind of mistake!

Ah Hai’s Koay Teow Th’ng is the freshly cooked to order type where you could choose toppings like mince pork patties, slice pork, pork innards, fish balls, fish cake, whole egg, and not forgetting glorious crispy pork lard. And for the noodles there are a few choices too like ‘koay teow’, ‘lo shu fan aka bee thai bak’, yellow noodles, instant noodles and rice vermicelli. My favorite is still yellow noodle and koay teow mix, and Gill’s is ‘lo shu fan’.

Since the beginning I have been talking about hunting for that nostalgic memory in a Koay Teow Th’ng, what is it?!  Well, it is that firm and tender texture of mince pork patties that I had at the Air Itam Koay Teow Th’ng stall which have since disappeared from that place. With this new found ‘makan’ place, I will be able to enjoy that firm and tender texture of the pork patties that I used enjoy in my mouth ages ago. Ah Hai’s pork patties, although, after being cooked for a long period of time in the boiling hot soup base, they still remain tender and juicy. The trick is the fatty content ratio and self pounded mince pork meat. The beads of fats give it the bouncy tender texture and the sweet creamy taste that produces a good piece of mince pork patties. The texture is so different from the pork patties found at Pitt Street Koay Teow Th’ng, which is hand press to achieve that uniquely spring lite textured patties. Both versions of patties offer an individual and total different texture experience of their own.

What is Koay Teow Th’ng without the sinful crisp pork lard pieces and addictive garlic oil?! The crisp lard pieces were full bodied and fragrant, even after being immersed in the soup it still maintain that firm crisp texture.

My favorite noodle koay teow and yellow mee combination give me that balance of slippery smoothness(from the koay teow) and 3 dimensional firm(from the yellow noodle) texture feeling  in my mouth. But do be reminded that the koay teow would in some ways affect the quality of the soup base (inducing some slight sour taste) and also because that the stock lacks that dominant sweet meaty flavour.

As for my wife’s favourite noodle, the ‘lo shu fan’, it compliments well with the soup base and also the taste of the meaty ingredients. It does not bring with it that sour taste that the koay teow has.

We also had their dry noodles or ‘kon lo’, which we found that the dark soy used did not have that smoky caramel flavour. But to compensate for that lacking, the sambal was of great help to bring the taste of the otherwise dull bowl of noodles.

Ah Hai also offers koay teow th’ng with poached egg. We were surprise that the bowl that we tried with egg on our second visit there did not contain that eggs’ flavour, which I like. It is usually common to taste some hint of egg flavour when it is introduced to any soup base.

Average rating for this place:

4.2/5 for value (generous amounts of mince pork patties & slice pork with the extra toppings at RM4.00)
4.0/5 for taste & texture (soup was not as tasty as Peter’s Pork Noodle, but the mince pork patties compensate for that)
4.0/5 for service (friendly and accommodating)
3.7/5 for cleanliness ( because it is road side)
3/5 for atmosphere (road side mah!)

Location: On Kimberley Street opposite the new green colour restaurant owned by Bee Ching Hiang

Tel : 016-466 3488 , 017-466 7309

Business Hours : Daily 6:00pm-1:00am(or until sold out). Rest days need to be updated later.

Tips: Do not go too late as the salty taste of the fish balls would be infused into the soup stock.

Popularity: 12% [?]

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