Mee rebus is one of my favourite hawker dishes - they're everywhere in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, just the right size for a snack or light meal, and delicious. Thing is, good mee rebus are harder to come by these days. I am so happy to stumble upon Auntie Lily's tasty mee rebus. You must try it too when you are near Taman Daya in Johor Bahru.
I stumbled upon Auntie Lily's stall after an unsuccessful morning foray. Seeing many people at Restoran Wang Min kopitiam 旺铭美食中心 having Auntie Lily's mee rebus, I decided to give it a try.
The RM5 serving comes with a mound of generic yellow noodles and bean sprouts smothered with an orangey colour sauce topped with crisps, spring onion, fried shallot, tau kwa, egg, lime and green chili pepper.
When I asked Auntie Lily's helper if there was sambal chili, she just smiled knowingly 😂 (In Singapore, mee rebus is eaten with sambal chili and kicap.)
Auntie Lily cooked the noodles to just the right doneness - I like it that the noodles had a slight bounce and spring to the bite. The fresh bean sprouts were crunchy too.
The all important sauce was moderately thick and tasted just mildly sweet savoury with a hot spicy kick that come in the aftertaste. (Perhaps that was why the helper smiled when I asked for sambal chili?)
I enjoyed the well balanced sauce a lot. The sweetness came from potatoes, savouriness from dried shrimp and spicy sting from chili pepper blended into the sauce. A bit of curry spices held the sauce together. Squeezing in the fresh lime added a bit of zest. Here, I would not upset the well balanced flavours with sambal chili or kicap, even if it was provided 😄
I love these savoury crisps (known as tapung). It is made with rice flour blended with powdered ikan bilis (anchovies) and dried shrimp, then deep fried to a golden brown crisp.
The savoury crisps picked up the sweet savoury spicy flavours from the sauce well without trading off all its crispiness. The crisps added flavours and crispy texture to the softer noodles.
Auntie Lily has been selling mee rebus since the 1990s (first at Jalan Ibrahim in downtown JB). She learned the recipe from her Malay friends as she grew up in a kampung.
Recommended for you 👍 A simple, no frills mee rebus with full flavours and a nice spicy kick. Try it when you are around or near Taman Daya in Johor Bahru.
Another of my favourite mee rebus, this one in Johor Jaya Bakawali 👈 click
Restaurant name: Auntie Lily (stall in Wang Min coffee shop 旺铭美食中心)
Address: Intersection of Jalan Sagu 13 & Jalan Sagu 15, Taman Daya, Johor Bahru
GPS: 1°32'41.5"N 103°45'51.4"E 🌐 1.544847, 103.764277
Hours: 7:30am - 1:30pm (Thurs off)
No pork, no lard, no Halal cert
Date visited: 29 Mar 2019
Did you squeeze the lime into your her rebus?
ReplyDeleteYes I did. I always use the lime.
DeleteMee siam gravy has the sour taste but mee rebus gravy has a sweet taste .. Just thought there is a conflict ... Enjoy
DeleteThe small lime just add a very subtle bit of zest to the whole plate of mee rebus.
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