Mee Daud Mat Jasak @ Ipoh

Wah, I didn't know Ipoh was famous for mee kicap. One of the most popular malay noodle shop in Ipoh is apparently Restoran Mee Daud Mat Jasak (or just Mat Jasak), their specialty being mee kicap and curry mee.

K: My friend told me to try mee kicap Mat Jasak as that's what it's famous for. I have to wonder, is the business really started by Mat Jasak or is it just people shortening the name to Mat Jasak and omitting the Daud? Well, since the business is started in 1972, it could well be Mat Jasak's recipe.

So does it live up to the hype?

Erm. 

The curry mee (RM3.50)  is surprisingly mellow, more lemak (coconut cream) than spicy. As it was Malay, I was expecting something with more kick. If you prefer something less spicy, this is for you. As for me, I'd give it a miss cos I find it tawar.

K: Since we just had curry mee at Canning Corner, I couldn't help but compare both. The curry mee here is also thin but it lacks flavour. Thumbs down from me.

The curry mee comes with fishball and "prawns". Have you seen those prawns balls now shaped like the real thing? Yuck. I personally never liked prawn balls, this new shape doesn't improve the taste either.

Thankfully, the mee kicap (RM3.50) was much better. It comes with yong tau foo

K: Mee kicap was definitely better than the curry mee. In comparison to mee kicap at Canning Corner, I think the mee kicap here is better. The kicap is not too sweet or too salty, just nice. The soup with the yong tau foo has more flavour, while the soup at Canning Corner was drowning in white pepper.

I forgot to taste the soup at Canning Corner but I will say I prefer CC's yong tau foo over Mat Jasak. I think their fishballs/ cake and bean curd skin tastes better. Mat Jasak's mee kicap, btw, uses yellow noodles.

K: Also had a nice conversation with the operator. Apparently the 3 siblings take shifts to operate the shop. One prepares the food in the morning, the other one on the afternoon and the last one at night. So, the taste and flavour might differ depending on which sibling is preparing the food.

Verdict - stick to the mee kicap, skip the mee curry unless you like it tawar.

Mee Daud Mat Jasak
Jalan Datuk Onn Jaafar
Taman Jubilee,
30300 Ipoh, Perak

Price - $
Opening hours - 8am - 10pm daily but if food finish early, tutup awal.

Restoran ZZ @ Johor Bahru

There are two Restoran ZZ (that we know of) in JB. However, they are unrelated. The one on Jalan Mahmoodiah is famous for it's briyani gam while the other is its mee rebus tulang.

KK: They are also not far from each other, probably about 2 kilometres apart, so make sure you go to the right one.

Literally translated, mee rebus means boiled noodles which, when I was younger and not yet familiar with the dish, thought it meant it was mee in plain soup. Oooh, so far off!

No watery soup, it's a thick gravy mainly consisting of beef broth and pureed sweet potato, with taugeh and topped with fresh cili and crispy fried shallots. It's a hearty, sweet and savoury dish. Restoran ZZ takes it to the next level - let's make it sinful. 

This bad boy of mee rebus comes with a straw so you can suck the marrow of the lamb shanks (we got 3) adorning the dish. Ahhhh cholesterol.



The dish has other options such as bone with meat, meat or plain but why go all this way for plain?

If you're not hungering for mee rebus, then give their Laksa Johor a go. I personally think that Laksa Johor is the most complicated laksa dish to cook properly as it requires so much ingredients! I have yet to find good Laksa Johor in Klang Valley much to my dismay (feel free to share if you know a spot).

The laksa here came with a glorious gravy teeming with fish. It's so thick you chomp, not slurp it. The spaghetti itself was not over cooked (but not al dente). Despite the generous amount of fish, the dish itself is not fishy, which I sometimes find Penang Laksa to be.  It may not look aesthetically pleasing but it's all good in the taste department.

Both dishes come with a reasonably generous serving. I sometimes find mee rebus in Klang Valley to have smaller portions, I don't know why.

K: I heard this story about the origin of laksa Johor. While I can't vouch for it's accuracy, it's a nice story to share. Anyway, apparently Sultan Abu Bakar went to Europe and he was so taken by spaghetti that when he got back to Johor, he ordered the royal chef to come up with a new dish incorporating spaghetti. And voila, laksa Johor was born.

Restoran ZZ has kampung theme setting, you can dine at a normal table or go for a pondok to duduk bersila (remember to take off your shoes). The service was friendly and surprisingly fast, and restaurant itself was pretty clean too. There are other dishes available including pisang goreng (banana fritters) if you're hungering for a tea time snack.

K: We were lucky enough to get free entertainment in the form of 3 young ladies who were terrified of cats. As we all know, even though it's not really hygienic, cats do roam around restaurants in Malaysia. These 3 girls were shrieking and cowering in a corner just because a big, bad cat decided to say hello. And it happened twice, with 2 different cats. Fun time for the cats. "Let's act nonchalant and just sit near them, cleaning ourselves up. Stupid humans."

Verdict - a triple threat; good food, good service, good price.

Restoran ZZ (here's a map)
Jalan Petri
Johor Bahru
Open daily from 7am to 2am
Price - $

Mee Udang Mak Jah @ Taiping

When asked for makan spots in Taiping, K's friends enthusiastically nominated the famous Mee Udang Mak Jah at Kuala Sepetang aka Port Weld. We were warned that it tends to be rather hot to dine in this open air stall during the day, so we came at night instead.

Finding the place was an anti-climatic adventure as we couldn't find an address. Turns out there's really no need for one as it's facing the ONLY trunk road from Taiping. There are a lot of Mee Udang stalls along the road but we were told to ignore them and only go for Mak Jah.

The famous dish is actually called Mee Udang Banjir (literally translates to Flooded Prawn Noodles) and is not the same as chinese style prawn mee. I've never actually had Malay style prawn mee before but whoa, this is good stuff I can't believe I've been missing out all my life!

The biggest difference between the malay style and chinese is that the former's soup is thicker and more tangy, probably due to a tomato base. Add the slow burning spiciness balanced with sweetness and you've got a bowl good to the last drop. It's served with crunchy fried shallots and of course, a generous serving of fresh prawns from Kuala Sepetang.

The noodle dish comes in two versions; "biasa" (RM7) and "special" (RM11). The difference is the size of the prawns, the latter served with bigger prawns.

K: I had the Mee Goreng Udang Biasa (RM7). It's basically mee goreng basah with a generous serving of prawns. The mee goreng udang was good but having tasted TJ's mee udang I have to admit, mee udang is waaaay better than the mee goreng.

According to an article published on a local daily that hangs proudly on display, the restaurant exclusively uses fresh prawns from Kuala Sepetang. No prawns = no mee udang = close shop. Fuh, that's commitment!

Afterwards a friend of K's asked him if he tried the cucur udang which we didn't since we were already quite full after eating the noodles. K's friend said the cucur udang is a must have too. Ah well, next time then.

Mee Udang Mak Jah is a family run restaurant and one of her children opened an outlet in Klang Valley! Some critics say it is not as good as the original but we have no complaints upon our recent visit there. Having missed out on the cucur udang at Kuala Sepetang, we didn't want to miss out on them this time. Alas, the Wangsa Maju outlet does not serve cucur udang.

K had a chat with the cashier who turned out to be the wife of Mak Jah's younger son. She says it's not easy to prepare the cucur udang, which is why it's not available in KL. Apparently the cucur udang is prepared by Mak Jah's older son, who is running the original outlet in Kuala Sepetang. He was supposed to come over to KL and serve cucur udang at the outlet here which would mean no cucur udang at Kuala Sepetang, but since his kids are still in school, the idea was shelved.

K was quite astounded at this bit of news. Since when was cucur udang so complicated that only ONE PERSON in the entire family knows how to prepare it? Not even the younger brother can prepare it?

Wow!! This must be a helluva cucur udang!! SAYA MESTI PILIH!!!

Another trip to Kuala Sepetang beckons....



In short - Slurp slurp burp! Good food + generous portions + good price = Must makan

Mee Udang Mak Jah
Jalan Taiping-Kuala Sepetang
Kampung Menteri,
Kuala Sepetang, Taiping
Open from 11am to 10pm daily*
*closed on Wednesday

OR

Mee Udang Mak Jah
No.22, Jalan Wangsa Delima 10,
Wangsa Maju (near Wangsa Walk)
Kuala Lumpur
Open from 11am to 10pm daily

Price - $
Halal