This sunny morning while walking pass Multi Mart kopitiam near KSL Mall, we caught a waft of aroma which smelled of sizzling garlic bits browning in a hot wok, drifting from the coffee shop over onto nearby streets.
We couldn't resist following our curious noses into Multi Mart kopitiam to find out. It's Mdm Lim busy at her seasoned heavy cast iron wok frying char kway teow with swift, economic strokes.
Mdm Lim had been a stall helper before starting this char kway teow stall twenty years ago. She picked up the skills of frying kway teow from her former boss. From this corner of Century Garden, Mdm Lim quietly saw the rise of towering KSL City Mall and Holiday Vila while dishing out her humble fried kway teow. She also quietly built up a loyal following over the last 20 years.
Mdm Lim uses broad and thin rice noodles (I prefer such broad noodles over narrow, thicker ones).
We ordered a small serving for RM5.
The tongue scathing hot kway teow noodles had a slight char outside and were puffing steam with the aroma of well seared garlic. On the tongue, the main flavour from the slick noodles was mild savouriness - quite flat as no lard or caramel was used. But, I still found it likable as the well fried noodles provided a good base for the other ingredients in the dish.
The single peeled shrimp, lup cheong slices, blood cockles, choy sum stem, bean sprouts, fishcake slices and an egg tossed into the heap all bored the marks of Mdm Lim's 20+ years of experience in frying 1000s of plates of kway teow. They were all done just right - they have texture to the bite and still retained their natural flavours.
The sole tender prawn had crustacean flavour. The lup cheong added a slightly savoury layer to the dish. The tenderly chewy blood cockles had the salty taste of dried fresh blood. The choy sum and bean sprouts were juicy and crunchy. The cardboard thin, floppy fish cake slices had nice fish flavour.
3-Star (out of 5). Really good char kway teow are rare nowadays. This little low profile stall fries up a tasty char kway teow even though it uses no lard. Worth a try if you are in the KSL - Holiday Plaza - Holiday Villa tourist belt.
Restaurant name: Char Kway Teow stall in Multi Mart 满地好 kopitiam
Address: Corner kopitiam at the junction of Jalan Harimau and Jalan Harimau Akar, Taman Century, Johor Bahru, Malaysia
Map: http://goo.gl/maps/63Zn1
GPS: 1.485037,103.760108 / 1°29'06.1"N 103°45'36.4"E Hours: 7:00am to 2:00pm (no fixed off day but rests only once a month)
Non Halal
Date visited: 3 Nov 2016
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No lard? But is there pork lard cracklings? I had it quite a while back. If I did not remember wrongly, I could still say "gey la pok" (more pork lard cracklings).
ReplyDeletenot today leh. i also forgot to ask. i should be revisiting soon as i like this. i will ask Auntie next time and double confirm. thanks for your insight.
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