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| Teeyiwan Noodle House 弟一碗潮州面薄 | #47, Jalan Maju, Taman Maju Jaya, 80400 Johor Bahru ⏰ 7:30am - 2:00pm opens daily |
Patrick said it is a mother and son stall on JB's "newspaper street" Jalan Maju. The stalls opens only on Saturday and Sunday. Naturally, I start looking from the busy end of the street where there's JB stalwarts like Ka Hoe kway teow kia, Kak Kak dim sum, Shiduoli otak otak, Yi Bao mee hoon kueh, and even the fruit rojak man (saw him today), etc.
There's a couple of mother and son noodle stalls here but they don't seemed to be what Patrick was referring to. So I messaged him, woke him up from his Saturday morning sleep 😬 My bad 🙇 No choice 🤭
I found it. Thank you Patrick 🙏
Ah... Most old JB folks 老新山 will immediately recognise this as Lao Tee mee pok. 弟一碗潮州面薄 which means "First Teochew Mee Pok" is actually a clever play on 老弟潮州面薄 Lao Tee Teochew Mee Pok which was founded by 老弟 Lao Tee in the 1940s.
Bumped into Johor Kaki reader Andy who is also a big fan of Lao Tee. Andy shared that many old JB folks 老新山 have these three food stalls at the top of their minds - Bak Cheng bak kut teh, Qui Poh curry pork ribs, and Lao Tee Teochew mee pok.
Aunty worked at Lao Tee's son's stall for decades. Lao Tee's son has retired but before that, he taught auntie and her son, Ah Chye the recipe of Lao Tee mee pok. So here we are, one more new stall to carry on Lao Tee's old JB legacy 🙏
It's all there (I opted for the smallest RM8 serving). Mound of mee pok in a lardy sauce blanketed with blanched minced pork, small prawn, fish ball, pork ball, fish cake slices, lard croutons, chopped scallion. There's a small splash of fiery looking chili sauce (it's by default, no need to say whether you want spicy or not 😬). There's also an accompanying bowl of soup. Yup, everything is faithfully like the legacy version of Lao Tee mee pok 🙏 Thank you 🙏
The noodles after tossing in the sauce and chili still look a little pale (compared to dry bak chor mee in Singapore). The noodles taste lardy, savoury probably from fish sauce, with a bit of zesty spicy heat from the housemade chili sauce. The sauce tastes relatively mild, the same way Lao Tee's son's version was.
Black vinegar, light soy sauce, chili padi and white pepper are on hand for you to tune the noodles to your taste.
The tiny prawn (udang tajam 尖虾) which Lao Tee use have bigger sweet flavour than their small size suggest. Their tiny head and shell also yield a big umami kick.
Lao Tee's signature handmade fishball. Springy with subtle fresh fish sweetness and briny taste.
The signature cloudy prawn and pork soup is robustly crustacean umami with rich round body. Ah Chye gives top ups on request. I dare not impose on his generosity knowing how much resources, time and effort went into making this soup.
Thank you Patrick once again for another great tip off. Fans of Lao Tee, here's another place to enjoy his legacy. However, Ah Chye only opens on Saturday and Sunday mornings at the moment as he holds another full time job on weekdays. They have since moved to their own shop at #47 Jalan Maju and opens daily 7am - 2pm.
Lao Tee's brother, the late Ah Seng's legacy is now carried on by his nephew at Jalan Tan Hiok Nee. Ah Seng's version is slightly more robust in flavours 👈 click
there was a chap who made this style in singapore at tjg katong opp singpost. soup had the mouth puckering collageny feel to it. i detected faint hint of chinese wine in the noodles. very different.
ReplyDeleteI was planning to check out the Teochew Kway Teow in Jaya you recommended last week. Hopefully this isn't so far and can make it a double bill!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing. Its just so a few doors away from Soon Chiang BKT. Will check it out soon.
ReplyDeleteIf its sold out, can always drive over to Taman Seri Tebrau for YM Teochew Noodles which is also from the same Lao Tee clan
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