Paloh Mee Sua @ Lai Wang Coffee Shop ● Feel the Kick with Every Mouthful 来旺茶餐室

During our trip to Kluang, Evonne brought us to her primary school teacher Mrs Khoo's regular hangout in Paloh for her favourite red rice wine mee sua. 

Restaurant name: Lai Wang Kopitiam 来旺茶餐室

Address: 37 Jalan Abu Bakar, Kampung Muhibbah, Paloh, Johor, Malaysia

Tel: +6019 743 1668

Hours: 7:00am - 2:00pm (Thurs off)

Lai Wang coffee shop is actually just across the road from Ling Nam coffee shop (which I last visited over a decade ago).

On a side note: Ling Nam is still thriving 👍 Need to come back for another kopi 😁

Paloh 巴罗 is a small town in Kluang District. It is about 30 minutes drive from Kluang city or 45 minutes drive from the Yong Peng toll. Total population is about 16,000. The KTM train passes through here, stopping at Paloh station. Main economic activity is palm and rubber plantations. There are 11 housing estates (taman) and 15 schools.

Back to Lai Wang.

We were here for the mee sua but the first thing that struck me was the aroma of caramelized sauces from white plumes raising from Mrs Lim's busy wok.

My first thought was, can we have fried kway teow?

Okay, it was not the Teochew see hum (cockle) kway teow we had hoped. It's kway teow with pork slices, bean sprouts stir fried with savoury dark sauces. But, all the good things like layers of caramelized savoury sweetness, aroma and taste of wok hei were there, though sans the briny taste of blood (I mean cockle blood).

via GIPHY

We are not Draculas lah 🦇

Oh wait! 

Kluang is nicknamed "Bat Town". Kluang is named after the flying fox which is known as...... Kluang in Malay 🤭

Evonne mentioned they have fried mee hoon kway. I mean, I love mee hoon kway - soup one or "dry" one with sauce. But, since I haven't had any fried one before, let's have it now 🤭

The savoury sweet taste profile was the same as the fried kway teow but the hand kneaded, hand torn hoon kway were thick and tenderly chewy.

It's a nice alternative to generic factory kway teow.

Finally.

The real reason we were here 🤭 The red rice wine mee sua.

They were generous with the red rice wine so we can smell its signature sweet tangy fruity fragrance when the bowl of steamy hot freshly cooked mee sua arrived at our table.

The sweet, tangy, tannic flavours of red rice wine was pronounced, overlaying the milder taste of pork soup with egg drop and gently savoury flour vermicelli. The red rice wine was quite strong and I can feel the subtle kick with each spoonful of soup or mouthful of savoury mee sua.

They were also generous with fresh lean pork slices, pork liver, egg, etc.

If you are a red rice wine mee sua lover, this is a place worth stopping by.

Spotted this large bottle of red rice wine which looked like golden colour honey or apple cider. They brew their own red rice wine here, so it was very fresh.

They use Television brand coffee beans at Lai Wang coffee shop, so you can't go wrong 😁 I like Television brand coffee as it is quite robust in flavour and aroma, and has that strong caffeine kick of Robusta beans. 

It's the top coffee brand from Kluang, I believe.

Menu at Lai Wang coffee shop (as at July 2023).

If you are in Paloh, Lai Wang is a local place you can try out for their fried noodles and rice wine mee sua. Next time, I also want to try their claypot liver dish. Their kopi is not bad too.

Wanton mee and curry mee in Paloh.

Written by Tony Boey on 25 Jul 2023

🎗 Opinions in this blog are all my own as no restaurant or stall paid money to be featured