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Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Kedai Kopi 88

After my post on ding bian hu, a reader directed me to a stall in Asia City for Fuzhou noodles, which I love. My friend Sucy had also informed me of the place some time ago. So last Friday, I picked Yi and Wey up and headed to Asia City for lunch.

It is hard to park in Asia City, especially lunch time. I dislike the place. It smells filthy. It is neglected, dirty and a tranvestites haven. We searched for the Fuzhou stall but just couldn't find it and ate the most terrible prawn mee on earth. I've forgotten the name of the shop. It's round the corner when you enter Asia City from Kg Air.

On the way to our car, we passed Kedai Kopi 88 and asked a stall owner and she pointed out the stall, which was tucked in an open food court across from 88. The next day, the whole family was back to Asia City whereupon we again saw a group of pondans so that's why I said Asia City is where the action is if that's your preference.

!! The stall was not opened. "Maybe their house got flooded because of the heavy rain this morning, but you can have bbq fish in my stall," said the guy next stall. We looked around and decided on 88, a coffeeshop that also serves Fuzhou dishes.

This is what we had at 88 (which sounds like "prosper prosper" in Chinese) :

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Prawn mee

Very impressive-looking bowl of prawn mee but looks are deceiving. It was just okay.

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Kuey chap

Frankly, I've never eaten kuay chap before and this is the first time I've come across this dish in KK. I thought it was pretty good (the pieces of noodles were slippery-smooth) although the herbal soup was slightly kam (the 6th taste, according to my mom, not yet recognised by most but it's a taste between sweet and 'minty cool' in your mouth. You read it here first) which is quite normal for Chinese herbs I think. Does anyone know this 6th taste I'm talking about?

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Mee suah or thread noodles in chicken wine soup

The bleh dish of the day. There was hardly any wine and the bottle of wine provided tasted like water. The noodles had a stale flavor, and that boiled egg should've been fried until crinkly. The chicken was bland. Really nothing was right here.

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Sarawak kolo mee

Wey is our kolo mee expert. He said this was "Just okay." I like that they used ceramic tableware instead of melamine ones.

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Pork innards soup

This was the best dish of all. The soup was yum & flavorful and the pig stomach, liver and kidney very tender & fresh. But it is getting harder and harder for me to swallow this stuff. Liver. Kidney. Stomach.

p.s. The next day, Sunday, we checked out the Fuzhou stall again. Third time lucky: it was open. But I forgot to bring my camera. I don't think I'll be back although the food was better than 88's. There were flies buzzing around and sitting on the char sau and sliced meat.

15 comments:

  1. omg..have never seen such a mee sua dish around in any of the coffeeshops in KL!..and the kuey chap..ohh lala..

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  2. The '6th taste' I found are mostly in chinese food, from herbal soup to deserts. Often the dried mandarin orange peel is used, that brought out the 'kam' taste. My mom loves it and I don't, especially when it comes to deserts ;)

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  3. I learnt something new today...6th taste! thats wonderful ..like 6th sense..thanks

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  4. Hmm..u could have fooled me with that Prawn Mee - looked so yummy! Don't judge a book by its cover hoh?

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  5. hey, whereabout is this place in Asia City, is it the area where the Mercedes showroom is ?

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  6. MOM! I wan the pork innards soup! =(

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  7. Hi Yi's mum.. Did Yi eat the Kolo Mee? chris

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  8. joe: really?? how do they cook mee suah in kl?

    creatingob:thank u for speaking up :D i've often wondered if this taste is only detected by certain people only. yes, it's in orange peel (love it) an even bittergourd. there's more, must ask mom. i think i'll do a post on 'kam' one day.

    zurin: haven't u noticed this taste? i think most ppl brush it off as sweet but it's more than tt.

    pureglut:yes, it was lavish too with a 3-4 prawns n slices of pork. in think the soup was too thin.

    ganache: yes, behind the mercedes showroom. been there b4?

    ming: innards are too high in cholesterol son.

    chris: no, she doesn't like kolo mee. she loves mee suah but this wasn't good so she attacked my kuey chap n i attacked wey's kolo mee who in turn attacked his dad's prawn mee who in turn attacked everything.as usual.

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  9. I think the Sarawak kolo mee here, has been modified to suit local preferences. In Kuching especially, belly pork is not used for kolo mee, it's usually char siew, and a few slivers, at best (so always request for "ka liaw", actually in hokkien, it's "key liaw", but it also sounds exactly like chicken feed in the dialect too).
    If you're in Kuching, go to Kim Joo along Ewe Hai St, for the kolo mee.

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  10. Pondans are quite common in KK already... I think. :X Even though they are common already but I still have the disgust on them don't know why. High Heels, scary make-up... *goosebumps*

    Pork Innards soup!!! That reminds me of my favourite shang nyuk mee, yum!!

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  11. No, I was just making a wild guess abt the location, think Asia City Mercedes come to my mind. The 'kuey chap' make me miss home.....

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  12. Your blog ALWAYS makes my tummy rumble...so hard to keep to my diet!!

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  13. Wow, when I saw your first picture, I thought it was Gyudon! Then I only realized it was a Chinese dish! It looks really good! Will definitely try it when I go back to Melbourne :)

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  14. Terri! Go at the ungodly hour of 7am and you will avoid all the unsightly creatures! Even the flies dont seem to wake at that hour. Michael and I love the foochow noodle there and we always have pleasant uninterrupted breakfasts then....

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