Many people who have been to Kuching, Miri or Sibu would come home with a craving for kolo mee, what more Sarawakians away from home, like those living in Singapore. Where is the best kolo mee in Singapore then? ๐คท♂️
Why ask a Singaporean who goes by the moniker Johor Kaki when you can have true blue Sarawakians tell you where they get their kolo mee fix here ๐ช
And, not any Sarawakian but an avid foodie Sarawakian. Mr Song Seng Wun is a prominent economist in Singapore known for combining his
economic commentary with his taste for food in the same breath.
Mr. Song's choice for his kolo mee fix in Singapore is Lim Yu Mei stall at Haig Road Market & Food Centre. This is also one of my favourite hawker centres with many interesting stalls like Afandi Hawa mee rebus, Haig Road putu piring, etc.
The queue at Lim Yu Mei is always more than 10 deep between 12 noon and 2pm. Some in the queue make big orders of many bowls or packets, so waiting time can be longer than 30 minutes during peak hours.
They have the red type which looks white, and the white type that looks red ๐ค Of course, we had both.
Mr Song's preference is for the red type. The sauce is a blend of lard, shallot oil, soy sauce and char siew sauce. As char siew sauce is red in colour, this version is known as "red".
The curly egg noodles were heavy and dense, so they were crunchy, even a little chewy to the bite. Each strand of noodle was well coated with robustly savoury lardy sauce. The minced pork made the bowl of noodles more substantial but its presence was kind of muted among the noodles and robust savoury sauce. (The red kolo mee strongly resembles the famous Tow Kee Hakka mee of Seremban but with more intense flavour and more chewy noodles. Kolo mee is derived from Hakka mee.)
If you like crunchy chewy noodles and robust savoury sauce, this kolo mee is quite addictive.
The white version has lard, shallot oil, soy sauce but no char siew sauce. It had a sharp spicy, slightly zesty fresh chili sauce. There's also the same minced pork.
The white version has the same crunchy, slightly chewy noodles. The sauce is savoury but less robust than the red version. Instead, it has the spicy zing from the chili sauce.
I enjoyed both white and red versions of kolo mee. The red version is more mainstream in Sarawak, while the white (spicy) version is popular in Singapore.
The char siew slices were thin and lean. Felt a little dry and tasted like pork floss.
I didn't take a picture of the soup. It was clear and tasted watery with very little pork flavour.
Lim Yu Mei is one of Sarawakians in Singapore's favourite kolo mee. I love it too ๐ Both red and white versions.
Hello I'm from Ipoh, been staying in Kuching for the past 20 years. Wonder why you call the white as red and vice versa. From the pic the one on the left appears to be white version. I don't have statistics but most Kuching folks go for white version including myself. In fact the short video in you post all featured white versions. Being on both sides of East and West Malaysia, which do i prefer? KL wanton mee or Sarawak kolo mee? Personally I prefer kolo mee, it may look ugly and dry, but it's quite tasty. I enjoy your blog very much keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteCK, Kuching.
I am from kuching but my favorite dry noodle ended up being the Hakka mee in New Lucky Restaurant in Sri Petaling KL.
DeleteOh yes, I got the labelling wrong. Thank you for pointing out
DeleteNot from hakka mee but from Hainanese Char Siew Mee which used to be soup in the past directly from China. But the harbor labour who wanted fast and quick to eat ended up ordering Char Siew mee without soup and that inspired the stalls to invent the dry version later. As for the name Kolok it's from the mixing sound of the noodle that goes Kolok Kolok so the natives called it meekolok which later picked up by the Chinese calling it Kolo mee.
ReplyDeleteThank you Stanley for the very interesting insights. Where can I find more information on the origins of char siew mee / kolo mee?
ReplyDelete