Sin Anteli Cafe • Klang Star Hokkien Prawn Noodle 巴生明星虾面

Sin Anteli Cafe in Klang near Kuala Lumpur serves a limited edition Hokkien noodle which is very popular with locals.

(Known as Hokkien noodle in Penang, this dish is called prawn noodle outside Penang such as in Klang and in Singapore.)

Stall name: Sin Anteli Cafe

Address: 50 Jalan Tapah (off Jalan Goh Hock Huat), Kawasan 18, 41400 Klang, Selangor

Hours: 3:00pm - 12:00 midnight (Hokkien noodle only on Saturday)

Credit: Original video in Mandarin Chinese and Hokkien (a Chinese regional language). Interpreted by Tony Boey on 7 Sep 2022 for the benefit of English speakers to appreciate Southeast Asian cuisine. All images are screenshot from video 巴生明星虾面.

戴明星 Tai Beng Seng was running Sin Anteli Lounge for nearly 12 years when the Covid-19 pandemic struck. The repeated lockdowns left him with no choice but to close his lounge and reopened it as a cafe selling prawn noodle, fried chicken chop and fish & chips.

Sin Anteli Cafe's signature is their Hokkien noodle which at the moment is available only on Saturday and only in limited edition of just 60 bowls.

Beng Seng uses wild caught Kuruma prawns 九节虾 to make his prawn broth. He uses these sea prawns because their hard shell have more flavour and their head have more "head cheese" (often referred to as prawn roe but is actually their internal organs).

The prawn head and shell are stir fried to extract their flavour before they are boiled in water for eight hours in total (6 plus 2 hours).

The shelled prawn meat are blanched in hot water. The used water is added into the prawn head / shell broth and then boiled for another two hours, hence 6 plus 2 hours.

Besides prawns, Beng Seng also has shank bones and socket bones in his broth.

Sambal is added to the prawn and pork broth during cooking as in the Penang Hokkien noodle style.

Beng Seng said the soup is the most important part of the Hokkien noodle dish. It has to be savoury sweet with the umami taste 鲜甜 of prawns. With the sambal, there is additional umami and spiciness.

To serve, yellow noodle, bee hoon (rice vermicelli), bean sprout, kang kong (water spinach) is blanched and put into a bowl. The bowl is then flooded with prawn and pork broth. The mound of soupy noodle is topped with blanched prawn, lean pork slices, fish cake slices, egg, la pok or lard crouton, fried shallot and aromatic oil.

Beng Seng runs his cafe alone as it is hard to employ helpers, hence his Hokkien noodle is available only on Saturday in limited quantity (60 servings) and waiting time is long during busy hours.