Tiong Hokkien Mee. Damansara Uptown 新青山福建面

One evening in Kuala Lumpur, we were craving KL style Hokkien mee -  actually, we crave KL Hokkien mee everyday we are here 😂 But, we were deterred by the legendary KL rush hour traffic and dared not drive downtown to Kim Lian Kee (Petaling Street) or Mun Wah (Jalan Maharajalela) for our long time favourites.

We drove instead to Damansara Uptown where we used to eat at... well.... Restoran Damansara Uptown Hokkien Mee years back. But, we've forgotten where exactly in the town centre is the shop lot located and so we asked a local about it. The gentleman instead pointed us to Tiong Hokkien Mee and strongly recommended that it was the better choice.

When it comes to local food, I defer to the locals 😃



Tiong Hokkien Mee indeed does look popular with locals. It is actually just a few shop lots away from Damansara Uptown Hokkien Mee which was also packed with customers.



Tiong's simple menu has various fried noodles and fried rice dishes besides their signature Hokkien Mee.



As I am constantly on the look out for good wat tan hor, I ordered one when I saw it on Tiong's menu. Good wat tan hor is rare nowadays. Disappearing.



Alas, it wasn't quite the wat tan hor I am searching for. The kway teow lacked wok hei and the sauce had little flavour except for a bit of flat salty sweetness from the over starched egg sauce. The pork slices and little prawns were also more or less tasteless.



Of course, we had Tiong's claim to fame, their rendition of KL Hokkien Mee.

Well loved by local folks, intensely dark with a slight gleam from grease on the surface, it really looked the part.



Tiong's Hokkien mee is served steaming hot with nice porky aroma rising up to our noses. The tongue scathing, piping hot noodles were enveloped in a black syrupy sauce with savoury porky flavours. The dark sauce was all on the surface, greasing the bouncy fat noodles making them slurpy wet - the sauce was neither pooling at the bottom of the plate nor sparse, leaving the noodles dry.  

Lard was well represented but not in the death wish amount like at Kim Lian Kee (the old stall, not the restaurant). The lard at Tiong's does not smear our lips like greasy lip gloss. A handful of crispy lard cracklings were embedded here and there in the noodles. There were also pork slices, small prawns and pieces of cabbage in the noodles. Unlike Kim Lian Kee, there was no squid heads nor chicken liver in Tiong's Hokkien mee (which would have added some interesting flavours).

Tiong serves a likable KL Hokkien mee especially for folks allergic to full blown lard 😛 Tiong's Hokkien mee is delicious.



We also had a couple of Tiong's fried chicken wings served on a banana leaf. They were slightly crisp outside, a little dry inside and tasted mainly flat salty-savoury. No juice inside, no chicken taste. Supposed to be "nam yu" chicken wings but the taste of fermented bean curd was missing.



👉 Tiong's Hokkien Mee in Damansara Uptown is a good alternative to the benchmark old Kim Lian Kee stall at Petaling Street. The savoury-sweet flavours are well balanced and layered. Appeals to folks who want flavours but with less lard.

Personally, the old Kim Lian Kee is still tops in KL Hokkien mee for me 👈 click



Restaurant name: Tiong Hokkien Mee 新青山福建面
Address: 101, Jalan 21/37, Damansara Utama, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia
GPS:  3°08'04.8"N 101°37'25.7"E | 3.134654, 101.623794
Tel: 013-334 5550 | +6016-305 0444
Hours: 6:00pm to 12:00 midnight

Non Halal

Date: 20 Feb 2017