Penang Prawn Noodle in Johor Bahru Permas Jaya You Xiang Coffee Shop 大路後檳城蝦麵.卤面 JK1260

I was doing my usual food spotting at You Xiang kopitiam in Permas Jaya when I caught a whiff of enticing prawn broth aroma.



I followed my nose and traced it to little 大路後檳城蝦麵.卤面 Penang prawn noodle stall (no English name).



大路後檳城蝦麵.卤面 stall in Permas Jaya is run by Mr Tan from Penang for 8 years now. Mr Tan said his master is the Penang prawn mee seller at 大路後 (Perak Lane) in Penang. His master has been selling Penang prawn mee for over 40 years and is still going strong.

We ordered a small RM5.30 bowl of Penang prawn noodle to taste.



When the bowl of noodles arrived, I must admit that I was a bit underwhelmed - it looked anaemic and lacked that fiery layer of chili with that red oily sheen.



But, the first mouthful of the clear, watery looking broth confirmed that our trusty noses did not fail us ;-p  The broth though just light-medium bodied, packs a pronounced savoury crustacean flavour balanced with slight sweetness and a very subtle bitter note.

We love this tasty broth.



The yellow noodles, bee hoon, and kangkong (greens) were blanched just right. Not a bit too soft nor too hard.



Don't underestimate this tiny prawn. These tiny sea prawns pack a fresh briny sweet flavour well above its size. By the way, authentic Penang prawn mee started with this little prawns before some later hawkers jazzed it up with tiger prawns, big head river prawns, crayfish and even lobsters.



At 大路後檳城蝦麵, the pork is cut into small strips like matchsticks instead of the usual thin slices. When asked about it, Mr Tan explained that pork slices will be eaten in 3 or 4 mouthfuls. When cut into strips, customers can enjoy a bit of pork flavour in their noodles right up to the last mouthful. That makes a lot of sense to me :-D



The chili sauce was good as it is well balanced with savoury and spicy flavours but it is quite mild for my taste buds - lacks that perky sting and bit of sourness. Many people mix chili sauce into their prawn broth but I prefer to drink my broth nearly neat to savour the delicate crustacean flavours as much as possible.



We liked Mr Tan's prawn mee so much that we ordered a second bowl just to eat for pleasure.

Humble kopitiam stall serving a simple dish with a good taste of Penang in Johor Bahru. 

Next time, we shall try Mr Tan's Penang lor mee 卤面.



Restaurant name:  大路後檳城蝦麵.卤面 Penang Prawn Noodle
Address: Stall in You Xiang coffee shop 友香, Jalan Permas 4/4, Bandar Baru Permas Jaya, Johor Bahru, Malaysia
GPS: 1.505670, 103.820883
Hours: 7:30am - 1:00pm (closed on alternate Monday)

Non Halal

Date visited: 9 Oct 2015

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