Paloh is one of those small towns where the Malaysia Railway (KTM) train stops and which heydays were past with the arrival of the North South Expressway.
On the way back to Johor Bahru from Kuala Lumpur, we dropped by Paloh, taking a 45 minutes detour after exiting the Yong Peng toll.
Why come to Paloh? Because Johor Kaki is committed to put every good Johor hawker on the World Wide Web. Never mind that it is in a forgotten old town as long as it is in Johor.
Our KL readers Ooi and Koe who visited Paloh before gave us some leads. When in Paloh, we further asked the friendly locals we met about what food is popular here.
Two stalls and a kopitiam were mentioned often. I've earlier blogged about Ling Nam kopitiam, a heritage treasure trove. The stalls are the wanton mee stall at the small food centre beside the bus station, and the curry mee stall next to the disused Capitol Theatre.
Arriving at Paloh, our first stop was the bus station and food centre at the centre of town. There wasn't any bus at the bus station on a sunny Thursday morning. And, there was plenty of parking space at the food centre.
This was the food centre on a Thursday morning in Paloh. The food centre like Paloh town itself, was half shut.
The wanton mee auntie was not full of enthusiasm about being photographed and interviewed :P Theirs is a "nothing much 没有什么" stall, she humbly said.
My friend Kumes liked this wontan mee. The noodles were crunchy and the sauce was soy sauce based with a bit of sesame oil. Personally, I like my wanton noodle crunchier and more fragrant.
Auntie and her son make everything themselves - the noodles, wanton, and char siew. Nothing is very artisanal here but it's simplicity has it own charm, reflecting small town laidbackness and authenticity.
The wontan mee stall opens around 9:00am and closes around 1:00pm. There is no specific off day. When it is about 1:00pm, the auntie just packs up everything and closes the stall.
The curry mee stall is just about 50 metres away, in the zinc roofed provision shop right beside the disused Capital Theatre. You can't miss Capital Theatre when you are in Paloh town, as it's the largest structure in town. The imposing name and the facade of the disused building, tells of grander days.
The curry mee stall has been around for over 50 years since the time of Mdm Lim's father. But, much of the younger generation of the Lim clan today are in the bigger cities such as Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
Mdm Lim's name is Ah Choo, so this stall is known as "Ah Choo curry mee".
This curry mee is overflowing and spilling over the sides with noodles, bee hoon, fish cake, pork ball, char siew and other ingredients. Everything is handmade at the stall except for the mee and bee hoon.
The curry was not the lemak kind and rather mild in flavour but this is easily fixed with their "power" sambal chili. The fiery sambal is solid with plenty of chili and dried shrimps.
These two stalls would not be enough for me to recommend to you to take the long detour to try them. But if you happen to be in Paloh, let's say because you took the KTM train, you may want to try these stalls recommended by the locals.
Our last stop in Paloh was Ling Nam kopitiam - this one, I'll suggest, you don't want to miss :)
Restaurant name: No name wanton mee and Ah Choo curry mee near the bus station
Address: At the Paloh bus station
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/Eo0VF
GPS: 2.189051,103.194242
Hours: Wanton mee (9:00am to 1:00pm), Curry mee (9:30am to 8:00pm)
Non Halal
Date visited: 7 Mar 2013
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