Monday 3 May 2010

Flooded prawn mee

It has been a while since I last posted about food... so let's do that now.

I'm not sure if I have translated the name of this dish correctly. In Malay it is called `mee banjir udang', the implication being that there are more prawns than noodles in one bowl of the stuff. Well... you know how people tend to exaggerate. The prawns don't quite flood the dish but there are a few large ones and fresh and juicy too.

Ada udang di sebalik mee? Ataupun ada mee di sebalik udang?

I am of course, talking about the famous prawn mee of Kuala Sepetang in Perak. Having heard of this delicacy from some friends and seen it on local TV food programmes, I couldn't resist heading out to the place although it is nearly a 40-minutes drive away from our project site in Taiping. But no distance is going to stop me from trying out something that many people claim to be so tasty. So tasty that some travellers going north are willing to make a detour and exit the highway at Changkat Jering just to have some of it.

I was told that there are many stalls that sell mee banjir udang along the road from Simpang Taiping all the way to Kuala Sepetang (formerly known as Port Weld). We stopped at a place called Warong Mak Teh, a few kilometres short of Kuala Sepetang town. The stall serves the mee udang in two sizes : biasa (normal) or besar (large). Of course I went for the large portion.

So what's my verdict? Ok, I guess... but certainly tastier that the other so-called famous mee udang of Sungai Dua in Penang. Maybe I did not stop at the correct stall. I'll try the other stalls on my next trip to Taiping before I come to a conclusive opinion. But then, someone told me to try the mee kicap in Ipoh first. Hmmm.... so many places to go and so many things to eat...

20 comments:

3yearshousewife said...

I heard about the famous mee udang of Sg. Dua back in Bristol.
Makan jgn tak makan.

Lili said...

I have yet to try mee banjir ni. Mee udang Sg Dua tu boleh laa... nak kata sedap, buat sendiri lagi sedap kot, hihi! Hah, mee kicap Ipoh memang sedap...cubalah!

Tommy Yewfigure said...

Ya right Oldstock, been a long time coming, another post about food glorious food, again.

The Chinese got a similar one called ‘Hei Mee’ in Hokkien, they boil the prawns overnight to get a strong broth (together with other secret recipe ingredients), peel the prawns & serve with kangkong, fried onions, shallots & taugeh with pieces of other meat too. I love it but alas cannot eat too much as it makes me very ‘gatal’……hahaha, most shelled seafood does that to me.

Please sir, can I have more!

Cheers,
Tommy

Unknown said...

Nampak sodap tuh!

I nak gi cari gak lah, tapi yg kat Kontan ni jer!

Hehehe...

Justiffa said...

I'm cold (someone must've meddled with the aircond).. and i'm hungry.

Drooooooool.

Fadhil said...

As,

I tried mee udang Sg Dua sekali je, itu pun ada somebody yg bawa. Don't think I'll go there again... melainkan kalau orang nak belanja :-)

Fadhil said...

Lili, betul tu. I think I can cook a tastier mee udang than those Sg Dua stalls.

Kat mana nak cari mee kicap yang sedap kat Ipoh ni? Boleh bagi directions tak?

Fadhil said...

Aisey Tommy, sorry la you cannot eat too much shellfish.

The mee udang at Kuala Sepetang uses the large white sea prawns. Actually very expensive... so cannot eat often la..

Fadhil said...

Verse,

Kat Kontan lagi banyak tempat makan seafood... semuanya fresh belaka. You guys are so lucky...

Fadhil said...

Justiffa,

Kat KL or Shah Alam takde pulak jual mee udang yg macam ni..

Kalau ada pun, would probably cost a bomb.

Mej. Dr. Nor Ibrahim bin Sulaiman PTU TUDM (B) said...

Dear Oldstock,

I, too, came to know about the 'mee banjir udang' of Warung Mak Teh, Kuala Sepetang, through Majalah 3, TV3, some time ago. Being a 'kaki' mee, 3 friends and I drove all the way from Jitra to taste this particular mee. But before that, we played a round of golf at Bt Jana Golf Club.

My frank view? Indah khabar dari rupa! For RM12, you get 'sea prawns'. Others..cultured prawns.

DrSam said...

Rumors of this wonderful dish lingering in the virtual world for quite some time. I have yet to go there and sample this dish myself. Probably a convoy (udang convoy we should call it) would be a good idea.

Anonymous said...

Oldstock - when u come to S'pore, please ta pau for me ok and I'll pay u in RM. Seronok tinggal kat Malaysia eh. Dapat makan best2. Kalau kat S'pore.... sigh......

Rafiah

Sir Pök Déng said...

Oldstock,

I studied in Sarawak. They got Laksa Sarawak, which looks very similar to Mee Udang in the picture above.

Dejavu Penang's Ho Liao instant noodles sold in the market.

"Ho Ho Ho Liao!" as the man in the advertisement said.

HLiza said...

Mee Udang kat Kuala sepetang ni memang best..saya baru try sekali je. If you go to Ipoh, look for Nasi Ganja..my hubby is hooked to it..and he normally don't follow people's recommendations, they normally are not up to his standard (macam mi kicap tu..bagi dia biasa jelah!). But this Nasi Ganja really fascinated him.

Fadhil said...

Major,

Firstly, sorry I'm a bit late in responding to your comment. Been a bit out of touch with blogging recently.

I concur with your opinion. What I did not mention in this post is the value for money aspect (sebab time tu ada orang belanja, hehehe). When you consider the RM12 price tag, it does seem a bit on the high side and sort of deter you from coming regularly.

Thanks for dropping by this blog. I'll come over to your place soon.

Fadhil said...

Salam Doc,

I don't want to discourage you but simply going there just to taste the mee udang may disappoint you. But if you do happen to be in Taiping or Changkat Jering for other reasons, then try make that detour to Kuala Sepetang.

Fadhil said...

Rafiah,

Mana leh tapau-tapau ni, heheheh. By the time I reach Spore, mee tu dah kembang semacam je :-)

Eh, ok pe dok Spore... nak makan sedap (dan murah!) datang je ke JB. Kalau kat seafood senibong tu, penuh je dgn orang Spore... sebab tu harga dia melambung naik.

Fadhil said...

Sir Pok,

I've yet to visit Sarawak and would love to try out their laksa. The best Sarawak dish I've tried so far is char mee, sold here in JB at a stall run by a Chinese Muslim.

The other day, I tried melaka char mee at Mdm Lim's AEON Setiawangsa... tak sama langsung.

Thanks for dropping by.

Fadhil said...

Hliza,

Give me directions to this Nasi Ganja place and I'll try it out on my next visit to Ipoh. I've heard it being recommended by so many people.

After eating it, I presume I can safely drive back to KL, kan?