Teow Chew Meng

This time around it was at the Subang Jaya outlet of one of the most talked-about joints in town.

For years, Teow Chew Meng has been known for serving Malaysia’s only mee sua tow. And it had been featured in national papers, including The Star and Sin Chew Jit Poh daily.

Even Jack Neo, a notable Singaporean director, actor, and host, traveled miles to try the restaurant’s famed dishes. Now, photo of his visit (bottom left in the middle), alongside the others’, is gracing one of the walls near the restaurant’s main entrance.

Restaurant owner Steven extended a warm welcome to the 15 OpenRicers who were invited to partake in the feast. The evening was kicked off with appetite-whetting starters.

Mini octopuses with fresh cucumber slices and a thick, dark, sweet, peanutty dip: Fresh seafood like these were boiled simply so you could still taste their delicately briny oceany sweetness and their succulent, bouncy meat.

Mango Kerabu: the restaurant’s refreshing take on the classic Malay salad, in which matchsticks of tart green mango are tossed in a sweet-savory house-made dressing and sprinkled with ground toasted peanuts to serve.

Next up, Steven presented the Mee Sua Tow (麵線糊) as an impressive first course.

Slurp, slurp away …: Everyone was engrossed in the utter deliciousness of such culinary genius.

“The misua is shiok, so silky. The soup hor, is wonderfully thickened, so flavorful, so smooth. Feel like we’re eating some shark’s-fin soup, but we’re actually not.”

While indulging in some Mee Sua Tow, the OpenRicers struck conversations and jumped on the chance of getting to know each other.

Now, it was time for the evening’s challenge: cooking the perfect Teow Chew Meng mixian!

Thankfully for the OpenRicers, things were made easy with Teow Chew Meng’s instant mixian. A great invention for people who are juggling with a hectic lifestyle while still crave a simple and yet tasty meal after a long day. The OpenRicers could attest to that themselves; boxes of the instant mixian were sold out that evening!

First, Steven showed how easy and quick it was to cook the mixian. He also showed that by throwing in a few usual pantry items, like chicken egg, anyone could whip up a scrumptious, comforting meal.

Then, he invited four OpenRicers to cook mixian with him. And he was spot-on — see how even the OpenRicers could successfully dish up bowls of piping-hot noodles in minutes!

“This isn’t funny. I’ll show you how good of a cook I am!”

Let’s get cookin’!

Cook the mixian in rolling-boil water just until soft. It will not be long before they turn mushy, so keep an eye on the pot!

Instead of concocting your own, just tear open the little envelope of seasoning premix and stir into the pot.

Once the seasonings are dissolved, crack an egg into the pot and cook to desired doneness.

In this instance, the egg was fully cooked. (Goodbye, golden, oozy yolk.)

Not bad, huh?

As an encore, Steven invited two more OpenRicers so they could try their hand at cooking mixian.

By now some energy must have been expended on cooking the mixian, so it was time, again, to recharge with more good food — three (actually, two, strictly speaking) of Teow Chew Meng’s latest dishes!

Swatow Beef Noodles (潮州汕頭牛肉麵), crowd’s favorite: The broth was lighter than the one of Cantonese-style beef noodles, but surprisingly brawny, and the meatballs were meaty, juicy, pleasantly gamy, with the right balance of springiness and tenderness.

Made especially for the non-beef eater, this porky version of the same dish came with huge meatballs and a generous amount of light broth that would delight your taste buds with its lovely savoriness and meaty sweetness.

Hong Kong-Style Mixian Dish with Roast Duck and Shanghainese Pickled Mustard Greens (雪菜火鴨米線): At a close second to the Swatow Beef Noodles, slippery, perfectly thin mixian was served in a clear zesty broth that had been simmered for hours with briny Shanghainese pickled mustard greens and rich, smoky roast duck.

Staying true to its name of serving some of the best food in town, the OpenRicers were swooned by the quality of Teow Chew Meng’s dishes. They would recommend the restaurant to family and friends.

In the end, the OpenRicers brought home not only a happy, well-fed tummy but also a cute OpenRice mug cap and a Teow Chew Meng dining voucher (so that they could pamper themselves in more good food!).

A simple, casual and yet fun and interesting night-out with fellow foodies. No wonder the OpenRicers were already looking forward to the next MakanVentures!

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