Current location:	Ipoh, Malaysia
Current mood:	hungry
Entry tags:	food, hawker food

"Chee Yuk Fun" (Pork Mee) @ Ipoh Garden South
There's a pork mee shop near where I live that has been packing in the breakfast/lunch crowd. I have often passed by the shop and had not given it a try. Last Saturday morning was an opportune time as I had to meet up with the kitchen designer/contractor for my new house to finalise the work order and whose shop was near my "quarry". My mother came along to approve the design as the kitchen was specified by her for her use. I'm effectively the ATM (Automated Teller Machine) ^_^;; She is also a willing partner in the search for new places to eat unlike my father who only wants to go to familiar places.

That late Saturday morning, the place was expectedly full. Fortunately, there was a large table that the both of us could share with a party of three who were tucking into their food. In Malaysia, you can "thap thoy" (share tables) at larger tables in casual eateries like these when all tables have been taken up but there's available space to squeeze in seating.

Pork Mee or "Chee Yuk Fun" (in Cantonese) is a dish attributable to the Hokkiens/Fujians. It's usually a serving of noodles (choice of meen [yellow noodles], kway teow [flat rice noodles], bee-hoon/mi-fun [rice vermicelli], loh see fun ["mouse" noodles]) in a pork-based soup with minced pork, pork slices, choy sum (Chinese mustard greens), dried tung choy (Chinese water spinach), and deep fried pork lard (my taste buds swoon and my heart flutters in more ways than one =P). Usual optional extras are pig innards (i.e. liver, kidney, and intestines) and egg. Pork liver slices and bamboo pith are included as standard by this shop.

I'm no fan of liver. So, I told them to hold the liver in my order of two bowls of pork mee with a mix of kway teow and bee-hoon noodles - one large and one standard. In addition, I ordered 3 deep fried sway kow - a larger and meatier form of wan-ton dumpling with a filling of minced pork and prawn with fine julienne slices of carrot and muk yee (black wood ear fungus) for the bite. The deep fried sway kow arrived on the double:



This was lip-smackingly good. The wan-ton skin was fried to a crunchy crisp and only had a small bit of residual oil. The filling was meaty but not too dense as the small amount of minced prawn along with fine julienne slices of vegetable keeping it loose. We're off to a very good start.

The bowls of pork mee arrived. Here's the picture of the large bowl that I ordered for myself:



You can see the minced pork, pork slices, bamboo pith with chopped scallions, fried garlic bits from garlic oil, and at the right edge of the bowl, fried pork lard (ah.. me lovelies - *my heart skips a beat*). Unfortunately, too little of these Chinese "croutons" XD The hot soup gave off a wonderful aroma and the taste met the expectations set by the aroma. The soup was meaty but balanced. It did not overwhelm the taste buds and there was only a little monosodium glutamate used. I slurped my way through with a small side plate of sliced cili padi in light soya sauce.

This was one of the more satisfying brunches that I have had recently. The standard bowl of pork mee here costs RM5.00 (approx. USD1.60). If I have to rate it between a score of 1 (crap) to 10 (divine), it would rank an 8 (very good). For the price they charged, it was value for money in my books.

Damn! Recalling that brunch has made me hungry. ^_^;;