MEEKY-MEEKY: PJ's Popular Wantan Mee

Tuesday 14 October 2008

PJ's Popular Wantan Mee

No doubt Batu Pahat's Ah See's wantan mee is well-known, and many who have left their hometown would have salivated whenever Ah See's wantan mee is mentioned. I have eaten Ah See's wantan mee for ages; in fact, my shop used to and still does provide Ah See with the flour and other materials that go into making the mee and the chili sauce that he uses. What is so special about his wantan mee? It could be the springy mee that Ah See makes himself; it could be the wantan, or the sauce that goes with it; it could be the char siew(barbecued pork). I don't really know; but it could be nostalgia, the longing for that something that reminds them of their happy childhood.

My family and I have forsaken Ah See as we have been seduced by Ho Weng Kee's wantan mee. I have always made it a point to eat there when I arrive and when I leave Petaling Jaya. Needless to say, the preparation is different. Unlike the Ah See's barbecue pork which is reddish in colour, dry and fibrous, the Ho Weng Kee's char siew uses black sauce, and I suspect, honey, and the meat is juicy. In addition to wantan mee, Ho Weng Kee also serves ngau lam mee (braised beef), curry mee/kway teow with char siew or chicken, mee with chicken, mee with braised pork-ribs, and sui kau or prawn dumplings, fried or boiled, and braised chicken legs with mushrooms

We would normally order the ngau lam mee, as we don't eat beef at home, a bowl of sui kau or a plate of fried sui kau.

The place is packed during lunch time, so the best time to go is before 12.00.

Ah See's wantan mee with char siew and pork dumplings. Note that the redness of the char siew is the result of using permitted colouring (Pic from batupahat.org)

Ho Weng Kee's wantan mee with char siew. The dumplings are in a small bowl.

The ngau lam (braised beef) mee. What you see on top of the mee are the braised beef tendons. It reminds me of the famous beef noodles in Tangkat, Muar.